The transportation report is now available to download here.
I would like to sincerely thank the public for their tremendous contributions to this initiative. It is clear that many citizens put considerable thought and effort into their submissions and I know that these have been invaluable to the advisory group
The advisory group was drawn from Engineers Ireland West Region, NUI Galway, Galway Chamber and others with expertise in transport. I commend them for the voluntary time and commitment they put into the initiative over the last few months through carrying out surveys, engaging with the different stakeholders, collating and assessing all the ideas and preparing the report.
Is mise le meas,
Hildegarde Naughton
Mayor of Galway City
Get rid of the ‘intelligent’ lights at Moneenageisha as they only cause traffic backups in all directions including down towards the docks.and Bothermore.
The westside road improvements is the reason the traffic is so badly managed in Galway, huge cost hikes for a road that will take invisible buses. To have the road reduced to one lane at the docks due to the cinema also blocks the traffic back to the harbour hotel as any car heading up flood st has to take the same lane for Salthill. Accident waiting to happen at the tourist office as green light for two sets of traffic from different directions, reasonable to assume you have right of way till you see a car coming from other side!!
Hi Johnny, I agree with your post – but only partially. Even if you remedy those problems you highlight, you will simply push the problem of congestion to somewhere else: fluid traffic in a city such as Galway will inevitably lead to congestion elsewhere, I’m afraid. And as for the “invisible buses” – up to us to insist that they should run! Cheers.
No solutions here only small tweaks. A tiny minority of traffic coming in the Docks goes up Flood Street. Most is going over Wolfe Tone which is another bottleneck. Widen the bridge and there’s another bottleneck at the junction with Claddagh. If you put lights there you’re just moving congestionup to Father Griffin Road junction.
Understand people there’s too many cars on the road! Blatantly obvious because when the schools are closed there’s no traffic. Go figure.
BINGO !! …”When the schools are closed there’s no traffic”…so wouldn’t it make a huge difference if a universal bus service for all schools in and around the city was MANDATORY for all…i.e. no cars bringing the kids to school allowed. A proper bus service for all areas & schools could remove a huge amount of car traffic…are there any statistics to back that up? What about a survey of all schools to see what number of children are going to schools in cars vs. public transport, cycling, etc.
How much money could be saved on roadworks, etc if such a bus service was introduced? (never mind the impact on congestion)
Does anyone agree? Does anyone know if anything like this has been investigated?
Dream on. It is of course THE most obvious solution to the traffic crisis in Galway. But you have to consider the reasons why this problem, recognised by all commentators as significant, has been, and will continue to be, ignored. Firstly, as even the briefest scan of articles/comments on this website shows, many people in Galway view the solution to easing congestion as simply better MANAGEMENT of our traffic through improving: junction layout, traffic light coordination/sequencing, road width, one-way traffic systems and CCTV monitoring. They would also agree with the construction of more roads including a by-pass in conjunction with the above innovations as being the main driver of change to congestion on our streets. It is this conceptual and blinkered mindset issue that you have to confront when making suggestions about how we REALLY need to change. Most European countries have tried all of the above but have completely abandoned the idea that these are the PRIMARY solutions. We need to argue that the link between increasing population and increasing car-use, is not NECESSARILY true. Our local politicians and business ‘leaders’ unfortunately perceive it this way – read councillor Crowe’s puerile ‘analysis’ in the Advertiser recently. Secondly, regarding school transport/walking/cycling: A Channel 4 series two years ago proved the point comprehensively that when people were encouraged to abandon their cars for journeys of less that 3 km, the result was dramatic in 3 different medium-sized English towns, where it was tried. There are hundreds of studies on this worldwide, we don’t need to do surveys. Why are we always trying to invent the wheel in Ireland? School bus services/cycle lanes are vital in most European countries in combating traffic congestion AND providing a safe and efficient means of getting students to and from school. We already know this stuff! It’s the perception that the reduction of car-use is not the FOREMOST consideration in easing traffic congestion that we are truly having a difficult time battling.
