I've been reading through the decision to grant planning permission for the Galway City Ring Road and it includes some extraordinary creative accounting to justify the spending of €1bn on a project that will make traffic worse, not better, in Galway.
Essentially An Coimisiún Pleanala has decided not to deal with the road in isolation but as part of the ten-year-old Galway Transport Strategy and it makes the following assertion:
1/n
What it is comparing here is the delivery of all elements of the GTS including the ring road, public transport infrastructure and active travel infrastructure versus doing absolutely none of it.
What the application actually compares is the deliver of all elements of the GTS except the ring road (Do-Minimum), with the delivery of all elements of the GTS including the ring road (Do-Something)
This clearly shows the ring road will result in an increase in vehicle kms driven
2/n
The application also shows an increase in carbon emissions in the Do-Something scenario of 37%.
It is clearly the public transport and active travel elements of the GTS that is doing the heavy lifting here, and the ring road is undermining the benefits accruing from those interventions.
3/n
To summarise, there are 3 scenarios:
A. Do Nothing - none of the GTS is implemented
B. Do Minimum - All of the GTS is implemented except the ring road (i.e. public transport, demand management, active travel etc)
C. Do Something - All of the GTS is implemented including the ring road
They have compared C to A and concluded traffic kms will reduce by 16% and carbon emissions by 43%.
The EIA compares C to B and shows a 7% increase in traffic kms and a 37% increase in carbon emissions
4/n
It's clear that the public transport, demand management and active travel elements of the Galway Transport Strategy are doing the heavy lifting here.
It's also clear that the Ring Road is undermining the benefits of that. To then conclude that it is compliant with the Climate Action Act requirement to reduce vehicle kms and reduce carbon emissions is bullshit.
It’s like saying a healthy diet plus smoking is better than doing nothing, and then claiming smoking is good for your health.
5/5
Ciarán Ferrie