Balinteer Road - Changes coming..

LXFlyer

Menas wrote: »

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.

Or perhaps you could be more considerate towards local residents and not do that - it might be worth waiting until the road works are completed before rushing to judgments.

RainyDay

Menas wrote: »

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.

Even apart from the anti-social aspect, it is hard to see how you could save time by coming through Ludford.

greenbicycle

lxflyer wrote: »

Or perhaps you could be more considerate towards local residents and not do that - it might be worth waiting until the road works are completed before rushing to judgments.

RainyDay wrote: »

Even apart from the anti-social aspect, it is hard to see how you could save time by coming through Ludford.

While it is annoying for local residents to have people driving through you can understand why it would happen.i live in a local estate where i will be effected with people taking shortcuts however there is no point in getting angry on a board with people who are just being honest about their intentions.

Going through ludford will clearly save time for anyone living beyond ludford like broadford or lewellyn etc. i don't think anyone needs to wait and see what will happen before "rushing to judgement" it is already obvious it is going to be a significant inconvenience.

Dundrum and ballinteer have already suffered at the expense of the shopping centre and m50 (and benefitted too i suppose) this road issue is just making it worse.

RainyDay

I'd have thought that if rat-running traffic becomes a serious problem in Ludford or Wyckham, they will just bring down the barriers at Meadowbrook sports centre.

dogmatix

RainyDay wrote: »

I'd have thought that if rat-running traffic becomes a serious problem in Ludford or Wyckham, they will just bring down the barriers at Meadowbrook sports centre.

I had heard that those barriers have been broken for a while – but if enough rat-runners appear they might repair them I suppose. But would ludford be a viable shortcut? Coming from Dundrum you first have to get onto the old ballinteer road, then up through ludford, then through the old ‘rec? Might be quicker just to wait in the queue at the bypass.

greenbicycle

dogmatix wrote: »

I had heard that those barriers have been broken for a while – but if enough rat-runners appear they might repair them I suppose. But would ludford be a viable shortcut? Coming from Dundrum you first have to get onto the old ballinteer road, then up through ludford, then through the old ‘rec? Might be quicker just to wait in the queue at the bypass.

I think it definitely would be shorter because the queues of traffic generally become a problem once you get passed/onto the roundabout at wyckham point so it is easy to come off at that point and head into ludford and cut across.

yeah they probably will start closing those barriers, there is a residents association recently set up in the estate and I am sure they will ensure that the barrier is used.

what about the other rat runs though, mayfield terrace, woodpark etc will they all be blocked off? its such an inconvenience for everyone in all of these estates either put up with excessive traffic in the estate or cut off an entrance into the estate.

really the problem should be solved at source and that means reinstating the right turn only lane on wyckham way.

bucketybuck

greenbicycle wrote: »

I think it definitely would be shorter because the queues of traffic generally become a problem once you get passed/onto the roundabout at wyckham point so it is easy to come off at that point and head into ludford and cut across.

yeah they probably will start closing those barriers, there is a residents association recently set up in the estate and I am sure they will ensure that the barrier is used.

Except that closed barriers will also affect the residents of the estates as well. I lived in there and used to frequently go through Meadowbrook to get home in the evenings. That was coming from the M50, but it still made a lot more sense for me than sitting in traffic on the Ballinteer road.

greenbicycle

bucketybuck wrote: »

Except that closed barriers will also affect the residents of the estates as well. I lived in there and used to frequently go through Meadowbrook to get home in the evenings. That was coming from the M50, but it still made a lot more sense for me than sitting in traffic on the Ballinteer road.

Yes I agree, it will be an inconvenience for people in estates to have an entrance blocked off but to not do it will mean putting up with excessive traffic coming through.

this is why I am saying the only way to combat this is to fix the reason for it happening that is the longs queues of traffic on the ballinteer road and dedicating a lane to local traffic who want to turn right into ballinteer will help.

