Quincentary bridge and University Rd roadworks

EyeSight

galwaycyclist wrote: »

I am sorry but in my view where you live and where you work or go to school are a central, unavoidable issue to be faced in tackling traffic in Galway.

If the traffic wasn't there - there would be no problem - so we need to examine why the traffic is there and examine what is driving it.

To answer other posters I haven't attacked anybody. I haven't questioned free education at all. I have questioned the manner in which some people exploit free education and I have asked if this is a good thing. I think it is a perfectly reasonable question.

I have no issue personally with anyone who takes their children to whatever school - we all have a personal duty to do what we think is best for our kids. However other side of that coin is that the rest of us have the same duty. If a particular activity is adversely impacting the rest of us we have a right to ask questions and ask if this is a good thing.

One time it was acceptable for anyone who wanted to smoke in pubs until somebody decided that pub workers had rights too. This is the same type of issue.

Ultimately the question is how we put policies in place that will drive solutions to our traffic problems rather than making them worse.

i really do not think this is the biggest cause of the traffic problems, not at all.
for me the biggest problem is public transport, it's very poor in this country(and in the case of trains its overpriced). in my experience with buses, they're frequently late, sometimes never come and on some occasions they have driven past me despite me waving at them to stop. if i was to get a bus to work i'd have to wake up earlier, walk about 10 minutes, wait for the bus, get off about a 15 minute walk away from work(god help me if its raining) and be much later than just hoping in my car and being at the door 10 minutes later.

i've not been living in galway for more than 5 months, i picked to live in a place near the city(near terryland) so i could walk to the city centre and shops etc without having to drive or find/pay for city centre parking
but to get to work i need to drive. i don't know many people here so i can't carpool(which hasn't worked very well for me personally in the past) and it usually only takes me about ten minutes to get to and from work. with these road works its taking me 40 minutes!
better planning of the roadworks would have made things a lot easier, that's for certain!

Blinking_Badger

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

A bit off topic but has anyone noticed that the red traffic lights at the Briarhill junction heading from the airport into town are in the shape of love hearts????

What's the story with these??:D

My sister has just told me that she saw these love heart traffic lights.......anyone know what's going on with them?!

BB

KittyeeTrix

Blinking_Badger wrote: »

My sister has just told me that she saw these love heart traffic lights.......anyone know what's going on with them?!

BB

Haha, thought I was going mad when no-one responded to my post about them:D
It's a mad one alright, maybe they are there to give people a little laugh before they get caught up in the mental traffic further on:pac:

Blinking_Badger

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Haha, thought I was going mad when no-one responded to my post about them:D
It's a mad one alright, maybe they are there to give people a little laugh before they get caught up in the mental traffic further on:pac:

Hee hee! That's exactly the same reason we came up with too.....could there be something in it?!

I'm heading into town myself in a while and will definitely check them out. Anyone else seen them?

BB

sealgaire

goalscoringhero wrote: »

I cannot see the parallels to Moneenageisha to be honest. Would you care to explain?
However, I do sympathize with the motorists, having these roadworks carried out at the same time is bad planning to put it mildly.

Time to get on your bikes, folks. If ye can't change the world, change yourself!

Ah shutup

antoobrien

JustMary wrote: »

Are you really telling us there are no schools in Corrandulla, or between there and Galway city?

To answer the question no there aren't any between Corrandulla and the city, unless they've built one in Claregalway or Ballindooley I haven't noticed (or in the 3/4 weeks since I drove through them). The nearest schools are probably the Coliaste na Coirbe (Cemetery Cross), the Moneen (Galway Community College to call it by its right name) & Calasanctius (Oranmore).

The only other options would be one of headford, tuam and athenry - none of which are practical for someone working in the city.