Consider providing a ‘bus-only’ express corridor via renmore under the mellows park bridge, to the dun angus / docks road, Thus avoiding the gridlock at moneenageisha
1.Make the College road/bohermore and lough ataile road a one way system turing right at the raddison.
2. Build a underpass at the huntsman/ g hotel going east west with slip roads onto cemenrty cross/renmore. The same at tesco/dunnes round about. and the hospital/newcastl rounabouts.
3. Link buses service from claregalway, oranmore and barna as part of the urban service.
4. Bus corridor from Clarealway to Galway. The road is wide enough.
5.
1.Make the College road/bohermore and lough ataile road a one way system turing right at the raddison.
Absolutely, this needs to have been done years ago.
2 lanes in via Lough Atalia
2 lanes out via College Road
Bus corridor for Claregalway to Galway – not sure about this as these buses will not take much traffic off the road and will only serve a minority. The issue with Claregalway is that it needs to be by-passed – If this was done there would be no need for a dedicated bus lane.
Replace Kingston lights with mini-roundabout or put in new traffic lights. Traffic light sequence is the same as before Distributor Rd. was built i.e. set for priority traffic coming up from Seamus Quirke Rd. The Distributor Rd is in place for at least 12 years, of course no-one thinks to look at the traffic lights when a new road is opened. I’m convinced the traffic light system is left on default settings in Galway.
Another ridiculous light sequence is at the Taylors Hill / Newcastle Rd junction. For traffic turning right from Newcastle up Taylors hill. The main traffic light goes Red, then a few seconds later the right arrow feeder light comes on!!
Traffic light sequences in Galway are set up assuming people are going to break the lights. Have the Garda do their job and enforce the law and set the traffic lights so that we’re not all wasting our time sitting at lights were every light is red!
I agree the light sequence at taylors hill is just the worst I have seen, it is literally green for a matter of seconds, I am surprised that it has not been corrected yet.
Also I have noticed that in the summer in salthill the pedestrian crossings are used so often that the traffic is at a complete standstill, it doesnt work when multiple press the button to cross and theres only a 30second waiting time until the lights turn red.
Galway county council need to be shown the footbridges that are used in other cities, I think if any place needs one its claregalway. The mix of commuter traffic and school children crossing is a dangerous one, its a matter of time before someone looses a life. We have lost the fight for the bypass but I think we can solve the problem by using the footbridges which go up over the road to provide safe crossings. We need to use these more often.
Also it has been suggested before that the businesses around city could stagger their business hours. Not everyone has to be at their desk at exactly 9am every morning, if the arrival times were staggered from 8:30 until 9:30 then the traffic wouldnt be as severe. Employees could be designated certain arrival slots to come to work, and all the businesses could work together to agree on something like this, the same applies with going home in the evening
Develop a Smart City Transport Network that tracks the route of public transport vehicles through the city, monitoring their location, predicting speed, stops, popular routes and times, together with real-time traffic analysis. This data will allow for communication with traffic signal junctions and enable the free flow of buses. Not only will this improve commuter times but will reduce fuel consumption (and therefore operating costs) and carbon emissions. Of course this data can also be communicated to waiting passengers at bus stops.
A simple change to reduce traffic congestion, requiring no infrastructure investment would be to amend the school schedule – start the school day earlier, have schools stagger their start, or provide a pre-school drop in service if teachers unwilling to start earlier.
My local schools only open at 8.45, meaning school traffic is all concentrated between 8.30 and 9.00.
Approaching the Kingston Road/Taylors Hill and Threadneedle Road intersection from the west (Kinston Road), one lane turns into two. The left hand lane is for left turns ONLY and the right hand lane for straight ahead AND right turns. I suggest that the left hand lane be used for left turns AND straight ahead while the right hand lane be a right turn ONLY. Anyone observing this intersection during rush hours will agree with this sugestion. Often left turning traffic aren’t able to get to the left hand lane, for it is backed up to far. The most common cause for this back-up is right turning traffic waiting for a gap, blocking any progress. The majority of traffic is straight ahead, but only a few cars are able to get through during each light sequence because they share a lane with right turning taffic,which is often waiting for a gap in traffic. This would not happen if the straight through traffic shared the left hand lane with left turn traffic while leaving the right hand lane for the right turn traffic only.
