Mr. Uinsinn Finn:

It was during this mid-term break last year when we started the first phase of the current programme of works, which has NTA funding. That provided two lanes on the Parkmore Road on the approach to the Monivea junction. It also reconfigured the Briarhill junction to provide two lanes going left. The reason for that was based on the traffic modelling we had done as part of the work. We saw that 80% of the traffic coming down Parkmore towards that direction was going left towards the motorway. Two additional lanes were added with changes to the light sequencing and that has had a significant benefit in terms of people coming out of Parkmore.

Two other elements of work were delivered but I will not focus on them. The next phase that is going on at present, the 1D works, is the left-turn lane coming out of the Parkmore West Estate. Going back to the modelling that was done, we had picked up that about 39% of the people coming out were going left towards the Tuam Road and consequently the left-turn lane, which is 330 m long, will provide additional capacity for people coming out of Parkmore West who are going left to avoid being in the left-turning queue and that will certainly help them. That work is ongoing at present and is due to be completed before the end of the Easter holidays.

The next element of work for which we have a commitment is the signalisation of the Tuam Road and Parkmore junction in order that the 40% of people who are turning left going down towards the Tuam Road will have a signalised junction to help them get out from the perspectives of traffic flow and safety. We are hoping for other elements to be added in 2018 but as we do not have the budget allocations yet, I cannot give any confirmation on that. We are, however, seeking to deliver other elements of improvements in the current programme in 2018. We ultimately are going into what we call the more medium-term measures, which are projects that will require land, possibly by CPO, that will need to go through the planning process as well. Again, as my colleagues in the NTA outlined, consultants have been appointed who are working on an overall strategy and that will steer us in terms of funding going forward in the next two to five years.