The National Roads Authority has been accused of adopting a blinkered attitude to new highways planned to link major urban centres under the national plan by the proponents of a campaign to alter radically the Dublin-Galway route.
If the NRA decided on a completely new route north of the N6 between Athlone and Galway, it would save about £100 million, knock 10 miles off the Dublin-Galway route and significantly cut journey times, according to a Galway county councillor, Mr Joe Burke (PD).
He has received cross-party support over a wide area of north Galway and south Mayo. The economic and environmental benefits of taking a more direct, northerly route than the current N6 through the population centres of Ballinasloe and Loughrea are such that his argument, he says, could not be rejected as a parochial one in the interests of his bailiwick of north Galway.
Those benefits aside, he adds, a completely new highway route, under Government plans to link all major cities by motorway or dual carriageway by 2006, would provide vital transport infrastructure to a part of the western region which has been "deplorably served for generations".
He believes compulsory purchase orders would be less costly with the route they propose, as the corridor would have to negotiate less developed areas.
"The N6, as it exists, can still be a major asset as it give users a choice of route, which will prove necessary with the kind of increases in traffic volumes being predicted for our roads." The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, a party colleague, says the proposal had merits in the context of a possible average journey time of under two hours between Galway and Dublin. "It is the shortest route into the west, which is critical to the development of the whole region."
He is talking to roads experts in the Department about the option, while consultants are being appointed to "establish the line" for different sections of the route.
They would have to determine what was viable, taking into account "serving the greatest number of people". Access for Ballinasloe and Loughrea would be an issue. This would have to take into account the influence of the current Dublin-Galway road.
The highway, it is generally envisaged, will run separate to the old N6 route though it may be beside it. On that basis, notwithstanding the obvious merits of a shorter route, he would await the consultants' verdict.
Mr Burke has also called on the authority to investigate the merits of building a dual carriageway between Tuam and Galway away from the N17 on a more easterly route and connecting with the Dublin-Galway highway north of Athenry. This part of the N17 is due to be made into a dual carriageway. "The combined saving on both routes would, based on standard construction costs, be £117 million."
He does not dispute the authority's expertise, but says the national plan has changed the road-building scenario dramatically and requires new thinking.
The roads authority has informed local TDs that consultants have been appointed by Galway County Council to examine possible routes for the proposed Ballinalsoe-Galway road and a further appointment is to be made shortly to look at the Ballinasloe-Athlone route.
