Queue for Merrion Gates on the Merrion Road...aaaaahhhhhhh

tomcollins97

I need to have a rant…

This morning I queued from the lights at the bottom of Booterstown avenue for over half a hour to get across the Dart line at Merrion Gates. It is always bad but this morning was the worst.

Why why why do people keep letting those from the left hand lane jump the queue near the gates? :eek: STOP doing this! They are ignorant drivers. If everyone queues properly no one would have to wait that long.

For any of you who have queued for ages and then let someone in near the gates why do you do this???

maryjane007

i hate merrion gates :mad: why dont you another way?

tomcollins97

Handiest for where I work and normally not that bad if at the gates before 7.30. Traffic was just crazy this morning so later than usual.

Queue never as bad in other direction as people cannot jump it

Dublindigi

tomcollins97 wrote: »

I need to have a rant…

This morning I queued from the lights at the bottom of Booterstown avenue for over half a hour to get across the Dart line at Merrion Gates. It is always bad but this morning was the worst.

Why why why do people keep letting those from the left hand lane jump the queue near the gates? :eek: STOP doing this! They are ignorant drivers. If everyone queues properly no one would have to wait that long.

For any of you who have queued for ages and then let someone in near the gates why do you do this???

I have to exit from Trimleston Road onto Merrion Road towards the dreaded gates,and when the traffic is backed up I CANNOT get over to the right hand lane for the gates unless some kind "ignorant" driver lets me across.. this does not hold any body up very much..

I've been using this route for over 35 years and its now almost impossible to get to the gates from Trimleston Road or Tara Towers since the introduction of Bus Lanes on Merrion Road.
Its the frequency of trains/gate closures & traffic lights that holds things up here..

loyatemu

they need to build a flyover here - it'd be a significant engineering challenge, but this must be the most disruptive level crossing in the country, both for the road and the railway.

Highly Salami

loyatemu wrote: »

they need to build a flyover here ....

People have been saying that for DECADES!
A good route would be between Booterstown marsh and the Swiftcall building (maybe make the Trimblestown junction a crossroads) and have a bridge over the train tracks. The road could go along the strand behind the (ex-) eircom offices and re-join at the existing gates where there is a gap for access to the beach.

Cookie_Monster

loyatemu wrote: »

they need to build a flyover here - it'd be a significant engineering challenge, but this must be the most disruptive level crossing in the country, both for the road and the railway.

And where do you think they are going to get the money, land and permission from?

Never Going to happen

crocro

The delays at Merrion gates, Sydney parade, Sandymount & Lansdowne road make driving less attractive and public transport more attractive in a congested urban area. So it's a feature, not a problem to be fixed.

Cookie_Monster

crocro wrote: »

The delays at Merrion gates, Sydney parade, Sandymount & Lansdowne road make driving less attractive and public transport more attractive in a congested urban area. So it's a feature, not a problem to be fixed.

of course its a problem to be fixed. Road rail interaction should be kept to an absolute minimum. incidents like the recent muppet in a truck just go to prove that

murphaph

crocro wrote: »

The delays at Merrion gates, Sydney parade, Sandymount & Lansdowne road make driving less attractive and public transport more attractive in a congested urban area. So it's a feature, not a problem to be fixed.

It also makes living near the level crossings less attractive and whether you like it or not, the train timetable cannot simply have the gates closed all the time. The road was there first in most cases. Level crossings within dense urban areas are rare, most systems are fully segregated. I can't think of a single one in Berlin.

silverharp

you are still left with the Stand road being only 1 lane each way. Tbh I know any number of muppets that drive from Dun Laoghaire into the IFSC becasue they have a space, when they moan about the traffic I have to bite my lip.

Tarabuses

tomcollins97 wrote: »

I need to have a rant…

This morning I queued from the lights at the bottom of Booterstown avenue for over half a hour to get across the Dart line at Merrion Gates. It is always bad but this morning was the worst.

Why why why do people keep letting those from the left hand lane jump the queue near the gates? :eek: STOP doing this! They are ignorant drivers. If everyone queues properly no one would have to wait that long.

For any of you who have queued for ages and then let someone in near the gates why do you do this???

Drivers only use the left hand lane because they know that someone will let them jump in, or leave a gap they can use. In many cases it's a "if you can't beat them join them" attitude. It doesn't only happen at Merrion Gates.

crocro

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

of course its a problem to be fixed. Road rail interaction should be kept to an absolute minimum. incidents like the recent muppet in a truck just go to prove that

I don't remember any fatalities at these crossings, unlike the surrounding roads.

murphaph wrote: »

It also makes living near the level crossings less attractive and whether you like it or not, the train timetable cannot simply have the gates closed all the time. The road was there first in most cases.

The road was there first! what kind of an argument is that? In fact Strand Road was constructed long after the railway line was built, not that it's relevant. Strand road to merrion gates could easily be shut off with no loss. Sydney parade or Lansdowne might be candidates for an under or over pass. Any grade separation that takes place should have as its goal the improvement of train service - the speeding up of urban car traffic is a negative side effect.