I agree with K Finn, this is one of the most frustrating junctions and has been totally neglected for years.Switch the lanes as suggested above and fit a timer on the lights giving extra priority to incoming traffic from 8 to 9.30 mornings, and to outgoing traffic 5 to 7 evenings. This is simple stuff, do it.
Why not get rid of the right turn from Kingston Road to Threadneedle Road and the right turn from Taylors Hill to Bishop O’Donnell Road especially as there are alternative routes.
The easiest most efficient way to ease traffic congestion in Galway City would be to make renting out bikes or cycling attractive but to also employ more bus drivers and use more of the roads for buses as many people from the city find Bus Eireann Galway a joke. But the Parkmore bus users are blessed. Use even the coaches for some services as we all have seen before
Galway is a centuries-old town which is no match for the volume of motor vehicles trying to use it on a daily basis.
Develop other transport options and encourage people to shift towards an alternative by providing an incentive. The No. 9 bus service was derided when it was first proposed and now look at the amount of passengers that it carries every year.
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How about hiring experienced Engineers to help clear up the ridiculous building of roads. The Irish are lazy and don’t want to work and are causing delays because they get paid whether they work or not. Bring over some Chinese to help clear up the mess and it will be done in no time, but your Engineers need more experience as sometimes they don’t know what they are doing.
Two sets of traffic lights and a set of pedestrian lights within 150 metres in Woodquay/Headford Road are plainly ludicrous and are daily responsible for tailbacks stretching for at least a mile in the Headford Road direction and, at peak times, beyond the hospital in the other direction. It is preposterous that the green light at either set of traffic lights lets motorists travel only a few yards before grinding to a halt again. This is one of the worst blackspots in the city, yet no thought has gone into sorting it. It is doubtful if the standalone pedestrian lights are required here as pedestrians could be catered for at both sets of traffic lights without any major inconvenience to them, or, alternatively, a better solution would be an overpass at the location of the existing pedestrian lights. Because of its central location it would not be an attraction for vandals which is usually the excuse put forward by the City Council in the Galway City tribune for not providing them.
@ Hugh, why should pedestrians have to go over a bridge? In my opinion this shows a disregard for the elderly, the disabled and people with buggies. Perhaps the problem here is more related to a large volume of cars in a small space, it might be more conducive to look at reducing the number of cars and to look at the routes which they are taking, do they all need to be going into the city centre? This area is where the outskirts of the city merge into the city itself and it is natural that in a medieval city such as Galway with narrow streets that traffic flow should be slower in this area and volume also lesser. The planned improvements of the salmon weir bridge may also help improve the flow for cars that are going in that direction from woodquay.
I have a problem with the overall premise of your article but I still think its really informative. I really like your other posts. Keep up the great work. If you can add more video and pictures can be much better. Because they help much clear understanding.
thanks
Happy New Year to All!
I see the Galway City Outer Bypass case is now 2 years form being heard by the ECJ.
I wonder will we see it before I retire, I’m 31
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Hildegarde, the thing about places such at this is that you have to man them and maintain them and follow through long after
(…)Moderated Otherwise people like me get to come one here and call you an opportunist twat that came up with a publicity stunt after some bad press about the disgraceful state of the traffic management in Galway City.
(…)Moderated
(…)Moderated
but you are typical of people who think that a few engineering consultants at GTU are going to make a difference to Galway’s traffic crisis. Changes to driver attitudes at traffic lights are going to ease traffic congestion?? Another by-pass, and when that doesn’t work – then another one?
Hi Liamogrady,
I have contributed several posts to this forum about changes in driver attitudes. Namely about their inability to use roundabouts, dithering at traffic signals when the light goes green, driving side by side (holding hands) while driving on a dual carriageway…..etc. I whole heartedly support the need for drivers to change their attitudes and be aware of their surrounding and the rules of the road when driving.
