Tramore Road Bicycle lane

henboy

lads help me out here . The council swept the road , cut back the hedges , Put down a white line ... Is that it

wellboytoo

henboy wrote: »

lads help me out here . The council swept the road , cut back the hedges , Put down a white line ... Is that it

For €600K, if it is you would lay a white line of Cocaine from Waterford to Tramore cheaper.

henboy

wellboytoo wrote: »

For €600K, if it is you would lay a white line of Cocaine from Waterford to Tramore cheaper.

What 600k , ****ing hell someone went on a nice holiday for Crimbo .

How the hell did a white line from Ballindud roundabout cost 600k ..

Brick Session

The other thing about this very expensive white line is that they have actually made the lane / hard shoulder narrower in most places.

tuxy

Perhaps the 600k factors in the fact that the lane will have to be swept clean on a regular basis to ensure it is safe for bikes. Many cycle lanes are full of debris so maybe they are actually going to maintain this one.

rasper

Well that's all the household charges gone down the toilet , 600k for a line , how is that costed out

Psychedelic

tuxy wrote: »

Perhaps the 600k factors in the fact that the lane will have to be swept clean on a regular basis to ensure it is safe for bikes. Many cycle lanes are full of debris so maybe they are actually going to maintain this one.

Maybe, but it looks like this cycle lane is just the hard shoulder which I've never seen dirty or cluttered with debris. There might be a few leaves in certain parts but that's about it.

I thought they might put down a red surface like you would see for most cycle lanes. If they aren't doing that then god knows what that €600k is being spent on.

I guess they might also paint little bicycles along the lane to remind people it's a cycle lane.

Max Powers

Hey lads, c'mon, this is the only thing Paudie and Ciara have achieved for Waterford, be nice about it will ye please.

Royal Legend

Max Powers wrote: »

Hey lads, c'mon, this is the only thing Paudie and Ciara have achieved for Waterford, be nice about it will ye please.

LOL Its wasn't even them that got it, no doubt they will lay claim to it though.

CantGetNoSleep

Ciara got on the telly too, and in a photo when TalkTalk closed (with a lovely smiley face too), she has achieved a lot so leave her alone

Brick Session

Max Powers wrote: »

Hey lads, c'mon, this is the only thing Paudie and Ciara have achieved for Waterford, be nice about it will ye please.

When is she to show up for the photographs?

henboy

Psychedelic wrote: »

Maybe, but it looks like this cycle lane is just the hard shoulder which I've never seen dirty or cluttered with debris. There might be a few leaves in certain parts but that's about it.

I thought they might put down a red surface like you would see for most cycle lanes. If they aren't doing that then god knows what that €600k is being spent on.

I guess they might also paint little bicycles along the lane to remind people it's a cycle lane.

exactly what I was thinking ,

henboy

tuxy wrote: »

Perhaps the 600k factors in the fact that the lane will have to be swept clean on a regular basis to ensure it is safe for bikes. Many cycle lanes are full of debris so maybe they are actually going to maintain this one.

I can't see this been maintained at all , But hopefully i'll be wrong .

henboy

I cycle this road a lot and iv'e never seen an accident between a cyclist and car , as the hard shoulder is wide enough . Just in my opinion and from cycling it with the white line down , they have actually made the road unsafe for cyclists now .

Maybe they did it to get people cycling more .......... But this is not the way to do that .

Surely it can't be finished like that .

Sully

While I agree that it seems like wasted money, there was considerable improvement in some sections where the ditch moved out considerably into the hard shoulder. They cut this back a good bit. Still, I felt there was sufficient room for cyclists without those changes. It doesn't appear finished as the white line is not completed on one side of the road and ends at the starting point for Waterford City Council.

The funding came from the Department of Transport. Similar funding was given to Dungarvan - for the upgrade of cycle lanes and footpaths. It would be normal for government TDs to welcome additional funding given to their constituency by the state. Funding was welcomed by Paudie Coffey when it went to Splashworld also, for instance, as was a welcome given to funding given for the Waterford City Viking Triangle. I don't see a problem with it.

