Killygordon - Traffic lights

smashey

These have been in place since January and are still not operational. Does anybody know of an obvious reason for this?

Whatever, it seems a bit silly to get them up and not, you know, switch them on. Maybe I'm just a wee bit mad thinking that was the whole idea behind them.

irish1967

Well they are now up and running. Was chatting to my dad. He says he was stuck in a long tailback twice on Saturday. He did say it was handy for traffic coming onto the main road from the cross.

smashey

Yeah, the timing seems to be a bit messed up on them.

PattheMetaller

It's a long wait when going through Killygordon on the National Primary Route. I'd have thought that sensors could be fitted to activate the lights when traffic is trying to enter onto the NP; this would leave the lights green for through traffic more often

Beanstalk

I stopped at them last monday coming from castlefinn, the oncoming traffic didn't bother though, just trundled slowly through them as if that makes it ok.

I supposed they were just as surprised as I was though, seeing as they were out of action for so long.

puffdragon

Yeah they certainly are slow all right , let them go a week and maybe if enough people complain they might change the sequencing a wee bit to favour the main road traffic,
At the moment its not unusual to see maybe ten cars waiting on either side of the main through road just to let one or two cars out of the side-roads.

And God forbid when someone wants to turn up the Raphoe road from the Castlefinn side they have to wait on the oncoming traffic to clear first by which time the lights are red again,
I guess I`ll be going through the Crossroads and Convoy more often again(ah well there go the tyres)

I guess sensors are the answer but do I have to ask the obvious question? Why weren't they fitted the first time and if they are already fitted then why aren't they working.
Maybe the chippy should move into the middle of the road like a drive-through you`d be able to eat your chips as while your waiting for the lights to change.

muffler

They certainly appear to be red more often that they are green. The timing is all wrong in them. Whats worse (as mentioned above) is that it only takes one car to be turning off right regardless of what direction they are traveling from or to along the main road to hold up the who shebang.

I thought I read somewhere that the red would only be activated when the sensors would pick up a car traveling in excess of a certain speed along the main road while a car was waiting to exit coming from the Cross direction.

irish1967

Yeah that's what I thought too muffs. I know it is meant as a deterant for speeding but I don't think this is quiet the effect they wanted to achieve.

muffler

Come in very handy though for Cllr McGowan to distribute promotional material to all the cars while they are queued up for ages almost on his doorstop

puffdragon

And whats with the two lights on the same side of the road?

Someones having a laugh surely!!
Dont tell me they just forgot about the ESB pole, could it be that simple?

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puffdragon

I must retract my earlier criticism of the two lights on the same side of the road in Killygordon .
When I passed there today it does seem possible that because the pedestrian crossing had to be where it is because the row of houses on the other side of the road end there and bringing the crossing further up the road would have meant blocking the taxi business exit, also if they had moved the left hand side lights any closer to the road so that they would not be obstructed by the ESB pole then trucks and lorries could have hit them , so I guess I have to say that under the circumstances it might have been necessary!!

md23040

smashey wrote: »

Yeah, the timing seems to be a bit messed up on them.

This nonsense has added minutes onto my journey time. Considering it takes 2 hours 30 minutes to travel to the Point Depot and travel times over the years have been considerably cut (the latest being the Ballygawley Bypass etc) it is frustrating to be going in reverse. The Lifford to Ballybofey road is a complete disgrace and these lights IMO add insult to injury since it’s the main arterial route to Dublin from East Donegal.

To give you an idea and this is down to a fine art through Sat Nav. Average speeds from Dublin to Monaghan considering the motorway is about 108kph. Then from Monaghan to Omagh speed average reduces to around 75kph. From Omagh to Finn Valley region this reduces to around 55-60kph average. These lights slow that way down, so will use the Clady back road in future, even though it’s falling apart and tiring to drive as the last stretch.

Does anyone know the purpose of these lights? I never had any problems going through this small village or turning onto the national road from the Cross etc. It seems if warranted through a traffic survey etc, then towns like Ballybofey, Donegal Town or Glenties should have more lights in them than Picadilly Circus.

Tripzy

puffdragon wrote: »

if enough people complain they might change the sequencing a wee bit to favour the main road traffic,

Where does a person complain effectively about this new cause of traffic congestion?

muffler

Tripzy wrote: »

Where does a person complain effectively about this new cause of traffic congestion?

National road design office in Donegal Town or your local councillor

irish1967

I see the lights fiasco made the Irish Daily Mail today. Page 28.