Galway City councillors have voted in favour of replacing the roundabout at the Menlo Park Hotel with a four-arm signalised junction, despite concerns that it will create an ‘iron curtain’ for people living off the Headford Road.
The €1.2 million project will now go to final design, and construction is expected to commence early next year, taking around six months to complete.
The redesign will also see the Coolough Road diverted onto the N84 Headford Road, and the creation of a new slip road from the junction to enter Coolough/Menlo.
At a meeting of Galway City Council on Monday night, Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said he “passionately believes” that doing nothing with the Kirwan roundabout is not an option, and that to move ahead with the Galway Transport Strategy would require some very bold, difficult and challenging decisions.
According to consultants, the average delays at Kirwan will be reduced by 25%, while the junction capacity will increase by 15% – officials also predict a 90% reduction in rat-running through Tirellan, although the basis for this claim was challenged by a number of councillors who said relevant traffic counts had not been carried out. This was rejected by one of the consultants.
Cllr Mark Lohan (Sinn Féin) said he was opposing the plan to replace the roundabout, because realigning the Coolough Road would effectively bring down an iron curtain on residents in areas like Tirellan, Menlo and Castlelawn.
Cllr Mike Crowe (FF) raised the issue of one family, who operate a B&B on the N84 Headford Road close to the roundabout and have been living there for the past 50 years.
He said that rather than creating a situation where the family would become prisoners in their own home, with lights shining into the front of their house and “platoons of vehicles” passing at all angles, the Council should create a new entrance 15-20 feet away through Sandyvale Lawn.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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