However the fact remains that the city’s streets, especially close to the city center, are not designed or suitable for the large volumes of traffic the handle. Junctions are piled on top of one another, carriageways to narrow and volumes to large. Also traffic should not be forced through the city in order to cross it – this is a simple concept understood and accepted the world over.
Yes, the city centre is not suitable for large or even moderate volumes of traffic and therefore it should not be subjected to it. What the city centre also should not be subjected to is any attempt to change it substantially to ALLOW traffic to access it. Currently most traffic crossing the city does not go into the city-centre but over the Quincentenary bridge. A by-pass will not significantly change this situation and according to some experts, will only make things worse. A traffic reduction strategy is what Galway needs, before any of the myriad changes to infrastructure and traffic management take place. A school bus system in tandem with an effective, integrated bus system (admittedly, difficult to achieve because we have 2 operators in such a small city) and the provision of a network of cycle lanes should and could be quickly implemented. Ally these things with a work-place car pooling scheme, a ring of park-and-ride facilities and an expanded pedestrianised city-centre (you can pedestrianise instantly without huge financial outlay!) and you have a concept that will work in the short-term. Medium-term measures like coordinated/synchronised traffic lights, better junction layout, more one-way systems, CCTV monitoring and yes ultimately, when we can afford it, the longer-term goal of a by-pass. Therefore, it is primarily QUANTITATIVE not QUALITATIVE changes that we need in relation to Galway drivers. Of course I agree that drivers should behave better, but internationally, it is traffic reduction strategies that have worked rather than simply appealing to people to drive more sensibly.
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People want to travel around the city – be it to shop or work. Incliment weather, time and location requires most people to use their car as there currently are no alternatives. The biggest carpark in Galway is always seen during Galway races – the racecourse. Creating Park and Ride at Christmas shows the benefits of a bus for going to city shopping (Black Ash Park+Ride in Cork supported with Double Decker buses has proved most successful Park and Ride in Ireland). Combine this with carpooling at same location with free parking at racecourse for anyone who uses bus or carpooling. Provide a bus fare that is cheaper than carparking in city to help make attractive. For cars with 3/4 passengers collected at racecourse travelling into city who provide round trip to city should also receive free city parking at corporation carpark reserved for carpooling only. In cities in USA where this type of activity was in use, cars with 3/4 people using park and ride were allowed to use special routes. Galway has underused bus lanes which could be used to support this type of transit allowing quicker transit to/from city. Double deckers are now in Galway showing that providing alternatives people will use them.
We need more than one park-and-ride in Galway than the one we get TWICE a year at Ballybrit. We need possibly one on the Tuam Road at Casltegar, Headford Road at Ballinfoile, Clifden Road at Dangan and one in Knocknacarra. Providing a bus fare cheaper than city-centre parking is not currently feasible given that the Chamber of Commerce has just persuaded the City Council to reduce parking fees in the city-centre. Yes I know, we’re going backwards. A better idea than free parking at park-and-ride facilities would be a free bus service for all. I was in Perth, Australia in 1999 and they had a Central Area Transit bus service that was free! But this is funded by charges at the park-and-rides which ring the city, car tolling and the massive savings to business from the lack of down-town congestion.
Happy New Year to every one!
Put in a comprehensive park & ride program. But make it one that people will use though and not a unfriendly one like the Christmas bus service. There are some simple things that can be done to encourage use:
There are four main routes into the city with the majority of cars going to a few main centres – Ballybrit Ind Est (Boston Scientific), Parkmore (Medtronic + many more), city centre, University/hospital, etc…
Set-up free (FREE as in NO CHARGE) parking lots on the outskirts of town on each main entry route and offer a bus service at €1 per day or €15/month or €150/year. Each parking lot offers bus service at 5 minute intervals to the main centres during key start/finish hours. If you make it more than a 5 minute wait, people won’t use it. If you make it more than €1 per day, prople won’t use it. If you offer discounts for bulk purchase, people will use those.
