Traffic in the morning.

Jimmy Bottles

Boots234 wrote: »

I apologise to anybody caught going westbound on the south link this morning between half 7-8 as my car broke down on the Douglas flyover! Disaster of a morning

Felt for ya. That was an absolutely shocking place to have broken down, with there being no hard shoulder.

You weren't the fault for all the tail backs though. You left enough space for 2 to get past. Traffic was caused by all the rubber necking idiots who clearly have never seen a broken down car before.

54kroc

the beer revolu wrote: »

Tips at lights are not caused by a change in light sequence. They are caused by people breaking lights.

I known that, go down and have a look though.
A car turning right from Glanmire has no chance with the new timing, they try beat the oncoming car or wait and the light turns red, the others break the red, some wait and well just wait.
A lot of people always speed through the junction from the other direction so anyone taking a chance is in for a nasty surprise.

Jimmy Bottles

On the tunnel. If it take a full day for the concrete to dry, why didn't they do the work on an ordinary weekend. Why in God pick the busiest weekend of the year to do it ?

Ludo

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

On the tunnel. If it take a full day for the concrete to dry, why didn't they do the work on an ordinary weekend. Why in God pick the busiest weekend of the year to do it ?

Dunno...guess they needed a 3 day weekend to get all the work done and allow time for the last of the concrete poured to dry properly. Not like all digging and concrete could be poured at same time.

Still no excuse for doing it this weekend. If they HAD to do it they could have organised it better.

evilivor

hoodwinked wrote: »

or even if they gave notice and did it the weekend before the long weekend, stick ads in the newspapers warning people not to use the tunnel on *certain date*, and stick the notice on a few flashing signs well before the last exit for the tunnel,

then at least if people get stuck there they cannot say they weren't warned AND it's only your bog standard weekend traffic, to do it on such a busy weekend such as a long weekend which happened to not only be the jazz weekend but the first weekend of the mid term break (aka more families coming to Cork/Kerry for the week) was just plain stupidity.

There were a load of ads in papers last week warning of "Urgent Works" on the tunnel and to expect delays.

Padraig Mor

Boots234 wrote: »

I apologise to anybody caught going westbound on the south link this morning between half 7-8 as my car broke down on the Douglas flyover! Disaster of a morning

You were gone by the time I got there but that was some tailback! Back through the tunnel (and beyond after I went through I'm sure)!


On the tunnel: if they had to do work, and then leave the concrete to set for 48 hours AND not disrupt work traffic - surely they had no choice but to do it on a holiday weekend?

Bacchus

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

On the tunnel. If it take a full day for the concrete to dry, why didn't they do the work on an ordinary weekend. Why in God pick the busiest weekend of the year to do it ?

Padraig Mor wrote: »

On the tunnel: if they had to do work, and then leave the concrete to set for 48 hours AND not disrupt work traffic - surely they had no choice but to do it on a holiday weekend?

They needed a 3 day run at it to ensure the concrete was fully set before traffic could be allowed drive over it again. Still think it would have been better to let it run into this week when all the schools are off instead of starting off many a tourist's Jazz weekend with that clusterfcuk.

evilivor wrote: »

There were a load of ads in papers last week warning of "Urgent Works" on the tunnel and to expect delays.

Wasn't a word of it in The Irish Catholic :mad:

pwurple

They needed 4 days to do all the work required, and a long weekend has far lower traffic volumes than any mid-week period in the tunnel. Love all the genuises picking random busier times for it. :rolleyes: As if those 40 or so fellas in there doing the work wanted to be there, working all through the day and night over a bank holiday either. Can't please the public.

evilivor

Bacchus wrote: »

Wasn't a word of it in The Irish Catholic :mad:

They just sent him a text.

Bacchus

pwurple wrote: »

They needed 4 days to do all the work required, and a long weekend has far lower traffic volumes than any mid-week period in the tunnel. Love all the genuises picking random busier times for it. :rolleyes: As if those 40 or so fellas in there doing the work wanted to be there, working all through the day and night over a bank holiday either. Can't please the public.

