Concerns were raised today that the city’s traffic congestion problems extended into the county.
Galway City Council says it was ‘inundated’ with calls this morning as commuters faced tailbacks of up to five kilometers on the approach to the city.
Hundreds of motorists spent more than an hour stuck in traffic on the M6 coming in to the Coolagh roundabout – with tailbacks extending as far back as the Oranmore exit.
This morning, the delays have gone well beyond peak time, and continue to persist this afternoon.
The Council said there was a communications failure at the Briarhill junction, resulting in traffic disruption. The failure followed works on the upgrade to the traffic lights over the weekend.
Spokesperson Uinsinn Finn said the Council’s Transport Section had contractors and engineers on site to resolve the fault.
He said at lunchtime they had cleared the traffic queues and the fault would be fully resolved by the afternoon..
Over the weekend, the traffic lights were switched off to facilitate the installation of new control equipment.
Motorists now claim the changes have made matters worse, with only 3 or 4 cars getting through the green light inbound at each time.
County Councillor Joe Byrne said it took him an hour to get from Oranmore to the Galway Clinic – yet the city is relatively traffic free.
He says the time has now come for Galway County Council to step in.
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