Work on Briarhill RB (Lynch) avoid if possible

factual lies

Deleted User wrote: »

I passed through this evening - coming across town and turning right into Dunnes.

We were in the right hand lane and the lights to turn left and go straight ahead went green. The right turn light stayed red but the car ahead of us drove out across the junction.

Luckily it was late and there weren't any oncoming cars otherwise there could have been an accident.

Separately my girlfriend was coming from Parkmore earlier and was going straight on. She was in the correct lane according to the map above but the car in the lane to the right of her went the same way.

Overall I am impressed by them.

cant blame the lights for any of that, just poor driving (lack of attention). Went through the junction 3 times today and have to say it was simple and fast, great work done by maddens in general, pity they didn't get the contract for the seamus quirke road !!!!

HardyEustace

Iwannahurl wrote: »

This kind of thing would worry me, if it's a recurring phenomenon.

I'm in favour of the new regime, but the signalised junctions will have to be made as safe as possible. I hope the new AUTC is also used to educate and enforce.

There was another beaut this morning who drove straight onto the junction after the light had turned red. While this kind of behaviour is rampant in Galway, it's particularly dangerous in Briarhill as the junction is so big. Run a red light and you'll literally end up in the middle of a stream of traffic.

Mind you, if they'd the sense to realise that they wouldn't do it in the first place...

Sponge Bob

You might get 'away' with it if you just marginally run the light and stop there. As in you are not a danger to yourself or anyone else.

For the ignorant here is a map, memorise it.

http://www.water.galwaycity.ie/gccvisual/viewer/Briarhill_291111.htm

bubbaloo

Well yesterday evening on the way home I thought it was great - and I thought the lights were going to change my life for the better!
Sadly this morning my dream was shattered. Maybe nobody had any idea which lane to be in and things will improve on Monday but the right hand lane moved very well and the left hand lane was at a standstill. I thought this morning that traffic was just as bad, if not worse, than when the roundabout was there.

factual lies

factual lies wrote: »

cant blame the lights for any of that, just poor driving (lack of attention). Went through the junction 3 times today and have to say it was simple and fast, great work done by maddens in general, pity they didn't get the contract for the seamus quirke road !!!!

Agreed - I saw the driver looking back at us so I'd say he realised he shouldn't have gone. He might have assumed it would be like Moneenageisha cross where all the lights go green but with a few seconds delay.

It wasn't the fault of the lights.

Mrs OBumble

Iwannahurl wrote: »

EDIT: I hope the sceptics who vehemently opposed the Briarhill roundabout-to-signals conversion will try out the new junction from various directions and report on their experiences, good, bad or indifferent.

I'm not a sceptic but am planning to try it out on the number 3 bus over the weekend, as this seems like the only way to get reliable information about how it's turning around now.

antoobrien

Iwannahurl wrote: »

T
EDIT: I hope the sceptics who vehemently opposed the Briarhill roundabout-

Never in 15 years of using this junction have I had to wait 2 minutes to get out from Briarhill onto the RAB (unless I was caught by the person waiting for the proverbial invitation in the post to enter the RAB).

They've also ignored the mess that is the entrance to dunnes (I know it was never in the plans, but I didn't agree with that omission anyways) - that will affect traffic attempting to get into Ballybrit and Doughiska.

I shudder to think what this will be like when "normal" traffic resumes on it.

Iwannahurl wrote: »

I'd like to try it myself, but on a bike, so it'll be a while before I get a chance.

I won't be using this on a bike because imo it is much more dangerous than the RAB ever was (you're trusting drivers to stop when they see clear road on front of them - ever notice the bent signs that used to frequent this RAB?).

antoobrien

There are some serious problems with signage that need to be addressed (moving the VMS a hundred yards away from the junction would help).

I seriously hope that we get some proper overhead signs for directions because the 4 lanes from Briarhill toward town on the DC goes against the convention of 1 left 2 straight and 1 right (it's 2 right). This bit caught me out this morning because they'd only 3 lanes open and I found myself in the middle lane (straight).

dannyd20

I passed through it today around 1pm - 5mins to get out from doughiska side to turn left onto the dual carriage way into town. (The lights just turned red as I got to the junction :mad: ) Traffic was backed up to Tom Hogans from the town side approaching the junction! :eek:

Approached via old monivea road around 2pm and traffic was backed up past Clayton.

Apparently GTU have engineers working at the signal timings over the next couple of weeks though so I'm sure it'll be grand :rolleyes:

antoobrien

I've just seen something there that I've never seen since the DC was built in the mid 90s.

Somebody turned onto the Monivea rd outbound onto the 4 lanes that was for inbound traffic (against traffic), the (apparently) calmly waited at the end of the bollards for the traffic from the DC/doughiska to clear before driving out the monivea rd. I was so shocked that I didn't get their reg.

Only for the fact that there was no traffic coming from Parkmore direction (when's the last time that happened at 3.45 on a friday afternoon) that would have been a fairly serious accident.

what_traffic

Iwannahurl wrote: »

I'd like to try it myself, but on a bike, so it'll be a while before I get a chance.