Noone's saying anything about whether or not the workers wanted to be there. I'm sure they did, probably got a great hourly rate for working the bank holiday weekend.

Also, I think it is fair enough that people are bemused/annoyed that this happened on Cork's busiest weekend of the year. Personally speaking, I've recognised that it was a difficult choice for the council to make, there's no "high horsing" here, there's no complaints to the council, it's just a few people having a bit of a moan and speculating could it have been done better. The fact that I'm a genius is irrelevant.

IMO, there is some merit to the idea that doing it from Sunday - Tuesday instead of Saturday to Monday would have caused less traffic problems.
1. Most traffic arriving for the Jazz weekend will have arrived by Saturday night. While the Cork papers may have have ads out, I doubt there was much word of it getting to the people travelling TO Cork.
2. The schools are on midterm break. This has a huge effect on traffic using the tunnel and works on the tunnel would not have had the same impact this week as they would have on a typical 'school week'.

This isn't the first time this has happened either btw, last year they planned major work on the flyovers over the Jazz weekend and there were similar issues with traffic, though nowhere near as bad as the 6km tailbacks this year.

Dannyboy83

So today is the first day of the mid-term...

Traffic has been even worse today than it has been for the last 6 weeks, so it doesn't look like it's the school run as was previously thought.

Any other ideas as to what is causing such congestion ?

-Toppy-

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

On the tunnel. If it take a full day for the concrete to dry, why didn't they do the work on an ordinary weekend. Why in God pick the busiest weekend of the year to do it ?

There was talk about this on the radio this morning, this concrete takes 48 hrs to cure fully before it can be load bearing or something along those lines

Toppy

Bacchus

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

So today is the first day of the mid-term...

Traffic has been even worse today than it has been for the last 6 weeks, so it doesn't look like it's the school run as was previously thought.

Any other ideas as to what is causing such congestion ?

Which way were you heading? There was a car broke down heading west which may have caused delays.

Going east was a breeze. Light traffic moving freely at 8:05.

Generally speaking, the school run does have a huge impact. The drive during the Summer months is nothing like the rest of the year.

Ludo

Boots234 wrote: »

I apologise to anybody caught going westbound on the south link this morning between half 7-8 as my car broke down on the Douglas flyover! Disaster of a morning

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

So today is the first day of the mid-term...

Traffic has been even worse today than it has been for the last 6 weeks, so it doesn't look like it's the school run as was previously thought.

Any other ideas as to what is causing such congestion ?

The idiot above you :D:D

Only joking...

pwurple

Bacchus wrote: »

IMO, there is some merit to the idea that doing it from Sunday - Tuesday instead of Saturday to Monday would have caused less traffic problems.
1. Most traffic arriving for the Jazz weekend will have arrived by Saturday night. While the Cork papers may have have ads out, I doubt there was much word of it getting to the people travelling TO Cork.
2. The schools are on midterm break. This has a huge effect on traffic using the tunnel and works on the tunnel would not have had the same impact this week as they would have on a typical 'school week'.

Believe or not, it's not done on guesses.... closing or restricting traffic in the tunnel is going to affect people no matter when they do it. It's a piece of infrastructure which is in massive use, constantly. (Even more reason to maintain it). I'm glad they managed to keep it open contraflow, as at least that took some pressure off. I passed through the tunnel 4 times over the weekend, and while there was a delay, it was in the order of about 4 to 6 minutes. That would have been mulitplied up tenfold had it been midweek.

You know those little strips on the ground as you enter and exit the tunnel? Those are traffic counters. There are decades of data on traffic patterns there, and that history what is used to choose the slots to restrict it and do work.

Bacchus

pwurple wrote: »

Believe or not, it's not done on guesses.... closing or restricting traffic in the tunnel is going to affect people no matter when they do it. It's a piece of infrastructure which is in massive use, constantly. (Even more reason to maintain it). I'm glad they managed to keep it open contraflow, as at least that took some pressure off. I passed through the tunnel 4 times over the weekend, and while there was a delay, it was in the order of about 4 to 6 minutes. That would have been mulitplied up tenfold had it been midweek.

