Residents in south Galway who are campaigning against plans to replace traditional stone walls with wire fencing have reported some progress after a meeting with Galway County Council.
The council says the upgrade of the N67 between Ballindereen and Kinvara will significantly improve road safety for all users.
However the level of proposed fencing has been significantly reduced.
Stone walls have been an integral part of the Galway landscape for 900 years. Residents living on the N67 along the Wild Atlantic Way want to keep it that way.
They are calling for the protection of their culture and heritage with roadside placards and online campaigns
They say the planned upgrade to the N67 is along the gateway to the Burren where visitors stop daily to take photographs.
Caroline Corless is one of the spokespeople for the campaign. She said the replacement of stone walls with wire fencing will destroy the natural beauty of the area.
The road upgrade is planned for later this year and will impact stone walls along both sides of the N67 for over 3km.
"The walls are here for hundreds of years and are part of our heritage. We welcome road widening and understand safety concerns but when the upgrade happens we want the stone walls to go back up instead of this horrible, ugly fencing which won't be in keeping with the area," a spokesperson said.
Galway County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland say the plan is to retain as many stone walls as possible but this section of roadway will be replaced with wire mesh fencing from a safety point of view.
Residents say they have been given reassurances from the council that the level of fencing along the route will be reduced to 10%.
Derek Pender is a senior engineer with the National Roads Project Office in Galway.
He confirmed that a meeting took place with representatives of local residents.
"I believe all in attendance would agree that the meeting was both beneficial and worthwhile," he said.
"A commitment was given to revert to the Kinvara representatives on a number of issues. This will be done in the coming days," he added.
The plans for the upgrade are due to take place later this year.
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