Not sure if these are exhaustive lists, but they've certainly the majority of them covered.
Galway County schools
Galway City Schools

celtictiger

I can't believe some of the crap I'm reading. Someone being essentially attacked for choosing which school to send her children....not only that but she's endangering others whilst doing so? Mother of Holy Jerusalem will ye shut ye're holes and stop embarrassing yourselves.

kayos

celtictiger wrote: »

I can't believe some of the crap I'm reading. Someone being essentially attacked for choosing which school to send her children....not only that but she's endangering others whilst doing so? Mother of Holy Jerusalem will ye shut ye're holes and stop embarrassing yourselves.

And lets not mention the fact that the likes of Oranmore is at capacity and turning away local students. Even though a huge number of places are given to kids from the city.

Poor public transport, poor planning, protecting the bog snail or what ever prevented the new bridge and worse planning/timing of road works would be the main causes here.

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

To answer the question no there aren't any between Corrandulla and the city, unless they've built one in Claregalway or Ballindooley I haven't noticed (or in the 3/4 weeks since I drove through them). The nearest schools are probably the Coliaste na Coirbe (Cemetery Cross), the Moneen (Galway Community College to call it by its right name) & Calasanctius (Oranmore).

The only other options would be one of headford, tuam and athenry - none of which are practical for someone working in the city.

Not sure if these are exhaustive lists, but they've certainly the majority of them covered.
Galway County schools
Galway City Schools

What about National Schools?

chickencurry02

Hi if your talking schools start another thread otherwise stick to topic.

galwaycyclist

kayos wrote: »

And lets not mention the fact that the likes of Oranmore is at capacity and turning away local students. Even though a huge number of places are given to kids from the city.

Exactly. So if they are not going to their local school where are they going and how do they get there?

celty

galwaycyclist,

Give it up, buddy!

People on here are fuming because our City Council have to put on three sets of roadworks in the same part of town, which have a huge bearing on people's efforts to get home from east to west in the evening. What should be a ten minute journey is taking people 90 mins.

And you want to have a go at people who send their kids to certain schools, which might be dictated by where they grew up, where their own parents live (minding them after school, while they work, etc), where they work, or worries about leaving the kids 'home alone' for hours.

I grew up in the Westside and through no fault of their own many of my contemporaries bought houses in Athenry, Loughrea, Tuam, etc, because they were the only places they could afford to buy.

And anyway my issues are not with a struggling mum travelling across town with two or three kids after work/school.

They are with single occupancy cars but, even more importantly, a Council which seems to do what it wants when it wants with little or no prior consultation with the public.

galwaycyclist

celty wrote: »

People on here are fuming because our City Council have to put on three sets of roadworks in the same part of town, which have a huge bearing on people's efforts to get home from east to west in the evening. What should be a ten minute journey is taking people 90 mins.

I don't know when that trip last took ten minutes at rush hour. That volume of traffic cannot be catered for within current capacity resources and even if it could it would be futile to try doing so. So we need to figure out what is causing that traffic and why?

celty wrote: »

And you want to have a go at people who send their kids to certain schools, which might be dictated by where they grew up, where their own parents live (minding them after school, while they work, etc), where they work, or worries about leaving the kids 'home alone' for hours.

I haven't had a go at anybody. However, if the choices people make on these matters affect traffic they need to be discussed.

celty wrote: »

I grew up in the Westside and through no fault of their own many of my contemporaries bought houses in Athenry, Loughrea, Tuam, etc, because they were the only places they could afford to buy.

So what? I grew up in Loughrea what is your point?

celty wrote: »

And anyway my issues are not with a struggling mum travelling across town with two or three kids after work/school.

Some of the things I see young parents having to do in this city make me physically sick and very, very angry. People on foot trying to sprint with toddlers, buggies and bags of shopping. My issue is with supporting the struggling mum trying to walk or cycle to her local school with her kids. If it turns out that this woman and her children are being inconvienced by traffic that has no real business trying to use the same roads she is then I want to know why and I want to know what is going to be done to stop it. If people choose to take offence at that then that is just too bad.

celty wrote: »

They are with single occupancy cars but, even more importantly, a Council which seems to do what it wants when it wants with little or no prior consultation with the public.

