Residents of two notorious rat runs on the east side of the city say they have had enough, and will stage protests tomorrow, Friday, November 28, during morning rush hour.
People living on opposite sides of Nolan Park in Renmore - in Murrough Avenue and Renmore Park - claim the city council is not following its own policies to manage 'through traffic' as more than 30,000 vehicles take a shortcut through the residential area weekly to skip busy junctions on the nearby Dublin Road.
Organisers say policies of Galway City Council, The National Transport Authority, Department of Transport and Department of Housing are not being adhered to, creating environmental, standard-of-life and safety concerns for a neighbourhood with two special schools, two large primary schools and many elderly residents.
"The Council's current stance - that it "cannot" intervene to address the problem of up to 4,444 vehicles daily on Murrough Avenue, Renmore - is inconsistent with the principles and commitments of [its own policy] documents," says protest organiser Pat Spelman, of the local RAT (Renmore Area Traffic ) committee.
Residents say illegal parking at junctions, opposite white lines, and on pavements, is exacerbating the problem, making the neighbourhood unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists, and reducing the ability of larger vehicles to efficiently navigate estates, including oil trucks, bin lorries, delivery vans and - ultimately - fire engines.
Organisers say community gardaí for the Renmore-Ballybane-Mervue district do not have access to a vehicle for roads policing, and that they rarely see council wardens ticketing illegal parking near the Full Duck Café, Duggans' Spar, and Bon Secours hospital, which adds to congestion, hazard and concentrations of emissions in the residential area, despite free, legal parking nearby.
Google Maps and Waze is advising drivers - including large tour buses not suited to narrow roads - to travel through Renmore to shave a few minutes off journey times, and national route quantities of traffic - 42 per cent of Dublin Road traffic over a 12-hour period - on suburban streets is destroying road surfaces, especially in Murrough.
The RAT committee used a Freedom of Information request to access City Council traffic data from November 2024. It showed two-in-every-five drivers exceed local speed limits, with one driver clocked at 61.8kmph in a 30kmph zone. One Renmore Park resident purchased his own speed gun, and clocked a vehicle driving at 76kmph.
At peak times, 200 vehicles pass through Murrough every 15 minutes. With more than 60 per cent of traffic travelling west to east, RAT members have suggested what they claim are simple and cheap disincentives to rat runners which would not discommode genuine visitors and locals.
Proposals include erecting centreline bollards from the eastern junction of Murrough Avenue as far as the shops on Gleann Rua to dis-incentivise rat runners from the Skerritt (ATU ) roundabout turning right into Murrough, and temporarily deploying large planters to create chicanes across the neighbourhood to reduce speed - first suggested by the Galway Cycling Campaign in 2020.
Correspondence seen by the Galway Advertiser shows city engineers rejecting these suggestions.
East ward city councillor Shane Forde (FG ) says he can see no "short-term, quick fix" to the issues which he believes must be addressed when Dublin Road is upgraded for BusConnect.
Councillor Terry O'Flaherty (Ind ) said her 2007 motion to remove the Skerrit Roundabout, and replace it with a timed filter system to dissuade rat running from the Dublin Road, was passed unanimously, but was never funded. "This should be a stand-alone measure, and not part of BusConnect, so it can be done now," she said.
A one-way system introduced in Renmore Park to reduce rat running was removed at the request of Councillor Mike Crowe (FF ) in 2012 because of safety concerns - many drivers were simply ignoring the rule.
Plans are currently in place to rezone 35 acres in Murrough for housing, while a planning application was submitted last month for 57 apartments and 25 houses on three fields south of Murrough Avenue.