I can't think of a single one in Berlin.

This is just not true. Have you lived in Berlin? S25 has level crossings near Tegel. And there is a level crossing near Fürstenwalder Damm. And many others I'm sure.

Cookie_Monster

crocro wrote: »

I don't remember any fatalities at these crossings, unlike the surrounding roads.

What has that got to do with it? We're talking congestion and delays and timings

I'm talking about muppet crashing into wires and gates, closing both the crossing and large portion of the DART for days.

Significant rail disruption and massively increased traffic as people look for alternative transport (usually cars).

The are numerous points along the DART where a similar scenario could happen and grind parts of the city to a halt. if it were separated this would not be an issue. and the traffic would flow better

loyatemu

there is space on both sides of the Merrion Road to do something, you'd probably have to CPO a couple of houses on the Strand Road side and probably the petrol station too, but I'm sure it could be done.

I take the point about not making it any easier to drive into town, but this crossing causes serious delays on the railway too and on balance I think it should be removed.

Highly Salami

loyatemu wrote: »

there is space on both sides of the Merrion Road to do something, you'd probably have to CPO a couple of houses on the Strand Road side and probably the petrol station too, but I'm sure it could be done.

You don't even have to CPO any buildings, there is wasteland between Swiftcall and the marsh (where there were Travellers a few years ago) and the other part could be built on the strand behind the petrol station.

highdef

murphaph wrote: »

It also makes living near the level crossings less attractive and whether you like it or not, the train timetable cannot simply have the gates closed all the time. The road was there first in most cases. Level crossings within dense urban areas are rare, most systems are fully segregated. I can't think of a single one in Berlin.

In this particular case, the road was there first.

DWCommuter

It was recommended in the Strategic Rail Review 2003. But the political will to spend the money is not there, hence the spread of cash to areas like the WRC.

But the SRR was far from a perfect document anyway.

DWCommuter

With limited funds (and even during the good times it was limited) I'd have prefered to see the ironing out of serious problems on the existing network first rather than extensions to a network that wasn't efficient in the first place.

Carawaystick

Look at the expense in Cork to build a bridge over the line to Tivoli for about 5 houses.
Now look at the Merrion gates. was the bridge in Cork money well spent?
is the frequency of trains on the line in COrk anywhere near the one in Merrion Gates?
Is the road traffic anywhere near the same?

DWCommuter

Carawaystick wrote: »

Look at the expense in Cork to build a bridge over the line to Tivoli for about 5 houses.
Now look at the Merrion gates. was the bridge in Cork money well spent?
is the frequency of trains on the line in COrk anywhere near the one in Merrion Gates?
Is the road traffic anywhere near the same?

I'd be the first to stand up and say that during my lobbying time I was carried away with Midleton, Navan, Pace or whatever. Carawaystick is right in the above anaolgy.

Hindsight is 20 20 vision. But I do remember using one particular line a while back. Whats the point in building a conservatory onto the back of a house if every window in it is old, leaky and cracked?

There is no doubt that the whole celtic tiger madness permiated its way down to basic railway development in this country. Basic problems remain unsolved and unfunded while we salivate over metros and interconnectors.

crocro

highdef wrote: »

In this particular case, the road was there first.

This bit of old map shows that the strand road didn't exist but others such as Serpentine Avenue and Lansdowne were there.

DWCommuter

Merrion gates opened the same year the railway opened (1834) so that would suggest there was a road there before the railway.

D.L.R.

The irony is, if a flyover was built 10 years ago it would have pretty much paid for itself by now.

Efficiency is not really a major concern for our country is it. Yet our leaders plead geniune surprise when Ireland does not continue on its boom trajectory to infinity and beyond.

Spiritoftheseventies

only thing i could suggest to you is to go through ballsbridge instead thereby avoiding having to queue at the gate. It is a bit of a bottlekneck i agree

Highly Salami

crocro wrote: »

This bit of old map shows that the strand road didn't exist but others such as Serpentine Avenue and Lansdowne were there.

Um, whats that yellow line from where it says 'Baths' to where it says 'Sandymount' then?

zagmund

At a wild guess, I would say it is the beach.

You will see that roads are marked in with two 'parallel' lines, whereas the yellow marking is a single line

z

Highly Salami wrote: »

Um, whats that yellow line from where it says 'Baths' to where it says 'Sandymount' then?

Spiritoftheseventies

loyatemu wrote: »

there is space on both sides of the Merrion Road to do something, you'd probably have to CPO a couple of houses on the Strand Road side and probably the petrol station too, but I'm sure it could be done.

I take the point about not making it any easier to drive into town, but this crossing causes serious delays on the railway too and on balance I think it should be removed.

Would it be easier to lengthen the time on the green light for cars coming over the crossing thereby allowing less gridlock on that stretch. Or improving the green light system on the Dart. Exactly how many trains would pass through that stretch during rush hour?