Dilemnas for the new Minister for Transport

Trotter

irish1 wrote:

Cullen to transport!!! Well at least the roads in Waterford should improve.

Does anyone think Martin will actually use his influence for the people of Waterford though? Ive a sneaky suspicion that he's got too much on his plate now as the Minister for Dublin Transport (Like Seamus Was!) to be worrying about the likes of us that actually put his bottom in that Merc in the first place.

Theres the M9 that is starting from the Kildare end, and dont get me wrong, its needed at that end too, but Kildare is close enough to Dublin geographically.. The whole point of the M9 is to link the south east to Dublin.. and now the Waterford end will be delayed for years and years. The south east is crying out for a proper road to Dublin.

Also smaller routes in Waterford that are being built now are taking years longer than any other road in European countries would take.

I just suspect that Martin Cullen will be too nervous to be seen as looking after his own.. therefore looking after people in "Da Citee" as opposed to the "Da Country". :rolleyes:

He'll be too busy as the Minister for the M50, Luas and Aer Lingus to worry about little things like roads in the rest of Ireland.

OR.. Am I wrong??

therecklessone

Trotter wrote:

OR.. Am I wrong??

No, just confusing.

Trotter wrote:

Theres the M9 that is starting from the Kildare end, and dont get me wrong, its needed at that end too, but Kildare is close enough to Dublin geographically.. The whole point of the M9 is to link the south east to Dublin.. and now the Waterford end will be delayed for years and years. The south east is crying out for a proper road to Dublin.

Let me get this straight. They're building a motorway to Dublin (which you claim is needed), but they are starting at the wrong end? Its still the same road, no matter what end they start!!! Starting from the SE makes no difference, you're still going to have to wait for the entire road to be finished to get the full benefit of a Waterford-Dublin motorway.



Is the problem that they aren't investing in roads in your locale? Its not the road to Dublin you want, just a road?

Trotter

Im not sure if your familiar with the Waterford to Dublin road, but 90% of the places that are impossible to get through without a holdup.. Thomastown for example, are between Waterford and Paulstown/Gowran.. the rest is a pretty good road. SO.. thats why Im saying to start at the south first. Bypass all the little places and let us get to the decent roads from Paulstown to Dublin.

Hope that clears up the confusion.

As for the local roads.. The main project in Waterford is the R710 and the second bridge crossing.. All of which were proposed 15 to 20 years ago. The R710 is a new road that basically links all the new residential areas of the outskirts of the city to the IDA Estate and the main Cork Rd. While construction has started on the R710, red tape and very slow construction has us all wondering when we'll ever see the progress.

therecklessone

Trotter wrote:

Hope that clears up the confusion.

It does, ta.

De Rebel

Trotter wrote:

While construction has started on the R710, red tape and very slow construction has us all wondering when we'll ever see the progress.

And this differs from every other road project in the country exactly how?

dogs

therecklessone wrote:

Its still the same road, no matter what end they start!!! Starting from the SE makes no difference, you're still going to have to wait for the entire road to be finished to get the full benefit of a Waterford-Dublin motorway.

It's a bit of a local problem y'see... The road from Carlow to Dublin (or really, from about Paulstown on) is actually pretty decent with the exception of one or two bad spots around Castledermot.

The road from Waterford up there is quite atrocious. Lots of 90 degree bends being negotiated slowly by articulated trucks, causing lots of tailbacks. Potholes that have blown fork seals on one of my bikes (kinda hard to avoid it when it's the width of the road, with no warning signs). A couple railway bridges that force the road to weave through them and very weird angles... All in all, not a very nice road with very few safe overtaking spots. Get stuck behind a tractor at the wrong place and you'll be following it along at 15mph for quite a while.

Even the local IDA office have said they fly foreign investors into Cork airport because of the state of the road between Carlow and Waterford.

Excuse the rant, but if you ever have to drive it you'll know what I mean.

As for the OPs comments; the strategy at the moment seems to be to build the infrastructure that was needed 10+ years ago now (at least within a year or so the airport road will be wide enough along its entire length for two cars to pass each other in opposite directions). So I'd imagine anything we get will be woefully inadequate.

The NRA have already said there's no point making slow/climbing lanes on the N9 between Waterford and Carlow as these would be redundant with the new motorway.... maybe Mr. Cullen will think differently.


Edit: beaten

Trotter

De Rebel wrote:

And this differs from every other road project in the country exactly how?

It dosnt.. but thats the one Im familiar with, and Im aware that its just an example of the situation all around the country. My point is that successive transport ministers seemed to ignore the fact that there are 3 million people in this country that dont live in Dublin.

Obviously there have been some good new roads opened.. but nothing compared to the money spent on LUAS, Port Tunnel, M50, etc. I know they are all badly needed, but theres a lot badly needed in the other counties around the country too.

mike65

Naturally I concure with the comments about the N9/N10, its a bloody disgrace that Thomastown is still on a National route. I doubt Cullen will do us any harm but proberly not much good as Dublin is so fecked up and thats where the government eye/media pressure is.