Improving the way we travel around our City & County has to be welcomed, if done correctly of course. In addition, the funding for Splashworld and the Viking Triangle will provide a boost to helping our local economy thanks to tourism.

henboy

Sully I agree with some of what you have to say if it improves travel been made easy from tramore to waterord fair enough . I still think the funding should have been used for something else in Tramore . I cycle sometimes 300km a week and i'm on the Tramore road a lot . This in my eyes won't make people cycle more , what there doing at the moment is making it dangerous for cyclists and car drivers .....

Think the money should of been used to light up the road with public lighting ... Just my opinion

Sully

henboy wrote: »

Sully I agree with some of what you have to say if it improves travel been made easy from tramore to waterord fair enough . I still think the funding should have been used for something else in Tramore . I cycle sometimes 300km a week and i'm on the Tramore road a lot . This in my eyes won't make people cycle more , what there doing at the moment is making it dangerous for cyclists and car drivers .....

Think the money should of been used to light up the road with public lighting ... Just my opinion

I think the idea was to make the hard shoulder wider and cleaner. The white line prohibits cars from entering it. So it makes it safer than it was before.

As for street lighting - you don't generally put lights on a main road. The cost to run and maintain those lights would be huge, 60k wouldn't cover it.

henboy

Yep I agree I presume you mean wider for cars . A white line prohibits cars from entering it , when did that ever work certainly not in this country . I can only say that that a white line does not prohibit a car entering it . What they have done on that roar is make things dangerous . The only way a cycle lane would work there if it were segregated .

As for lighting I think 600k would run lights on that small stretch of road ..............But who would of taught a white line would cost 600k ... Hopefully its not finished

blankAs

is there anywhere for a car to pull over along the road anymore? or will a pulled over car just be in the way of the cycle lane?

henboy

blankAs wrote: »

is there anywhere for a car to pull over along the road anymore? or will a pulled over car just be in the way of the cycle lane?

Good question , That stretch of road is now a designated cycle path . Where there once was a hard shoulder where cars could pull over , in this case if a car needs to pull over it will be prohibiting a bicycle lane . Which in sense will happen anyway .

This would be my major concern for car drivers and also cyclists . Where you once had a stretch of road which was safe to cycle , now that will all change both for cars and bikes . Would be interesting to see the law here if a car does pull in to stop in the cycle path and there is an accident with a bike , who is to blame ....

JMcL

I'm cycling the road most days, and I'm a bit bemused at what €600k pays for TBH. Cleaning the verges should be part of the councils regular road maintenance budget anyway I'd have thought, they just haven't done it in years. There're a few stretches I'd have hoped they were going to do a better resurfacing job on, and where the lane ends at the Summerville roundabout, you're chucked into a nicely developing pothole.

The purpose I imagine is to make cycling less intimidating and encourage more people to do it. As it stands, it's mere window dressing as the hard shoulder was fine in and of itself. If you are of a nervous disposition, being chucked into the ORR roundabout at rush hour ain't ideal! The tender for the outer ring road to inner ring road section isn't clear whether negotiating the roundabout will be addressed, in fact it's not too clear on anything!

blankAs wrote: »

is there anywhere for a car to pull over along the road anymore? or will a pulled over car just be in the way of the cycle lane?

Debatable. The law regarding cycle lanes, in particular making their use mandatory, was changed last month (see S.I. No. 332/2012). Regarding parking:

Prohibitions on parking Section 36 (2) A vehicle shall not be parked

(m) in a cycle track where traffic sign number RUS 009, RUS 058 or RUS 059 is provided

(see here for images of the signs)

Now there aren't any signs up yet, but I'd have to imagine there'd be a few coppers left over in the 600k to erect them.

The current "Rules Of The Road" state that "No driver may park a vehicle in a mandatory cycle track." where a mandatory cycle lane is bounded by a continuous white line. Now, the tracks aren't "mandatory" any more, so I'd imagine the rules of the road haven't been updated yet as the SI was only enacted a month ago, but I'd imagine the continuous white line rule will continue to apply.