I presume we have missed the boat in terms of giving feedback to planners?

bucketybuck

greenbicycle wrote: »

Yes I agree, it will be an inconvenience for people in estates to have an entrance blocked off but to not do it will mean putting up with excessive traffic coming through.

this is why I am saying the only way to combat this is to fix the reason for it happening that is the longs queues of traffic on the ballinteer road and dedicating a lane to local traffic who want to turn right into ballinteer will help.

I presume we have missed the boat in terms of giving feedback to planners?

I'm not sure I agree. Is the traffic really going to increase that much through Ludford?

You say that those turning right will now be stuck in the queue waiting, but I thought the whole idea is that the queue is now shorter because the new road layout is designed to get the traffic flowing towards the M50 quicker. Most of the cars going up the right lane are just cutting in at the roundabout anyway, what sort of volume is turning right there? Enough to make traffic cutting through Ludford unmanageable?

Personally speaking I think I'd rather have the better flow away from Dundrum with the new road layout and also leave the barriers open.

greenbicycle

bucketybuck wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree. Is the traffic really going to increase that much through Ludford?

You say that those turning right will now be stuck in the queue waiting, but I thought the whole idea is that the queue is now shorter because the new road layout is designed to get the traffic flowing towards the M50 quicker. Most of the cars going up the right lane are just cutting in at the roundabout anyway, what sort of volume is turning right there? Enough to make traffic cutting through Ludford unmanageable?

Personally speaking I think I'd rather have the better flow away from Dundrum with the new road layout and also leave the barriers open.

I am not sure what it will be like going through ludford but the residents must have noticed some increase already as comments are being made about it here and I suppose in fairness there are already two people who have said they will now take that route so maybe it will? its not a route I would need to take.

I dont think it will make the queue shorter at all for traffic turning right it will share the volume of traffic across two lanes now instead of leaving the right lane free for local traffic. yes many people use the right lane and then cut into the lane at the top, they do this because the queue is shorter. this is a point I made a few weeks ago that something needs to be done about that such as putting in a median or something.

yes the way they have done it is moving traffic away from dundrum a little faster but in doing that ballinteer locals are being inconvenienced, it is just pushing the problem further away from dundrum.

bucketybuck

greenbicycle wrote: »

I dont think it will make the queue shorter at all for traffic turning right it will share the volume of traffic across two lanes now instead of leaving the right lane free for local traffic. yes many people use the right lane and then cut into the lane at the top, they do this because the queue is shorter. this is a point I made a few weeks ago that something needs to be done about that such as putting in a median or something.

I wouldn't underestimate this at all. A huge factor in delaying that queue of traffic is those going up the right hand lane and then swinging fully around the roundabout to continue on towards the M50. With that happening constantly and because of the rules of roundabouts the queue is stopping constantly to let those people past. Take that away and you should have a far more steady stream of traffic moving on and shorter queues as a result.

And this is also only an issue at rush hour, but if the barriers are used again at Meadowbrook that will affect residents all day. Those genuinely turning right for Ballinteer will indeed be inconvenienced, but only to an extent and even then I'm not sure its enough to justify action in other areas.

greenbicycle

bucketybuck wrote: »

I wouldn't underestimate this at all. A huge factor in delaying that queue of traffic is those going up the right hand lane and then swinging fully around the roundabout to continue on towards the M50. With that happening constantly and because of the rules of roundabouts the queue is stopping constantly to let those people past. Take that away and you should have a far more steady stream of traffic moving on and shorter queues as a result.

And this is also only an issue at rush hour, but if the barriers are used again at Meadowbrook that will affect residents all day. Those genuinely turning right for Ballinteer will indeed be inconvenienced, but only to an extent and even then I'm not sure its enough to justify action in other areas.

Yes I see that roundabout trick all the time along with those who just dangerously bully their way into the left lane on the roundabout and continue straight without going around the roundabout. I do agree that they are contributing to the traffic in the right lane and delaying people getting onto the roundabout.