Mike.

alexa

Yeah, but once he remembers that there isnt a single person in Dublin that can vote him out of the Dáil. We may be only little country folk in the eyes of the big fish ministers, but we have the power to give this lad his P45. Anyone remember Nora Owen??

Still.. I doubt it'll come to that. He's got to have realised all that for himself and will probably act accordingly. Keep us a bit happy with some sign of good progress on our end of the M9 and I'd vote him back in anyway.

Victor

Actually Waterford gut a hugely disproportionate amount of the Local Government Fund when Cullen controlled it.

alexa wrote:

Yeah, but once he remembers that there isnt a single person in Dublin that can vote him out of the Dáil.

However Bertie is well capable of being detrimental to his political health.

alexa wrote:

Keep us a bit happy with some sign of good progress on our end of the M9 and I'd vote him back in anyway.

And the M11?

Oh also, Waterford suffers from only having two town (Dungarvan and Tramore).

ishmael whale

Trotter wrote:

My point is that successive transport ministers seemed to ignore the fact that there are 3 million people in this country that dont live in Dublin.

Can you substantiate this? Its just that my perception is pretty much the reverse - that Dublin was starved of investment until its needs just couldn't be ignored, while the rest of the country was peppered with little bits of road here and there largely for cosmetic effect.

Maybe you're right, maybe successive Ministers with responsibility for transport have been Dublin centred. In which case I'm fascinated to know where you see the Shannon stopover fitting into that picture or, for that matter, the resources spent keeping national rail services going.

For all that the real problem is the way people seem to assume that a Minister from Waterford should only care about Waterford, and a Minister from Donegal should only care about Donegal. If he's Minister for Transport he should be looking at national needs.

The significant point is not that there are less than 3 million people living outside Dublin, or less than 2 million outside Leinster. The perspective we need to start taking is there are less than 4 million people in the Republic, and the population of the EU is 456 million. The whole country is on the periphery, and that’s the challenge to be addressed. There 47,497 km of motorways in the EU. Ireland accounts for 72km. It’s time to get a sense of proportion.

http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/1-01102004-AP/EN/1-01102004-AP-EN.PDF

oscarBravo

ishmael whale wrote:

... there are less than 4 million people in the Republic, and the population of the EU is 456 million. ... There 47,497 km of motorways in the EU. Ireland accounts for 72km.

By my calculation, that leaves us 345km short of our fair share of motorways. Heigh ho...

Trotter

ishmael whale wrote:

Can you substantiate this? Its just that my perception is pretty much the reverse...

Dont get me wrong, Dublin needs a whole lot of attention and I would be delighted to see a day where getting around the city isnt a chore. I hope Martin Cullen does sort out the problems in Dublin, or at least makes a dent in the list of things to do.

I dont believe that he should be a minister for Waterford issues, ministeral duty is about the big picture and a lot of prioritisation.

HOWEVER.. If Dublin transport is to improve in tandem with the regeneration of other Irish cities to take the pressure off the capital then theres got to be big main roads connecting them to put it simply.

I acknowledge that theres been a huge amount of money put into roads around the country but to be honest, the bit of it that I see is neglected, and after crawling through small towns on the way to the capital, where I get stuck in traffic immediately, I still believe the rest of the country needs a whole lot of Minister Cullen's attention. The traffic problems dont just start/exist at Newlands Cross. Waterford was only an example.

ishmael whale

Trotter wrote:

..... I acknowledge that theres been a huge amount of money put into roads around the country but to be honest, the bit of it that I see is neglected, and after crawling through small towns on the way to the capital, where I get stuck in traffic immediately, I still believe the rest of the country needs a whole lot of Minister Cullen's attention.

Fine, and there seems to be no essential disagreement between us. Your earlier comments seemed to suggest that the rest of the country was being neglected in favour of Dublin, but if we agree that what is needed is a national perspective I have no problem whatsoever.

Looking through the press releases at the NRA (and I’m not pretending this is any more scientific than a cursory glance) there is indeed mention of the Dublin Port Tunnel and Naas-Dublin Dual Carriageway widening, but also of work starting on the N22 linking Kerry and Cork, construction commencing on the N15 Bundoran-Ballyshannon Bypass, national routes connecting Westport and Carrick-on-Shannon and so on.

So, at first glance, it would look like the NRA are pretty much doing what we would expect them to do – identifying what needs to be done nationally and progressing through the work on the basis of some assessment of priority. I take it that anyone might argue about the relative merits of the Bundoran-Ballyshannon Bypass as against any other proposed location that we are familiar with. But there seems to be no immediate reason to believe that these priorities are giving any undue weight to Dublin or any other region. It may be just a question of grinning and bearing a little longer, happy in the knowledge that at least investment is taking place.

http://www.nra.ie/News/PressReleases/