Motorway from Dublin to Sligo Needed Badly

Andy From Sligo

also, I just thought of another thing - these improvements they are going to be doing on the existing N4 .. how long will that take - and how much disruption? - its going to be even more of a nightmare getting from sligo to dublin, more taffic lights/roadworks/single lanes and hold ups whilst they do whats necessary on this road .

Sure if they started to build a proper full motorway to hook up to the existing M4 then people could just continue to use the the N4 as usual with minimum disruption whilst the other 'proper' motorway is being built over the years

Mint Sauce

Plenty of towns bigger than Sligo across Europe, even over the water, don't have motorways connected to them Andy.

Again, there is simply not the traffic demand.

BenBulben18

The 'build it and they will come' thing doesn't apply to Sligo. There's no reason why it shouldn't be as busy as any town its size, and you have to conclude there's resistance to change among the powers that be here. Nothing a motorway's gonna do about that!

Andy From Sligo

I am (my points) are always going to hit a brick wall with a lot of people - because I am saying (believing wholeheartedly) that the route will automatically get busier if there was a proper motorway in place and over a short amount of time I believe (lets call it the M4 motorway from Sligo to dublin hypothetically) - but as I say its going to hit a brick wall with people who can only see how busy it is at present and can not see the potential

Imagine telling people to set up business in Sligo because there is a motorway link to Dublin ... imagine selling this area and what it has to offer to tourists at Dublin airport and citing that there is a proper motorway all the way to the northwest and there are most probably other benefits a proper motorway can offer to a part of a country instead of just a national road - some things being a hell of a lot shorter journey times and less hold-up , straighter road and being able to drive at speeds of 120kmh most of the way (if you want to) without getting arrested for speeding.

Mint Sauce

Plenty of tourists come to the NW without any motorway, nearly even further from one if they are going to Donegal. I would be quite happy with a mix of decent Dual Carriage Way, and improved roads radiating from the NW Towns along the major routes. Plus with some of the current standard of driving from some of its drivers, am not sure would want to share a Motorway with them anyway.

red sean

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

also, I just thought of another thing - these improvements they are going to be doing on the existing N4 .. how long will that take - and how much disruption? - its going to be even more of a nightmare getting from sligo to dublin, more taffic lights/roadworks/single lanes and hold ups whilst they do whats necessary on this road .

Sure if they started to build a proper full motorway to hook up to the existing M4 then people could just continue to use the the N4 as usual with minimum disruption whilst the other 'proper' motorway is being built over the years

Do you honestly believe a road can be manufactured in a giant shed somewhere and flown into position in the quiet hours of the night, ready for peak time traffic? :rolleyes:

Andy From Sligo

red sean wrote: »

Do you honestly believe a road can be manufactured in a giant shed somewhere and flown into position in the quiet hours of the night, ready for peak time traffic? :rolleyes:

no, which is the reason why i say if they started constructing a brand new motorway independent of the N4 then they can build it without disrupting existing traffic thats on the N4

marno21

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

no, which is the reason why i say if they started constructing a brand new motorway independent of the N4 then they can build it without disrupting existing traffic thats on the N4

Most of the planned N4 upgrades I listed above will be new build. There is 3km of dual retrofit on the Collooney stretch, about 8km on the Carrick stretch and an undetermined amount on the Longford to Mullingar stretch. These stretches of N4 are so wide that it'll likely be possible to maintain 2 lanes of traffic while upgrades are taking place.

Building a new road to avoid distribution would cost hundreds of millions extra and have little benefit

Andy From Sligo

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Plenty of tourists come to the NW without any motorway, nearly even further from one if they are going to Donegal. I would be quite happy with a mix of decent Dual Carriage Way, and improved roads radiating from the NW Towns along the major routes. Plus with some of the current standard of driving from some of its drivers, am not sure would want to share a Motorway with them anyway.

and I believe many many more would come if there was a proper motorway - and if calculated time of travel, posters could have on them Sligo only 2 hours away (or whatever long it would take - I dont really know how much travel time it would cut down to be honest) M4 - gateway to the Northwest and then list underneath all the things to do in the northwest.