You want consultation from the city council? Join the queue.

Storm 10

Guys leave your arguements to one side the problem here is roadwaorks and the stupid City Council, I have failed today in my attempts to get from the Eastside of the City to the Westside every road is choked and not moving, its a bloddy disgrace.

This isn't the councils problem, road works or not, this is what's facing the city on a daily basis in two to three years without a by-pass or at least a new River Crossing.

We have ONE proper road over the Corrib, it's ludicrous that we didn't get a by-pass built over the past 10+ years.

If ye want someone to blame, take aim at the previous Government.

Yes the road works aren't helping and changing the roundabouts is a pretty stupid decision on the councils behalf, but the city isn't being choked because of the road works, it's been choked due to too many cars trying to cross too few bridges.

We all saw what happened when the woman got knocked down on the Headford road(a year ago?) and when there's a game in Pearse Stadium... same result every time.

extraice

Storm 10 wrote: »

Guys leave your arguements to one side the problem here is roadwaorks and the stupid City Council, I have failed today in my attempts to get from the Eastside of the City to the Westside every road is choked and not moving, its a bloddy disgrace.

whos to answers for this the CityHall .

Mrs OBumble

FWIW, even i think we need another decent bridge over the corrib.

As well as some robust demand management, and a couple more secondary schools on the east .... wellpark is almost back to 2007 again today.

magentas

Terryland to Newcastle took almost 40mins today. Absolute joke.

snubbleste

magentas wrote: »

Terryland to Newcastle took almost 40mins today. Absolute joke.

Traffic situation has improved significantly this evening for some reason.
If only we had'nt dumped Frank Fahy, he promised us a bypass, with his gigantic smiley face posters..:cool:

bagels

Coming from Tuam today, i turned right at the outermost roundabout heading towards the Headford Rd and found myself in a traffic jam.
After a long delay i finally got within 100 yards of the outermost roundabout on the Headford Rd.
I jokingly said to my wife that it would probably take a further half an hour to get to Argos.
I was wrong, it took 32 minutes.
The worst part was the stretch from the shopping centre roundabout to Argos itself.
This took place at lunchtime today.
Not a Guard to be seen.
I hope they enjoyed their lunch.

Wompa1

Took me an hour and half to get home from work yesterday. Ballybrit to Grattan Road, Salthill. My heart and balls ache

Webbs

Took me no time to get home from hospital to oranmore yesterday :-)

What it does make me realise is what volume of traffic comes from west to east in morning (and vice versa)

extraice

http://www.galwaynews.ie/21203-pressure-mounts-council-over-traffic-chaos

my boss rang city hall , two told there no problem with traffic , some in that office want get out take look , the waterworks beside the Galway Utd two Ugch , tock hour and half yesterday . so i drove under the bypass and every think going west was at stand still , people where get out cars and walking around like Rem everybody hurts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4bkiihlteg

OxiMoron

All those cars you're queueing behind are apparently buying school books. Yes , really!



Update on Roadworks and Traffic Information 26.8.2011

26 July 2011

Galway City Council wishes to advise the public regarding traffic congestion and resulting traffic delays.
Recent days have seen significant traffic volumes travelling to the City Centre and also wishing to travel across the City, resulting in congestion and delays from lunch time to late evenings.
The traffic volumes arise from a combination of factors such as families shopping for “back to school” items such as school-books and school uniforms, third level students seeking accommodation for the upcoming academic year and also some level of tourist traffic.
The Galway City road network has limited capacity and is not able to cope with such peak volumes. This results in unavoidable delays for all road users.
Ongoing roadworks at University Road and also at the Newcastle Road\Quincentennial Bridge junction are contributing to delays locally in the vicinity of these works but are not the primary cause of the congestion levels being experienced.
The road surfacing works at University Road are scheduled to finish on the 26th August, 2011.
The roadworks at the Newcastle\Quincentennial Bridge junction are scheduled to continue for a period of 6 weeks. The roadworks will commence at 10a.m. and finish at 4p.m.
In order to reduce inconvenience and delays to motorists and the travelling public Galway City Council requests that:

• Motorists travelling to the City for shopping trips plan their journey so as to avail of times when there are low traffic volumes on the road network i.e. morning time up to lunch time.
• Motorists have regard to the likely and necessary delays which result from the roadworks at University Road and also at Newcastle Road\Quincentennial Bridge junction and divert from these locations as much as possible.
• Motorists access car parks located around the City and utilise such car parks so as to reduce congestion on the road network.
• Persons use Public Transport where possible.

