*That* bridge at Clonsilla station

Dartz

I assume most people are familiar with the pedestrian bridge by now at Clonsilla station? And a wonderful thing it is too. No really, it is. It means I don't have to dice with ten tonne trucks thundering blindly up over the old canal bridge and threatening to crush me againt the concrete wall.

The thing is though, walking in from the Clonsilla villlage direction, or getting off at the bustop, tou still have to cross the road at a very dangerous point.

It is difficult to read traffic coming up from the otherside of the canale bridge, coming from Ongar, and coming in from Clonsilla direction. there is a massive traffic flow over that bridge and...while the new footbridge has proved a godsend... it's still a bit of a deer dance to get across the roads to use it...especially at about 7:30 -8 in the morning when the traffic is getting up to its peak.

Anybody else think some sort of pedestrian crossing at the footbridge, or a three way traffic light of some sort would be helpful here? I don't want to be squashed

ciaran76

Funny you should mention this as on Tuesday evening around 7pm I had to go pick my other half up from that station.

I parked in where the church is with the car pointing out towwards the road and bridge in question. I sat there watching people come over the bridge and then decide to try run across the road. It was amazing really that no one got killed.

Tha amount of cars that had to suddenly stop on the bridge and coming from Clonsilla or Ongar was unreal.

A few sensible types walked over towards the church and walked around that way but I do agree it was mental.

dodgyme

when you come off the pedestrian bridge there is no footpath but a bunch of crash barriers forcing you to cross the road - F%%kin stupid if you ask me. There should be a foot path or something. I dont know any other pedestrian bridge which directs people straight in the middle of the road.

Polar101

Yes, it is very silly. If you are going towards Clonsilla village, you'll have to try to cross the road before the traffic starts moving again, or it will be very tricky. Going "left" is easier since most of the traffic goes Lucan<->Clonsilla, so you can dash across the road. At least the footbridge is better than the stone bridge, that was very scary for pedestrians.

I'm not sure if they'll redesign things, I know there are some plans regarding station parking and such.

Dartz

Polar101 wrote: »

Yes, it is very silly. If you are going towards Clonsilla village, you'll have to try to cross the road before the traffic starts moving again, or it will be very tricky. Going "left" is easier since most of the traffic goes Lucan<->Clonsilla, so you can dash across the road. At least the footbridge is better than the stone bridge, that was very scary for pedestrians.

I'm not sure if they'll redesign things, I know there are some plans regarding station parking and such.

There's a good chunk of greenspace beside it....

I woulp prefer some way of safely crossing the road though. It's dangerous to get to and from the busstop each morning and evening.

Will somebody have to be seriously hurt before anything is done or what?

Pat Dunne

Fingal CC have plans to revamp the Clonsilla Station junction. I believe the plans involve the placement of traffic lights and pedistrian crossings, also the provision of car parking adjacent to the Portergate Estate.

However I would imagine that all of that has been put on hold until the rezoning of Kellystown gets sorted out, as Kellystown is directly on the other side of the bridge.

dodgyme

there is a big meeting on the kellystown thing in the CLonsilla inn on Sat I think at 11am

Dartz

I wish I'd know about that before Saturday, but thanks anyway.

Mary28

The whole place is just a complete state. Why don't they just cement the grass/mud strip that runs along by the canal so cars can park there properly besides having to mount the kerbs. Sometimes the cars looked crashed they're so badly parked.
The strip of grass on the other side (beside the footpath) should be used for parking too in my opinion.

Thousands of people get on and off that train every day at rush hour and simply have no choice but to run across the road. Drivers are frustrated and queuing so long to get over/by the bridge they're not going to then stop for pedestrians as well.
It's a miracle no one has been killed there and the problem has been so bad for so long it's shocking it's taking so long to do anything about it.

funk-you

I used to live up that way. nearly been squished between a car and the bridge wall on many occassions.

-Funk

irishharpie

I know what you guy's mean, thankfully the traffic has died down a lot by the time I get to the station at about half nine but it can still be mental especially on rainy mornings. I usually try to time it so I'm crossing at the same time as the bus as this seems the safest to me.