With me personally if i were a tourist if I had just arrived (flew into Dublin or got ferry into dublin) and saw that it was a 3 hour journey to Sligo on a normal national road (and a bad one at that in places) it wouldnt appeal to me to travel to Sligo ... but if it were a proper motorway all the way or most of the way it would more than likely change my mind and i would go for it.

SligoBrewer

The motorway to Waterford has done them no good. Literally none. Gorey has a motorway and it's bigger than Sligo population wise. Any good? No. It's not the be all and end all. Endless miles of roads that nobody will hardly drive on won't solve the problems that decades of bad commercial planning have caused in Sligo town. Sligo should play to it's strengths, look what it has that you can't get in Dublin or Galway or Limerick, not build more bloody roads causing more urban sprawl for cars that will have to be off the roads in how many years' time.

Plus, motorway driving is boring af.

Andy From Sligo

SligoBrewer wrote: »

The motorway to Waterford has done them no good. It's not the be all and end all. Plus, motorway driving is boring af.

but such a great way of getting from A-B (well when they work ok and not chock a block with jams or roadworks) - I used to love travelling the motorways in the UK - and they used to be served very well with motorway service stations - get out, stretch your legs, have a pee - have something to eat and a cup of tea.

I used to regularly drive the M1 from Luton to London (built by the Irish in the 60's lol) i know that particular one was only 33 miles so not long - but a couple of times if the motorway was closed (due to bad accident or whatever) you had to fall back on the A-roads (national routes) and it was a pain and so long with a lot of stop starts and roundabouts, so glad to get back to the M1 - used to travel the M25 too (that got heavily congested a lot of the time) and then up north on the M1 - and when got ferry to and from Ireland the motorways in the UK were a godsend , would have hated to do all that travelling on A-Roads

I never owned a car with Cruise control on it , but i would say if you had a long trip on motorway it be great to just turn on cruise control and just head off.

red sean

Most foreign tourists coming to the NW want to get away from motorways and see the real Ireland. Their lives generally centre on motorways and airports, so coming here is a welcome chance to slow down for a brief time.
It's like people whinging about no scheduled flights to/from Dublin anymore. When the service was there, it wasn't supported, so wasn't viable.

BenBulben18

At the moment it takes me 2 hours 15 to get to Dublin (let's say the end point is the 2nd exit of the M50 from the N4, either north or south). The last time I travelled Dublin to Galway/Galway to Dublin, it took 2 hours 5 - literally a difference of ten minutes between the two, and that's with the usual traffic on the Sligo route.

So assuming they complete the road improvements at collooney/castlebaldwin and from Longford to the Mullingar bypass, you could guesstimate that those changes may well shave up to 20 minutes off the journey, bringing it to under two hours. That's already huge. What other town on the Western seaboard will be that short a distance from Dublin?

I think you're romanticising the idea of a motorway itself, and I get that because I like motorway driving too, but having underused motorways in a country the size/population of Ireland can't be justified. The money is needed for too many other things!

CountingCrows

BenBulben18 wrote: »

At the moment it takes me 2 hours 15 to get to Dublin

Summerhill roundabout to M50 in 2hrs 15mins? Don't think I've ever done it in less than 2hrs 30mins and often it's closer to 3hrs. There are so many stretches where it's simply impossible to pass safely.

shanec1928

CountingCrows wrote: »

Summerhill roundabout to M50 in 2hrs 15mins? Don't think I've ever done it in less than 2hrs 30mins and often it's closer to 3hrs. There are so many stretches where it's simply impossible to pass safely.

the 2.15 would be about right.

Andy From Sligo

wow! - 2.15 :eek: - what speeds are we talking? is that sticking to the speed limits?

doing 100km/h all the way (and you cant) without getting held up would take around 2hours 10 minutes - ( I divided 207km by 100kmh there )

blackwhite

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

wow! - 2.15 :eek: - what speeds are we talking? is that sticking to the speed limits?

doing 100km/h all the way (and you cant) without getting held up would take around 2hours 10 minutes - ( I divided 207km by 100kmh there )

Distance is 197km, not 207k.

