The Green Party may block a proposed outer ring road for Galway if it includes toll barriers.
Councillor Niall O Brolchain said today that a bridge or plaza on the new motorway would hamper traffic flow around the city.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, told the Dail last night that no decisions had yet been made on barrier-free electronic tolling on Dublin's M50 motorway.
The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, confirmed last Friday that barriers will be lifted at the West Link Toll Plaza in 2008.
Mr O Brolchain said today of the proposed Galway outer ring road: "We're not learning the lessons. The toll bridge in itself causes traffic chaos. Ring roads, if they are not part of an integrated transport policy, including public transport, then they simply don't work at all."
Mr O Brolchain, the party's transport spokesman on Galway City Council, accepted that motorists may be happy with barrier-free tolling, but added that this has not been confirmed as part of the plans.
"Local Minister of State Frank Fahey has clearly stated that there would be a toll and that it would be about €1.60 that we'd pay for it and clearly they've been talking about a toll plaza," he said.
"Certainly the NRA has not been saying that there's going to be some sort of magical toll system that doesn't involved toll booths."