Then in the evening it does be hell trying to get past that area. I usually get collected from the mount Symon estate entrance or on the odd occasion get dropped off there too because of traffic but the amount of car's parked along that road makes it so hard to see what's coming from the other direction, we once got caught by a large tow truck trying to make it's way past. A very frightening experience.

Frankly I think the whole area needs sorting out.

Murt10

IMO the bridge has long since outlived its usefulness.

It was built at a time when the road only had to support horses and carts. It should now be demolished and a brand new purpose build bridge installed over the can and the railway.

I often look at the scraping on the wall as i cross the bridge and think about the hundreds and thousands of euros worth of damage that has been done to the paintwork of cars trying to negiotate it.

While I'm at it I would also like to see a new electronic system installed for opening and closing the level crossing gates, and the ones further along the line, in a more timely manner. I had to wait about 15 minutes today to cross the line at Coolmine. This was just to allow two trains go through.

Trains have brakes. There is no need for the gates to be closed while it is pulling into Coolmine station, coming from Town. I think they close the gates as soon as it leaves town,

PaintingMedium

Murt10 wrote: »

IMO the bridge has long since outlived its usefulness.

It was built at a time when the road only had to support horses and carts. It should now be demolished and a brand new purpose build bridge installed over the can and the railway.

I often look at the scraping on the wall as i cross the bridge and think about the hundreds and thousands of euros worth of damage that has been done to the paintwork of cars trying to negiotate it.

While I'm at it I would also like to see a new electronic system installed for opening and closing the level crossing gates, and the ones further along the line, in a more timely manner. I had to wait about 15 minutes today to cross the line at Coolmine. This was just to allow two trains go through.

Trains have brakes. There is no need for the gates to be closed while it is pulling into Coolmine station, coming from Town. I think they close the gates as soon as it leaves town,

Wow, I hope you never get to make decisions. That bridge is part of the history of Clonsilla and I would never get rid of it. I have never been in a car which scraped off it, if you are not a decent driver then do not use the bridge, plenty of people are well able to use it properly so maybe you need practice?

The opening and closing times are annoying because with more trains, this means more waiting for cars. I would wonder sometimes why they are closed so long but that is a question you should put to Irish rail. As a public transport user, I have little sympathy for cars, you guys create traffic jams and the majority of cars always have one person in them so it is a bit of karma for you guys to have to wait so ha!

Jabcity

Mary28 wrote: »

The whole place is just a complete state. Why don't they just cement the grass/mud strip that runs along by the canal so cars can park there properly besides having to mount the kerbs. Sometimes the cars looked crashed they're so badly parked.
The strip of grass on the other side (beside the footpath) should be used for parking too in my opinion.

Its not the lack of parking thats a problem, as cars just park in Portersgate anyway, forcing many of the roads to become one way, ive often seen delivery trucks and an ambulance being blocked because of the amount of cars.

There are talks about a multi storey car park being built at coolmine in the next year or so. Hopefully it will mean many of the cars at Clonsilla will disappear, which I think is a good thing all round.

irishharpie

New car park's are all well and good and lord knows that the area needs them, but it still doesn't change the fact that trying to get from one side of the bridge to the other is like playing peek-a-boo with the car's crossing.

I know that personally I'm terrified every time I have to try and weave through the car's there to the other side. Even crossing over to the church can be a bit dodgy as you can't really see what's coming round that corner (I have often seen the number 39 taking a short cut through there).

It's a horrible horrible place to try and cross and we definitely need something done about it.

CrazyRabbit

irishharpie wrote: »

New car park's are all well and good and lord knows that the area needs them, but it still doesn't change the fact that trying to get from one side of the bridge to the other is like playing peek-a-boo with the car's crossing.

I know that personally I'm terrified every time I have to try and weave through the car's there to the other side. Even crossing over to the church can be a bit dodgy as you can't really see what's coming round that corner (I have often seen the number 39 taking a short cut through there).

It's a horrible horrible place to try and cross and we definitely need something done about it.

Paint a 'Zebra Crossing' on the road.

Though yeah, it's a horrible spot for crossing. I live just around the corner from it, and I hate having to cross that road.