Traffic chaos at Parkmore inconvenient and dangerous, says City Councillor

Issued : Thursday 12 May, 2016

The traffic situation in Parkmore Business Park is “not only an inconvenience, it is dangerous”. With people “caught in their cars for over an hour”, demands are being made for the gardaí to be brought in to deal with traffic management at peak hours.

Labour city councillor Niall McNelis is calling on City Hall chief executive Brendan McGrath to request the gardaí for assistance in dealing with the situation. While he acknowledged that works are in the pipeline for a new entrance, the new exit and road layout is not expected to be completed until 2017. Furthermore Cllr McNelis was critical of the absence of a traffic management plan during the original construction of the park.

“It was an utter disgrace that no one thought of a traffic strategy while developing this business park,” he said. “People stuck for more than an hour outside their work place in the evening are panicking, getting anxious, and this will, and does, lead to aggression - which no one needs trying to get home in the evening.

Last December, workers at Parkmore were informed that a working group had been formed “to find and drive solutions to traffic issues” at Parkmore. The Parkmore Traffic Action Group includes the Galway city and county councils, and the IDA. The notice said the IDA intended to apply for planning permission for construction of a new link road and junction to connect with an existing access road, within the park, to alleviate traffic travelling to the N17.