Liase with key employers to determine the worker density and key start times. Perhaps request large employers to agree staggered staff start/stop times to allow optimum bus capacity flow.
At the free car parks, do not use the same bus stop for each city drop path. For example, have the ballybrit bus stop at the north side of the parking lot, the Parkmore bus at the south side, the City centre at the west side and the UniversityHospital at the east side. This will even out the parking in the free parking lots and prevent LONG walks in the rain if there was only one central bus stop.
Offer tax relief on the purchase of annual bus tickets to encourage upfront payment or offer a 10% reduction in road tax for one car with the provision of an annual bus ticket.
Each parking lot will be fenced and have CCTV. A roving patrol between the parking lots should be implemented to ensure parked care safety.
A sheltered web of criss-cross walkways to the bus stops would be beneficial for encouraging use harsh weather.
Then after 2 years implementation and proof of system efficiency… put in a congestion charge or add a €5 Euro parking charge to all parking over 5 hours.
Firstly, the bus service needs to be revamped hugely. It is a service which has remained largely the same for the last 20-25 years despite all of the changes which have happened in the city. Here are my points on it:
Change the bus service routes. Currently they criss-cross the city meaning that it is highly unlikely that in high traffic volume times they will be able to adhere to schedules. For example, the Ballybane bus goes from Ballybane all the way to Rahoon and back, which includes the mammoth roadworks in Rahoon at the moment. There is no way that a bus can adhere to their schedules.
Make all bus routes short, and effective. For example Renmore to Eyre Square and back. Mervue to Eyre Square and back. It is not a co-incidence that the bus service of Doughuisce to Eyre Square is not only the most schedule adherent, but also the most profitable.
Bring in a new ticketing system where they are made cheaper. Currently for a person to go to town in their car and park up and run a quick errand it costs 1.60. To get a bus in and out it costs 3.40. Bring in a system where a ticket costs 1.50 and is valid for 30 minutes or 45 minutes. That would encourage people to use the buses more than cars. Also, with them being valid, with shorter bus routes, they could get a bus from Mervue to town and then get a bus from town to Knocknacarra, all with the one ticket. This would bring a lot more people onto the public bus service.
Bring GPS systems onto buses. This is hugely important. Part of the problem with people waiting for buses is that they don’t know how long a bus will be, or don’t know where a bus is at a particular time, and it’s that unknown that makes people decide to drive instead of waiting. If there was GPS put onto buses and a website which showed live information about buses and their whereabouts, people could plan better and know for sure when the bus is going to be there. Also, as an employer, I do not see how Bus Eireann has not already brought this in for their own use. Surely they should have live information for their own purposes so that they can plan for eventualities when traffic problems show up or issues. It’s a case of them being able to be pro-active instead of re-active. If taxi firms are able to track their cars and see it as a necessity for their business model, how can a bus service be any different?
Make buses more frequent. People need to able to know that there will be a bus for them at least every 10-15minutes. That is just a given. Travel to any organised European city and there will be buses there with a frequency of 5-6 minutes. Why not in Galway? If there are enough buses, which are proven to be regular and reliable, people will use them.
Do a timetable study of the bus routes. 90% of all bus routes are given a time of 15minutes. That doesn’t matter if it is rush hour or the quitest part of the day. That number was just plucked out of the sky. For example, I did the sums before and the renmore bus timetable says it leaves Lisbeg Lawn at ‘x’ time and gets to Renmore at ‘y’ time. I measured the distance on google maps and to get from ‘x’ to ‘y’ in the stated time, the bus needs to be travelling at a constant speed of something like 28km/hour. The figures are around that, but the point if that with those times, the bus has had no stop times factored into it, and it is just a rough estimate that someone made 20-30years ago, which has just stuck. Proper timings need to be done over a couple of months, or over 6 months and then those proven times need to be used to create a new and accurate timetable. That doesn’t need someone to be on every bus monitoring it, that’s just part of the advantage of having GPS systems on the buses which record everything for you if you want.