Cycled through it today - was grand (but thats only one-arm need to test it out a bit more), as already mentioned its a big big junction and without ASL's - (unlike Moneen) so would recommend to get yourself into a good position at the top of the lights if filtering, by getting out beyond the Pedestrain crossing section when its clear to give yourself a headstart when lights go green.

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

Somebody turned onto the Monivea rd outbound onto the 4 lanes that was for inbound traffic (against traffic), the (apparently) calmly waited at the end of the bollards for the traffic from the DC/doughiska to clear before driving out the monivea rd. I was so shocked that I didn't get their reg.
.

Crazy alright. Have noticed once or twice, vechicles doing U-Turns when heading Eastbound from the N6 - to get on the Westbound Carraigeway
Is this allowed here? Or should they be only going right onto the Monivea Road heading towards Ballybane/Doughiska?

antoobrien wrote: »

Only for the fact that there was no traffic coming from Parkmore direction (when's the last time that happened at 3.45 on a friday afternoon) that would have been a fairly serious accident.

Its because of the lights junction on the old Lynch Roundabout. Two evenings in a row now and no traffic backed up to the Roundabout in Parkmore itself at rush hour in the evenings.

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

Crazy alright. Have noticed once or twice, vechicles doing U-Turns when heading Eastbound from the N6 - to get on the Westbound Carraigeway
Is this allowed here? Or should they be only going right onto the Monivea Road heading towards Ballybane/Doughiska?

Don't know if there are any u-turns allowed at all, I would assume not, but I don't know if there's anything illegal about it. I think they should be going as far as the RAB at the end of the motorway to turn back (it's maybe an extra km to travel).

what_traffic wrote: »

Its because of the lights junction on the old Lynch Roundabout. Two evenings in a row now and no traffic backed up to the Roundabout in Parkmore itself at rush hour in the evenings.

I assume you mean the junction between the Monivea Rd & Parkmore - that was never part of the RAB (mores the pity that it wasn't re-routed that way 15/16 years ago).

There was generally very little traffic around in general, only 5/6 cars from parkmore, very little coming in from Carnmore, much less than there was at lunch time, or even 9 last night.

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

I assume you mean the junction between the Monivea Rd & Parkmore.

No I was referring to the Lynch traffic lights junction i.e the old Lynch Roundabout. Since the switchover to the lights here no longer seem to have the huge build up of traffic on the Parkmore road at rush hour in the evenings down to the lights at the junction between the Monivea Rd & Parkmore. This might explain absence of traffic at the time you mention or else it was just the sequencing of the lights between both traffic light junctions?

cats.life

lights dont help the shoppers coming out of dunns, was in there today and on way out i went left cos traffic was backed up to where the bus stop is, plus some tool in a big car was on the yellow box as you go out of dunns, the traffic trying to come into dunns had to wait until he/she went.

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

No I was referring to the Lynch traffic lights junction i.e the old Lynch Roundabout. Since the switchover to the lights here no longer seem to have the huge build up of traffic on the Parkmore road at rush hour in the evenings down to the lights at the junction between the Monivea Rd & Parkmore. This might explain absence of traffic at the time you mention or else it was just the sequencing of the lights between both traffic light junctions?

I think we're talking about the same spot, there's no name on the lights and the locals ignore the names on the RAB (we called in ballyrit until the Liam Mulryan called the shopping center Briarhill).

There was little/no backup up to parkmore, there was little/no traffic coming towards town from the Carnmore on the Monivea Rd.

MaxFlower

There is a problem with u-turns as far as I can see. This was never an issue with the RB but as more and more of them are removed for these junctions its going to be difficult to go back the way you came if you find yourself taking the wrong exit.

I have used the new junction a few times but I remain unconvinced. I can't figure out why the lane structure/number that is present now was not incorporated into the RB. (anyone shed some light on this). I mean the Deoch Uisce/Dunnes road was essentially a single into the RB but it seems to me that traffic was no worse then than it is now despite 2 extra lanes.

Berty

I was approaching the roundabout when the guys where switching on the lights for the first time. You know the types. Loads of guys in high viz jackets and suits underneath them with no concept of common sense.

It was bedlam. That's the only way I can describe it. It will help traffic coming off the Motorway/approaching the city in the morning and leaving in the evenings but I thought about Industrial Estate and Briarhill traffic and thought "that means going to a different bank(Ulster Bank) from now on.

I screamed blue murder when they did the works at the Newcastle end of the Q bridge, especially with the utter contempt shown by the council for general road users (school book shopping :rolleyes:).

Everytime I went over to Westside I felt like crying on the Seamus Quirke Rd.

With regards to the works done at the Lynch junction, ther is no comparison

The works were managed a hell of a lot better than the ones at the Q bridge with the majority of the work being done outside peak times to minimise impact. Sure there were lane closures, but every day I went through I could see progress, not like SQ Rd.

As for the end result, this change balances the flow of traffic through this junction. That is the main thing to remember here. This change will impact the majority who use this junction and impact them favorably. For all other users there will be a delay of 1-2 mins.

