Balinteer Road - Changes coming..

homer911

New traffic lights at Wesley College roundabout and College Park..

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/newsevents/latestnews/title,11427,en.html

Better or worse? you be the judge..

Submissions invited by Friday 27th February

Tabnabs

Better, IMHO, that junction really brings gridlock to the Ballinteer Ave and Ballinteer Rd approaches.

But absolute chaos for traffic when they go at the junction

Aard

I love how the proposed cycle lanes come to an end a few metres before the 5-lane junction!

This is right beside two school entrances (Wesley and Tiernan's). Aren't we trying to encourage kids to cycle to school more? How is disimproving cycle infrastructure while accommodating a 5-lane junction helping with school safety? I mean they're even doing a CPO simply to get more lanes for cars. Cars cars cars -- Dundrum Dundrum Dundrum!

homer911

Aard wrote: »

This is right beside two school entrances (Wesley and Tiernan's). Aren't we trying to encourage kids to cycle to school more?

I understand very few kids actually cycle to Wesley any more - they used to have a huge bike shed but its just used for storage now

iseegirls

The signalised junction instead of the roundabout sounds great. At the moment, it's a horrible roundabout to get through - especially coming from Balinteer Road way. If you want to go straight through, should I go into the left lane or the right lane? There is really not enough space for 2 cars to be going around at the same time around the roundabout.

Same when coming from Wyckham Way to go to Balinteer Avenue. I'm always mounting the small kerb on the roundabout, whenever a car is on the left of me - as it's way too small there.

RebelButtMunch

iseegirls wrote: »

The signalised junction instead of the roundabout sounds great. At the moment, it's a horrible roundabout to get through - especially coming from Balinteer Road way. If you want to go straight through, should I go into the left lane or the right lane? There is really not enough space for 2 cars to be going around at the same time around the roundabout.

Same when coming from Wyckham Way to go to Balinteer Avenue. I'm always mounting the small kerb on the roundabout, whenever a car is on the left of me - as it's way too small there.

If you want to go straight through a roundabout you stay in the left(outside) lane unless signposted otherwise. The right(inner) lane is for turning right or doing a u-turn via the roundabout.

Fratton Fred

Do what I do, straddle both lanes just in case.

LXFlyer

Putting in a signalled junction will be a huge improvement, particularly during the morning and evening peak hours for the local bus routes too.

Dublin Bus routes 14, 75 and 116 all suffer from severe congestion, and getting out of Ballinteer Avenue can be a nightmare for the bus drivers.

LXFlyer

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

If you want to go straight through a roundabout you stay in the left(outside) lane unless signposted otherwise. The right(inner) lane is for turning right or doing a u-turn via the roundabout.

Unless I'm missing something, in Ireland the left lane is on the inside and the right lane is on the outside - are you getting your left & right mixed up?

RebelButtMunch

A picture paints a thousand words so it's said

LXFlyer

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

A picture paints a thousand words so it's said

Absolutely and the left lane is indeed on the inside and the right lane is on the outside in that picture, rather than what you said earlier!

RebelButtMunch

lxflyer wrote: »

Absolutely and the left lane is indeed on the inside and the right lane is on the outside in that picture, rather than what you said earlier!

That's funny. I would have said the left Lane is on the outside of the road. Thankfully my driving was right and my description was arseways.

bucketybuck

iseegirls wrote: »

The signalised junction instead of the roundabout sounds great. At the moment, it's a horrible roundabout to get through - especially coming from Balinteer Road way. If you want to go straight through, should I go into the left lane or the right lane?

It doesn't matter what lane you choose, some twat will still try to cut past you on the other one. Its a horrible roundabout.

iseegirls

bucketybuck wrote: »

It doesn't matter what lane you choose, some twat will still try to cut past you on the other one. Its a horrible roundabout.

Glad someone else feels the same.

ted1

lxflyer wrote: »

Absolutely and the left lane is indeed on the inside and the right lane is on the outside in that picture, rather than what you said earlier!

The left is the outside. The right is in the inside on the round about.

Tabnabs

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

A picture paints a thousand words so it's said

That diagram is about a million miles away from the reality of the junction we are discussing in this thread unfortunately.

Far smaller, much busier and a random low brick verge (can I mount it? Is it just for decoration?). Hence why it doesn't work and they have to completely redesign the entire thing.

greenbicycle

This is great news, I hate that roundabout. coming out of ballinteer Avenue or wesley college is very difficult because of traffic coming on/off the M50 and streaming through the roundabout giving no chance for people coming out of the other roads.

One thing i would really love to see is something put in place that prevents people who intend on going straight from using the right hand lane on wyckham way approching the roundabout. the right lane is for turning right on to ballinteer avenue but so many smart arses use the right lane in order to skip the queue of traffic going straight and then stop the righthand lane of traffic when they get almost to the top as they try to edge their way back into the left lane, it drives me nuts!!!!

Larbre34

I wouldn't hold your breath on this, if the consultation is just going out now, it will be 2017 before you see the works beginning.

RebelButtMunch

greenbicycle wrote: »

This is great news, I hate that roundabout. coming out of ballinteer Avenue or wesley college is very difficult because of traffic coming on/off the M50 and streaming through the roundabout giving no chance for people coming out of the other roads.

One thing i would really love to see is something put in place that prevents people who intend on going straight from using the right hand lane on wyckham way approching the roundabout. the right lane is for turning right on to ballinteer avenue but so many smart arses use the right lane in order to skip the queue of traffic going straight and then stop the righthand lane of traffic when they get almost to the top as they try to edge their way back into the left lane, it drives me nuts!!!!

yep. It also doesn't help that there exists permanent ' bus lane not in operation' bus lanes there too.

dogmatix

So in other words, they are reverting to the ballinteer avenue/ballinteer road layout in use prior to 2000. With some changes of course - four way junction and 5 lanes instead of the then two. Also looks like they are closing off the Wesley exit - I assume the exit is being moved to the cul-de-sac lane and the lane becoming a two lane road.

All in all it will be a big improvement - espcially if you are coming from the avenue or trying to get out of Wesley.

BTW - I hate the sneaky f**kers who (illegally) use mayfield terrace as a rat run to avoid the junction!

RainyDay

homer911 wrote: »

I understand very few kids actually cycle to Wesley any more - they used to have a huge bike shed but its just used for storage now

Are you sure? We got the tour there last year, and I recall a large bike shed.

iseegirls wrote: »

The signalised junction instead of the roundabout sounds great. At the moment, it's a horrible roundabout to get through - especially coming from Balinteer Road way. If you want to go straight through, should I go into the left lane or the right lane? There is really not enough space for 2 cars to be going around at the same time around the roundabout.

Same when coming from Wyckham Way to go to Balinteer Avenue. I'm always mounting the small kerb on the roundabout, whenever a car is on the left of me - as it's way too small there.

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

If you want to go straight through a roundabout you stay in the left(outside) lane unless signposted otherwise. The right(inner) lane is for turning right or doing a u-turn via the roundabout.

Tabnabs wrote: »

That diagram is about a million miles away from the reality of the junction we are discussing in this thread unfortunately.

Far smaller, much busier and a random low brick verge (can I mount it? Is it just for decoration?). Hence why it doesn't work and they have to completely redesign the entire thing.

A bit of common sense applies. The vast majority of the traffic is heading to/from the M50 and/or Dundrum Town Centre. If you are coming down Ballinteer Road, it makes a lot more sense to use the left hand lane for traffic heading onto Ballinteer Ave, and use the right hand lane for traffic heading to Wyckham Way or Wesley. There isn't really room for two lanes around the roundabout, so this avoids any chance of that.

The reverse applies for traffic coming up Wyckham Way towards the roundabout. The right hand lane is clearly marked for right turn only, and the left hand lane is for traffic going into Wesley or onto Ballinteer Road. Which of course doesn't stop one smartarse just about every time I go through this taking the right hand lane to skip the queue in the left, and then cutting back into the left on or near the roundabout.

I've seen folks also take the right hand lane, then do the full loop of the roundabout to head into Wesley or cut back into traffic heading up Ballinteer Road.

I always assume that the low-kerb roundabout is designed to be used - to be driven over. Isn't that the whole purpose?

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

yep. It also doesn't help that there exists permanent ' bus lane not in operation' bus lanes there too.

I know, it's crazy. You can always tell the locals from the visitors by seeing who uses the bus lane. Having said that, there was a Garda Traffic Corps car with lights flashing and 3 or 4 cars pulled in at the end of the not-a-bus-lane bus lane on Wyckham Way one day last week. I've no idea what he could have been hassling them for, given that it's not a but lane.

dogmatix wrote: »

Also looks like they are closing off the Wesley exit - I assume the exit is being moved to the cul-de-sac lane and the lane becoming a two lane road.

Are you sure? I didn't get that from the diagram.

dogmatix wrote: »

All in all it will be a big improvement - espcially if you are coming from the avenue or trying to get out of Wesley.

I hate the sneaky f**kers from Wesley who use the neighbouring residential areas as a set-down/pick-up area, and block the junctions morning and afternoon waiting for their little darlings.

dogmatix wrote: »

BTW - I hate the sneaky f**kers who (illegally) use mayfield terrace as a rat run to avoid the junction!

Just to clarify, it's not illegal to cut through Mayfield. It is illegal to left turn from Ballinteer Ave into Mayfield during morning rush hour, but there is nothing to stop folks coming up from Bhagwans cutting through, or folks coming from Hilton Gardens direction.

Idbatterim

I live just down the road from this, is it not a bit much to be giving out about people using shortcuts, due to the joke that is this "roundabout" put the blame at the planners... A single lane carriageway connecting the M50 and what I assume is the most visited shopping centre in the country!

RainyDay

Idbatterim wrote: »

I live just down the road from this, is it not a bit much to be giving out about people using shortcuts, due to the joke that is this "roundabout" put the blame at the planners... A single lane carriageway connecting the M50 and what I assume is the most visited shopping centre in the country!

Shopping traffic isn't really the issue here, apart from maybe a couple of hours on a Saturday. The real issue is commuting traffic heading to and from the M50.

Aard

There's plenty of employment in Dundrum, both retail and offices, that generate peak hour travel demand.

RainyDay

Aard wrote: »

There's plenty of employment in Dundrum, both retail and offices, that generate peak hour travel demand.

Very few retail staff in Dundrum have access to parking, and very few retail staff can afford to pay €15-€20 a day for parking. I'm not sure about the offices, but I really hope the planners didn't allow huge amounts of car parking for offices that have possibly the best public transport connections in the city.

dogmatix

I work in the offices - and they did'nt provide very much parking. What little spaces there are are withdrawn during December/January as DTC want to maximise parking space for paying shoppers.

Unless you are Renault on the 6th floor - they seem to have ample parking spaces for their 151 and 152 renaults!

greenbicycle

RainyDay wrote: »

Shopping traffic isn't really the issue here, apart from maybe a couple of hours on a Saturday. The real issue is commuting traffic heading to and from the M50.

Actually shopping traffic is a huge issue, on weekends (particularly wet weekends), school holidays or times like christmas. I try to completely avoid the road between the M50 and the shopping centre at those times and it is just queues of cars travelling to and from the town centre. And its not just a couple of hours on a saturday it is satruday and sunday from 10am up until about 5pm.

The other side of course is just regular traffic made up of people working all over the dundrum area who are coming to and from the M50.

Long before there was anything like shopping centres and M50's Dundrum had a lot of traffic at peak times, coming down the old ballinteer road was very slow going back in the 80's and 90's it is just simply the volume of people living in the area who had to travel through dundrum to get to work/school and now alot of that is displaced up onto the M50 but it still needs to get to the M50 through that one road.

homer911

Looks like works have started just in time for the back-to-school traffic..

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/newsevents/latestnews/title,12106,en.html

Dardania

I commute this way every day - i feel for the poor unfortunates living in the estates e.g. Delbrook & College Park trying to get out (and usually slow down to let them, if the oncoming traffic permits) - this signalling will surely benefit them. AN instance where I don't mind traffic lights being put in place.

I particularly like how the 5 way junction is done - seems fair enough (although I'm sure there will be smart types going into the left turn lane for Balinteer Avenue, then continuing straight, which could cause tension if the bus lanes are ever reactivated)

greenbicycle

ugh, just had a look at the plan there, it doesnt benefit people who want to turn right onto ballinteer avenue coming up from dundrum at all now. currently the right lane the whole way up from the wyckham point roundabout is for those turning right, meaning we dont (usually) have to wait behind traffic going onto the m50. but now both lanes are heading to the M50 until you get to the top where you filter into a third right turning lane. this makes the M50 traffic a greater impact on locals who are now further delayed because of increased traffic. I am not happy!

Menas

greenbicycle wrote: »

ugh, just had a look at the plan there, it doesnt benefit people who want to turn right onto ballinteer avenue coming up from dundrum at all now. currently the right lane the whole way up from the wyckham point roundabout is for those turning right, meaning we dont (usually) have to wait behind traffic going onto the m50. but now both lanes are heading to the M50 until you get to the top where you filter into a third right turning lane. this makes the M50 traffic a greater impact on locals who are now further delayed because of increased traffic. I am not happy!

I came here to post this very thing. It's going to be a pain for locals taking that right turn and may move more local traffic thru the ludford estate..which is what I will be doing.