A new route for the planned £300 million motorway between Galway and Ballinasloe on the N6 was unveiled at a meeting of Galway County Council yesterday.
Consultants MC O'Sullivan and Company have opted to take a new route for the 55.5 km stretch of roadway, passing just south of Athenry, Kiltullagh, and New Inn, and north of Loughrea where congestion and long delays are a regular occurrence.
Under the plan, Loughrea will be served by a new bypass and will be connected to the new main Galway-to-Dublin road by a new link road along the route of an old railway line.
The road, which meets the Government's aim of having a dual carriageway along the entire length of the N6 under the National Development Plan, is due to be completed by 2006.
Meanwhile, environmental groups in the city have organised a petition for a Galway Transport Initiative, which would be broadly similar to the integrated plan for Dublin.
The Galway Environmental Alliance and the Hands Across the Corrib groups hope to collect over 20,000 signatures, calling for a new transport initiative for the city and county. They want an end to traffic gridlock in and around the city, integration of transport with future developments, and the suspension of proposals for a fifth bridge across the River Corrib until the initiative publishes its findings.