So from my best non-expert reading of the above statute, if and when the signs go up, stopping in the lane will be illegal. Still, applying common sense, if you get a flat tyre or something, it'd be a bit rough to be be dealt a ticket for it.

tuxy

Is there anyway of seeing a breakdown of the costs that amounted to 600k. It's tax pays money so should really be public knowledge.

SweetCaliber

Sully wrote: »

I think the idea was to make the hard shoulder wider and cleaner. The white line prohibits cars from entering it. So it makes it safer than it was before.

As for street lighting - you don't generally put lights on a main road. The cost to run and maintain those lights would be huge, 60k wouldn't cover it.

They should really put down cat's eyes on the white line, or some sort of barrier at parts to warn drivers in the night.

Coming round a corner and not seeing the white line could be devastating.

With the dark evenings coming in, I wouldn't risk cycling there, a white line isn't going to stop much.

Also the leaves are piling up again, a cyclist would kill himself of those leaves especially when they are wet.

tuxy

lee3155 wrote: »

Also the leaves are piling up again, a cyclist would kill himself of those leaves especially when they are wet.

That's why I had hoped it would be cleared on a regular basis.
I have driven many roads where the hard shoulder looks clear also. But when you go to cycle on the hard shoulder you realise how much crap has been swept in by passing cars.

I generally avoid the hard shoulder and stick to the main part of the road when cycling. Unless I want to play the puncture lottery.

JMcL

lee3155 wrote: »

They should really put down cat's eyes on the white line, or some sort of barrier at parts to warn drivers in the night.

Coming round a corner and not seeing the white line could be devastating.

With the dark evenings coming in, I wouldn't risk cycling there, a white line isn't going to stop much.

Also the leaves are piling up again, a cyclist would kill himself of those leaves especially when they are wet.

I'd say no thanks to the cats eyes, they really are not fun when you hit them with your wheel in the dark. A related bugbear - they dug up the cats eyes up around the crossroads on the Tramore side of Katie Reillys but left the holes there - thanks lads!

Agree about the leaves though, they're really not fun and I'll be interested to see how often, or if, they get swept.

With a proper set of lights the road's not at all the worst for cycling in the dark between the ORR and Tramore. Decent lights aren't cheap, but the cost is easy to justify by the fact they'll have paid for themselves in fuel costs alone if I can cycle to work for about 20 days where I wouldn't otherwise

henboy

Cat's eyes please god nooooooooooo . Agree with JMcL a good set of lights and maybe a hi viz jacket or gillet and your sorted . I was cycling the road to day and have to say they made some ball's of it . They seriously need to look at this before someone is hurt .

SweetCaliber

henboy wrote: »

Cat's eyes please god nooooooooooo . Agree with JMcL a good set of lights and maybe a hi viz jacket or gillet and your sorted . I was cycling the road to day and have to say they made some ball's of it . They seriously need to look at this before someone is hurt .

Okay fair enough, no cat eyes But a barrier going around the corners or something, just for those drives who may not be familiar with the cycle path and may take a steeper turn on the bends.

henboy

lee3155 wrote: »

Okay fair enough, no cat eyes But a barrier going around the corners or something, just for those drives who may not be familiar with the cycle path and may take a steeper turn on the bends.

Hopefully its far from finished .....

tuxy

Don't they normally have an official opening for these things?
If they have not had one yet there might be more work planned.

flan59

Looks like the completion date is Nov 12, full breakdown of plan and costs on http://www.smartertravel.ie/sites/default/files/uploads/NCN%20Application%20Form-Tramore%20Final.pdf

JMcL

flan59 wrote: »

Looks like the completion date is Nov 12, full breakdown of plan and costs on http://www.smartertravel.ie/sites/default/files/uploads/NCN%20Application%20Form-Tramore%20Final.pdf

Jaysus

€125k for painting white lines, where's me roller, I've obviously missed my calling in life :eek:

€50k for "Design and consultancy" which given how little has actually been done, they were off to the pub early that day. Add to that another €40k odd which should be getting done out of the road budget as a matter of course. Nothing of course for maintenance

The signs are to go up yet, so not really finished yet

Compare that to Donegal CC putting in place a 195km county wide cycle network for €185k more