Are the roads not gritted?!!!

claireycork

I drove from Cork back to Castlebar Sunday. Left Cork at 12.30pm, and what should take a 3 hour drive, took 9 hours - the roads in Cork were gritted after heavy snow falls, but once i hit Tuam, My god, there upwards was a joke. 10 miles an hour and so many near misses... Ballindine to Claremorris was an absolute joke.. so many times i wanted to stop the car and cry with severe nerves and near misses - why are they not gritted?! I need to drive home Wednesday night to cork, same route, anyone know if the road to Galway has improved since Sunday?

SomethingElse

I also heard the N17 wasn't gritted today. I would have though that the N17 and N5 would be the two main routes in the area, and therefore the likeliest to be gritted. If they're not gritting these, what are they gritting?

Mayo Miss

How about driving through Ballinrobe and Headford instead to get to Galway?

The Nutty M

I was on the N17 this evening and its terrible.Compacted snow with huge ruts,dangerous.I'm also going to cork on wednesday but am going taking the train.Not worth it on the road.

cheesey1

I heard the Council ran out of salt but are telling people there is a supply but by the looks of the road there is none as the roads around Swinford are a nightmare.

oscarBravo

Mayo Miss wrote: »

How about driving through Ballinrobe and Headford instead to get to Galway?

If they're not treating the national primary routes, I wouldn't be tempted to try the N84.

challengemaster

AFAIK they're not gritting any of the roads - they don't have any grit to do it. However they're still sending out the trucks to fool people into thinking they're still gritting them

claireycork

Guys any improvement between claremorris and Galway?!

dec25532

claireycork wrote: »

Guys any improvement between claremorris and Galway?!

Quite slippy an hour ago. Ballindine to Milltown is woeful. Think the councils are only gritting in the mornings and doing nothing after dark even though the freeze is setting in from early evening. Had to go to Kiltimagh today . . . lunatic stuff.

Mayo Miss

oscarBravo wrote: »

If they're not treating the national primary routes, I wouldn't be tempted to try the N84.

I had no problem on that road today.

PogMoThoin

Mayo roads are a disgrace when You compare them to Roscommon, no attempt made to get them ploughed or salted. The N5 is fine to Carracastle, then suddenly gets very icy and dangerous from there heading west along the Charlestown/Swinford bypass to Castlebar.
My Dad drove to Dublin and back during the night last night (truck driver) and said Longford and Westmeath have to be commended for the work they put in to keep their roads clear and safe, Roscommon not so bad, while Mayo CoCo did absolutely nothing.

amy85

i drove from galway down to ballaghaderreen today. took 3 hours. stayed at 25/30mph from tuam down. ballindine to milltown and even after that was just horrendous so it was. was scary scary journey. i normally turn off in tuam and go down through dunmore williamstown etc,but said i would go that way as roads would prob be better. bypass didnt even resemble a bypass at times,there was so much compacted snow on the road and the fog aswell,oh OMG dont even get me started on that!!

steph1

It was the same last Christmas. I drove to Dublin and never again. The Charlestown bypass was a disgrace then. So nothing changes.
I will be staying put this year not going to risk it.

finisklin

I made it to Dublin in 5 1/2 hours on Monday. It took 4 hours yesterday on the way back with Charlestown and Ballaghdereen worst areas.

Looks like the town council in Ballina are using sand as they obviously have run out of salt/grit.

To the original poster do not drive to Cork after 5pm or so because conditions will deteriorate further. Either set off the next morning or get the train. It's not worth putting yourself through the stress of driving in atrocious conditions that could put you in danger. Plus you don't know how other drivers are responding to the conditions i.e. they may rear end or crash into you!!!!

BTW its -12 on my temp gauge in the car and its only 11am. :eek:

Take care and be safe this Xmas.

steph1

Agree with Finisklin and thats the reason I am staying put as I was only going up for one day and would have to drive back late on Christmas night and after last year's experience (Charlestown and Ballaghadereen also) I would not travel at night again in winter. Its all right in good weather and bright evenings.
I have not been in the main street this week at all but from reports from people that have, they said the roads were lethal and all sorts of problems on hills etc. I saw very little gritting done at all. Personally I just dont think its good enough.
Anyway keep safe on the roads everyone. And please take your time!

The Nutty M

The first 3 loads of salt are enroute from dublin now to MCC,around 150 trucks waiting at the port to get loaded from all over the country last night/this morning.As said though,salt becomes ineffective below -10c so we've a while yet to wait for the roads to get clear.When the thaw comes on Christmas day/St Stephans day it'll be fun on those roads that were not ploughed.

spider guardian

One forecaster on the radio said that a partial thaw on xmas eve or stephen's day could cause problems, snow will melt and will then freeze over the night, causing slippy conditions where it mightn't have been so bad before. it's essential that mayo co co start clearing snow as quickly as they can. i was on the N17 today, wasn't too bad but the road from kilkelly to kiltimagh was lethal, and kiltimagh itself was like an ice rink. badly needs work!

macdonagh2007

Left Castlebar town to go to Knock Airport a journey of 35/40 normally got there after hour1/2...the main road from Ballaghaderreen to Wesport is in an absolute disgraceful/dangerous condition. There is no sign that Mayo Co.Co. road engineers made any effort since last weekend to use snow ploughs to clear the main road into the West from snow/ice. Same on you...no expenses to travel around the county to see the problems.

finisklin

Travelled from Ballina to Knock this avo....Charlestown bypass was in very good condition with some over cautious drivers on it. This was (over)treated with sand and even in -2, -3 no ice visible.

Came back from Dublin yesterday and same stretch of road wasn't as good. I think the conditions may have helped with the sand. Don't want to credit the council too much as it may go to their head!?!:P

Take care out there.

Bonbon12

Has anyone gone along the N17 Galway to Claremorris? Has the Mayo leg been gritted yet? Hoping to drive from Dublin tomorrow via Galway!

MsFifers

Bonbon12 wrote: »

Has anyone gone along the N17 Galway to Claremorris? Has the Mayo leg been gritted yet? Hoping to drive from Dublin tomorrow via Galway!

Just going to ask the same Q! Planning on driving Galway to Castlebar & wondering if I should go via Tuam or the other route.

RMDrive

MsFifers wrote: »

Just going to ask the same Q! Planning on driving Galway to Castlebar & wondering if I should go via Tuam or the other route.

Can't comment on the Tuam route but I drove via Headford, Cross, Ballinrode yesterday evening and conditions were ok.

Cosmo Kramer

Bizarrely the N84 is in much better shape than the N17 or the N5, if you're heading to Galway before Christmas its definitely the way to go.

After going up and down to Galway yesterday and even meeting a gritter spreading at Glencorrib I couldn't believe how bad the N5 was today between Ballyvary and Bohola. Looks like it hasn't been treated at all. Thankfully I didn't have to go past Bohola, it looked awful.

mayo.mick

Was in castlebar meself today and the road from swinford to ballyvary was leathel, it was like driving through mogadeshu after the war:eek: