The NTA "paused" the #GalwayTransportStrategy and withdrew funding for a supposedly "unviable" greenway bridge over the Corrib.
The latest news is that >100 derelict properties in the city have been identified as derelict, and the City Council has issued 18 formal derelict site notices to ITSELF.
@cubbardgalwayfirst.bsky.social Are you aware of any report detailing what projects have already been delivered and completed in the first ten years of the #GalwayTransportStrategy, which was formally adopted by the City Council in 2016?
How much of the GTS funding "allocation" has been spent?
2018: "The estimated cost to deliver the #GalwayTransportStrategy is in the ballpark of €250 million to €300 million ... The GTS has a 20-year horizon with significant front-loading in the first ten years and a huge amount of work targeted for years one to five."
www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/d...
You'll have noticed that the NTA is sitting on its hands in relation to the #GalwayTransportStrategy, which they assured us nearly a decade ago was a major, transformative plan with a budget "allocation" of up to "€300 million".
The #N6GCRR is the real objective.
www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...
The "€200 million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy was adopted by @galwaycity.ie in 2016.
What has actually been delivered in the past decade? And what were the outcomes in terms of car dependence and travel behaviour?
@frankmcdonald60.bsky.social This still rankles. 👇
Can you actually believe that this was an official response from the NTA, when they were asked to explain why they endorsed a key tenet of the #GalwayTransportStrategy, ie that "delay on the road network" would be increased by bus and bike lanes?
NINE YEARS AGO. 👇
One year into the "€200-million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy.
#243DaysOfRain
bsky.app/profile/cosa...
"For many travelling from Oranmore, the problem with public transport is not the number of buses scheduled, but whether those buses actually arrive when they are supposed to. Missed connections, unpredictable delays and congestion entering Galway has become the norm."
#GalwayTransportStrategy
2016: "Mr Creegan indicated that implementation of the proposed #GalwayTransportStrategy would be of the order of €200 to €250 million. However, this cost would be spread over a considerable period of up to 20 years."
Two transport-related news reports in the Galway City Tribune. 2nd January 2026: The National Transport Authority confirms that it has scrapped plans for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Corrib, because they have no money for the project. 26th December 2025: The National Transport Authority says that development of Light Rail for Galway City is contingent on construction of a second ring road (which had a price tag of at least €600 million over a decade ago).
For the past decade, promoters of the #GalwayTransportStrategy have done very little to dispel suspicions that it is nothing but a scam. Launched in 2016 as a €250 million 20-year plan, it was later rebranded as a €200m 10-year plan and sold as “better value”.
Ten years on, what has been delivered?
@illanwall.bsky.social is right.
It should be noted, however, that a hierarchy of measures favouring active travel in general has allegedly been official City Council policy for many years. There were TWO walking & cycling strategies published before the #GalwayTransportStrategy arrived in 2016.
Not just (some) councillors.
This was literally the policy position endorsed by the National Transport Authority in the 2016 #GalwayTransportStrategy in order to justify their support for the proposed #GalwayCityRingRoad.
'Bike lanes delay traffic, so we need major road expansion first.'
For example, the NTA endorsed the #GalwayTransportStrategy, a proposal based on construction of a 1970s-style urban expressway, coupled with a plan that would increase modal share for cars, reduce cycling and achieve a paltry mode share of 5% for public transport, by 2039.
bsky.app/profile/cosa...
The "€200 million" #GalwayTransportStrategy was launched in 2016.
There have been some improvements to bus services since then, but such developments were in progress anyway.
The GTS has not been transformative. And now it's "paused" while the politically superior ring road project is prioritised.
Are you even aware that the #GalwayTransportStrategy has been paused, @micheal-martin.bsky.social?
Can you tell us how many major transport projects have been delivered — and are currently operational — under the "10-year €200-million" GTS since it was launched in 2016?
The #GalwayTransportStrategy (2016) envisaged a 5% modal share for public transport, to be achieved in the year 2039.
That's about a tenth of what we should be striving for right now.
The Galway City Flood Relief Scheme offers the potential of a number of "enhancement opportunities", including "accessibility and connectivity to and within the city centre through implementation of measures included in the #GalwayTransportStrategy, Public Realm Strategy [and] Connemara Greenway".
A man pushing a pram on Rahoon Road in Galway as a bus approaches. There is no footpath where he is walking.
A man pushing a pram in Rahoon on a stretch of road with no footpath. In the background another person is walking on the road as a bus passes.
Rahoon Road in #Galway.
It's a bus route, apparently, but not one that merits stops, timetables, shelters or footpaths.
Oh, and the 2016 "€200-million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy has been "paused" indefinitely.
Person cycling on a roadway, surrounded by traffic, including a bus and a large black jeep. There is a wide grass verge on one side of the road and a golf course on the other.
NTA's #GalwayTransportStrategy 2016 (currently "paused"): "The R337 Kingston Road is quite narrow. We propose traffic calming and signage to advertise the presence of cyclists."
2025: 👇
Excerpt from the Galway Transport Strategy mentions Smarter Travel Workplaces.
If only the City Council and the NTA had heard of the Smarter Travel Workplace programme.
#GalwayTransportStrategy
The Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy has been "in the works" since 2022 and is now "paused".
#GMATS replaces the "€200-million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy, which was adopted in 2016, and which clearly failed to deliver.
A farcical situation, though hardly a surprising one.
This week it was reported that Hugh Creegan, former Roads Authority executive & interim CEO of the National Transport Authority, had "paused" & "deferred" the #GalwayTransportStrategy until a planning decision is made on the proposed second ring road for the city.
www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...
The "€200-million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy was launched in 2016.
In 2017, the Chief Executive of Galway City Council said that "adequate bus shelters" to protect against "243 days of rain" per year was "the solution which best suited this city".
archive.connachttribune.ie/congestion-c...
Excerpt from the N6 Galway City Ring Road EIAR non-technical summary, dated 2018. In developing the N6 GCRR project, GCC have been cognisant of the need to consider alternatives to the proposed road development. Having established the need for the project, and in consideration in detail of alternatives, the N6 GCRR was developed. The N6 GCRR forms part of, and is identified as a project within, the ‘Galway Transport Strategy’ (GTS). The GTS was prepared by Galway City Council and GCC, in partnership with the National Transport Authority (NTA). The GTS is based on a comprehensive assessment of transport issues facing Galway City and the wider environs and the need to develop a sustainable, integrated transport solution to accommodate existing and future travel demand, thereby facilitating Galway growing “in an integrated, sustainable manner that aligns transport investment with settlement patterns, travel movements and also supports a sustainable use of land” (Galway City Council Development Plan 2017–2023). The GTS is currently being implemented by Galway City Council, both in terms of the policy objectives established and the delivery of transport projects identified within the strategy.
The #N6GCRR promoters explicitly stated that the ring road was just one element of the broader #GalwayTransportStrategy.
Between 2016–2018 or thereabouts, Galway City Council insisted that the GTS was “currently being implemented”, including its policy goals and specific transport projects.
The #GalwayTransportStrategy, from its origins in 2015, was fabricated as a Special Purpose Vehicle to deliver the City Council's long-sought second ring road. Its promoters knew that they had to present a supposedly "integrated" programme in a certain way to pass the "sustainability" sniff test.
City Council officials emphatically declared several years ago that implementation of the "€200-million 10-year" #GalwayTransportStrategy was proceeding in parallel with the ring road project, and was not waiting for it.
All lies.
Is anybody surprised?
www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...
