Galway county councillors have expressed their frustration at the lack of movement on the outer ring road for the traffic congestion at Parkmore Industrial Estate.
The project which has been estimated to cost in the region of €3 million is to relieve daily logjams of an hour or more outside the estate which is home to many multi-national companies.
Independent councillor Jim Cuddy said; “People are taking more than an hour [to leave Parkmore]. The outer ring road is too near the city. I have great reservations about it. If we do not find a solution we will lose jobs, rather than create jobs.
Fine Gael councillor Peter Feeney said the outer ring road was a 10 year project which is too far away. “Paintings and new road markings and tweaking traffic lights will not cut it for people on Parkmore.”
Cllr James Charity was in agreement with Cllr Feeney’s comments, saying the council should reassess the idea of the outer ring road because it will be 2026 before work would take place.
Cllr Michael Fahy who raised the issue in the chamber on Monday said; “People all over Galway county are employed here. I am asking CEO Kevin Kelly to do his utmost to resolve the problem to make sure the ring road is in place so that jobs that were hard earned do not go back to the States.”
Loughrea councillor Joe Byrne said; “Citizens of the county are most affected. We as a council need to highlight and progress with solution. If a road is flooded in south Galway, we would put in a relief road. Should we put in a relief road for Parkmore? This might be an option to reduce traffic in evenings. I think it would mitigate the traffic problem.”
