Bodkin roundabout roadworks

Doc Ruby

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Stay Visible Doc...

A bigger, faster car helps with that.

Just a quick recap for those not already bored out of their tits, I agreed you were right in the use of the roundabout and mentioned I did not use it very often, you agreed it was a particularly badly designed roundabout, ergo one would think that one would not have to be an idiot to get muddled up, especially if one does not use it very often, and plenty of people do get muddled up in such a manner.

And like a dog with a bone or someone that doesn't win internet arguments very often, you started talking about insurance premiums, so I mentioned that it was likely I pay €30 more because I drive a larger, faster vehicle, rather than your heavy hints about losing a no claims bonus. Having taken this round of internet e-peen to the next level, it occurs to me to wonder why am I even bothering. Really, why.

thesandeman

When the lights come in both of ye will have to stop your fancy cars and let us normal people walk across the road with our shopping.
YES WE CAN!!



(Or possibly Tiocfaidh Ar La).

Iwannahurl

thesandeman wrote: »

When the lights come in both of ye will have to stop your fancy cars and let us normal people walk across the road with our shopping.
YES WE CAN!!

(Or possibly Tiocfaidh Ar La).

Touché!

irishdude11

Iwannahurl wrote: »

The Bodkin Roundabout is an old favourite here.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=75186837

Some think the sprouting lane is a top idea.

It's isn't a sprouting top lane. The roundabout is a 3 lane roundabout all the way around except at the top where it reduces to two lanes momentarily at the top traffic lights.

The cars coming onto the roundabout from the 'north' direction are coming from 3 lanes which match up perfectly with the 3 lanes of the roundabout so there is no problem.

The cars coming from the west and who are stopped at the top lights have no issue either, the car on the inside lane will actually have even more space after they go through the lights as they can choose from either the middle or inner lane.

Whatever issues there are with roundabouts in galway that is not one of them.

Iwannahurl

irishdude11 wrote: »

It's isn't a sprouting top lane.

Whatever issues there are with roundabouts in galway that is not one of them.

Some confusion here. The "sprouting lane" is at 6 o'clock.

The Bodkin is a stupid dangerous mess no matter what way you look at it. Good riddance I say. I just hope the new junction delivers the goods in terms of safety and convenience for all road users, especially those who not only are adding nothing to traffic congestion but are actually alleviating it.

antoobrien

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Some confusion here. The "sprouting lane" is at 6 o'clock.

This came up on the previous thread - I still don't see the problem with it.

One should be on the rightmost lane to go to the QB (coming from Ballinfoyle). The "sprouting" lane keeps QB bound traffic on target by pushing it away from the RAB, while making room for the Ballinfoyle bound traffic (which can stay in line and turn right).

Simple really.

The big problem here, as with most of the junctions in Ireland (this is not anywhere near a situation unique to Galway), is that policing junctions isn't sexy enough for the traffic corps.

Iwannahurl

The big problem in Ireland is that stupid ugly roundabouts are considered sexy by some.








.

antoobrien

Iwannahurl wrote: »

The big problem in Ireland is that stupid ugly roundabouts are considered sexy by some.

What, no explanation of why I'm wrong that this RAB shouldn't and can't work, when the evidence points to the fact that the lights are the problem with it.

connemara man

I go round the roundabout a lot and the only "issue" i have with it is trying to get into the Galway shopping center from the quincentinial bridge the 2 to 3 lane makes it awkward. If people didn't cross lanes and actually do what they are supposed to on it it would work well enough

Iwannahurl

The fundamental flaw with Irish roundabouts is their design. Bad (and dangerous) driving is a widespread problem, but is the Traffic Corps in a position to regularly police the many junctions that would work better if they were designed properly?

I see the TC so rarely I can't help forming the impression that they are spread rather thinly on the ground. In the past few years I have personally encountered only a couple of checkpoints, one for speed on the Quincentenary Bridge (where speeding is endemic) and one for motor tax etc on the west side of the city. There may also have been another on the WDR.

Incidentally, some years ago AGS found the problem of 'queue jumping' on a roundabout in Oranmore to be so serious that they stationed a squad car there and nabbed a bunch of motorists using the wrong lane.

In Galway City, 25% of collisions occur on roundabouts according to AGS and these junctions have been repeatedly identified by bus users, pedestrians and cyclists as a hazard and a barrier. I doubt that policing each and every junction would fix these fundamental flaws.

antoobrien

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Incidentally, some years ago AGS found the problem of 'queue jumping' on a roundabout in Oranmore to be so serious that they stationed a squad car there and nabbed a bunch of motorists using the wrong lane.