Average speed to do it in 2.15 would be approx 87.5km/h.


Google maps estimates a journey time of 2.17 right now, and google estimates tend to be a bit on the slow side for long journeys

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Circular+Rd,+Knocknaganny,+Co.+Sligo,+Ireland/53.3560648,-6.3914812/@53.3554669,-6.3906575,18.04z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x485ee9cd6812a849:0xea6172e0dcaf1df4!2m2!1d-8.4808092!2d54.2660168!1m0!3e0?hl=en

marvin80

shanec1928 wrote: »

the 2.15 would be about right.

2.18 according to Google Maps:

http://bit.ly/2BHkCYy

Like a poster said above, with the improvements they'll definitely get it under 2 hours.
Even turning the Longford to Mullingar section into motorway you'd reduce that journey by 15 minutes at least.

BenBulben18

Well there or thereabouts, lets say Lucan/Liffey Valley exit if there's traffic, and of course that time is direct without stopping. Granted I'm talking about times where there'd be no major stoppage from roadworks, commute traffic etc etc. Easy enough to overtake safely on certain stretches. Obviously if there's any of the above, or queues into Carrick or very very unfavourable weather conditions, it'll take longer. I'm talking best case here, but I have made it in those times without speeding, but moving at a consistent clip let's say. There's no way it's a three-hour journey.

CountingCrows

BenBulben18 wrote: »

There's no way it's a three-hour journey.

In your experience maybe but I can tell you for a fact it's a common occurrence any Friday or Sunday.

knipex

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

None of us are furnished with crystal balls nor have special gifts or powers to look into the future unfortunately ... but we can have vision if we just think out of the box - I personally have a vision of a motorway being built, then people using it to commute quickly to A & B , open up tourism , Make it more attractive for people to set up business near the motorway , bring more people to the area to live and work. I have seen before what motorways can do to areas in the way of opening possibilities up and bringing new life to areas ....

But that's is the exact opposite of what we as a country need to do and also the exact opposite of what the spatial strategy is recommending.

Ideally the Limerick \ Cork motorway when built woudl have 2, max 3 exists. 1st one in Limerick, and the second one in Cork.

We want and need to encourage out of rural housing and into urban centers.

By selecting large urban centers (such as Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford) and driving investment into those areas, you provide growth centers to compete with Dublin. You then grow populations in those centers and take the pressure off Dublin.

By urbanizing the population its, easier, cheaper and vastly less political to provide services such as health, broadband, education even roads become so much easier and cheaper to provide.

Singapore has a population of 5.6 million but has 6 acute hospital. 6. serving 5.6 million.. With minimal waiting lists.

I am not for a second saying we can do similar but we had 52 acute hospitals serving a population of 4.8 million.. 52 acute hospitals. That is improving now but still we are way off by internationals standards.

Putting a motorway to Sligo with exits at every town along the way would only encourage population to spread out even more. and drive more commuting..

blackwhite

CountingCrows wrote: »

In your experience maybe but I can tell you for a fact it's a common occurrence any Friday or Sunday.

Leaving Leopardstown at 5.30-6 on a Friday it would be extremely rare for it to take me 3 hours to get to my parents house north of Sligo town. 2hrs 30min from M50 to Summerhill would be a bad night TBH.

Unless you are counting a stop somewhere into your journey time I hope I never get stuck behind you!!

BenBulben18

CountingCrows wrote: »

In your experience maybe but I can tell you for a fact it's a common occurrence any Friday or Sunday.

Commuter times most likely. Not sure about Friday, but I've often got back from Dublin very quickly of a Sunday evening. Maybe it's not as fast the other way round. I meant in terms of distance, it's not a three-hour journey, it just depends what obstacles might make it so.

Mint Sauce

Carraroe, to Dublin, be that the Airport, Ballsbridge, Castleknock (my usual spots), is about 2hrs 30, and that's stopping along the way, average time.

marno21

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Carraroe, to Dublin, be that the Airport, Ballsbridge, Castleknock (my usual spots), is about 2hrs 30, and that's stopping along the way, average time.

