Drogheda Traffic!!

Dingatron

< Begin rant > What is it with the traffic around Drogheda these days? It took me 15-20 minutes to get from Mell - Greenhills - Town Center on a Sunday afternoon. Ridiculous traffic management and road works all over the place. Not to mention the potholes etc. They've even put signs up on the Cement Road road at the junction of Aldi saying its closed while they complete installation of traffic lights although it is completely road-worthy at the weekends when they are not even working on the road! Not to mention the amount of time its taking them to throw in a few lights which no doubt will have the same timing as one of the Louth town planners . <End Rant>


Ahh that's better!

lazygit

your not alone... driving me bonkers!! im not going to rant as ill be in a bad mood for the rest of the day if i think about it!!

jumpymunky

The town is especially crazy at the moment but hopefully the roadworks will end soon. IMO the worst place in the whole town for traffic is just beside the bull ring..ie waiting for the green arrow to turn right to cross the river. yesterday it took me 20 minutes to get from Scotch Hall car park exit to outside the Mariner (on the north quay) and i didnt evn have to wait to get out of the car park.Its mental the amount of time given to cars to get on to the 'new bridge'..about 4/5 get across each time! The lights need to be changed!

cormacmccann

The traffic at Mary St/the Bullring is always a disaster. I don't think that scotch hall has made much of a difference. But traffic is mental all over the town with road works on the North Road up by the junction with Cement Road, and with road works and contraflow traffic on the Donore Rd as well. Never mind the roadworks on West St.

My only hope is that at least West St, Donore Rd and the North Rd will be sorted by Christmas. Don't have much hope for sorting the Bullring.

The council should also do something to stop traffic coming out from beside Tuite's and going across the bridge or going on to the dual carriage way. My wife and I were crossing the road there a week ago when a driver ploughed into a kid and his dog who were walking across just in front of us. If he'd been 2 seconds later he would have hit us.

As anybody complained to any of the councilors about the bullring traffic?

Dingatron

cormacmccann wrote:

The council should also do something to stop traffic coming out from beside Tuite's and going across the bridge or going on to the dual carriage way. My wife and I were crossing the road there a week ago when a driver ploughed into a kid and his dog who were walking across just in front of us. If he'd been 2 seconds later he would have hit us.

traffic?

Agreed. The Bullring is a disaster and needs to be tackled although short of blowing the place up and starting again I don't know. I still think there's room for a roundabout although not sure how this would work with the Bettystown turn off. Thankfully I rarely need to get into Drogheda in that direction. As for the people that use Mary St. as a rat run. That really annoys me and its no surprise that accidents are caused by it. The council seem to throw a blind eye to it for some reason. :rolleyes:

Dingatron

There is now a new sign up at Mary St. No right turn allowed onto the bridge any more. Of course while I was there I saw about 4 cars turning right in the space of 2-3 minutes....

justagirl

yep. traffic is horrendous... i try to avoid it in the afternoons if at all possible - its usually worse ..... my gripe is .... no traffic police to actually pull these people in who are driving dangerously/too fast/blocking 'yellow box' areas ..... I personally don't want any penalty points and get really 'p'd' off when I have a truck up my rear or a car who insists on tailgating...... people get so annoyed because I'm doing the legal speed limit .. .. people are so selfish/arrogant on the roads here ..(not saying I'm perfect myself)... no-one lets anyone else 'out' even though they are going nowhere fast themselves... and another thing I'm waiting on is a crash outside the entrance to scotch hall from the drogheda side (opposite school)... cars are allowed on both lanes going out of drogheda and the amount of near misses I've seen when the two lanes merge.. I reckon lots of people are driving out there with no licences myself.... rant over ...!!!

gonker

There is now a new sign up at Mary St. No right turn allowed onto the bridge any more. Of course while I was there I saw about 4 cars turning right in the space of 2-3 minutes....