I suppose we are both just speculating and we dont really know what will happen in terms of volumes of traffic and where they go.

either way I dont think we can dispute that there will be more traffic in the right hand lane (it will probably equal the left hand lane) and so it will inconvenience local people who want to turn right.

actually I wonder will the light be a filter light to turn right and if there is a queue of right turners will it hold up people in the right hand lane who want to go straight?

I think the residents of Ludford will definitly want that barrier down, really it doesnt inconvenience them to have it down as they rarely use it as an exit, it will be more of a inconvenience for people who use it as a through road like yourself.

people in woodpark and mayfield terrace however will see increased volumes and regularly use all exits on their roads so will be inconvenienced either way.

( its hard to know if I am speaking clearly enough in these posts with talk of estates and right turns and exits etc, must be confusing to follow!!! :-) )

bucketybuck

greenbicycle wrote: »

I think the residents of Ludford will definitly want that barrier down, really it doesnt inconvenience them to have it down as they rarely use it as an exit, it will be more of a inconvenience for people who use it as a through road like yourself.

Not so much a through road in that sense, I only live a few hundred yards from the barrier. While I would most often be going out past Wyckham park road, there would be plenty of times I would go right instead and through the barrier out into Ballinteer. And the other direction in the evenings of course.

Is it a rat run if I actually live there.

greenbicycle

bucketybuck wrote: »

Not so much a through road in that sense, I only live a few hundred yards from the barrier. While I would most often be going out past Wyckham park road, there would be plenty of times I would go right instead and through the barrier out into Ballinteer. And the other direction in the evenings of course.

Is it a rat run if I actually live there.

Which barrier are we talking about? the one at the church kinda beside the priests house? or the one beside the five aside football pitch? if you live near the priests house actually in ludford or in wyckham over near the football pitches that is probably fair enough but if you live in broadford or hillview or somewhere else I think you would probably be considered a rat runner! esentially if you drive threough one estate to get to another you are using the drive through estate as a rat run.

so I think that what they would do is block off the road at the five aside and leave the one beside the priests house open.

not sure how long you have lived in the area but there was never a through road at the five aside pitches in the past and the ludford residents typically dont go out there as it is only recently (a few years) available. also there used to be a through road from ludford up onto ballinteer drive (going up behind superquinn) the ludford residents got that blocked off as it was a rat run into ballinteer, you can see the bollards are there blocking it off. so with that in mind I wouldnt put it past them to prevent this type of rat run again.

greenbicycle

or maybe I have it wrong. if they block off the priest house one it closes it off to everyone coming through ludford but leaves those living in wyckham able to use it as an exit to ballinteer if they want it. one of them will be closed anyway

dogmatix

Is Woodpark a viable rat run? - the only exit onto the ballinteer road from Woodpark is near the main M50 roundabout and getting out of that exit is difficult due to traffic volumes on the ballinteer road.

greenbicycle

dogmatix wrote: »

Is Woodpark a viable rat run? - the only exit onto the ballinteer road from Woodpark is near the main M50 roundabout and getting out of that exit is difficult due to traffic volumes on the ballinteer road.

Its a frequently used rat run, particularly when people come off the M50 and turn left into woodpark and drive through to get to ballinteer.

It is difficult to come out of woodpark and turn right onto the M50 for a lot of the day but ironically during peak traffic times it is ideal as the traffic does not enter into the yellow box making it easy to get out and so lots of people use it to avoid traffic using the main road. this is used by locals mostly not by normal traffic travelling up from dundrum.

There were speed monitors across both main roads in Woodpark there a week or two ago. I assume this is because it has become such a big problem for residents with people speeding through the estate using it as a through road.

xaforb

The Wesley Roundabout revision is not happening now. It is for a later date in Phase 2 of the works. The reason why the current Phase 1 of the works is happening quickly now is to try to assist the local residents in getting out of their estates.

