N6 - Athlone Bypass Upgrade works

Zubeneschamali

veryangryman wrote: »

Hmm just decided that i may park the car at Ganleys this evening and cycle to it from Monksland. Otherwise will have to wake up an hour earlier for the next 3 wks

Today was bad because there was an accident! It won't be like that every day.

KevR

Off-peak and it's still bad apparently:

AA Roadwatch wrote:

*WESTMEATH* There are over 1hour delays on the M6 Galway/Dublin Rd and Athlone town with major diversions in place. The only access onto the N6/Athlone Bypass is traffic coming from Ballinsaloe going to Dublin. All other traffic is diverted with serious delays through Monksland, Athlone town and on both the Dublin and Roscommon roads. There is also bad fog and reduced visibility, so slow right down and proceed with extreme care. * Westbound lanes are closed from J12 Roscommon where a truck went off the road early this morning. * Major works in place in Eastbound lanes with traffic diverting onto westbound lanes in a contra flow.

Sounds absolutely crazy! So glad I'm not commuting to work from Galway anymore..

veryangryman

KevR wrote: »

Off-peak and it's still bad apparently:


Sounds absolutely crazy! So glad I'm not commuting to work from Galway anymore..

Had to be seen to be believed.

Accident and fog aside, i have to say that they should never have been allowed to take traffic off the bypass. What the frig happened to the contra flow promised - Very dissapointed with the works sofar - i could suggest at least 3 easier ways of sortign the traffic. Really bad practice to close such a busy section of road

KevR

Like yourself, I was under the impression that the bypass would remain open during the works albeit with lane closures and contra flows. I didn't think they would be diverting traffic off the bypass.

I hope, at the very least, that by taking traffic off the bypass it will speed up the works. If it doesn't speed up the work then it's really annoying that they have changed the traffic management in this way.

veryangryman

KevR wrote: »

Like yourself, I was under the impression that the bypass would remain open during the works albeit with lane closures and contra flows. I didn't think they would be diverting traffic off the bypass.

I hope, at the very least, that by taking traffic off the bypass it will speed up the works. If it doesn't speed up the work then it's really annoying that they have changed the traffic management in this way.

Strictly speaking it IS still open if coming from Ballinasloe. Not much use to the locals who emigrated westside many moons ago though

Might be gods way of telling me that i need to get the bike out... :pac:

KevR

City Link's facebook page advising passengers to expect delays because of roadworks/diversions and an earlier accident at Athlone.

Zubeneschamali

veryangryman wrote: »

What the frig happened to the contra flow promised

The accident happened! A truck crashed, and they had to close the road, that's all.

The works to allow them to open the contraflow aren't finished yet, but they were only planned to be finished on the 9th, yesterday.

Zubeneschamali

Report in the Westmeath

Absolute disaster of site now.

Would be faster on foot!

Zubeneschamali

Also, I wonder who this is ?

one Athlone resident who contacted the Westmeath Independent said he was concerned that he and others would be penalised for not obeying the new limit.

“The works are starting at Monksland, so there is no reason to have it restricted to 50 km/h at Garrycastle,” said the motorist. He felt it would be “very sneaky” if road users were penalised for not slowing down to 50km/h when they are not near roadworks, adding: “I’ve since been avoiding the bypass - I don’t want to rack up 10 points in a week!”

veryangryman

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Also, I wonder who this is ?


“The works are starting at Monksland, so there is no reason to have it restricted to 50 km/h at Garrycastle,” said the motorist. He felt it would be “very sneaky” if road users were penalised for not slowing down to 50km/h when they are not near roadworks, adding: “I’ve since been avoiding the bypass - I don’t want to rack up 10 points in a week!”

:rolleyes:

Is this guy even from Athlone? Ive never never never picked up a speeding ticket when the bypass went to 50KPH and ive done more than twice that regularly.

I love the way he thinks hed get to garycastle quicker* going by the college as opposed to just going the speed limit

*Maybe at night when no traffic

It's that mobile scamera that's the real problem! which corner will it be placed around next! Drivers spotting it and dropping down to 50kmh are at risk of causing a pile up. :mad:

Zubeneschamali

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Also, I wonder who this is ?

one Athlone resident who contacted the Westmeath Independent said he was concerned that he and others would be penalised for not obeying the new limit.

“The works are starting at Monksland, so there is no reason to have it restricted to 50 km/h at Garrycastle,” said the motorist. He felt it would be “very sneaky” if road users were penalised for not slowing down to 50km/h when they are not near roadworks, adding: “I’ve since been avoiding the bypass - I don’t want to rack up 10 points in a week!”

Not me, as it is the council never bothered to respond to my email about the speed limit!