Yes but who is policing it. I was coming from the bridge heading right the other day in my little cinquecento when a northern reg car turned right and missed me by a hairs breath. I was in the right but I would have been dead if he had hit me the speed he was going and that is not an isolated case either its happening constantly.

sandyg

My main gripe is the traffice lights at the bridge heading towards dundalk. Just as you get through the first set (just before the takeway) the ones just ahead go red. The coordination seem to be all wrong with those lights. Also the amount of people turning right after the second set of lights that block any cars heading towards dundalk until they make their turn. I also hate the new lights at the top near the hospital. Its one of my pet hates driving through drogheda :mad:

gonker

I was just going to post that. The lights at the bridge of peace turn green and 10 seconds later the lights just ahead turn red so you cant make any progress. I dont know what they are thinking off. Ridiculous. Maybe we should forward this thread to the town traffic planners they might see the mess they are making of the traffic. I think they must be sitting in their offices with a big road map of drogheda and little toy cars pushing them around to see what chaos they can cause:D

fricatus

sandyg wrote:

Its one of my pet hates driving through drogheda :mad:

I don't know your route, but would the M1 be an option? I'm interested to know if you would use it if you didn't have to pay.

It seems stupid to me that there's a toll on the bypass like that. Could they not just issue all Drogheda car-owners with an EazyPass or some sort of thing?

Down here in Waterford, they're planning to repeat the same mistake. The following thread is interesting, especially the newspaper article where Simon Merrick of the project team reckons they will make it more difficult to drive through the city, so as to force people onto the new ring road:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054987114

I wonder if the messed-up sequence of light changes on the Bridge of Peace has anything to do with a similar policy being applied in Drogheda?

gonker

oh probably. Yes of course I would use the m1 if it wasnt tolled it ridiculous holding a town to ransome like that.

Dingatron

Well I can't even remember why the extra toll stations were put in? It's not to stop people bypassing the toll as they'd have to go through Julianstown to do that. Much of the congestion around Drogheda is down to these tolling stations. The new retail parks are situated around the M1 for ease of access but local people must pay a toll if they wish to access them without driving though the congestion in Drogheda. Lights could be sequenced to force people to use the M1 but I very much doubt they'd have the wit to plan this. More likely someone pressed the wrong button and it hasn't been noticed yet. <Forgive my sarcasm its Monday >

gonker

Forgiven Dinagaton. I agree with your rant!

DMC

Dingatron wrote:

Well I can't even remember why the extra toll stations were put in? It's not to stop people bypassing the toll as they'd have to go through Julianstown to do that. Much of the congestion around Drogheda is down to these tolling stations. The new retail parks are situated around the M1 for ease of access but local people must pay a toll if they wish to access them without driving though the congestion in Drogheda.

I know the logic to this. I don't necessarily understand it tho!

The reason why there are little toll booths around are because they didnt want to repeat the mistake of the West Link M50 toll, and have people queueing at the bridge itself, which in turn clogs up the N4 etc etc....

So, they *thought* that the main toll plaza for the M1 should be in the middle somewhere. Now, because of the slip roads for Donore and so on are close enough to the new Boyne bridge, they didn't want the toll plaza locking up that general area (á la M50), so what they did was position entry and exit Toll booths on the on and off ramps so there would be no real queues. This has worked, to an extent.

In essence, you are going to go through the toll only once. BUT, if you come from the Dublin side, and wanted to go from the Donore Road Retail Park to the Mell Retail Park, you would have to pay the toll AGAIN, or go through the town (or go down by LMFM/Leisure Centre)

For example. KFC have opened on the Donore Road. After a trip up north, I took the new bridge, payed the toll at the booth on the Donore Road, and ate my fill. So, heading back to Dubin, back onto the M1.... ****ing toll again!

I'd also blame planners for building retail parks on the outskirts of bypasses. They create more traffic, ffs. Have they not learnt the lesson of Portlaoise???

The toll booths and plaza cater for through traffic, and not for the locals. As an infrequent visitor to Drogheda, I don't really mind paying the toll, as I'm normally passing through, but I wonder how some people get around there.

sandyg

If you are entering or drogheda on the toll plazza for the donore road/Main tolls to go into drogheda then you should have asked for a "re-entry". They have it set up that you can spend up to 3 hours in Drogheda only having to pay once and produce ur ticket at the tolls when leaving drogheda (this is to get the shoppers to come into to Drogheda). As regards "would i use the motorway if there were no charge" of course i would!

Dingatron

I have to say if I lived in Dundalk I'd use the motorway rather than try and make my way through Drogheda. As it is I use it most days and that's only to get to Mell. The new traffic lights near the hospital are one of the first things they've done right in a while. They are taking traffic away from Mell (Aldi) as local people can now get across the Dublin Road. Also lets people out from Crosslanes (Hospital) and across the Dublin Road. Both these junctions were a no go area between 8-19:00 and there is now pretty much a free flow in these areas.