I come into this junction from the Monivea side and with the RAB I flew on to the junction and straight out the other side. Meanwhile, several hundred cars piled up on the M6 side waiting to go through.

As I said above, massive improvement and hats off to whoever did the works. Nicely managed.

Iwannahurl

MaxFlower wrote: »

There is a problem with u-turns as far as I can see. This was never an issue with the RB but as more and more of them are removed for these junctions its going to be difficult to go back the way you came if you find yourself taking the wrong exit.

Are such u-turns a significant issue though? Significant enough to factor into the junction design?

Mrs OBumble

antoobrien wrote: »

There was little/no backup up to parkmore, there was little/no traffic coming towards town from the Carnmore on the Monivea Rd.

At what time was there little/no backup to Parkmore? I can assure you that some evenings after work, the traffic backed up as far as the RAB between Parkmore East & West estates. And other evenings, it ran freely. No reason I could see for the difference.




Just to report back no the No 3 bus:

Of all the ways it could have turned around, Bus Éireann have picked the only one that doesn't improve the service for anyone at all: it turns right at the junction, goes down the N6 to turn around at the Coolagh (ie end-of-motorway) RAB, then back up the N6 and a left turn back into Monivea Rd .
Well done BÉ ... NOT.

snubbleste

JustMary wrote: »

Just to report back no the No 3 bus:
Of all the ways it could have turned around, Bus Éireann have picked the only one that doesn't improve the service for anyone at all: it turns right at the junction, goes down the N6 to turn around at the Coolagh (ie end-of-motorway) RAB, then back up the N6 and a left turn back into Monivea Rd .
Well done BÉ ... NOT.

That's incredible, a swift letter requiring explanation to BÉ is in order.

Zzippy

Tried the junction yesterday, coming from Tom Hogan direction on N6 and turning right into Briarhill - the filter light is a joke! :mad:

Traffic backed up in the right hand lane for a couple of hundred metres, and the light for turning right only goes green for approx. 10 seconds, enough for maybe 6-7 cars to get through - assuming they are all alert and ready to go on green. Took at least 10 minutes to get from the back of the queue to the lights, you could visibly see people getting frustrated and jumping before the filter light went green, and continuing to go on amber and red.

Major disimprovement for people going this direction, I'll be sticking with the old Monivea road in future if coming from this direction...

what_traffic

JustMary wrote: »

At what time was there little/no backup to Parkmore? I can assure you that some evenings after work, the traffic backed up as far as the RAB between Parkmore East & West estates. And other evenings, it ran freely. No reason I could see for the difference.

See Post #101

(when's the last time that happened at 3.45 on a friday afternoon)

JustMary wrote: »

Just to report back no the No 3 bus:

Of all the ways it could have turned around, Bus Éireann have picked the only one that doesn't improve the service for anyone at all: it turns right at the junction, goes down the N6 to turn around at the Coolagh (ie end-of-motorway) RAB, then back up the N6 and a left turn back into Monivea Rd .
Well done BÉ ... NOT.

What would you recommend? Are you thinking along the lines of a complete route review for NO 3?

factual lies

I got an e-mail friday evening saying,for the traffic lights to work correctly (to reduce the waiting time correctly on each junction exit), the designated company needs to study the traffic flow from each junction for up to 2 weeks to correctly time the traffic flow for each juntion to run smoothly. This was the same practice that was done for the moneenagisha junction and glenina junction traffic light systems.

When the cameras are installed will the people monitoring the junction be working with the Gardai to report dangerous driving? Surely this would be of great importance from a health and safely perspective?

James Forde

what_traffic wrote: »

What would you recommend? Are you thinking along the lines of a complete route review for NO 3?

Eh maybe continuing on to park more, where there are actual bus stops!

What an awful inefficient decision!!

I actually think a bunch of clowns run that place FFS

what_traffic

James Forde wrote: »

Eh maybe continuing on to park more, where there are actual bus stops!

What an awful inefficient decision!!

I actually think a bunch of clowns run that place FFS

Agree 100%.

@JustMary would they have had to get a new licence from the NTA to use the Coolagh Roundabout now? Your going to have update the site: http://www.galwaytransport.info/2008/12/3-ballybrit-coming-soon.html
Great site by the way

ohnoigotsick

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Are such u-turns a significant issue though? Significant enough to factor into the junction design?

Lads are doing U turns on the DC filter light (N6 outbound to N6 inbound) while at the same time there is a filter light allowing cars from briarhill to turn left - there will be a crash sooner rather than later doing this.

Stench Blossoms

Came from Oranmore down the Monivea Road and it took me 30mins at 7.45 this morning. Normally takes me 15 max. I'll have to try it from the dual carriage way tomorrow. Not impressed.

ohnoigotsick

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Came from Oranmore down the Monivea Road and it took me 30mins at 7.45 this morning. Normally takes me 15 max. I'll have to try it from the dual carriage way tomorrow. Not impressed.

what direction where you heading - parkmore? town ?