This wouldn't be necessary but for the utter selfishness of the 1000's of motorists coming off/heading to the M50 mostly at crazy speeds day after day and especially at weekends never considering for one second that someone from one of the estates off Ballinteer Road is trying to get out onto the road. It's not that they don't see the cars trying to get out. They actually speed up and fill in any gap in case they might be delayed by 10 seconds. It is a nightmare for the locals. In addition to the new traffic lights at College Park there will be a median reducing the width of the road immediately north of the M50 roundabout that will slow you lot to a crawl all the way down to Wesley. I can even see the queue to Dundrum going right back on to the M50 at busy times. It will be a pleasure to watch it happen .

RainyDay

xaforb wrote: »

The Wesley Roundabout revision is not happening now. It is for a later date in Phase 2 of the works.

Do you have a source for this?

xaforb

RainyDay wrote: »

Do you have a source for this?

I would have but this board won't allow me post links. However, if you put "dlrcoco." in front of the following you'll see it all.

ie/media/media,11428,en.pdf

The maps are towards the bottom.

The last I heard no date has been fixed for Phase 2 but I'm sure it won't be too long afterwards.

For info on start date Phase 1 "dlrcoco." in front of

ie/newsevents/latestnews/title,12106,en.html

Dardania

xaforb wrote: »

The Wesley Roundabout revision is not happening now. It is for a later date in Phase 2 of the works. The reason why the current Phase 1 of the works is happening quickly now is to try to assist the local residents in getting out of their estates.

This wouldn't be necessary but for the utter selfishness of the 1000's of motorists coming off/heading to the M50 mostly at crazy speeds day after day and especially at weekends never considering for one second that someone from one of the estates off Ballinteer Road is trying to get out onto the road. It's not that they don't see the cars trying to get out. They actually speed up and fill in any gap in case they might be delayed by 10 seconds. It is a nightmare for the locals. In addition to the new traffic lights at College Park there will be a median reducing the width of the road immediately north of the M50 roundabout that will slow you lot to a crawl all the way down to Wesley. I can even see the queue to Dundrum going right back on to the M50 at busy times. It will be a pleasure to watch it happen .

It's a bit tough to feel sorry for the residents in all of the estates with such schadenfreude here...either way despite this view I'll still try let the nice residents in & out when I'm driving that road

xaforb wrote: »

I would have but this board won't allow me post links. However, if you put "dlrcoco." in front of the following you'll see it all.

ie/media/media,11428,en.pdf

The maps are towards the bottom.

The last I heard no date has been fixed for Phase 2 but I'm sure it won't be too long afterwards.

For info on start date Phase 1 "dlrcoco." in front of

ie/newsevents/latestnews/title,12106,en.html

Funny enough as of this morning they have burnt off some of the bus lane markings, and are after repainting the lane separation between the two roundabouts, so maybe it is back on again?

xaforb

I'll still try let the nice residents in & out when I'm driving that road

Well done and thanks. The residents will be dancing in the streets tonight .

Funny enough as of this morning they have burnt off some of the bus lane markings, and are after repainting the lane separation between the two roundabouts, so maybe it is back on again?

It was never actually off. It was just decided to do it in two phases. I'm sure that some of today's 27 Billion will be available. However, I'm not so sure that it won't ultimately cause mayhem. The Wesley Roundabout is not all that bad as roundabouts go. With all those new sets of traffic lights plus the pedestrian lights there will be bound to be longer queues at rush hour times and when Wesley College pupils are departing in the afternoon. The big mistake and the biggest travesty was the granting of planning permission for Ireland's largest Shopping Centre right smack in the middle of a small village that didn't and could never have adequate feeder/access roads. The place for something like that was somewhere green like the subsequently built Carrickmines.

The bus lanes were never operative so it has taken a very long time to remove them.