Put proper bus timetables on bus stops. Currently each bus stop has a timetable which says that the bus leaves ‘a’ and gets to ‘z’ at time ‘x’ and ‘y’. That may be good for people from Galway who know where ‘a’ and ‘z’ are, but what about tourists who don’t have a clue. To them it is of no value at all. Each bus stop have accurate bus timetables at every stop. And in the future, if GPS was brought in, eventually there could be live information at bus stops for people to see accurate next bus times.
Incentive schemes for bus drivers for schedule adherence. Currently bus drivers have an incredibly tough job, and I would guess that a lot of them are probably jaded with the whole bus service which has become such a stagnant body that anybody who goes in there to make changes and be innovative just gets sucked in to the status quo which seems to exist in it. Incentive schemes should be brought in so that drivers are tracked thorough GPS and those who maintain their schedule adherence get a bonus and those who do not don’t get it. This will ensure that any stumbling blocks which are stopping them from achieving 100% of timetable adherence will be highlighted immediately. In order for the bus service to be effective and to bring in a state of continuous improvement, drivers need to really involved in it and really pro-active. In any line of work, there needs to be a way of tracking who is meeting targets and who is not, and the reasons why. The bus service should be no different.
Finally, I would suggest making Eglington Street, the top of Eyre Square (adjacent to Bank of Ireland building) and the left lane of Eyre Square (from Garveys up to Richardsons) all buses only. If those three streets and lanes were kept as only buses, it would make the flow of buses through the city centre much faster and encourage more people to use buses.
There are a lot of suggestions in this site from a lot of varied people. I really really hope that the suggestions are really taken on board and are implemented as much as possible. Part of the problem with Galway is that most decisions are made without considering the views or thoughts of the people who know best, ie, the people who live in the city and who use the roads on a daily basis and the buses on a daily basis.
Make Eyre Square and Eglinton Street bus only
A Mhéara a chara,
beatha agus sláinte chugat. This old chestnut has been irking those of us who have to commute from the western Gaeltacht villages to the city – Indreabhán to GMIT in my own case, for quite a while.
I have previously written about this subject apropos County and City Council funding and financial year – where I suggest the complete overhaul of the financial year from Jan – Dec to September to August – this would yield a number of benefits for the authorities as follows:
1. The push to empty the coffers coming up to year end (August) would force the dinal expendiature – road repairs etc to be completed when our climate is somewhat better and this in turn should help achieve better results for such repairs – winter rain floods and frost are detrimental to roadworks of any sort.
2. The bulk of morning traffic consists of school children being shuttled to school – one at a time it would sometimes seem and daily lone-commuters. Perhaps the staggering of start times of schools and public sector places of work – UCHG, NUIG, Co. Co etc. would alleviate the problem significantly.
3. Ultimately, another bridge across the Corrib is the cure to all evils – that of course and a new Western carriageway that would service the maritime cargo industry that should be shifted from Galway Docks altogether to Ros a Mhíl – where Galway docks could and should be redeveloped á la St Cyprien, Lorient or some such Continental resort.
I wish you luck,
Is mise le meas,
Páidí
For goodness sake the only solution is instead of hopping in your car in the morning do yourself and the environment a favor and take the bus/walk/cycle/run to work. I live in Roscam and work in the Parkmore industrial estate and the amount of people who work with me who hop into their 5 seater cars and drive 3/4pm to work is ridiculous. Every single car has one person sitting in them. Car pooling may even be a viable option.
I cycle to work and it takes me 10 minutes, I often meet co workers leaving Roscam and make it to work 5 minutes before them. People in this city need to reduce their dependence on cars and invest in a city bus pass (which I use occasionally) or a bike (the bike to work scheme is excellent).
