Tramore Road Bicycle lane

Psychedelic

That is truly shocking. Don't know what else to say, just shaking my head in disbelief at that.

henboy

Unreal Lads ... Bloody Hell . the madness of spending money foolishly is alive and well .

Royal Legend

This has been my main reason for not paying the household charge, why would I give money to a council that squanders money in this way. The letter finally came through the door last week, and the wife was mainly the one who was against paying was but was starting to waiver. I will not pay it now and I will happily stand up in a court and ask how the sum above is even possibly feasible at half the price.

For those who thought that Fianna Fail were the worst of the worst, wlecome to reality, we now have the most clueless gombeens ever to ru(i)n a country, not only that they continaully tell us that they are doing a stand up job, problem is only the Germans agree. FFS

Sully

Royal Legend wrote: »

This has been my main reason for not paying the household charge, why would I give money to a council that squanders money in this way. The letter finally came through the door last week, and the wife was mainly the one who was against paying was but was starting to waiver. I will not pay it now and I will happily stand up in a court and ask how the sum above is even possibly feasible at half the price.

For those who thought that Fianna Fail were the worst of the worst, wlecome to reality, we now have the most clueless gombeens ever to ru(i)n a country, not only that they continaully tell us that they are doing a stand up job, problem is only the Germans agree. FFS

The government, to be fair, didn't decide what or how Waterford Co. Co. spent their money. Neither did Fianna Fail and I am not sure if the Cllrs had much of a say, usually its civil servants.

looksee

I don't entirely see the rationale of the cycle lane either, especially since they fizzle out before the Ballindud roundabout.

However, in response to the criticism of the Council, I drove out on the N25 recently, did the Comeragh Drive, went up to Mahon Falls and over the top back to the N25, cut down to Bunmahon and along the coast road back to Tramore. All the way, even on the little mountain road over the Comeraghs, the roads were great. No potholes, no broken surface, good markings where appropriate.

You only have to go onto the backroads of Wexford to see how bad roads can be. I think the County Council are doing pretty well.

eirator

looksee wrote: »

I don't entirely see the rationale of the cycle lane either, especially since they fizzle out before the Ballindud roundabout.

However, in response to the criticism of the Council, I drove out on the N25 recently, did the Comeragh Drive, went up to Mahon Falls and over the top back to the N25, cut down to Bunmahon and along the coast road back to Tramore. All the way, even on the little mountain road over the Comeraghs, the roads were great. No potholes, no broken surface, good markings where appropriate.

You only have to go onto the backroads of Wexford to see how bad roads can be. I think the County Council are doing pretty well.

Don't expect the roads up to Mahon Falls to get much more in the way of maintenance. As I understand it the councils own guys are not beeing given the time or the materials to do the job and the council are reporting that the road maintenance is failing. Sounds stupid untill you realise that the council want to get rid of their own labour force so want it to fail and are making that happen.

rasper

Thats crazy money to spend on such little work, taxpayer is being raped here , there is no possible way a private firm or individual who has to earn €310k before spending(before or after tax) and get so little in return
Council way too frivolous with cash it doesnt have to earn

CantGetNoSleep

Sully wrote: »

The government, to be fair, didn't decide what or how Waterford Co. Co. spent their money. Neither did Fianna Fail and I am not sure if the Cllrs had much of a say, usually its civil servants.

Sully what is the purpose of Councillors if they cannot hold the Council to account?

Sully

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Sully what is the purpose of Councillors if they cannot hold the Council to account?

You mean the government holding the council to account? I'm probably wrong but I cant say I ever recall hearing anything where the government stepped in due to councils spending money inefficiently. For whatever the reason, I am not sure.

CantGetNoSleep

Sully wrote: »

You mean the government holding the council to account? I'm probably wrong but I cant say I ever recall hearing anything where the government stepped in due to councils spending money inefficiently. For whatever the reason, I am not sure.

No, I mean do you think the Council is run entirely by civil servants? If so, why do we elect Councillors?

eirator

Am I right in saying that the government made money available for the project?

If so the money was only available for this one project and as it was "someone elses money" is it surprising it hasn't been well spent?

tuxy

Where exactly does this money good, who are the main people that benefit financially from this careless spending?

mickob16

€50k for design and consultancy!!! What designing was done exactly? A bloody line on a road..no wonder the country is bolloxed when that kind of money is being squandered. Someone is still laughing his head off looking forward to xmas while the rest of us struggle on safe in the knowledge we have a nice stretch of road which a lovely line on it:mad::mad::mad::mad: I hate the stupidity of this country. Imagine where we could be if common sense was more important than red tape and bureaucracy

looksee

OK, so a couple of months later, has anyone noticed how many cyclists are trying to cycle between the solid white line and the dotted yellow line - a width of max 18" including both the lines. In fact I saw one guy carefully trying to cycle ON the white line.

Not all of them in fairness, nor even most, but still a silly number of people who haven't copped that the huge space that was the hard shoulder is now all theirs - and there are no excuses, it has been swept again since the leaves fell, and there are no potholes.

Sully

I don't think people are stupid so I assume they have a genuine reason for this! Anytime I noticed this it was because the ground had leaves on it or branch twigs so was dodgy.

Nice to see the signs go up. Never knew there was a risk of deer on the road tho!

tuxy

It's very difficult to tell by driving by what condition a bike lane is in.
I've drove past ones that looked good but then were full of all kinds of crap when I went to cycle on them.

[Steve]

Only just came across this thread, won't repeat thing already been said, but really, €310,000 for a line and some signs for not even 7km of road. Wonderful.

Next thing they'll do will probably be spending €500,000 on resurfacing the paths around Tramore in purple tar this time.

In all fairness, the road with the signs seems good. Bit expensive though, really.

Mugser

I was one of the cyclists who cycled between the white and yellow lines for some time, but they've stuck in some rumble strips specially for us every couple of 100 meters. So, do I go inwards towards the ditch, or outwards to where I used to cycle before the white lines were painted?? I decided to use the lane going out to Tramore there the other day. I got as far as the Half Way House before I got a puncture!!:rolleyes::rolleyes: I, for one, won't be using the "cycle lane" much from now on anyway.

looksee

I thought the rumble strips were to keep cars out. But why would there be any less rubbish in the narrow strip than a bit to the left? And if you are in the left area at least you have room to avoid debris, though to me it looks exactly the same as the road.

I had to swerve out to avoid a guy in all the lycra and trimmings who was wobbling along beside the dotted line - the whole point of the double lines is to give automatic clearance between cyclists and vehicles.

And I got a flat on the car in the middle of Tramore on Saturday, maybe I should drive on the pavements instead?

Mugser

looksee wrote: »

But why would there be any less rubbish in the narrow strip than a bit to the left?

Because the rubbish is swept outwards by the cars, or falls from the trees, which are on the side of the road.

looksee

Mugser wrote: »

Because the rubbish is swept outwards by the cars, or falls from the trees, which are on the side of the road.

Yes, and the nearest area for it to fall is in the narrow strip.

Agreed about the trees but the area has recently been swept, some of the bags are still in the hedgerow waiting to be collected. Considerable amounts of hedgerow have been cut back - the cycle lane is much wider than the average lane.

Is it more desirable to be caught in the draught of passing traffic, sideswiped by a couple of tons of moving metal, or risk a twig in the cycle lane?

JMcL

looksee wrote: »

Agreed about the trees but the area has recently been swept, some of the bags are still in the hedgerow waiting to be collected. Considerable amounts of hedgerow have been cut back - the cycle lane is much wider than the average lane

As Mugser said, it's not just stuff from the trees, it's all the crap that gets swept off the road by cars - bits of glass, sharp stones, you name it. Changing a flat in pounding rain at the side of the road ain't much fun, hence why you want to stay as far out as possible.

