An urban traffic management control centre to help ensure traffic flows almost continuously and safely, will be up and running in City Hall in May.
The Galway City Council has received €660,000 from the National Transport Authority, the majority of which will go towards an urban traffic management centre for Galway city. Construction of the centre is under way and will be complete in the coming weeks.
A total of €400,000 has been provided for a traffic monitoring and control system and the equipping of a traffic management centre in City Hall.
The UTMCC will operate on the basis of initially linking and co-ordinating traffic signalised junctions along strategic corridors such as the Dublin Road, Seamus Quirke, Road and the N6 Corridor from Briarhill over to the Browne roundabout at the back of the UCHG. In time all 84 sets of traffic signals in the city will be connected to the system.
The UTMCC has been welcomed by Fianna Fáil councillor Michael J Crowe who said it will be “a significant piece of infrastructure in working to manage and co-ordinate the traffic better within the city”.
As each set of lights is linked in, this will allow for the management of the road network through automatic adjustments and manual interventions.
“It will not eliminate all traffic problems but will enable the network to operate as efficiently as possible,” said Cllr Crowe. “This along with the changing of the roundabouts should see traffic moving along the main arteries in a more organised and ultimately quicker fashion resulting in shorter journey times.”
A further €60,000 will go towards CCTV cameras which will monitor traffic flow and relay information back to the centre so any traffic lights or potential bottle necks can be dealt with. There will also be €200,000 for new signage and parking information boards in the city centre and on approaches to the city centre on non-national routes.
The UTMCC has also been welcomed by Fine Gael senator Fidelma Healy Eames, who said it is “one part of the solution to Galway’s traffic woes” which shows “a lot of joined-up thinking that should aid traffic flow