DMC

sandyg wrote:

If you are entering or drogheda on the toll plazza for the donore road/Main tolls to go into drogheda then you should have asked for a "re-entry". They have it set up that you can spend up to 3 hours in Drogheda only having to pay once and produce ur ticket at the tolls when leaving drogheda (this is to get the shoppers to come into to Drogheda).

I wasn't sure if this was urban myth, but I have an Eazypass. I'll look at my statement next time to see if this has been allowed, but my guess the computer will say no.

White Horse

DMC wrote:

I wasn't sure if this was urban myth, but I have an Eazypass. I'll look at my statement next time to see if this has been allowed, but my guess the computer will say no.

As I understand it, every time you cross the bridge you have to pay a toll. The "re-entry" waver only allows you to stop in Drogheda while continuing on in the same firections (ie, north or south).

I live in mid Louth and never ever go to Drogheda. I always go to Dundalk; no tolls, loads of parking etc.

Why isn't the M1 toll close to Dublin,as that is where the heavy usage is?

Fingers Mcginty

Wasn't there some talk about doing away with the M1 toll eventually?

Wertz

Fingers Mcginty wrote:

Wasn't there some talk about doing away with the M1 toll eventually?

Yeah but by that stage we'll all be in flying cars...

I had the pleasure of driving through Drogheda both ways as a novice learner driver today....the light sequences and sheer smount of lighted junctions is comical; do meath county council get backhanders form the traffic light makers or something? I though Dundalk was bad, but it's got nothing on Drogheda.
That area around the bullring and the Scotch hall are dire....lanes merging into nothing, pedestrian free for all and vying with space in all that with 40ft artics dodging the toll? Seriously, someone needs a boot up the arse in the head traffic planner's offce...

TheNog

Last week I reckon we made a record when driving through drogheda. We began on the Dublin Rd( train station) to Symths toystore in the M1 Retail Park in about 4 minutes at 6pm on the wednesday evening.

christ is was mad!!!!!!! i have never seen driving like it before

Dingatron

TheNog wrote:

Last week I reckon we made a record when driving through drogheda. We began on the Dublin Rd( train station) to Symths toystore in the M1 Retail Park in about 4 minutes at 6pm on the wednesday evening.

christ is was mad!!!!!!! i have never seen driving like it before

Ah that's cheating. The left lane pretty much is always empty going up to the Mell road. Now if you said you could make it from the Dublin Rd. to West St in 4 minutes I would be well impressed.

Also what the f*&k are they up to on the Donore Road? They must be there for the last 2 months and I still can't figure out why it takes so long to install a few traffic lights. As for the West St. [SIZE=-1]debacile[/SIZE], I'm glad I don't have a business there. Looks like they are now working nights to get it sorted before Christmas.

gonker

The Donore Road is a nightmare then they had the oldbridge road closed too. I was stuck on the Donore Road at 3:30 yesterday for 20 minutes without moving. I just did a u-turn and went home. I would say that the business up that end are suffering too.

TheNog

Dingatron wrote:

Ah that's cheating. The left lane pretty much is always empty going up to the Mell road. Now if you said you could make it from the Dublin Rd. to West St in 4 minutes I would be well impressed.

Also what the f*&k are they up to on the Donore Road? They must be there for the last 2 months and I still can't figure out why it takes so long to install a few traffic lights. As for the West St. [SIZE=-1]debacile[/SIZE], I'm glad I don't have a business there. Looks like they are now working nights to get it sorted before Christmas.

Traffic on the Mell road/Trinity street was what delayed us. If we going to West St. we would've been there in two minutes. As for the usually empty left lane, it was fairly full of cars so we didn't use the left or right lane. Instead we used the empty lanes on the opposite side of the road cos the lights were red.

We were told that only half of West St will be completed for Christmas. The council is hoping to get as far as Stockwell St. The rest of it up to Peter/Shop St. after the new year. They are working on it during the night with a crew of about 10 lads.

Dingatron

I'm impressed so! Its usually the other way around with a pretty clear run up Mell and all other routes clogged up.
Doesn't surprise me either that West St.won't be finished soon. And I was lucky with the Donore Road yesterday as they were finishing up as I hit the road but its a disaster all right.