Motorists can expect diversions and delays on the main Galway to Dublin road over the next nine days as up to 60,000 visitors from throughout Europe are expected to attend the annual Ballinasloe Horse Fair and Festival.
The nine days of festivities, centred around the oldest horse fair in Europe, will provide a boost of up to €5.5 million to the east Galway economy at the end of the traditional harvesting season.
Horse traders and interested spectators from Britain, Scandinavia, Northern Ireland and from throughout the Republic are expected to attend the festival, which had to be cancelled for the first time in its 280-year history last year due to a fresh outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain.
Gardaí have warned businesses in the town to be on their guard against criminal elements attending the festival and they have urged people living alone and the elderly to be wary of strangers calling to their doors during the festival.
The event co-ordinator for the fair and festival, Mr Colm Croffy, said yesterday he was "relieved and delighted" to see the horse fair go ahead again this weekend following the bitter disappointment of having to postpone it at short notice last year.
"It was a painful decision to make last year, but we believe we made the right one in the interests of the country and we are delighted that the biggest event of the year is taking place in Ballinasloe again this October," he said.
The biggest crowds are expected for today's fair parade through the town at 2.30 p.m., when long traffic delays are anticipated.
Throughout the weekend, there will be diversions on the N6.
East-bound traffic will be diverted at Cahir Cross, about two miles west of Ballinasloe, before rejoining the N6 at the Athlone bypass.
Traffic coming from the Dublin and Athlone direction will be diverted off the N6 at Beagh, before joining the N6 again at Cahir Cross.