Galway Chamber’s Traffic and Transport Forum under the chairmanship of Dr Chris Coughlan, met for the second full forum meeting last week and heard submissions from interested parties regarding the future of Galway’s transport infrastructure.
Attending the meeting were representatives of Galway Chamber, GLUAS, Garda Siochana, Galway City Council Executive, Iarnrod Eireann, NUIGalway, GMIT, Galway Cycling, An Taisce, Galway Trades Council, Rural Taxi Alliance, and City Direct Bus.
Speaking after the meeting Dr Coughlan said that progress was again made and that the feedback sessions were invaluable to the members of the Forum:
”Deputy Frank Fahey, chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Traffic took time from his schedule to join us at the meeting and spoke and answered questions on areas as diverse as school transport and possiblility of park and rides each side of the city on an ongoing basis.
”Director of services in Galway City Council Ciaran Hayes updated us on the workings of the Traffic and Transportation Unit, now up and running in City Council and he outlined how some of the ‘achievable’ wishes of the forum are coming to fruition, ie smart traffic lights, automated messaging boards for parking spaces, permanent park and rides, bicycle parks, and bus shelters.
‘We had a presentation from the GLUAS group and an update on their plans and progress.
‘We had a report from our Education Sub Committee on a survey carried out re: the specific issue of traffic as a result of school journeys and to ascertain students’ attitude to school bus transport. This gave us a very real insight into some ways to move forward on this, which is a real problem when it comes to traffic in the city,” he said.
He added that Galway Chamber updated the forum on plans for a major conference with a national focus on the whole area of traffic and transportation for spring.
“Finally I would like to say that now, due to the confusion and the delay of the outer city bypass, the work of the Forum is even of greater importance to the City in bringing together the work of all interested bodies in the single goal of achieving a practical and working integrated traffic and transportation solutions in the short, medium and long term. The second forum has brought us a little bit further in realizing this”, Dr Coughlan concluded.
The work of the forum before its next gathering in the spring will include the setting up of an Industrial Sub Committee to look at the transportation of large numbers of employees and the traffic issues involved.
