According to
Inrix, Galway is, after Dublin, the second-most congested city in Ireland. This is, in many ways, unsurprising. Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Derry all have larger populations, but Cork and Limerick both have (half) ring roads that enable through traffic to bypass the city centre, while Belfast has an inner city bypass. Galway, on the other hand, funnels all traffic transiting the city over the 4-lane Quincentenary Bridge. What's more, the city is laid out such that the residential areas are mostly in the west, and the employment centres are mostly in the east, so that most working people drive across this bridge twice per day.
As always with transportation problems, this has given rise to lively debate over the best solution. There is a ring road proposed for Galway as an extension of the M6 motorway from Dublin that currently dumps traffic onto city roads, but due to geographical and environmental constraints, it needs to be built much closer to the city than ring roads typically run, which has raised concerns that it will only make traffic problems worse. There is a good explanation of the history and status of the project in
The Journal. Although that article says a decision on the project was due from An Bord Pleanála in April, that has now been delayed twice
to August, so we still don't know if this is getting built.
But only a fool would think that a ring road by itself would solve the city's congestion problems. A good public transport network is vital to reducing car dependency in any modern city, and given the low population density in and around Galway, buses are the favoured option. Galway City Council has now announced that they intend to submit plans for a new Cross City Link bus project
by the end of the year. Crucially, this proposal includes restrictions on private traffic during peak hours, which will help deal with the problem of buses being delayed by the same congestion problems as cars.
There is a brochure with some preliminary details on the project on
Arup's website, although we will have to wait and see what the Council submits to An Bord Pleanála. If they get it right, this could go hand-in-hand with the ring road to significantly reduce the number of cars on Galway's streets.