RainyDay

xaforb wrote: »

The bus lanes were never operative so it has taken a very long time to remove them.

Yes, this is bizarre - I'm not sure why they were put there in the first place, and I've no idea why they haven't removed them.

bronn

Jesus sufferin' Christ - this road was a nightmare and now it's going to be a whole lot worse. What the hell are they doing? From the roundabout at the M50 down to the Methodist church, they have narrowed it! :eek: There are at least three lanes (sometimes four because there's no accounting for thicks who decide to create their own lane) of incredibly busy traffic now trying to squeeze into a tiny bottleneck.

I just can't get over this. I drive up and down it pretty much every other day and have watched as they built quite large traffic islands. Then they burnt off the road markings, and I thought, okay strange way to go about it but they must now be widening the side of the road. Not so! They repainted the road markings closer to the new traffic islands. The road is now about 3 meters wide (on each side) with concrete islands in the middle and at the sides. It is narrow. Even with the traffic bollards warning you about the traffic islands, the corner of the one at College Park is going to do someone some serious damage. I'd love to see the huge Supervalu or Marks & Spenser trucks navigate this.

Who thought up of this brilliant plan? In fact, as mentioned in a few posts above, who the hell gave planning permission for the biggest shopping centre in the country, which is linked to the biggest road in the county, by means of a single lane carriageway that travels through about eight housing estates passes a school and one church.

This morning the traffic on Brehonfield Road was backed up past Grange Field and almost reached the junction with Ballinteer Ave. Nothing was moving - nobody could get up or down onto the M50 which was blocked from the Sandyford junction back to Ballinteer. I felt really sorry for the poor sods.

Thanks god for the rat run. The first rule of that special secret way off Broadford Road (kind of behind St Attracta's) is that we don't talk about it. Ever. Ever.

Dardania

bronn wrote: »

Jesus sufferin' Christ - this road was a nightmare and now it's going to be a whole lot worse. What the hell are they doing? From the roundabout at the M50 down to the Methodist church, they have narrowed it! :eek: There are at least three lanes (sometimes four because there's no accounting for thicks who decide to create their own lane) of incredibly busy traffic now trying to squeeze into a tiny bottleneck.

I just can't get over this. I drive up and down it pretty much every other day and have watched as they built quite large traffic islands. Then they burnt off the road markings, and I thought, okay strange way to go about it but they must now be widening the side of the road. Not so! They repainted the road markings closer to the new traffic islands. The road is now about 3 meters wide (on each side) with concrete islands in the middle and at the sides. It is narrow. Even with the traffic bollards warning you about the traffic islands, the corner of the one at College Park is going to do someone some serious damage. I'd love to see the huge Supervalu or Marks & Spenser trucks navigate this.

Who thought up of this brilliant plan? In fact who the hell gave planning permission for the biggest shopping centre in the country, which is linked to the biggest road in the county, by means of a single lane carriageway that travels through about eight housing estates passes a school and one church.

This morning the traffic on Brehonfield Road was backed up past Grange Field and almost reached the junction with Ballinteer Ave. Nothing was moving - nobody could get up or down onto the M50 which was blocked from the Sandyford junction back to Ballinteer. I felt really sorry for the poor sods.

Thanks god for the rat run. The first rule of that special secret way off Broadford Road (kind of behind St Attracta's) is that we don't talk about it. Ever. Ever.

I wonder if by narrowing the road, their strategy is to concentrate the traffic back-up away from the road, and back into:
Dundrum SC
The M50

?

LXFlyer

bronn wrote: »

Jesus sufferin' Christ - this road was a nightmare and now it's going to be a whole lot worse. What the hell are they doing? From the roundabout at the M50 down to the Methodist church, they have narrowed it! :eek: There are at least three lanes (sometimes four because there's no accounting for thicks who decide to create their own lane) of incredibly busy traffic now trying to squeeze into a tiny bottleneck.