As a frequent N4/M4 user, which parts of the road do you think need the most attention to improve net journey times?

blackwhite

marno21 wrote: »

As a frequent N4/M4 user, which parts of the road do you think need the most attention to improve net journey times?

I know it’s not dirceted at me - but Longford-Mullingar needs to be prioritised due to volumes. Road itself isn’t the worst stretch, but the volumes on it more than justify a capacity increase. Longford to Edgewardstown is probably a worse stretch than the Edgewardstown to Mullingar sections, but volumes are the root of the delays on both

After that - I’d say the section from Roosky to Newtown Forbes needs to be looked at as well (with a bypass of Newtown Forbes if possible - I’m shocked there haven’t been more accidents there given the atrocious parking that goes on along the road there).

Obviously both of the above are excluding the Cloonamahon-Castlebaldwin stretch that’s about to get upgraded. Whilst volumes aren’t that bad on that stretch, it’s the only part on it that I’d classify as “dangerous”.


For a period of 6/7 years I drove from Dublin (varied locations) to north Sligo and back at least once, and often twice, most weekends. The only times it ever took more than 2hrs 45 min were when there was an accident or incident somewhere on the route.

shanec1928

marno21 wrote: »

As a frequent N4/M4 user, which parts of the road do you think need the most attention to improve net journey times?

as some one who travels it regularly enough. Longford to mullingar. Would make a huge difference when done. Bar that long stretch it’s pretty limited on where you can pass not to mention all the small villages that you need to slow down for. Next carrick it’s just a bottleneck.then dromd to Longford including a bypass for newtonforbs.As things stand it’s quit easy to do the journey Either way in 2 hours even time of day depending.

Mint Sauce

marno21 wrote: »

As a frequent N4/M4 user, which parts of the road do you think need the most attention to improve net journey times?

As pretty much my previous posts, extend the Motorway to Longford, get rid of the round abouts, and by pass Carrick.

Andy From Sligo

no-one think improvements to be done where carrick-on-shannon is so you can cut out driving along the road where whispies / supermacs is and driving into the town of COS? (is it a town?)

That Newtownforbs is mad, imagine it still being like that today and that stupid severe bend you have to slow right down for (on a main National road to Dublin as well) - or is it bypassed yet? , I dont think so

marno21

The three posts above are indicative of what will actually happen.

Collooney-Castlebaldwin is #1 priority as it's just downright dangerous. Net time savings will be smaller than the other schemes but the safety benefits are huge, and it'll stop frustration of being stuck behind a truck or bus.

TII have prioritised the other two sections for upgrade, Mullingar-Longford (possibly, hopefully Rooskey) and Carrick-Dromod. Nobody is complaining about Castlebaldwin-Carrick on Shannon which is indicative of how much of an issue it is.

If we have dual carriageway from the M50 to north of Carrick on Shannon and Castlebaldwin to Sligo by 2027 there will be a short gap that can easily be retrofitted online as it's quite wide. There are bigger priorities in Sligo on the N15, N16 and N17 anyway.

londonred

marno21 wrote: »

As a frequent N4/M4 user, which parts of the road do you think need the most attention to improve net journey times?

Carrick on Shannon and the 17 roundabouts for starters , new road between Mullingar and Dromard so the cattle trucks can still use the old one on Saturdays on there way to the marts.

Andy From Sligo

londonred wrote: »

Carrick on Shannon and the 17 roundabouts for starters , new road between Mullingar and Dromard so the cattle trucks can still use the old one on Saturdays on there way to the marts.

this is another one of those shortcomings of using a National road as a means of getting from A-B in Ireland. Had this motorway had already been built from Sligo to Dublin then am I correct in saying farm vehicles are prohibited from using motorways? - as are walkers/joggers/people thumbing a lift , slow vehicles and learner drivers?

red sean

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

this is another one of those shortcomings of using a National road as a means of getting from A-B in Ireland. Had this motorway had already been built from Sligo to Dublin then am I correct in saying farm vehicles are prohibited from using motorways? - as are walkers/joggers/people thumbing a lift , slow vehicles and learner drivers?

