A total of €36.87 million is to be invested in the regional and local road network in Galway city and county throughout 2020 - an increase of €5.1 million on last year’s allocations.
The investment includes €33.77 million for the Galway County Council, up from €28.83 million in 2019, and €3.09 million for Galway City Council, up from €2.86 million last year. The allocation will fund maintenance, including re-surfacing and restoration, of local and regional roads.
Some €26 million will be spent on restoration, improvement and maintenance of our roads with another €1.4 million allocated to drainage works and nearly €1 million for community involvement schemes.
Discretionary funding of €5.69 million and €922,000 has been provided to the county and city councils respectively which will be invested by the roads departments of the councils on a targeted basis.
Of the total allocation, €1.2 million will go towards the Athenry Relief Road; €250,000 will go towards the Derrartha road in Connemara, in addition to €300,000 from last year; €530,000 to fund rehabilitation works to bridges at nine locations in the county; €409,000 for road safety works at Athenry, Gort, Tuam, An Cheathru Rua, Leenane, Oughterard, Rosmuc, Headford, and Kiltullagh; and €500,000 for improvement works on the R332 Kilbannon road.
There will also be €50,000 for the junction of Georges St, Gort with the Loughrea Road; €30,000 for the R348 in Kiltullagh; €10,000 for the junction of the R380 Loughrea to Gort road with the L8529 Ballynabucky; €105,000 for driver feedback signs at various places including Headford, Belclare, Laurencetown and Castleblakeney; €50,000 for the L82652 Ballingarry, Kilchreest; €50,000 for the L74011 Lisgub East, Ballymacward; €60,000 for the L85144 Derreen Footbridge, Gort; and €75,000 for the R328 Richmond, Clonbern.
The funds have been welcomed by the Aire don Ghaeilge, don Ghaeltacht agus do na hOileáin, Sean Kyne, and the Minister for Rural Affairs, Sean Canney. Fine Gael Galway West TD, Hildegarde Naughton, said:
“Our road network suffered from serious under-investment after the economic downturn, and that impacted on safety and efficiency. However, economic recovery has allowed for this to be reversed,” she said. “We are now seeing high levels of investment in our transport infrastructure to the benefit of all road users, enabling commuters to travel to their destinations more safely and more efficiently.”