Here here! The pleasure of zipping past lines of stationary motorists in the morning is reason in itself to take up cycling!
entering the east side of the city from the monivea side is easier than ever due to the new motorway, however, upon exit from the motorway just past the Galway clinic roundabout, everything comes to a grinding halt. So frustrating! There are 3 or 4 sets of traffic within a 1 mile distance, traffic backed up for the full mile, and a virtually empty bus lane. it takes me 35-40 minutes to travel from mountbellew to the galway clinic, and then 15 minutes (sometimes more!) to travel the last mile from the clinic to GMIT where i work. please, please address that empty bus lane and those horrendous, unsynchronized traffice lights.
1. Right turns should only be allowed where a right turn lane is provided e.g. there should be NO right turn off Eglington St to Woodquay to name one and right onto Ravens Terrace would be another.
2. The majority of Traffic Light sets should be on flashing amber during the day and at off peak times.
3. Pedstrian crossings should be on a shorter “green time” for pedestrians with longer “flashing amber time” instead.
4. Loading/Unloading, bin collection etc should not be allowed during peak travel/commuter times, i.e. between 07:30 and 10:00 and nothing after 15:00 to 19:00.
5. No point in revamping the Bus Service until there are proper arteries and a roadworks free environment for it to work on.
6. A form of benchmarking should be introduced for ALL stakeholders that have ANY connection with traffic issues because as well as it being these people it concerns these are the same people that cause the problems. Ranging from the Executives of GTU right as far as the pedestrian, taking into account Gardai, Taxi Drivers, Bus Operators, An Post, City Council Vehicles, Refuse Collectors, Local Businessesand so on and so on.
@JackF That reads like a motorists wish list rather than a sustainable transport proposal!
2 & 3 aim to make life harder for pedestrians by switching priority to the motor vehicle in all cases at crossings. “Hurry up and get across that road, there’s a car waiting!”. We see poor adherence to red lights all round already, constant flashing amber is just going to make the situation worse.
4 is far too restrictive and assumes that all such traffic is local, it may make sense for things like bin service but would prove impractical for deliveries.
5 Then take all other traffic off the road too if that’s the criteria. Improving the bus service is critical to getting more cars off the road. The answer isn’t building more roads it’s reducing use of inefficient transport modes.
6 Everybody except the private motorist you mean?
I am a cyclist.
I cycle to work, to go to college, to see friends, I often go for weeks without being in a car. For me it is simply the way to travel in a city, it is quicker, more fun and keeps me reasonably fit. Granted this is a place with a high level of rainfall and sometimes that can be a pain but you just get on with it!
The thing I find hard to deal with is the traffic. I am a confident cyclist, and am pretty quick so I don’t get in the way of the motorists too much, but still I find it a little unerving at times to be stuck in the middle of traffic with buses and trucks overtaking me on narrow Galway roads. For this reason I can understand it when friends tell me they would like to cycle but just don’t feel they can! For me the introduction of more infrastructure to facilitate cycling as a primary way of transport is an obvious and very necesscary step that needs to be taken. In a country where obesity is on the rise and oil prices continue to climb it just seems like the right option. And when I say cycling infrastructure I DO NOT mean a stripe on the road. I dash of paint and a picture of a bicyle does not a cycle path make!
I am a cyclist and I will continue to cycle whatever the weather and whatever the traffic. I just wish more people could too……
1. Bus Eireann or City Direct to provide buses running from Knocknacarra through Westside, over Quincentenial Bridge to schools, colleges and industrial estates etc on the East side, at least a few each way in the mornings and evenings to begin with as a trial.
2. Rahoon traffic lights are gone. Let’s hope it stays that way.
3. A link road from Rahoon Road to Circular Road (as near as possible to Siobhan McKenna Rd) This would provide a realistic alternative route all the way from Cappagh and Ballymoneen Roads in Knocknacarra (and the Bearna Road) all the way over to Thomas Hynes Road.
4 A roundabout at the top of Taylors Hill.
5. 50kph limit on Quincentenial Bridge and N6 out to Ballybrit to be raised to at least 60kph.
