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M1 New Section of D3 (three lanes) at Swords
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Sponge Bob wrote: »Bypass Galway first , delays on this stretch are minor league and widening a waste of money to my mind!!!celticbest wrote: »Galway has far less traffic to deal with compared to Dublin, also the M1 connects the two biggest cities in Ireland - Dublin to Belfast through some of the most densely populated parts of the country, if this road needs to be widened in order for traffic to flow then this should be done.
Population of Galway 231,035 - area 6,148 km2 - density 37 per km2
Population of Fingal region 239,813 - area 448.07 km2 - density 535 per km2
Yes Galway does need to be by-passed but you can't say don't do this job or that job before you do this one or this is a waste of money.
People in Dublin have had to live with the worst traffic in the country for years, we are only recently seeing an improvement in this thanks to the upgrade of the M50, as a result of this upgrade traffic is getting to the M1 in a much quicker and more steady flow, this is now causing this stretch of the M1 Motorway to clog up at peak times so yes this upgrade does need to be done ASAP so the people of Swords, Balbriggan, Gormanstown, Stamullen, Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry whom use this route to commute to and from work on a daily basis and then you also have the intercity traffic heading to Belfast, on a road of this importance you should expect traffic not to have to come to a standstill around Swords each and every evening.
Lets not forget that this is a Motorway and slowdowns like this should not occur on a regular basis.I agree
but...
We're talking about a bypass of Galway City, not the entire County!! Population density in Galway City is obviously far greater than the density of the whole County (it's the second biggest county in the Ireland!).
I do think the M1 widening should go ahead and I don't think it will ever be a case of either the Galway BP or the M1 widening only going ahead, both eventually will.
However, if it was the case that one had to get priority over the other then the Galway Bypass would definitely have to be given priority. It wouldn't even come close to being a contest, no offence to the people of North Dublin/the M1 corridor.celticbest wrote: »As I stated before the M1 is a major route which connects city to city, the Galway bypass from what I can see doesn't connect to any other major route, correct me if I'm wrong.
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Lets not forget that the M1 is the mainline link to Dublin Port and Dublin Airport, both of which are the busiest goods/people movers in the country.
Dublin Airport is expected to have 20 million passengers this year, it's usually open 364 days a year (except for ash clouds) this equals an average of about 55,000 people using it a day, http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1016963.shtml
Dublin port, the latest figures I could find (2003) Passengers through were 1.5 million this as per above standard would equal an average of about 4,100 passengers a day, also 23.5 million tonnes of cargo pass through it yearly, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Port
It therefore goes without saying that the M1 is a higher priority than Galway City by-pass, Galway in the last census had a population of 72,414, Dublin Airport daily passengers numbers are 55,000+ Dublin port passengers 4,100 and the population of Swords 33,998 = 93,098 these numbers alone are greater than the population of Galway by over 20,600. This is without adding in the other commuter towns along the M1.
As I said before Galway deserves a by-pass but you have to look at the numbers before you can say that it should be a priority over the M1.captainspeed wrote: »It will be a complete waste, as everyone that drives on 3 lane motorways drives in the middle lane/right lane, the left lane simply won't be used as the M50 and N7 proves:(.celticbest wrote: »I would have to say that I disagree with your above statement, it would not be a complete waste 'captainspeed', yes lane discipline in this country is very poor but it is up to the people in charge to start enforcing the rules of the road. However just saying that it would be a complete waste could not be further from the truth.
As an example lets have a look at the M50.
Since the adding of the extra lanes the motorway has been free moving. However in the one spot at Junction 6 Blanchardstown on the NB carriageway were for a short distance under the junction it reverts back to 2 lanes there is on more occasions than not a hold up at this point.
Again per your statement above 'captainspeed', how does this hold up occur if everyone drives in the second or third lane?
The more lanes that are in place then the quicker traffic moves even if the majority of people on the road do not know how to drive on it correctly.You don't know anything about me apart from 'Galway City' on my profile so you can't make an informed comment on whether or not I am biased.
Hold on a minute. You are talking as if the M1 does not exist and that the old N1 is the only route which connects Dublin City/Airport/Port and Belfast.
The reasons you give for the Dublin City/Airport/Port to Belfast route being more important than the Galway Bypass route are true and that is why the M1 was built long before the Galway Bypass!! The existing M1 also has a free-flow connection with the M50 (Dublin's Bypass/Orbital)
There is already a motorway (M1) there which can handle large amounts of traffic and copes well with volumes most of the day. There are some delays at certain times of day - the majority of people who use the M1 don't even experience noticeable delays. These delays are minor when compared to delays in Galway - I have driven all around Dublin including the M1 in various levels of traffic; have you or Bluetonic ever driven fully across Galway at peak times?
To put things into context for you - imagine what traffic in Dublin City would be like without the M50 because that's pretty much what Galway is like at the moment. I think widening the M1 would be the least of Dublin's traffic worries if the M50 was still only in the planning stages!
