Council sez 'We told you so' on traffic gridlock

snubbleste

“We warned about this, both on radio and through the press last week. What we’re hitting now is the regular mid-August; the Leaving Cert result are out, the CAO offers are out, students are looking for accommodation, there is back-to-school traffic and tourist traffic" said Mr Hayes, Director of Services for Transport and Infrastructure

http://www.connachttribune.ie/galway-news/item/1165-told-you-so-says-council-as-traffic-gridlock-grips-galway-city

An interesting angle on the "we do not care" approach. Traffic was nuts this week in particular around Bodkin as motorists heading to Woodquay blocked Bodkin, meaning no cars could access the bridge and caused long long tailbacks on other routes converging on Bodkin.

emptybladder

I like the way the slip road isn't counted as a lane. Handy.

galah

I still blame the stupid changed traffic light sequence up at the Tuam road...:p

dharma200

Tis the same every year, smart traffic lights can't outsmart this... Why would the council care...... The whole 'we told you so' is offensive.

Wompa1

What I don't understand is, they were warning people that roadworks were going to occur between 7pm and 7am? ...having lived in the city for years, traffic begins to build around 7:00-7:30am. Soooo...What's the deal? If the road works were being done at night, presumably to avoid traffic chaos, why is there now traffic chaos and them say we told you so?

El_Dangeroso

emptybladder wrote: »

I like the way the slip road isn't counted as a lane. Handy.

That slip road was a death trap and I'm delighted it's closed. Oncoming cars are right in the blind-spot of the driver trying to merge.

I've seen two accidents happen there right in front of my eyes. Never mind the terrible visibility for pedestrians when the hedgerow became anyway overgrown. Good riddance!

emptybladder

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

That slip road was a death trap and I'm delighted it's closed. Oncoming cars are right in the blind-spot of the driver trying to merge.

I've seen two accidents happen there right in front of my eyes. Never mind the terrible visibility for pedestrians when the hedgerow became anyway overgrown. Good riddance!

I travel the bridge all the time and NEVER use the slip road. Death trap is right!

El_Dangeroso

emptybladder wrote: »

I travel the bridge all the time and NEVER use the slip road. Death trap is right!

Yeah the weird thing is if you just use the left hand lane when the traffic was heavy you always got through faster than using the slip road as the lights gave you right of way.

emptybladder

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Yeah the weird thing is if you just use the left hand lane when the traffic was heavy you always got through faster than using the slip road as the lights gave you right of way.

Thank you! I thought that was just in my head most of the time!

galwaycyclist

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Yeah the weird thing is if you just use the left hand lane when the traffic was heavy you always got through faster than using the slip road as the lights gave you right of way.

emptybladder wrote: »

Thank you! I thought that was just in my head most of the time!

This illustrates a very important point about some of the City Council engineers. They have a pattern of trying to add extra capacity or convenience for cars wherever and whenever possible. They do this even when it actually makes no real difference for cars and has the knock-on effect of making road conditions much more difficult for pedestrians and cyclists.

(The most recent example is the new junction at the University on Newcastle Road)

It creates the impression that what we have in Galway is not "traffic management" but is better described as an obsession with facilitating cars.

antoobrien

galwaycyclist wrote: »

It creates the impression that what we have in Galway is not "traffic management" but is better described as an obsession with facilitating cars.

Explain the disaster that is the Liosban junction & Eyre Square then, they do nothing to facilitate cars just p**s everyone off.

Their real obsession is spending money that comes their way and watching each group trying to claim they are being victimised.

pleasant Co.

antoobrien wrote: »

Their real obsession is spending money that comes their way

yeeeaaaap, gotta spend it - or they wont get it the following year :pac:

Raging_Ninja

The real problem is that this is a city with medieval roads, split by a river with only 4 crossings (3 of which take 90% of the traffic).

Getting rid of the roundabouts is a good time thing since they only work for low and medium traffic density, and Galway is heavily congested.

transfer fee

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

The real problem is that this is a city with medieval roads, split by a river with only 4 crossings (3 of which take 90% of the traffic).

Getting rid of the roundabouts is a good time thing since they only work for low and medium traffic density, and Galway is heavily congested.

Hear hear, plus many people drive onto roundabouts when traffic is enroute around it already, dangerous. One hopes the light jumpers are hit with points once the lights are up across the Bodkin to keep things safe.
Small city road network, bad weather and many cars, all lead to congestion hard to see much improvement - more Buses direct from K/carra and Salthill to workplaces might be of use

gordongekko

galwaycyclist wrote: »

(The most recent example is the new junction at the University on Newcastle Road).

the uni is not on Newcastle road. Where is the junction and what's the issue?

?Cee?view

gordongekko wrote: »

the uni is not on Newcastle road. Where is the junction and what's the issue?

Yes, it is. The new junction is down from the AIB, almost opposite what used to be G and L Store. I can't see that it's anything but an improvement though.

gordongekko

?Cee?view wrote: »

Yes, it is. The new junction is down from the AIB, almost opposite what used to be G and L Store. I can't see that it's anything but an improvement though.

that's the junction at upper and lower Newcastle road not Newcastle road.