6. In rest of the city, 50kph limit to be strictly enforced. When traffic traveling at 60kph, a problem like roadworks or traffic lights leads rapidly to traffic build up. When traffic travels at 50kph, build up is slower and has much more time to clear. Also for cars coming coming off minor roads, it’s much easier if traffic on main route is doing 50, rather than 60kph. Last, but not least, If you hit a pedestrian at 50kph, they have an 80% chance of living. Hit them at 60kph and it’s 80% chance they’ll die.
7 Junction of Ballymoneen and Bearna Roads, extremely dangerous due to wall and tall trees on edge of private residence on the corner. Impossible for motorists coming down Ballymoneen Road to see oncoming traffic from left. Trees should be removed and wall pushed back.
6 Alternatively perhaps traffic lights should be considered at above junction in
context of providing alternative route from Thomas Hynes Road or roundabout at Cappagh Road/Bearna Road jctn.
Simple Tax incentive to swap the car from the bus: Commuters with a receipt for motor tax should be able to purhase monthly bus tickets at a reduced price. Otherwise, once motor tax is paid, the incentive is to get value for money by using it daily.
Lets get rid of traffic lights (especially at roundabouts) as all over the world there is evidence that traffc lights cause traffic delays. Check it out
http://youtu.be/ZS_wjo378h4
The Traffic enginer Mr Firth from Somerset really has it nailed – getting rid of the lights was an unbelievable success but is the start of a long journey in making the roads fit for people.
Lets give im a call and let him assess our situation.
Or can Galway try switching off the lights for a month at key junctions? Lets do it quick before there are any more roundabouts converted. If we do it now it will likely save us a lot of time and money,(money we don’t have).
Its possible that the optimum solution to Galway traffic may need the least investment.
Galway Council are commited to switching on more and more lights. They replaced the roundabout at Briar Hill with lights and couldn’t be arsed to sequence them properly. It now takes me ten minutes longer to get to work and I use more fuel. You pay top dollar and still get monkeys.
It doesn’t matter whether you have lighted junctions or roundabouts! Galway’s traffic will be congested regardless of junction type or whether or not lights are sequenced. Lighted junctions are merely aids to better traffic management – the one at Briar Hill slows the pace of traffic flowing into the eastern suburbs in the morning but unfortunately reverses the effect in the afternoon. That’s why it takes you longer to get into work! Accessing this type of junction from minor roads is easier, because of the regulating effect of the lights. Of course if you are a pedestrian or cyclist, these junctions are a major improvement. However, better management is nevertheless, Galway City Council’s only real traffic strategy currently. Traffic reduction strategies really haven’t been tried yet, and are not likely to, except perhaps in the most cosmetic of ways. In fact, the recent reduction in car-parking charges in the city centre, is proof that the council doesn’t even understand that traffic reduction should be the ultimate goal, like it is in most European countries.
What the hell happened on Friday? Hmm? hours of my life wasted on a friggin bridge. Any answers or do we just get another shrug of the shoulders form our highly paid highly incompetent city managers?
Hey Hilde, wtf is going on here?
Just 3 quick comments.
1. There should be no right turn when you come out from Dunnes in Westside onto the new road. This right turn means that all the traffic coming from town has to stop for the lights when there may only be one car turning. Motorist have numerous other options to them than taking that right turn!
2. The lights at the top of Threadneedle Road has to be on a timer for evening and morning traffic. Motorists coming from the Taylors hill side in the evening should be given more time while there is less time for those taking a right coming from the Westside.
3. Finally, Please, please, please consider that at all traffic lights that you can make a left turn when it is safe to go. This works in many other countries and I can’t see why it could not work here. There is only one that i can think of in Galway at the Cresent and it works perfectly.
I know these will not alleviate the bigger problem, but until the council use common sense when deciding what “Strategies” to go with, there will always be problems. Strategy is the long term goal, Planning is how to get to that strategy!!!!!
Good ideas, left turn on green should be allowed on any junction – it is done everywhere else… Or Maybe council thinks Irish aren’t good enough drivers? :>