If you have a drivers licence you should know the answers to your questions

Mint Sauce

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

this is another one of those shortcomings of using a National road as a means of getting from A-B in Ireland. Had this motorway had already been built from Sligo to Dublin then am I correct in saying farm vehicles are prohibited from using motorways? - as are walkers/joggers/people thumbing a lift , slow vehicles and learner drivers?

You are correct. When building a motorway, part of the plans are, that there's an alternative route for the above.

Andy From Sligo

red sean wrote: »

If you have a drivers licence you should know the answers to your questions

yes

but then again i dont drive anything agricultural , nor a learner driver , nor thumb for lifts , nor cycle ... so i dont have to worry about brushing up on it

ondafly

It used to take over 4 hours to get to Sligo by car from Dublin in the 90s - I think the road in the last few years is f'ing brilliant in comparison. You can easily be in Strandhill in 2 hours 30 mins, and thats obeying the traffic laws. You just have to be smart at what time you leave at.

It used to take my Dad even longer back in the day on a bloody Lambretta, so the road to him now is like bliss.

Try driving to Bantry from Cork and back again - now that's a road that needs looking at.

Andy From Sligo

ondafly wrote: »

It used to take over 4 hours to get to Sligo by car from Dublin in the 90s - I think the road in the last few years is f'ing brilliant in comparison. You can easily be in Strandhill in 2 hours 30 mins, and thats obeying the traffic laws. You just have to be smart at what time you leave at.

It used to take my Dad even longer back in the day on a bloody Lambretta, so the road to him now is like bliss.

Try driving to Bantry from Cork and back again - now that's a road that needs looking at.

want to share? - what time do you find its best at?

Wife & I moved to Ireland in 1991 (when people say every now and again "What brought you to Ireland?" - I normally like to say "the Ferry!" )

I remember getting off Ferry in Dun Laohaire and then our first stop was always Harrys in Kinnegad for a cup of tea and a fry and stretch our legs... apart from that I cannot remember what the rest of the journey was like or what the roads were like. - Did it really take 4 Hours to get to sligo? .. I suppose it did, if you say so

marno21

Some updates on these for those interested:

N4 dualling from Castlebaldwin to Collooney is to be awarded to a contractor in early Q4 2018 with a start soon after.

N4 Mullingar-Longford to move into early planning stages imminently. Of the list of future schemes in the capital plan, this is at the top of the list with the N2 from Ardee to the border

Two other schemes will move into early planning shortly also, N4 around Carrick on Shannon and the N17 from Tobercurry to Collooney

For those with interests further north, the Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass is at route selection with the route options currently at public consultation. Should start around 2022.

dingding

Om holiday in the UK at the moment and I cand believe how hard ot is to get around in comparrison. The motorways are packed with traffic and many large towns are connected by A roads with no hardshoulder. The castlebaldwin would be good compared to some of the roads here. The changes proposed will make a huge difference in Sligo. Even as it is you can probably get a lot quicker and a lot more reliably than an equivalent journey in the UK between London to Bristol is 2.30 and is the same distance as Sligo to Dublin. Leave London at noon and the journey will take more than 3 hours, probably nearer 4.

Andy From Sligo

dingding wrote: »

Om holiday in the UK at the moment and I cand believe how hard ot is to get around in comparrison. The motorways are packed with traffic and many large towns are connected by A roads with no hardshoulder. The castlebaldwin would be good compared to some of the roads here. The changes proposed will make a huge difference in Sligo. Even as it is you can probably get a lot quicker and a lot more reliably than an equivalent journey in the UK between London to Bristol is 2.30 and is the same distance as Sligo to Dublin. Leave London at noon and the journey will take more than 3 hours, probably nearer 4.

