M17/M18 - Gort to Tuam [open to traffic]

m17

The m17 at cloondarone 05/11/17

godskitchen

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The favourite trick is to go to a suburban railway station and steal the plates off a similar vehicle and use them to dodge the C charge. But even that can be mitigated by using ANPR systems in and around the stations to "log the cars parking", if the plates are seen elsewhere it alarms. A vehicle detected driving in Coventry can't arrive in London 30 minutes later for example, so cloned plates are less effective now.

False plates are alarmed immediately.

Unfortunately it doesn't work as intended. I know a few met police and the last thing they have time for is stopping motorists when the ping goes off in the patrol car, he said if they stopped someone every time they get a ping they wouldn't get 100m from the station on a shift.

I also know someone who, genuinely, went an entire year without an MOT in Central London in their daily car and wasn't pulled once.

godskitchen

godskitchen wrote: »

Unfortunately it doesn't work as intended. I know a few met police and the last thing they have time for is stopping motorists when the ping goes off in the patrol car, he said if they stopped someone every time they get a ping they wouldn't get 100m from the station on a shift.

I also know someone who, genuinely, went an entire year without an MOT in Central London in their daily car and wasn't pulled once.

Yes, I can well believe that. The average patrol copper simply does not have the time to do that.
I know that sometimes the police, in conjunction with Inland revenue will hit a few streets and clamp every vehicle that causes a ping on the ANPR,when I lived in England the streets around where I lived were targeted one day. They clamped about 20% of the vehicles and caught a few illegals (false dole claimants, migrants and other revenue related crimes) at the same time

Middle Man

bonaparte2 wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/new-motorway-opens-rural-parts-galway-criminals-911/

they should close down the motorway and let things go back the way they were

Typical...

An Irish solution to an Irish problem! :rolleyes:

Middle Man

m17 wrote: »

WTF I never went to see claregalway,clarinbridge,kilcolgan,ardrahan for as long as I live

...and in the 1980's, burglaries were rampant in our area and there wasn't a motorway in sight at the time! Also, I'm amazed that other countries have had motorways for decades and seem to manage quite well!

irishgeo

Middle Man wrote: »

...and in the 1980's, burglaries were rampant in our area and there wasn't a motorway in sight at the time! Also, I'm amazed that other countries have had motorways for decades and seem to manage quite well!

they probably have a police force thats motivated and well funded and a separate traffic division. the other police forces are not probably making **** up as they go along in regards to what they did that day. Also they probably has a courts systems that actually deals with people with 30 previous convictions.

Roadfan

Was mentioned before that new road would make Athenry a better option for boarding the Dublin train especially for people travelling from Mayo and North Galway. Has Athenry rail station got busier?

Middle Man

m17 wrote: »

The m17 at cloondarone 05/11/17

The road seems to be well used - even the M17 as the image shows. More than a month has passed since the opening, so the novelty effect has probably worn off by now I guess. What will be interesting over the next few years is the emerging changes to traffic and economic patterns that will most likely happen as a result of the M17 - won't places like Tuam, Claremorris and Athenry be sure to take advantage from a business point of view?

yew_tree

Roadfan wrote: »

Was mentioned before that new road would make Athenry a better option for boarding the Dublin train especially for people travelling from Mayo and North Galway. Has Athenry rail station got busier?

Mayo already has a train line with a great service to Dublin so I doubt Mayo people would travel to Athenry for a train. Many in south Mayo however are using the M17 to access Dublin.

Middle Man

Middle Man wrote: »

The road seems to be well used - even the M17 as the image shows. More than a month has passed since the opening, so the novelty effect has probably worn off by now I guess. What will be interesting over the next few years is the emerging changes to traffic and economic patterns that will most likely happen as a result of the M17 - won't places like Tuam, Claremorris and Athenry be sure to take advantage from a business point of view?