I just can't get over this. I drive up and down it pretty much every other day and have watched as they built quite large traffic islands. Then they burnt off the road markings, and I thought, okay strange way to go about it but they must now be widening the side of the road. Not so! They repainted the road markings closer to the new traffic islands. The road is now about 3 meters wide (on each side) with concrete islands in the middle and at the sides. It is narrow. Even with the traffic bollards warning you about the traffic islands, the corner of the one at College Park is going to do someone some serious damage. I'd love to see the huge Supervalu or Marks & Spenser trucks navigate this.

Who thought up of this brilliant plan? In fact, as mentioned in a few posts above, who the hell gave planning permission for the biggest shopping centre in the country, which is linked to the biggest road in the county, by means of a single lane carriageway that travels through about eight housing estates passes a school and one church.

This morning the traffic on Brehonfield Road was backed up past Grange Field and almost reached the junction with Ballinteer Ave. Nothing was moving - nobody could get up or down onto the M50 which was blocked from the Sandyford junction back to Ballinteer. I felt really sorry for the poor sods.

Thanks god for the rat run. The first rule of that special secret way off Broadford Road (kind of behind St Attracta's) is that we don't talk about it. Ever. Ever.

If you read the document that is posted at the start of this thread, which by the sounds of things you haven't, you will see that they clearly say the following:

The purpose of Phase 1 of the project is to address local residents concerns regarding traffic speeds and to improve safety for residents entering and exiting their estates. This phase does not particularly focus on alleviating traffic congestion through the study area, but rather on providing fast tracked safety benefits to residents. Measures to reduce congestion will be provided as part of Phase 2.

bronn

Nah - their strategy was "road safety improvements". I suppose roads where traffic is at a complete standstill is a safety improvement. Nobody can get creased by moving vehicles if they're not moving. Brilliant, innit?

"The purpose of Phase 1 of the project is to address local residents concerns regarding traffic speeds and to improve safety for residents entering and exiting their estates. This phase does not particularly focus on alleviating traffic congestion through the study area, but rather on providing fast tracked safety benefits to residents. Measures to reduce congestion will be provided as part of Phase 2"

Well, residents won't be able to exit or enter their estates now, not even with the new lights because people won't give a damn about yellow boxes (they're already ignored on that roundabout). The new works will certainly stopped speeding but it's really heartening to see that they're not particularly focusing on alleviating traffic congestion. I don't know what Phase 2 is because it "requires land take and therefore approval and construction will likely occur in the medium term." Huh?

All info available here from DLRCoCo.

LXFlyer

bronn wrote: »

Nah - their strategy was "road safety improvements". I suppose roads where traffic is at a complete standstill is a safety improvement. Nobody can get creased by moving vehicles if they're not moving. Brilliant, innit?

Well, residents won't be able to exit or enter their estates now, not even with the new lights because people won't give a damn about yellow boxes (they're already ignored on that roundabout). The new works will certainly stopped speeding but it's really heartening to see that they're not particularly focusing on alleviating traffic congestion. I don't know what Phase 2 is because it "requires land take and therefore approval and construction will likely occur in the medium term." Huh?

All info available here from DLRCoCo.

I am not trying to be smart, but did you actually read that document in full?

It explicitly tells you what phases 1 and 2 involve.

bronn

lxflyer wrote: »

If you read the document that is posted at the start of this thread, which by the sounds of things you haven't, you will see that they clearly say the following..[/SIZE][/FONT]

I did read it, actually. I just don't see how these works "address residents concerns". Even with dedicated trigger lights, they won't be able to get in and out of their estates because the traffic is now dreadful. It can't move and the area, especially in the mornings and evenings, is now totally snookered. I really didn't think the road would be so narrow and hemmed in by those concrete traffic islands.

But, whateves. I'm just making an observation. In my view, this is a mess.

bronn

Wait - maybe I've missed it. I'll go and look for the Phase 2 stuff again. We're posting across each other.