In Galway City, 25% of collisions occur on roundabouts according to AGS and these junctions have been repeatedly identified by bus users, pedestrians and cyclists as a hazard and a barrier. I doubt that policing each and every junction would fix these fundamental flaws.

Doing it more than once or twice a decade has to help.

I know one of the traffic wardens in the city council. For years he begged the council to paint yellow boxes on various roundabouts be given powers to hand out tickets at junctions for improper use (don't know if this is legal).

Could you imagine what the moneen would have been like with one of those lads down there taking snaps of you breaking the laws. It would have sorted it out in short order - no need to spend the better part of a million "fixing" the problem (which could be better spent of surfaces of paths & roads, water, maintenance of mutton island - take your pick)

Iwannahurl

I absolutely agree that more enforcement is necessary. The truth is that I see TC vehicles (very often single-occupant) frequently, but I almost never encounter them visibly and actively in the process of enforcement. As a motorist, therefore, my experience tells me that the chances of ever being nabbed in Galway City for road traffic offences are very slim. Same goes for illegal parking.

As it happens I am a law-abiding sort (these days ) so this has no effect on me. However, it is self-evident that thousands of drivers are happy to break road traffic laws, or parking regulations, every hour of every day, in the blissful knowledge that they will most likely get away with it.

We don't do compliance or enforcement very well in this country. Yellow boxes have had little appreciable impact overall, I would suggest, in the same way that speed limits, Yield signs, double yellow lines, disabled parking bays and footpaths are far from being a guarantee that drivers will behave considerately and within the law.

Neither are such measures a guarantee that the enforcers will act either. It is my experience, and I have direct evidence of some of it, that AGS and Traffic Wardens routinely ignore traffic and parking offences.

buzz11

How do you find out which way the each councillor voted ?
(www.galwaycitynews.ie only says it was passed 7 to 5)

snubbleste

buzz11 wrote: »

How do you find out which way the each councillor voted ?
(www.galwaycitynews.ie only says it was passed 7 to 5)

You wait another month till the minutes of the meeting are adopted and then they are posted on the Council website. Alternatively contact a councillor and ask.
I think it was the five Labour councillors who voted against.

Iwannahurl

buzz11 wrote: »

How do you find out which way the each councillor voted ?
(www.galwaycitynews.ie only says it was passed 7 to 5)

Unless there is a formal Roll Call Vote there is no official record of how each individual Councillor voted.

However, it's usually easy to find out informally. It might be in the papers, or as snubbleste suggests just ask a Councillor or two.

http://www.galwaycity.ie/AllServices/YourCouncil/CouncilMembers/

By the way, why do you ask?

fago

I know the previous thread was locked for going round in circles but what's the verdict on briarhill, after bedding in.
Better/worse/the same?Does it give hope for this project. Hopefully at least maddens get the tender, did a good job at Newcastle and briarhill.

buzz11

Iwannahurl wrote: »

By the way, why do you ask?

So that I can write to each one who voted in favor of the proposal and give 'em hell.

I sent in an observation on the proposal but haven't received an acknowledgement yet, but they've already voted the proposal through. Amazing how the process can be speeded up when it suits them

Vote 4 Pedro

fago wrote: »

I know the previous thread was locked for going round in circles but what's the verdict on briarhill, after bedding in.
Better/worse/the same?Does it give hope for this project. Hopefully at least maddens get the tender, did a good job at Newcastle and briarhill.

Briarhill is much better now the roundabout has gone,
Before the work was done I was one of those saying that "It will never work and a total waist of money"
But now it's finished I have to admit i was wrong because they seem to be working and doing a great job.

Sponge Bob

All 3 will be done says Tansey, TOGETHER, March to May.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/23702-more-mayhem-looming-three-roundabouts-set-be-removed

Motorists are bracing themselves for major traffic disruption this Spring as construction work on removing three more of the city’s roundabouts will be carried out simultaneously.

Construction work on the removal of the Bodkin roundabout, next to Galway Shopping Centre on the Headford Road, to make way for a signalised junction is due to start in early March, after it was given the green light by city councillors at a meeting on Monday.

Bodkin is by far the biggest project of the six roundabouts in the city that are to be removed. It is also the busiest junction in the city and motorists are braced for delays, particularly given that construction work will overlap with the removal of two other of the city’s roundabouts.