"the Galway bypass from what I can see doesn't connect to any other major route, correct me if I'm wrong." The Galway Bypass will connect to the M6; the M17 and M18 are starting construction at the end of this year and they will both connect to the M6 (which as I mentioned connects to the bypass). The M6 currently ends at an at-grade roundabout in Doughiska - this roundabout was not in the initial plans, the bypass was supposed to have been built at the same time with the M6 feeding directly into it. The bypass didn't happen and the M6 now ends at a 'temporary' roundabout. Soon the M17 and M18 will feed into the M6 and all the traffic from 3 major motorways will arrive at an at-grade roundabout instead of the grade-seperated Dual Carriageway (the bypass).
More context - imagine the M1 ending at an at-grade roundabout in Drumcondra and the M50 (including the Port Tunnel) not existing. That would be similar to the current setup in Galway.
I hope the M1 widening does go ahead but I will never accept that delays on that short section of the M1 are worse than the delays around the whole of Galway City. I don't think either of the projects actually have any bearing on each other but I simply can't agree with someone who claims the M1 widening should have priority over the Galway Bypass if the two projects did have a bearing on each other. It seems some people actually get offended if it is suggested that somewhere other than Dublin has worse traffic than Dublin. I really wish Galway didn't have the traffic problems that it does - having worse traffic than Dublin is not something I am at all happy about or proud of.celticbest wrote: »My sister-in-law actually lives in Galway (Doughiska) so I'm down there on a regular basis, the traffic is not comparable to Dublin traffic in anyway whatsoever, yes it's just like any city once you get within a certain radius of the centre the traffic gets heavy.
From my experience the heavy traffic only starts on the Headford road on the Dublin side & this is approx. 2.1km from the City Centre. I'm not sure about the far side of Galway?
From O'Connell street in Dublin until you get to the M1(Port Tunnel) is approx 7.8km. So people in Dublin also have to sit in major traffic to get out of the city.
Yes currently Galway has no ring road and as I've said before it should get one but as I've also stated before that the M1 needs this upgrade to keep traffic flowing.
This upgrade is only a 2km stretch of road were only one lane needs to be added and by all accounts this job will only take about two months to complete as it is a straight forward lane lay in place of a grass median.celticbest wrote: »Has anybody had any update as to whether works are going to start anytime soon ??
Traffic was as bad as ever again last night from the M50/M1 merge to Junction 4,
Picture taken @ about 5:30pm just after Airport Junction.FYI - I also posted this:KevR wrote:I hope the M1 widening does go ahead but I will never accept that delays on that short section of the M1 are worse than the delays around the whole of Galway City. I don't think either of the projects actually have any bearing on each other but I simply can't agree with someone who claims the M1 widening should have priority over the Galway Bypass if the two projects did have a bearing on each other. It seems some people actually get offended if it is suggested that somewhere other than Dublin has worse traffic than Dublin. I really wish Galway didn't have the traffic problems that it does - having worse traffic than Dublin is not something I am at all happy about or proud of.
Victor, that topic was covered early in this thread.
As I've said to KevR the bottom line is that the NRA saw the need for a third lane on this section of the M1 which IMHO should go as far as Lissenhall J4 but it's better than nothing, this upgrade will cost very little compared to the cost of the proposed Galway by-pass.
Yes, a by-pass of Galway City is required but not before the route between the two biggest cities in Ireland is able to operate to its full potential.0 -
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Well in that case why do they find it worth widening the road? The delay is small, but unneccessary and when 80,000 people are subject to a delay it does all add up.
And when you think about it, only a small percentage of the 80,000 (it's really more like 40,000 people X two journeys) actually get delayed. The majority who use the road for the other 20-22 off-peak hours don't get held up.
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Thats wrong. The vast majority of the journeys are during peak time so therefore vast majority of people get delayed.And when you think about it, only a small percentage of the 80,000 (it's really more like 40,000 people X two journeys) actually get delayed. The majority who use the road for the other 20-22 off-peak hours don't get held up.0 -
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Indeed.It depends on what one's defnition of peak time is I suppose.
Peak on the M1 in my mind would certainly be from just before 7am to just after 10am southbound and 4pm to just after 7pm southbound. This is when the congestion is. Also that sample covers a lot of summer days when traffic is light in the mornings.
Another thing to note it that the counter is including in it's measurement traffic to and from J3 where the congestion is starting to ease due to the three lanes ahead outbound and the offramp northbound, and therefore doesn't give a view of traffic solely before and after J3.
I suppose your small percentage quote is like my vast majority
Edited to add that on the NRA map they say the the counter you refer to to is south of J2 therefore takes into account all traffic to and from the airport from the city on the M1 and doesn't include M1 traffic which joins after or leaves before the airport, which is significant.0 -
In other news, and I may as well throw it in here, the NRA (I think it's them) have applied for permission to have the M1 closed northbound and/or southbound between J3 and J7 between 10pm and 5am at times over the period 15th November to 15th December to erect the over head gantries/sign they have been constructing this last while.
Saw the first of these today going SB from the Airport to M1, it's the same style as the sign for the new Services on the M1, only one probelm with it....they forgot to put the sign itself on it
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