Newcastle road starts at the junction at the hospital and ends at cookes.

?Cee?view

gordongekko wrote: »

that's the junction at upper and lower Newcastle road not Newcastle road.

Newcastle road starts at the junction at the hospital and ends at cookes.

Right. Lower and Upper Newcastle Road aren't Newcastle Road.

So apparently the Uni is on Upper Newcastle Road, Lower Newcastle Road and Newcastle Road. That ok?

gordongekko

?Cee?view wrote: »

Right. Lower and Upper Newcastle Road aren't Newcastle Road.

So apparently the Uni is on Upper Newcastle Road, Lower Newcastle Road and Newcastle Road. That ok?

ok calm down I was only trying to find out what junction was causing the issue. But to answer your question the uni is not on Newcastle road. The junction as you described is upper/lower Newcastle road and the other main entrances are on university road. There are no possible entrances on Newcastle road that im aware of.

JohnCleary

Traffic on the 'new' bridge east-bound was septic all day (drove west-bound a few times). Did they change the sequence of the lights at the roundabout end of the bridge?

Ficheall

Being a pedestrian, what irks me most about the traffic in Galway are the poorly coordinated traffic lights. I am forever finding myself waiting at traffic lights where the "little green man" is red, while the cars in the lane of traffic I'm waiting to cross also have a red light.

snubbleste

Are the schools back this week or next?
Traffic appears to be very light in the morning

biko

(Most) schools started Monday.

zarquon

JohnCleary wrote: »

Traffic on the 'new' bridge east-bound was septic all day (drove west-bound a few times). Did they change the sequence of the lights at the roundabout end of the bridge?

The left turn lane and slip road east bound on the bridge are blocked due to the roads works on the new junction causing the east bound build up. This will likely be the case for the next few weeks until that corner of the junction is complete.

antoobrien

biko wrote: »

(Most) schools started Monday.

I don't think that any of them have resumed "full" service yet though.

Iwannahurl

Ficheall wrote: »

Being a pedestrian, what irks me most about the traffic in Galway are the poorly coordinated traffic lights. I am forever finding myself waiting at traffic lights where the "little green man" is red, while the cars in the lane of traffic I'm waiting to cross also have a red light.

Are they not in the process of fixing that, though the pace of progress makes it look as if they're doing it one shade at a time?

Ficheall

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Are they not in the process of fixing that, though the pace of progress makes it look as if they're doing it one shade at a time?

In the process of fixing it? I'd not heard.
One wouldn't expect it to take too long though - in many instances the problem could be fixed, give or take, by

while light_for_cars==red:
    light_for_pedestrians=green

galwaycyclist

?Cee?view wrote: »

Yes, it is. The new junction is down from the AIB, almost opposite what used to be G and L Store. I can't see that it's anything but an improvement though.

There are aspects of it that are theoretically welcome such as the advanced stop lines (bike boxes).

However there are other aspects of it that come straight out of the dark ages of urban road design. Such as;

• excessively large curvature or kerb radius on the corners - encouraging excessive turning speeds
• the use of pedestrian guard rails
• the use of pedestrian guard rails in a way that tries to push pedestrians away from their desired line of travel
• the locating of crossings away from the pedestrians desired line of travel

Also although there are bike boxes and cycle lanes the detector loops do not extend into them. Suggesting that the designers do not intend that the lights should respond to cyclists.

I have been told that they are on a timer and that this should not matter however I recently found myself waiting what seemed an extraordinary length of time before the lights changed (when a van pulled up coming out of Snipe avenue)

?Cee?view

I have to agree completely about the guard rails. They're a complete nuisance and ineffective. Most pedestrians seem to avoid them (understandably) and this puts them directly in harm's way

snubbleste

Point of order re those guard rails, they are not just put there to channel pedestrian traffic but also to ensure wayward motorists don't park there. This was a serious issue on that stretch for decades.

Now back to traffic gridlock.
Why aren't any councillors challenging the council executive on the shambles that occurs daily. You'd think that sackings were in order at this stage.

Iwannahurl

snubbleste wrote: »

Now back to traffic gridlock.
Why aren't any councillors challenging the council executive on the shambles that occurs daily. You'd think that sackings were in order at this stage.

Who's going to sack them?

Through repeated dealings with the City Council I have come to realise that Councillors have no real say in day-to-day decision-making at City Hall, and on many issues the officials simply ignore them.

This is not always the case, as the sorry tale of Irish "planning" shows only too well. Councillors can overrule the recommendations of the executive on such matters when they feel like it.

In Galway there seems to be a generally bad relationship between the executive and the elected members. My impression is that the officials often do not like dealing with their representations, preferring instead to engage directly with the public.

Unless of course the officials don't want to deal with particular people or particular matters, in which case they ignore both citizens and councillors. I've even seen them ignore the Mayor, which shows clearly that they do not even respect that office. Also, in my experience, Councillors strategically ignore citizens' representations in cases where they get no response from the executive. If they repeatedly come back to the citizen empty-handed then that makes them look ineffectual, and we can't have that, can we?

In my view this prompts the question: why do we need Councillors at all?