A long-anticipated report into congestion across Irish cities has been circulated several months after its publication, and its findings for Galway city are damning.
The Department of Transport’s research unit announced its ‘The Economic Cost of Congestion in Regional Cities 2022-20540’ report last year, but distribution of the full study was delayed until now.
It predicts that residents of the Galway Metropolitan Area will experience the highest annual per capita cost of congestion for all Irish cities, at €891 per person. In comparison, the annualised cost of congestion to a Waterford city inhabitant will be just €227 by 2040.
These costs to individuals are mostly calculated as travel time hindrances, but also include indirect costs, including health issues related to emissions.
Rising population and economic growth are the main drivers of traffic congestion, with peak delays expected in Galway around the year 2030.
The report authors expect congestion will decline slightly after 2030, assuming a ring road, new bus system and improved rail services are in place, but an increase in remote working may have a greater impact. Meanwhile, new junctions onto a ring road will become new locations for intense traffic jams, the report notes, and congestion will build again based on greater demand.
Studies show congestion is most likely to increase during rush-hour, but Galway is unique amongst regional cities in that lunchtime congestion is also set to soar. Unlike Cork and Waterford, this indicates Galway will be gridlocked all day, not just during the morning or evening commuter jams.
This midday traffic is particularly relevant for goods vehicles, with their cost of congestion expected to rise 403 per cent over 20 years, while the cost for private vehicle users in Galway increases 162 per cent in the same period.
Assuming a ring road is in place by 2040, the report suggests a short-term alleviation of traffic flow in the city centre after 2030. “However, increased transport demand will eventually result in the bypass becoming congested without further intervention,” the report warns.
It predicts that the cost of traffic congestion for the Galway Metropolitan Area will increase 261 per cent by the year 2030, costing the city €106.9m, compared to €35.3m in 2022.
The report’s modelling is based in the 2016 Galway Transport Strategy, which includes Galway city, Barna, Oranmore, Moycullen and Claregalway. An updated Galway Transport Strategy was expected early last year, but no sign yet.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, said the National Transport Authority (NTA ) is still developing the latest Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (GMATS ) with Galway’s city and county councils. He hinted that a “potential case” for light rail may be included in it “under certain conditions”.
Minister O’Brien confirmed the NTA will await An Coimisiún Pleanála’s decision on the re-submitted N6 Galway City Ring Road before finalising GMATS, which will then go to public consultation.
The government has allocated more than €1 billion in the National Development Plan to build a 12.5km motorway from the N6 at Coolagh, to near the Ballymoneen Road, and a further 5km of single carriageway onward to the Coast Road, past Barna.
Before Christmas, government party politicians were letting it be known that a planning decision on the Ring Road would be made this month, but informed sources are now suggesting in six weeks’ time.
Last week, Galway’s TDs received correspondence from An Coimisiún Pleanála confirming that a second oral hearing will not be necessary for the planning body’s current reassessment of the Ring Road project. This second appraisal stems from the High Court’s 2023 decision to quash a previous planning permission for the orbital route.
The first oral hearing began in February 2020, and finished in November that year.
