A farmer whose land was split by the route of the new Gort to Tuam motorway says he will now have to teach his cattle to swim – because the underpass provided is built on a turlough.
Michael Burke from Ballymaquive, Ardrahan, said that he told the design team that they were running the road through an area that floods every year.
He is being provided with the underpass to access 35 acres on the other side of his land after the motorway route dissected his farm.
And he said that, despite his reservations, the contractors proceeded to construct the walls of the tunnel – and following the recent floods, this is now under eight feet of water.
The South Galway farmer believes that if they proceed with this, he will be cut off from part of his lands for several months.
“I don’t think the so-called experts knew what they were doing when they were designing the motorway,” Michael Burke told The Connacht Tribune.
“Unless I teach my cattle to swim, this tunnel will be of no use to me. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be a joke,” he added.
He said that the motorway passing through his lands is being constructed on a turlough that floods every year – and he informed the design team of this when he was first approached.
Now one Councillor has called for a total review of the motorway route as a matter of urgency, as the main flooding continues to subside.
Sections of the route of the motorway, which is currently under construction, were left under water during the month-long crisis while adjacent lands were flooded by what farmers believe is displaced waters as a result of the €550 million project.
Cllr Sean Canney believes that the flooding should be “a learning curve” for those involved in the scheme. He believes changes have to be made.
“If they proceed as planned, then there will be sections of the completed motorway closed if we get similar downpours. This is much too serious to ignore and now is the time to make changes,” Cllr Canney added.
The independent councillor also wants additional culverts to be provided so that the motorway will not result in the creation of artificial lakes.
Meanwhile, the cost of clean-up across the county in the wake of recent flooding is now set to reach the €15 million mark.
The figure was revealed during a presentation given to a special sitting of Galway County Council to discuss the flooding experienced in recent weeks.
The biggest outlay of the clean-up is the repair of roads, which is set to cost the local authority over €8 million.
The repair of bridges, culverts and drainage channel repairs will cost a further €4 million – while the emergency response to the floods will cost almost €2.5 million.
The post I’ll have to teach cattle to swim appeared first on Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune.