Malahide Road Odeon Entrance and Exits

Ernest

Can anything be done about the bottleneck that is the entrance and exit to the complex of businesses on the Malahide Road comprising the Odeon Cinema, Power City, Leisureplex and Burger King??

The entrance and exit for this site is through a very narrow two way laneway from the Malahide Road (opposite the former Tayto factory). Exit from this site is controlled by traffic lights which lets only a few cars at a time out. This causes frequent bottlenecks such as at the end of popular films. However, on St Patrick's Day Sunday there was a power cut in the Odeon cinemas resulting in mass evacuation and literally hour-long traffic jams to exit the site.

What makes this particularly annoying is that there actually is another entrance to the site on the soutbound lane of the Malahide Road dual carriageway opposite the Power City premises. This entrance is never open for cars for some reason. It surely would make sense for there to be a one-way system for this site with entrance via the now-locked gate opposite Power City and exit with two lanes via the laneway to the traffic lights -thus allowing left or right or straight-on traffic flow.

babaracus

You are right, it is a pain in the backside. I was caught in a 20 minute queue to get out very late at night some months back when 2 large screens emptied out at the same time. It puts me off going into the complex to be honest. I'm surprised that the tenants, especially BK drive through have not hassled the management for easier access. Maybe the Council are not open to allowing improved access for traffic/safety reasons although it could be done in a safe way allowing only a left turn (obviously) from the barred exit you refer to.

Meauldsegosha

I was told years ago that that the second entrance was for emergency vehicles. Don't know how true that is. Presumably when it was built the planning permission only allowed for the entrance/exit to be at the lights. I use the cinema on a regular basis and don't really think the wait getting out is that bad. Maybe I'm just use to it at this stage.

Lovely Bloke

The second gate is only for emergency vehicles, the only other time I ever saw it open was on a rainy day one late December when Power City was closing, and three or four movies were letting out at about the same time

The owners of the land have asked many, many times for permission for a second exit, to no avail

Ernest

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

The second gate is only for emergency vehicles, the only other time I ever saw it open was on a rainy day one late December when Power City was closing, and three or four movies were letting out at about the same time

The owners of the land have asked many, many times for permission for a second exit, to no avail

I know that the gate opposite Power City is currently reserved for emergency vehicles only. I find it interesting to hear that on a rainy day last December they did the obvious thing and brought this entrance/exit into use where traffic was exceptionally heavy. This did not happen when the power cut on St Patrick's Day resulted in all screens in the cinema complex being evacuated resulting in hour-long exit times for customers. Even in normal times, the exit times from this centre can be frustratingly long and as a result I know several people who say they never go to this cinema because of the difficulty getting out after performances.

I suggest again that the solution would be to make the "emergency" gate opposite Power City the main entrance and the other traffic light controlled road the exit with two exit lanes. That would mean removing the dangerous right turn on the northbound Malahide Road dual carriageway to get into the centre and instead requiring all traffic to come south from the roundabout near Darndale (Priorswood Rd/Blunden Drive/Malahide Road.)

A further solution to be explored would be to create a new exit at the rear of the site at the edge of the abandoned Smurfit factory or through the grounds of St John the Evalgelist Church off the Tonlegee Road behind. (look it up on Google Maps in satellite mode)

Lovely Bloke

If the entrance was moved to the other gate though, there'd be traffic issues of cars still having to cross the Malahide when entering from the Dulux Side, or exiting and turning right to go towards Malahide.

Ernest

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

If the entrance was moved to the other gate though, there'd be traffic issues of cars still having to cross the Malahide when entering from the Dulux Side, or exiting and turning right to go towards Malahide.

There would be no additional problem for traffic exiting in the way I suggest - exiting on the existing laneway but with both lanes exiting only. The left lane would be for left turn towards town or straight on; the right lane would be for straight on or right turn towards Malahide exactly as now but with better flow, there being two exit lanes.

The drawback would be for traffic approaching from south of the site such as from town or Clontarf/Killester/Raheny or from the Coolock/Artane area. This traffic would first have to go north to the roundabout opposite Darndale and then turn back south to go in the existing disused entrance opposite Power City.
An alternative might be to create a new cross turn right towards this entrance from the northbound lane of the Malahide Road - similar to the cross turn opposite the Woodies/Halford/Lidl site on the southbound lane.

And, of course, there is the other option I mentioned as worth exploring - a new exit at the rear of the site - right of the cinema and out through the grounds of the church or around the disused Smurfit factory to Tonlegee Road.

chris85

Ernest wrote: »

I know that the gate opposite Power City is currently reserved for emergency vehicles only. I find it interesting to hear that on a rainy day last December they did the obvious thing and brought this entrance/exit into use where traffic was exceptionally heavy. This did not happen when the power cut on St Patrick's Day resulted in all screens in the cinema complex being evacuated resulting in hour-long exit times for customers. Even in normal times, the exit times from this centre can be frustratingly long and as a result I know several people who say they never go to this cinema because of the difficulty getting out after performances.

I suggest again that the solution would be to make the "emergency" gate opposite Power City the main entrance and the other traffic light controlled road the exit with two exit lanes. That would mean removing the dangerous right turn on the northbound Malahide Road dual carriageway to get into the centre and instead requiring all traffic to come south from the roundabout near Darndale (Priorswood Rd/Blunden Drive/Malahide Road.)

A further solution to be explored would be to create a new exit at the rear of the site at the edge of the abandoned Smurfit factory or through the grounds of St John the Evalgelist Church off the Tonlegee Road behind. (look it up on Google Maps in satellite mode)

Turning right into the centre coming on Malahide Rd from the south is not dangerous. There is a lane dedicated to turning right into the centre and plenty of carraigeway available if a number of cars turning right.

Otherwise agreed its not an ideal situation there. I think the easier solution is to make the existing entrance/exit bigger. Go for planning approval for a one laned entrance and two laned exit with better flow. I think having the current emergency entrance used will disrupt traffic too much coming south on Malahide Rd.

neris

even if they just widened the current entrance/exit off the malahide road it would be a start. the road is to narrow and a bit of a sharp turn that could easily end in two cars having a ding on the corner. Surely trucks doing deliveries to the site as a whole must have trouble turning in there. i know that the bends and turns in airside are tight and narrow aswell so must be somthing in the water at the planning departments of the various councils that they either let developers away with these turns or insisted on them themselves.