Did Gort?

plodder

I was surprised how busy the N17 was on Sunday afternoon between Castlebar and the new motorway. I'm not sure what it's normally like though, but I suspect it was busier than the N5 out of Castlebar would have been. So, I might be switching back to the N5. Obviously, most of the N/M17 is not going to do that, but I don't think the long term patterns are at all settled yet.

yew_tree

The N17 does not go to Castlebar. Castlebar to Claremorris is the N60 (a very busy road in it's own right and due and upgrade).

plodder

yew_tree wrote: »

The N17 does not go to Castlebar. Castlebar to Claremorris is the N60 (a very busy road in it's own right and due and upgrade).

Yes, the N17 from Claremorris, which was the busiest section of the Castlebar to M17 journey on Sunday.

sonnyblack

plodder wrote: »

Yes, the N17 from Claremorris, which was the busiest section of the Castlebar to M17 journey on Sunday.

Having driven the route. I would certainly say the full benefits of the scheme won't be felt in north Galway and south Mayo until the Tuam to Claremorris
2 +2 is built. All the previous bottlenecks have been moved northwards to Milltown & Ballindine.

Will that scheme be in the proposed Capital Development plan I wonder?

yew_tree

sonnyblack wrote: »

Having driven the route. I would certainly say the full benefits of the scheme won't be felt in north Galway and south Mayo until the Tuam to Claremorris
2 +2 is built. All the previous bottlenecks have been moved northwards to Milltown & Ballindine.

Will that scheme be in the proposed Capital Development plan I wonder?

It could be 15-20 years before you see a dual carriageway between Tuam and Claremorris. At present there is no hold up's in Ballindine/Milltown. Thats was locals say anyway.

sonnyblack

yew_tree wrote: »

It could be 15-20 years before you see a dual carriageway between Tuam and Claremorris. At present there is no hold up's in Ballindine/Milltown. Thats was locals say anyway.

I don't agree, having driven it. If the Atlantic corridor is to function properly like it should, there should be no driving though these villages. That said, it's unlikely to be built in the short term though I would hope that it will be included in the new capital development plan

ELCAT2009

sonnyblack wrote: »

I don't agree, having driven it. If the Atlantic corridor is to function properly like it should, there should be no driving though these villages. That said, it's unlikely to be built in the short term though I would hope that it will be included in the new capital development plan

I live on the stretch between Milltown and Ballindine and there are no real build ups of traffic in the villages as of yet that i am aware of but there is certainly far more traffic. I would love if the Tuam to clarmorris 2+2 would be included in the next capital plan but sadly i dont see it happening for the next 15-20 years.
Limerick to Cork will be the next big roads project on the western seaboard.
They are currently designing the widening of the existing road between Milltown and Ballindine to link up with the 2 other bits that were done south of Ballindine in the last few years. I was told there maybe some plans by Christmas of what the alignment of this stretch may look like.
This would support the argument that the plans for Tuam to claremorris are a long way off.:(

Roadfan

ELCAT2009 wrote: »

I live on the stretch between Milltown and Ballindine and there are no real build ups of traffic in the villages as of yet that i am aware of but there is certainly far more traffic. I would love if the Tuam to clarmorris 2+2 would be included in the next capital plan but sadly i dont see it happening for the next 15-20 years.
Limerick to Cork will be the next big roads project on the western seaboard.
They are currently designing the widening of the existing road between Milltown and Ballindine to link up with the 2 other bits that were done south of Ballindine in the last few years. I was told there maybe some plans by Christmas of what the alignment of this stretch may look like.
This would support the argument that the plans for Tuam to claremorris are a long way off.:(

Thanks for that info on planned realignment. Certainly a help from road safety point of view on that stretch. Would also like see Tuam Claremorris link but as has been said probably not a runner for a Good while yet

sonnyblack

Thanks for that info. That proposed widening will be some help anyway

Ferocious

Roadfan wrote: »

Was mentioned before that new road would make Athenry a better option for boarding the Dublin train especially for people travelling from Mayo and North Galway. Has Athenry rail station got busier?