Future planned road closures:

1. Ironman Event:

In order to facilitate the "Ironman" event in Salthill on Sunday, 4th September, 2011, there will be some road restrictions and road closures in the Salthill area. Details of the restrictions and closures are on the City Council website can be accessed below:
View Details....
2. Gaol Road at Galway Cathedral:

In order to facilitate drainage works at the Cathedral will be closed at different periods between Monday, 29th August, 2011, and Friday, 7th October, 2011. Access will at all times be available from the Salmon Weir Bridge and University Road to Nuns Island.
3. Seamus Quirke Road:

Works are continuing on this major scheme which is due for completion by the end of 2011. Road surfacing works are scheduled to commence on sections of the east bound lanes on the week commencing Monday, 29th August, 2011. Galway City Council will be providing motorists with advance notices regarding revised interim traffic management arrangements when the surfacing works on sections of the east bound lane are completed.
4. Lynch Roundabout at Briarhill , N6/ R 339 Junction

Works on this junction are due to commence in early September. Advance signage indicating the dates of the works will be erected in advance of the works commencing. We will also be carrying up to date information as the works progress at this location on our web site.
5. Road Re-surfacing on Monivea Road:

Road re-surfacing on Monivea Road are to be carried out on the section of the Monivea Road between the Connolly Avenue junction and the McDonagh Avenue junction. The works are scheduled to be carried out within the next 2-3 weeks. Advance notification will be given prior to the works commencing.
6. Dr. Colohan Road Re-surfacing:

Re-surfacing works are also to be carried out on Seapoint Promenade\Dr. Colohan Road between the Aquarium and Fr. Griffin Road junction. These are scheduled to be carried out after the Ironman Event. Advance notification will be given prior to work commencing.
Galway City Council seeks the co-operation of the public in relation to minimising disruption which will arise as a result of road and drainage works in the City.
We will endeavour to minimise such disruption and delays , and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by these necessary works.
Galway City Council
26th August 2011

<No mails allowed, mod>

extraice

will your sending emails to them also email http://www.galwaycity.ie/AllServices/RoadsandTraffic/Contact/

how the road to day , been put on a four days week and this lead two 3 day aweek if keep going on , Q to the dole office now , any congestion there ?

sorry biko site is galwaycity.ie and email is roads at and them the site

ger vallely

Left my house (Corrandulla) to do the school run, into Talyors' Hill (PLEASE Galwaycyclist-no 'why don't you school local' discussions),took 25 minutes!!I was expecting the long haul. Though there are only some schools back as yet. The bridge looked horrendous on the return journey.That was around 1pm,it was choked.

AngelaD1972

Good afternoon Councillors

I have been told that it’s pointless my writing this as you never read emails. I wonder.


I have been living in Knocknacarra and working in Ballybrit (Galway Technology Park) for a number of years now and have been driving the same route every day to and from work: –via the Quincentennial Bridge.

I am very familiar with the peak traffic days during the year: Christmas time, Galway race week, Friday afternoon and bank holiday weekend traffic. And yes, there is a noticeable reduction in the volume of traffic during the summer months where the schools and colleges are closed.

