Sir, – Dr Pat Collins, an economic geographer at the University of Galway, hits the nail on the head when he points out that the way that Galway has been planned is in large part responsible for its well-documented traffic problems (Keith Duggan, “Time to plan for the Galway Arts Festival and the Galway Races, but where is the plan for the city’s clogged-up roads?”, Analysis, July 31st).
But what’s clear is that this is not the product of some bygone era. In the past few months we’ve had local politicians and officials repeating easily disprovable claims that exaggerate the walkability of proposed car-dependent housing developments.
Attempts to build even modest cycle infrastructure have been met with a degree of palatial antipathy that would solve congestion in a few years if that same energy were applied instead to measures that are proven to reduce car dependence.
Commuters often state, with all sincerity, that they’d use public transport and cycle if the infrastructure were there.
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But this won’t happen as long as the people that run cities like Galway continue to operate under the principle that car dependence can be reduced without reducing car journeys as well.
To pick up on a point made by Independent TD Catherine Connolly in the same article, the knowledge that there are other ways doesn’t help a stressed parent on a September morning who needs to bring the kids to school before heading into work.
But when it comes to voting and other political engagement, the choice is a bit clearer – people who promise that “one more road” will fix it, or people who are prepared to follow the evidence and to back both planning and infrastructure that actively reduce the need for cars.
Finally, the above argument can be made even if you disregard (as the State’s largest parties seem intent on doing) the elephant in the room that is the urgent need to reduce emissions, particularly those from transport. – Yours, etc,
DAVE MATHIESON,
Salthill,
Galway.