Zubeneschamali

Deleted User wrote: »

Not me, as it is the council never bothered to respond to my email about the speed limit!

Returned to Athlone at 19:00, contraflow is open and working fine, no hold-ups.

Let's see how it stands up to rush hour...

Westbound will be no different as it was switched to single lane working last week, now it'll be the eastbound traffic that will be affected the most.

veryangryman

Not as bad as yesterday but still pretty cat this morning

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

Not as bad as yesterday but still pretty cat this morning

As pritty as this one!



How it should be done!

Zip merging 'clears traffic jams'
Back

The art of 'zip merging' - using the outside lane when others are stationary in traffic - is the best way to clear motorway jams, a motoring expert has said.

Despite being a source of frustration for many drivers that find themselves undertaken by cars while stuck in traffic, it could prevent tailbacks from growing longer and blocking off more junctions, according to Peter Rodger, chief examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

Zip merging is most commonly used on dual carriageways that merge to a single lane of traffic, generally before a roundabout. Although many motorists frown upon drivers that drive ahead as far as possible in the overtaking lane, Mr Rodgers claims that doing so means the tailback is kept to a minimum.

"Driver etiquette means that 'zip merging' can be frowned upon by drivers in long queues of traffic, but if all available lanes are used, right up to the bottleneck, it is perfectly acceptable for vehicles from each lane to take it in turns to merge into the single lane," he said.

"This reduces the length of road the queue stretches along and prevents blocked junctions. If you are approaching a long queue of traffic in only one lane, you should stay in the lane you're in, even if it's empty, as long as you reduce your speed. Even if you have to merge further down, it is worth using all the space available to avoid unnecessarily long tailbacks."

veryangryman

If only there was another exit on the M6 between Athlone and Ballinasloe (maybe Drum or somewhere)

Could just dart down westbound, double up and do such a zip merge.

Unfortunately the Old Galway Rd is single carriageway so your notion (while good) is of no use to poor me

Altogether now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVa39wr83DY

How it should be done

I got a response from the council, RE zip merging.

I will raise the issue of zip merging at the next traffic management meeting next week.

Regards

Traffic Engineer.

Lets see what happens.

billbond4

They have the road down to one lane at the Coosan exit (11) westbound until exit (13) this morning dont really understand why, its just going to push the traffic jams away from the work

veryangryman

billbond4 wrote: »

They have the road down to one lane at the Coosan exit (11) westbound until exit (13) this morning dont really understand why, its just going to push the traffic jams away from the work

Force people to slow down i guess. nobody obeying the 50kph limit. One lane of traffic will do it. In their defence i guess workers are worried about it as a safety risk - ive seen quite a few running from one side of road to another. Big H&S risk

That said, fukc them - im going as fast as my foot/the car in front will allow :cool:

billbond4

The 50kph on the whole length of the bypass is a daft idea, they should have a reducing speed limit when you coming towards the current work works, at least people might have obeyed those signs.
And then a gradual increasing speed limit when your leaving works.
Now they are just forcing everyone to go the speed of the slowest car in the single lane.

I have no problem doing 50kph when im in an area that they are currently working on, but I do have a problem being forced to do 50kph on a road with no roadworks! :mad:
Bloody H&S
I think I need to wrap my car in highly reflective material and stick a strobe light on the roof so it can be seen by a pedestrian 2 miles away, but H&S probably say its a health risk as the pedestrian might have epilepsy !

KevR

Totally crazy right now on the BP.

EDIT: meant to say Westbound; Eastbound is fine

PS - people are using both lanes and merging in turn

veryangryman

KevR wrote: »

Totally crazy right now on the BP.

EDIT: meant to say Westbound; Eastbound is fine

PS - people are using both lanes and merging in turn

Got screwed on it today myself.

Next week will be exiting@J10, drive past Arcadia and get back on at Coosan slip

Will still be brutal but only ~25% as.... Seemed to be very few (myself included) with the cop to do that today

KevR

KevR wrote: »

PS - people are using both lanes and merging in turn

Are there any signs up, or have people just copped on!

KevR

Yesterday evening heading West between junctions 10 and 11:
(Click for fullsize image)

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

Are there any signs up, or have people just copped on!

Didn't see any signs but then again I wasn't really looking out for them. I think it might have just been sheer volume yesterday evening which forced people to queue in both lanes.

whyulittle

Bad traffic in town yesterday as well, from the Cresent to the bridge. Couldn't see any reason for it though. You might think people avoiding the bypass, but the traffic coming in the Ballymahon Road wasn't heavy.

breakin_ball

What Junctions are closing on the BP on the 25th Feb?