On Monday of this week it took me an hour to get home. I thought there had been an accident. On Tuesday it took me an hour and a half to get home. I had to organise a neighbour to look after my two young children until I arrived.
Apparently the delays were due to road works that had begun at both the Newcastle end of Quincentenary Bridge and University Road on the same day, which caused additional delays to those of us who, since October of last year, have already been sitting through horrible delays on a daily basis as a result of the road works on the Seamus Quirke Road.
Actually, no, pardon me, my mistake.
According to Ciarán Hayes , Director of Services with the City Council, it was because there was ‘a large amount of traffic’. What? between 4 and 6pm? How astonishing!
That’s a little like saying I didn’t get wet because of the weather, I got wet because it was raining’.
He, in his wisdom, went on to urge people to ’stagger their journeys’.
I’m certain there are many people who would dearly love to be able to work flexi-hours, as he probably does?? - but the reality is that not many places of work can or do make such an option available.
Or perhaps Ciaran Hayes is suggesting the entire motoring population of Galway should twitter their travel intentions before leaving the house?
Today I read the following statement on the Galway City Council website ‘Update on Roadworks and Traffic Information 26.8.2011’
The traffic volumes arise from a combination of factors such as families shopping for “back to school” items such as school-books and school uniforms, third level students seeking accommodation for the upcoming academic year and also some level of tourist traffic.
The Galway City road network has limited capacity and is not able to cope with such peak volumes. This results in unavoidable delays for all road users.
Ongoing roadworks at University Road and also at the Newcastle Road\Quincentennial Bridge junction are contributing to delays locally in the vicinity of these works but are not the primary cause of the congestion levels being experienced.
….
Galway City Council seeks the co-operation of the public in relation to minimising disruption which will arise as a result of road and drainage works in the City.

How dare Galway City Council treat its citizens with such utter contempt? How dare they make such outrageous claims, as though we were all devoid of brain matter?

Bad enough to have to endure sitting bumper to bumper in traffic after a day’s work, but to have that injury followed by the insult of being told it is because we, the motorists, aren’t organising our merry jaunts into town in an efficient manner is really too much.

In all the years I have spent driving this same route to and from work, with the exception of the weeks during the flooding , NEVER have I encountered the congestion the like of which I and thousands of other motorists have been faced with this week- and NO – not even in the last few days before school opens where, according to Galway City Council, every parent in Galway decides to wait until 4 in the afternoon to head off into town to buy the school books. As you do.
What complete and utter rubbish.
I would like to know how Galway City Council will compensate me and thousands like me who are faced with dilemmas as a direct result of having a homeward journey time suddenly increased by an hour or more – and one that is set to remain that way for months to come?

Dilemmas such as: not being able to get home on time to collect children from crèches, not being able to get home on time to do homework with them, not being able to get home in time to take them to after school lessons, or to cook a proper dinner for them.

I look forward to – but don’t expect – your response. I would be delighted to hear from you.

celty

Excellent letter, Angela,

It should be read out by or to Ciaran Hayes at the start of the next Council meeting, whenever that is. I believe the Council don't even meet in August ... and yet they take a decision which has such an awful impact on the lives of thousands of people this month, and give little or no advance warning.

As you put it so eloquently, the roadworks and delays are bad enough ... but then it's an absolute insult to our intelligence to claim that they are not responsible for people taking 90 minutes across town.

Even a gombeen could work out that it's not on to have three sets of roadworks in one area, restricting access to two of the city's three key arteries to cross town, at the exact same time.

AngelaD1972

yes.. well we shall see whwther it makes any difference..

I have had one repsonse so far - from Niall Mc Neils who siad:

Thank you for your email. I am fully aware of the traffic problems this week and I am meeting the director next week to discuss. I am not happy with the reasons given by them in relation to extra traffic due to back to school and flat hunting for college.
I will be in touch after I have spoken to director Hayes. I have forwarded your email also.
Thanks
Niall Mc Nelis

AngelaD1972

further reply from Nuala Nolan
Angela,
Know exactly what you are talking about, I am so mad myself at what has happened this week. I is time for public reps to represent the people I voted against taking away the Roundabouts but unfortunately it was out voted.
Am just home from work will get back to you again later this evening
Sincerely
Nuala Nolan