Galway Bay fm newsroom - A high level meeting has been organised for next week to discuss a major communications failure at Briarhill junction, and Galway's ongoing traffic congestion problems.
The congestion has today been described as a bigger threat to Galway than BREXIT.
From early morning until lunchtime today, motorists spent up to an hour stuck in traffic on the M6 coming in to the Coolagh roundabout - with tailbacks extending as far back as the Oranmore exit.
Similar delays were experienced by drivers using the Oranmore dual carriageway, with traffic backed up beyond the Carrowmoneash roundabout.
The issue followed the installation of new control equipment at the Briarhill junction.
In a statement to Galway Bay fm news, the City Council says a communications failure and software issues led to the major delays - but the issue has now been resolved.
A meeting has been organised for next Tuesday by Galway West TD Noel Grealish who's calling for an emergency taskforce to be set up in light of the city's ongoing traffic problems.
He'll meet with City CEO Brendan McGrath and Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curley in a bid to find a solution.
The traffic chaos affecting city and county motorists has been described at County Hall today as a bigger threat to Galway than Brexit.
Oranmore/Athenry councillor Martina Kinnane was one of many members to air their concerns at a council meeting today regarding congestion at Parkmore.
Independent councillor Jim Cuddy said the tailbacks can no longer be tolerated with people regularly arriving late for work and children regularly tardy arriving for school.
Loughrea area councillor Jimmy McClearn said the situation needs to be dealt with as a crisis and the IDA is wasting its time in its efforts to attract investment while this problem continues.
County CEO Kevin Kelly said every junction is over-capacity, and efforts are ongoing to progress Galway city ring road and Galway Transportation Strategy.
He said proposals for light rail have been examined and have been found not to be the best option for the city.
He said volumes of traffic and its unpredictability are key factors.
The county chief said that while the traffic this morning is ‘very regrettable’, time is needed to allow the weekend’s sequencing adjustments to be refined and tweaked.
The CEO says the city council is advancing phase one of the action plan for Parkmore in association with Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the IDA.
He said a further series of medium term actions are being planned but these will require land acquisition.