You know those little strips on the ground as you enter and exit the tunnel? Those are traffic counters. There are decades of data on traffic patterns there, and that history what is used to choose the slots to restrict it and do work.

Believe it or not, I don't actually think it was done on guess work.

Jimmy Bottles

In retrospect, I'd imagine that if the tunnel was being built today, it would have had 3 lanes on each side.

This would have allowed a contraflow situation having 2 lanes on each side.

whisky_galore

evilivor wrote: »

There were a load of ads in papers last week warning of "Urgent Works" on the tunnel and to expect delays.

People still read those???

Some advance warning signage would be a help. Unfortunately we're conditioned to ignore a lot of road works signs because lazy council men don't bother taking them down when they're finished work.

Truckermal

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

On the tunnel. If it take a full day for the concrete to dry, why didn't they do the work on an ordinary weekend. Why in God pick the busiest weekend of the year to do it ?

whisky_galore wrote: »

People still read those???

Some advance warning signage would be a help. Unfortunately we're conditioned to ignore a lot of road works signs because lazy council men don't bother taking them down when they're finished work.

I didn't buy a paper in 10 years... There was a VMS on the Ballincolling by pass but nothing on the M8 which was madness anyway plenty of good chemicals for concrete to allow quick drying application. .

bladebrew

Traffic is gone mad recently, it took me 50 minutes to go from Ballinlough to south mall last week, 55 minutes from Ballinlough to Ballincollig today, I know someone who spent an hour and a half going from Douglas to the city today,
Another guy I know had to be in ballincollig at 8:00 this morning got there at 8:50! He was coming from the Dublin road,
There were An extra 40,000 people in Cork and it was the busiest Jazz festival for 10 years, working on the tunnel was idiocy,
The work today on the kinsale road caused mayhem even after 9am with no schools!

leahyl

Traffic hasn't been any quieter this week despite the fact that schools are closed - if anything, it's worse!! The amount of cars on Hogan's Quay at 7.50 this morning was ridiculous - you'd imagine at that time it wouldn't be too bad, even with the roadworks going on, but no; it was chocablock

Bacchus

More roadworks on the ring road this morning caused delays too. The ring road is definitely quieter this week though.

moyners

leahyl wrote: »

Traffic hasn't been any quieter this week despite the fact that schools are closed - if anything, it's worse!! The amount of cars on Hogan's Quay at 7.50 this morning was ridiculous - you'd imagine at that time it wouldn't be too bad, even with the roadworks going on, but no; it was chocablock

I've found the roads out in the suburbs a lot quieter this week with no school traffic. The south ring and in towards the city seem just as busy if not busier. My theory is people are getting onto the main routes into the city quicker and they're maybe busier for a shorter period of time earlier in the morning.

Dannyboy83

Bacchus wrote: »

Which way were you heading? There was a car broke down heading west which may have caused delays.

Going east was a breeze. Light traffic moving freely at 8:05.

Generally speaking, the school run does have a huge impact. The drive during the Summer months is nothing like the rest of the year.

Bizzarely the Kinsale round roundabout was a breeze this morning heading for the Airport.:) Wilton was messy, but there is a lane closed by Dennehys cross.

If Forge hill/Pouladuff road eases off a bit now, that will keep me happy enough for now.
Pouladuff road is slammed on a daily basis for the last couple of weeks.

BrianJD

I don't know what the story was with Parnell Place yesterday. I come down South Mall, down Parnell Place and then out of town past the bus stop and it took over 30 mins to get through Parnell Place at 5pm.

From what I could see the traffic along the quay was always backed up so only 1 or 2 cars would get on with the light change.

Then any gap left in the yellow boxes were taken by emerging Merchants Quay cars.

Only 1 lane goes right at the bus stop as its into one lane yet cars from the Middle lane were also going right.