thats cause of the population innit - more population = more cars = more congestion ... you imagine them motorways in the UK when they had less traffic on the roads. I remember my brother back in the 70's driving us on the M1 from Luton to London regularly , absolutely no hold ups 70mph on the motorway all the way got to london in no time because there were less population/traffic on the road same again when he took us up to birmingham .. no congestion/jams - shouldnt think its like that these days with the overcrowding now in the UK

dingding

There are large towns not linked by the mororway network. Bath, where I have been a lot has no motorway and when you are traveling to Bristol airport it is cross country and the 20 miles takes 44 minutes. The road between Bristol and Bath, 2 large towns is 12 miles and takes half an hour. Sligo and Grange would be better connected and each have a smaller hinterland than Bristol and Bath. I suppose the point is we have a fascination with motorways and dual carridgeways but when we look at the UK which is larger and denser population the road network would be a lot poorer.

londonred

marno21 wrote: »

Some updates on these for those interested:

N4 dualling from Castlebaldwin to Collooney is to be awarded to a contractor in early Q4 2018 with a start soon after.

N4 Mullingar-Longford to move into early planning stages imminently. Of the list of future schemes in the capital plan, this is at the top of the list with the N2 from Ardee to the border

Two other schemes will move into early planning shortly also, N4 around Carrick on Shannon and the N17 from Tobercurry to Collooney

For those with interests further north, the Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass is at route selection with the route options currently at public consultation. Should start around 2022.

Great news , will Carrick be bypassed can be a bad bottleneck at times ? Carrick festival is next weekend i heard some horror stories about last year a friend took 2hrs to get though on the Sunday afternoon.

marno21

londonred wrote: »

Great news , will Carrick be bypassed can be a bad bottleneck at times ? Carrick festival is next weekend i heard some horror stories about last year a friend took 2hrs to get though on the Sunday afternoon.

Yes but it will be a few years before it's complete. Dual carriageway from the northern end of the Dromod/Roosky bypass to north of Carrick

londonred

Another bad experience on Saturday afternoon someone decided to drive at 60kph between Mullingar and Longford serious tailback will caused some suicidal overtaking miracle there was not a serious accident .

Idbatterim

londonred wrote: »

Another bad experience on Saturday afternoon someone decided to drive at 60kph between Mullingar and Longford serious tailback will caused some suicidal overtaking miracle there was not a serious accident .

I had a similar experience on this read a few weeks ago. These idiots should be pulled into hard shoulder if possible or not be driving ...

marno21

londonred wrote: »

Another bad experience on Saturday afternoon someone decided to drive at 60kph between Mullingar and Longford serious tailback will caused some suicidal overtaking miracle there was not a serious accident .

These people are the reason why a dual carriageway from Mullingar to Carrick is being prioritised

Buford T Justice

Idbatterim wrote: »

I had a similar experience on this read a few weeks ago. These idiots should be pulled into hard shoulder if possible or not be driving ...

That's actually an offence under the current legislation. brought it in a few years back

Andy From Sligo

Buford T Justice wrote: »

That's actually an offence under the current legislation. brought it in a few years back

should it have been though? - i know i should know this but is it still an offence to pull in, let the others pass and then pull out again?

I can understand the reasoning against actually driving in the hard shoulder , but pulling in to let others pass you should be OK shouldnt it be?

Idbatterim

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

should it have been though? - i know i should know this but is it still an offence to pull in, let the others pass and then pull out again?

I can understand the reasoning against actually driving in the hard shoulder , but pulling in to let others pass you should be OK shouldnt it be?

If there’s a continuatiousvwhire line, they supposedly do it in safety grounds. The geniuses they are, I’ve no reason to doubt their logic. So they reckon drivers crawling along and some overtaking when they shouldn’t be , is safer than someone pulling into hard shoulder ?! Lol

T-Bird

Buford T Justice wrote: »

That's actually an offence under the current legislation. brought it in a few years back

Not quite true.
It is illegal to drive on a hard shoulder on a motorway or on an unbroken yellow line on an N road.

RSA rule for a single broken yellow line on the side of a road is as follows

A single broken yellow line along the side of the road

“This road contains a hard shoulder, which is normally only for pedestrians and cyclists. If a driver wants to allow a vehicle behind them to overtake, they may pull in to the hard shoulder briefly (but do not continue driving in the hard shoulder) as long as no pedestrians or cyclists are already using it and no junctions or entrances are nearby”.