The N6 Galway City Ring Road
Galway has been trying to build a bypass for as long as many of its drivers have been alive. The N6 through the city, built from 1984 to 1987, was supposed to solve congestion; the city grew past it. The ring road now proposed would run 18 kilometres from the Coolagh junction at Doughiska in the east to the coast road west of Barna, through two tunnels and over a new bridge across the Corrib, and it has spent a quarter of a century in planning rooms and courts.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
Merlin Park University Hospital, Ballybrit Castle on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.
1999 to 2026
Consultants were appointed in 1999 to study an outer bypass, submitted to An Bord Pleanála on 1 December 2006. On 28 November 2008 the board approved part of it but refused the section through Tonabrocky Bog; two High Court challenges followed, one went to the Supreme Court, and after the European Court of Justice intervened the Supreme Court ruled against the project in 2013 and the planning process was reset. A preferred corridor chosen in 2015 drew hundreds of objections and fears of sprawl. Approval came in 2021, three judicial reviews followed, and in 2023 the High Court found the approval breached environmental law and sent it back. Approved for the third time in 2026, the road faced four new High Court reviews as of June 2026; it is in the Critical Infrastructure Act 2026 and the Galway Transport Strategy.
The route
From Coolagh the road runs west through a tunnel under Ballybrit racecourse to an interchange with the N83 Tuam Road, through Castlegar to a junction with the N84 Headford Road, then into a second tunnel beneath Lackagh quarry, over the Corrib on a new bridge, through Dangan Park and Tonabrocky, where the line was moved for protected bog cotton, to the R336 beyond Barna, with dual and single carriageway sections and several viaducts. About 50 homes could be demolished under compulsory purchase. It crosses the Lough Corrib Special Area of Conservation.
The argument
Supporters say the city cannot function without it. Critics say it breaks climate law, that the money belongs in public transport and cycling, that a new road induces more driving and emissions, that it will not cure the congestion, and that it costs Dangan Park its amenity and the Corrib its habitat. The model on this page pins the Coolagh end of the route; the Knocknacarra guide covers the traffic on the west side it is meant to relieve.
Questions people ask
Has the Galway ring road been approved?
How long is the Galway City Ring Road?
Where will the ring road cross the Corrib?
Written from Wikipedia, "Galway City Ring Road" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.