A journey which takes me 30 mins at 6.30am was an hour and a half. So bloody frustrating.

Dannyboy83

moyners wrote: »

I've found the roads out in the suburbs a lot quieter this week with no school traffic. The south ring and in towards the city seem just as busy if not busier. My theory is people are getting onto the main routes into the city quicker and they're maybe busier for a shorter period of time earlier in the morning.

I didn't think it was a shorter period of time, I thought it was a considerably longer period of time, it's getting busy now before 7am.

However, I think you've a point about the South Ring.
Since the bike lanes were done, I use the South Ring exclusively where previously I would have made a lot of journeys through the city.

I know there are plenty of people similar to me in that regard, so I'm fairly sure we are adding to the congestion.
The city's traffic has reduced, but capacity has reduced even further due to all the mismanagement, so it seems busier than ever despite lower throughput.

Then there is also a lot of bad driving on top of the bad planning.
Yesterday at Dennehy's cross heading toward UCC, the car in front of me, and myself, both moved over into the bus lane after the bus had passed ahed of us, so that the right turning traffic behind us could flow through.
One woman behind us drove right up past us as far as she could get into our lane (there was plenty of space to pull in behind me) , then indicated left, and blocked up both lanes and the whole bloody intersection. smh
To add insult to injury, another woman pulled right up behind her, did the same thing, then overtook both of us!

Technically they weren't in the wrong - the layout here is terrible, but they either didn't think or didn't care

VapeMasterPro

Popes quay was totally flooded this morning. There was water spewing up from the road - it looked bumpy and cracked as if somebody set off a nuke underground! What the hell? Manholes were spewing water too.

hoodwinked

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Then there is also a lot of bad driving on top of the bad planning.
Yesterday at Dennehy's cross heading toward UCC, the car in front of me, and myself, both moved over into the bus lane after the bus had passed ahed of us, so that the right turning traffic behind us could flow through.
One woman behind us drove right up past us as far as she could get into our lane (there was plenty of space to pull in behind me) , then indicated left, and blocked up both lanes and the whole bloody intersection. smh
To add insult to injury, another woman pulled right up behind her, did the same thing, then overtook both of us!

the only thing i think she did wrong was indicate left, as the road markings go there traffic in the bus lane have to give way to traffic on the right as the bus lane merges into the lane to go straight through/left at the cross junction. the right hand lane has right of way at the yellow box, so you should have let her and the one behind her through and only proceeded if the way is clear, it's not right but it's the way it's marked and anytime (rare but it did happen) when i saw traffic not moving into the bus lane this junction actually worked a lot smoother and efficiently and i was one of the ones turning right.

evilivor

VapeMasterPro wrote: »

Popes quay was totally flooded this morning. There was water spewing up from the road - it looked bumpy and cracked as if somebody set off a nuke underground! What the hell? Manholes were spewing water too.

Must be a mains problem - they had the quay blocked off when when I was passing and water is at a trickle in City centre.

Dannyboy83

hoodwinked wrote: »

the only thing i think she did wrong was indicate left, as the road markings go there traffic in the bus lane have to give way to traffic on the right as the bus lane merges into the lane to go straight through/left at the cross junction. the right hand lane has right of way at the yellow box, so you should have let her and the one behind her through and only proceeded if the way is clear, it's not right but it's the way it's marked and anytime (rare but it did happen) when i saw traffic not moving into the bus lane this junction actually worked a lot smoother and efficiently and i was one of the ones turning right.

Sorry, I should have stated that the intersection was fully blocked on a green light, so the left lane was at an impasse, while the right was empty and intersection clear.

You are correct, if she had merged at the box, technically she would have been correct, and we should give her right of way.
She didn't attempt to merge tho, she tried to cut in behind the bus, before the lane merge, and blocked both lanes.

I also find the junction is smoother when people merge as planned in light traffic.
But in heavy traffic, it's disastrous - when the intersection is blocked, then because of the merge, both lanes of traffic come to a full halt which causes long queues.