This article is from page 12 of the 2006-05-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
IN A last gasp effort to force the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Galway County Council to include a second entrance to Gort in the planned Crusheen to Ennis bypass, GRACE (Gort Regional Alliance for Community and Environment) has lodged a 5,000-word environmental impact statement.
The submission was made by GRACE on behalf of 22 separate Gort-based groups including the Brazilian Association of Gort, the Gort Chamber of Commerce and the Lion’s Club.
It argues that the road, in its current guise, will be economically and socially devastating for the town.
The submission raises a number of key points including the town’s rapidly expanding population, the level of traffic through the town daily, the impact of the bypass on tourism, and safety issues.
In the submission, it is claimed that the current population of the area has been represented incorrectly and future growth has been grossly underestimated.
According to the 2002 census the population of the town was recorded at just 1, 776 persons. However GRACE estimates that by 2016 the population of the town and its surrounding areas will be in excess of 9,193.
“Gort has experienced a 50.3 per cent increase in population over the last six years. It appears to be the fastest growing town in this region with more than double the growth rate of Ennis or Crusheen,” it is stated in the submission.
GRACE also points to a great difference between the official NRNS traffic projections for the town and those carried out by Harewood Associates.
Harewood’s analysis shows that over the past five years traffic on the N18 has grown at almost twice the rate predicted in the NRNS.