I had to travel from Clare to Dublin two weeks ago, decided I'd take the train to get some work done during the journey. In the past I would drive to Limerick (~25 mins). Ennis-Limerick train is slow and times didn't work. Limerick-Heuston €63 return. Drove to Athenry (~35 mins) Athenry-Heuston €32 return! Pretty much the same journey time, half the price.
Only problem was the train journey home. Standing room only to Newbridge. youths on the track so a delay for Gardai to be called. Some incident where we had to wait in Kildare for an Ambulance. Return journey took 4hrs 10min...
Motorway next time!

m17

RATHMORRISSY 07/11/17

orion50

Tuam is a big generator of traffic so north of tuam traffic volumes and business case for a motorway fall away . Motorway north of tuam wont happen in my opinion. No positive cost benefit .
Our little island is tilting eastwards. Traffic on the M50 is 130,000 plus per day. Traffic on M17 M18 12000 per day so far. Our local politicians can jump up and down and say the west is being discriminated against but how can you build a business case that stacks up when the benefits are much greater east of shannon?

kippy

orion50 wrote: »

Tuam is a big generator of traffic so north of tuam traffic volumes and business case for a motorway fall away . Motorway north of tuam wont happen in my opinion. No positive cost benefit .
Our little island is tilting eastwards. Traffic on the M50 is 130,000 plus per day. Traffic on M17 M18 12000 per day so far. Our local politicians can jump up and down and say the west is being discriminated against but how can you build a business case that stacks up when the benefits are much greater east of shannon?

Build it and they will come?

yew_tree

orion50 wrote: »

Tuam is a big generator of traffic so north of tuam traffic volumes and business case for a motorway fall away . Motorway north of tuam wont happen in my opinion. No positive cost benefit .
Our little island is tilting eastwards. Traffic on the M50 is 130,000 plus per day. Traffic on M17 M18 12000 per day so far. Our local politicians can jump up and down and say the west is being discriminated against but how can you build a business case that stacks up when the benefits are much greater east of shannon?

While traffic volumes north of Tuam currently don't warrant a motorway, the same attitude from the east coast was rung out when Knock Airport was built and despite everything it is doing very well and is a vital piece of infrastructure for Connacht.

You need to but the infrastructure in place in order to attract investment in jobs etc.

sonnyblack

Annual profits for Knock airport have risen sharply. This road and any improvements to tuam to claremorris will increase usagebof knock even further

veryangryman

yew_tree wrote: »

You need to but the infrastructure in place in order to attract investment in jobs etc.

Nope. Dublin would still get the lions share of investment in job without improvements to infrastructure. The city is grinding to a halt and yet jobs are still flooding in.

Conversely, south Galway now has Motorway and rail and the investment isn't happening.

The Knock argument is frankly ridiculous. It is of course the only airport for the west and now takes on Sligo and Galways load. The success, while impressive doesnt mean to plough huge investment at cost to the East

tombrown

veryangryman wrote: »

Nope. Dublin would still get the lions share of investment in job without improvements to infrastructure. The city is grinding to a halt and yet jobs are still flooding in.

Conversely, south Galway now has Motorway and rail and the investment isn't happening.

The Knock argument is frankly ridiculous. It is of course the only airport for the west and now takes on Sligo and Galways load. The success, while impressive doesnt mean to plough huge investment at cost to the East

The only airport for the west? There's an international airport in Co Clare that may disagree

m17

The rock cut at ballybanagher 7kms form tuam 08/11/17

JCX BXC

sonnyblack wrote: »

Annual profits for Knock airport have risen sharply. This road and any improvements to tuam to claremorris will increase usagebof knock even further

Will it? Remember, the road to Shannon has also improved, so assuming we're talking about the Galway catchment I think its fairly even. Perhaps a few from the Athenry-Athlone stretch may be tempted to go SNN/NOC instead of DUB.

km79

JCX BXC wrote: »

Will it? Remember, the road to Shannon has also improved, so assuming we're talking about the Galway catchment I think its fairly even. Perhaps a few from the Athenry-Athlone stretch may be tempted to go SNN/NOC instead of DUB.

I'm on that stretch
I'll certainly consider Shannon in particular now
But of course less options on flights and times etc make it still likely I'll fly from Dublin