I'd have to brand the cycle track as a fail overall. Yes, they've patched it up a bit, but they've left craters - invisible in the dark - where the dug out the cats eyes, and overall reduced the amount of the former hard shoulder that's usable by the dumbass introduction of those rumble strips. A lot of money spent to solve a problem that wasn't really there on that stretch of road.

henboy

This cycle lane is a disaster , and an expensive one at that . I'd love to get the engineer, and who ever else was involved in this to cycle that road now . I wonder would this be up there with the worst decision Tramore's council has made .

tuxy

No surprise it's the same for every cycle lane in the Country. Expensive waste of money that will increase cyclist accident rates.

JMcL

henboy wrote: »

I wonder would this be up there with the worst decision Tramore's council has made .

Ah well, they've still a ways to go to top the fiasco that was the "resurfacing" mess they made from Pickardstown out to the crossroads 4 years ago

Chiparus

tuxy wrote: »

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.

Sorry for bringing up this old thread , but it is our taxes:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/council-plans-200000-34km-cycle-lane-on-n8-in-cork-877250.html

Strange how 14km of cycle lane costs 600k while 68km in Cork costs 200k?

ExoPolitic

Sorry to also bring up more on this, but they could really do with fixing the Waterford end at the ring road roundabout. Where it narrows so much that you actually have to cycle out in front of cars to continue on the cycle path... I have cycled this many times and can safely say it is just not adequate, if not dangerous... There seems to be plenty of space to the side that is just a grass verge for this... Also in the morning rush the cycle path is used by cars as a left turn lane.

JMcL

ExoPolitic wrote: »

Also in the morning rush the cycle path is used by cars as a left turn lane.

Illegally

Unfortunately, there's literally a lack of joined up thinking WRT cycling from Tramore - Waterford. There's the pedestrian lights at Summerville which force cyclists into a pinch point going both ways. then at the ring road, if you want to go straight and be in the correct lane to do so, you need to move out to the right hand lane. If you don't watch yourself here, you're at the mercy of eejits whose time is more important than yours undertaking and carrying on. Then from there into the city you're left with a narrow road with nowhere to go on which the speed limit has been raised.

I'm confident on the bike so none of this bothers me overly, but I can see it being a deterrent to somebody that'd like to start cycling (and it is a very handy cycle - 35-40 minutes at a very leisurely pace) but is afraid of traffic. My personal measure is how comfortable I am taking the kids out on a particular bit of infrastructure and the answer here is "not very". I have tried crossing with the bike at the pedestrian crossings on the ring road, but that is IMHO more dangerous with the speed some come round the roundabouts at - at least in the carraigeway you're obvious to drivers. Sometimes.

Chiparus

JMcL wrote: »

Illegally

Unfortunately, there's literally a lack of joined up thinking WRT cycling from Tramore - Waterford. There's the pedestrian lights at Summerville which force cyclists into a pinch point going both ways. then at the ring road, if you want to go straight and be in the correct lane to do so, you need to move out to the right hand lane. If you don't watch yourself here, you're at the mercy of eejits whose time is more important than yours undertaking and carrying on. Then from there into the city you're left with a narrow road with nowhere to go on which the speed limit has been raised.

I'm confident on the bike so none of this bothers me overly, but I can see it being a deterrent to somebody that'd like to start cycling (and it is a very handy cycle - 35-40 minutes at a very leisurely pace) but is afraid of traffic. My personal measure is how comfortable I am taking the kids out on a particular bit of infrastructure and the answer here is "not very". I have tried crossing with the bike at the pedestrian crossings on the ring road, but that is IMHO more dangerous with the speed some come round the roundabouts at - at least in the carraigeway you're obvious to drivers. Sometimes.

I contacted the council about this, and they told me it was a private contractor who had put in this. My concern was cars heading north come through that point and then left hook cyclists.
They painted some lines following this, but they really dont seem to care about cyclists.

The tramore roundabout is a bit of a disaster, if you take up a position to turn right onto the ring road to turn right , cars try to overtake you to cut you off.

TheQuietFella

Psychedelic wrote: »

That is truly shocking. Don't know what else to say, just shaking my head in disbelief at that.

Kick backs people, kick backs!!!!

Brown envelopes...………..a little something for yourself there Paddy!