Construction work on the Bodkin roundabout will take three months to complete – the contractors will be under time pressure to deliver the project before the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in June. It has been put out to tender and the selection process of contractors begins at the end of January with work to begin in March.

Galway City Council has confirmed that construction work on removing Font roundabout (Tuam Road) and Morris roundabout (Ballybane) will commence in mid-February.

This delusional and overpaid civil servant again

Head of the Galway Transportation Unit, Joe Tansey, told the Galway City Tribune that traffic management plans will be put in place to minimise any disruption.

They will work ONLY IF THE DISRUPTIVE WORK IS DONE BETWEEN 10pm and 7am.

And will there be a park and ride for the 3 months???

antoobrien

Sponge Bob wrote: »

All 3 will be done says Tansey, TOGETHER, March to May.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/23702-more-mayhem-looming-three-roundabouts-set-be-removed



This delusional and overpaid civil servant again



They will work ONLY IF THE DISRUPTIVE WORK IS DONE BETWEEN 10pm and 7am.

And will there be a park and ride for the 3 months???

Three of the busiest junctions in Galway - together, wtf!

Sponge, please tell us you're a couple of months early with the april fools jokes.

McTigs

Vote 4 Pedro wrote: »

Briarhill is much better now the roundabout has gone,
Before the work was done I was one of those saying that "It will never work and a total waist of money"
But now it's finished I have to admit i was wrong because they seem to be working and doing a great job.

Well fair play to you for admitting it.

How many of the "this is madness!" brigade will do the same?

antoobrien

McTigs wrote: »

Well fair play to you for admitting it.

How many of the "this is madness!" brigade will do the same?

Well we can quote mr tansey around the moneen - one week of normal operations isn't enough to judge.

I'll give my opinion on it the next time I've to use it.

KevR

I understand why they wouldn't do the Menlo Park roundabout at the same time as the Bodkin roundabout - too much disruption in one area. But are they at least planning to do it as soon as possible after work on Bodkin has completed? There is no point in increasing throughput at Bodkin if the Menlo Park RAB isn't done because the Menlo Park RAB can't cope with current levels of traffic being pushed through from the Bodkin RAB...

Leonard Hofstadter

They should definitely remove the Joyce roundabout while they're busy on their getting rid of roundabouts spree.

Coming from the Shopping Centre side it is quite literally impossible to join the roundabout if you approach it in the inside lane, as you have to if you are taking the exit for Wellpark/Renmore/Limerick etc and to head back into town.

Of course, what makes matters even worse is if you take the correct exit for Wellpark/Limerick/Cork etc you will often find that someone in the left lane will try and cut across you to take that exit too, even though if you're taking the third exit you're supposed to be in the right lane:mad:!

I ****ing hate that roundabout because of the incompetance of Galway drivers. People don't understand the concept of yielding to traffic that's on a roundabout either - they just pull out straight in front of you as if you weren't there! Irish people in general are not good drivers, but for some reason Galway drivers seem to be even worse than the rest of the country.

Liberal Irishman

It's sooooo... dangerous!!! Fix it before someone gets hurt!!!

Sponge Bob

Sandyvale and Corrib Park roundabouts will be removed after the summer, sometime.

Iwannahurl

captainspeed wrote: »

They should definitely remove the Joyce roundabout while they're busy on their getting rid of roundabouts spree.

Coming from the Shopping Centre side it is quite literally impossible to join the roundabout if you approach it in the inside lane, as you have to if you are taking the exit for Wellpark/Renmore/Limerick etc and to head back into town.

Of course, what makes matters even worse is if you take the correct exit for Wellpark/Limerick/Cork etc you will often find that someone in the left lane will try and cut across you to take that exit too, even though if you're taking the third exit you're supposed to be in the right lane:mad:!

I ****ing hate that roundabout because of the incompetance of Galway drivers. People don't understand the concept of yielding to traffic that's on a roundabout either - they just pull out straight in front of you as if you weren't there! Irish people in general are not good drivers, but for some reason Galway drivers seem to be even worse than the rest of the country.

If that's the experience of some motorists, imagine how pedestrians, cyclists, people pushing buggies, children, disabled people and senior citizens must feel.

Most if not all Galway's roundabouts should be removed/replaced or seriously modified, IMO.

what_traffic

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Sandyvale and Corrib Park roundabouts will be removed after the summer, sometime.

May even be 2013 - does it also depend on the Local Area Plans been developed(as part of the City Dev Plan 2011 -2017) and adopted at City council before the plans for the traffic lights at these two roundabout junctions can be submitted to the Cllr's?