What's going on with the Letterkenny dual carriageway?

jimmycrackcorm

So I see they are resurfacing the road and it's not the first time either.
Why is this when there are third world sections of roadway around the town. I don't ever see the M50 being resurfaced so whats wrong with the dual carriageway?

smashey

It seems that the Council can't manage their budget very well. If you notice, from September until December every year, roadworks appear everywhere while they try to spend the allocated budget. The road from Castlefinn to Killygordon has been re-surfaced during this period for the past three years. Oh, and we had the small matter of Lifford Bridge being repaired/strengthened in October last year, which didn't go down well on either side of the border as it was leading up to Christmas.

Martyr

So I see they are resurfacing the road and it's not the first time either.
Why is this when there are third world sections of roadway around the town. I don't ever see the M50 being resurfaced so whats wrong with the dual carriageway?

you need to setup a website, dedicated to slagging off the council in donegal & most importantly the decision makers..

site of sarcasm & satire, all about the donegal county council..
its long overdue.

byte

I doubt if it's only the DCC that's poor at managing their road budget.

On a plus note, they did resurface the bit of road near Ballybofey on the Donegal Road at the top of "McGrory's Brae" which is good to see, though I hope they do the whole stretch.

jimmycrackcorm

Isn't it morally wrong for DCC to resurface a perfectly good wrong, wimply because there is money allocated to it?

I doubt if it benefits the local economy, as typically the contractors are Northern.

donegalman1

I gather the Council get an allocation for Dual Carraigeways and as this is the only one the have to spend it or loose it.

Another problem is the situation of budgets being released for roadworks at this time of year when weather hampers efficent laying of road surfaces never mind what its like to drive through these roadworks at night.

Back to the carraigeway.. they are probably upgrading to allow for better speed for all the new cameras

jimmycrackcorm

I gathered they had a budget on a use it or loose it basis. IMHO it still doesn't justify spending it just for the sake of spending it.

jimmeh

in fairness the dual carraigeway hasnt been resurfaced since it was constructed over 15 years ago if memory serves me right.

il gatto

It's something I've noticed in other places too. I've heard from people who work in County Councils that they're given a yearly allocation, which spend on a scrooge-like basis all year, until they realise that not only will they lose the remainder, but the following years allocation will be cut by the amount of the excess of that year. They then go on a spree of resurfacing coming into the winter months.
I've noticed that Sligo and Leitrim County Councils tend to go for perfectly good roads, instead of roads that really need work. I don't know if this is a public relations exercise by doing the main roads that everyone sees, or what I think is more likely, because a decent road surface requires much less prep work that a rough, subsided back road.
I heard one story a few years ago where Leitrim County Council resurfaced a section of the Carrick to Ballinamore road, which had a lovely, smooth coat of tar applied two years earlier, because they'd ordered tar and it arrrived before the road it was for was ready. They went out and found the nicest, smoothest bit of road they could find and ruined it with a coat of tar and chip.

donegalman1

The Tar and chip scenario is due to the fact that by law all roads are supposed to be tarred and chipped ie surfaced dressed. There is a huge emphasis on this now since the bus accident in meath. Apparently councils have been given a deadline to finish roads with tar and chips, some of these roads have had the smooth black tar surface for years and this is not the proper required surface as far as I know. So we'll probably see loads of the nice roads re-tarred.

il gatto

I know there's a huge emphasis on tar and chipping the roads at the moment, but even before the current crusade, councils were squandering their money on resurfacing good roads, be they tarmac or tar and chip. God knows this years bout left it's marks on the car. In many places they took advantage of the scorching weather in July and liberally spread chippings with a minimum or tar. hoping it would roll in easily to the boiling roads. Unfortunately, they seem to have used rocks instead of chippings in many places (between Collooney and Castlebaldwin for example). They were huge. The size of your thumbnail. My windscreen got cracked and the car was scratched all over. Tar and chip may provide a grippy surface eventually, but to leave a road spread with loose chips for weeks until it's rolled in by traffic is lethal. Even at the recommended speed, your car skates around like on ice, and the motorbike means taking a detour if possible. It's unbelievable that Councils are been made to use this crappy technique.

bubthatub

smashey wrote:

It seems that the Council can't manage their budget very well. If you notice, from September until December every year, roadworks appear everywhere while they try to spend the allocated budget. The road from Castlefinn to Killygordon has been re-surfaced during this period for the past three years. Oh, and we had the small matter of Lifford Bridge being repaired/strengthened in October last year, which didn't go down well on either side of the border as it was leading up to Christmas.

happens in every county:mad:

jimmycrackcorm

jimmeh wrote:

in fairness the dual carraigeway hasnt been resurfaced since it was constructed over 15 years ago if memory serves me right.

I recall it being resurfaced previously for the same reasons - have budget, will spend.

And still the port roundabout end floods too easily - I wonder will that change this time.

shayser

What's the story with the speed indicator just after the Manor roundabout on the way in? Is this just "hey, look how fast you're going" or does it catch speeding too?

il gatto

I think they're just "hey, look how fast you're going", but don't quote me on that when you're up in court:D

retalivity

its a pile of cr*p, i was doing 35mph as traffic was heavy (as was everyone else) but the indiactor kept goin between 74, 76, 72 etc..

and if my maths is right, 35mph is roughly 56kph...still way off

0lordy

Yep, the readings are all over the place, I think it's proving to me more of a dangerous distraction than anything else