Morning traffic build up on Aghards Rd, Celbridge

ZV Yoda

Anybody know what's going on with the increased traffic build up in the mornings on the Aghards Rd?

Over the past few months, it's been getting worse - to the point where it's now regulary backed up from the lights at the junction of Gala/Maynooth, past Scoil Mochua & as far back as Oldtown Rd. If the weather is any way bad, it's virtually impassable between 8:10 to 9.

I suspect the light sequence at Gala has changed. We've had problems with these lights in the past, but this is the worst it's been.

I'll contact local councillors, but was wondering if anybody has any information about it?

mloc123

It is December... in my experience of driving into town, December is just a disaster. I guess people that usually use the bus drive for various reasons.

There was a recent sequence change on the Tesco lights, they had signs up about a month ago.

Ken Tucky

I have to drive up the Maynooth road. I cant even get out of my estate most mornings if i don't leave before 8 am. Contact you Councillor by all means but its him/her and their like who have agreed to build a big estate right there too. Just to help with the traffic situation;).

Seriously though its getting painful at that junction. Its taking the good out of living there for me. I shudder to think what the real locals think of it all. I am nearly 13 years living there and cant believe its got that bad.

Nothing should surprise me with some of the people making decisions for us though!

mloc123

Ken Tucky wrote: »

I have to drive up the Maynooth road. I cant even get out of my estate most mornings if i don't leave before 8 am. Contact you Councillor by all means but its him/her and their like who have agreed to build a big estate right there too. Just to help with the traffic situation;).

Seriously though its getting painful at that junction. Its taking the good out of living there for me. I shudder to think what the real locals think of it all. I am nearly 13 years living there and cant believe its got that bad.

Nothing should surprise me with some of the people making decisions for us though!

Blame the locals that blocked the proposed new link road from the Apple Green roundabout to Aghards...

ZV Yoda

I've been here longer than 13 years & it's never been this bad. That said, the population hasn't suddenly expanded in the past 4 months, so there's something specific causing the problem. I'm aware the light sequence has changed at Gala. The last time this happened, KCC monitored it over time & eventually adjusted the sequence so it improved the flow. That doesn't seem to be happening this time (hence my question).

I think a link road makes perfect sense - however, the proposal was to run the link road through Oldtown Mill estate, creating a rat run in what is already a large estate with heavy traffic volumes and lots of young kids. That was just lazy (and potentially dangerous) planning.

Ken Tucky

mloc123 wrote: »

Blame the locals that blocked the proposed new link road from the Apple Green roundabout to Aghards...

Never even heard about it!! Surely a new road structure would have been required to get permission for that new estate. Its bonkers

koheim

ZV Yoda wrote: »

I think a link road makes perfect sense - however, the proposal was to run the link road through Oldtown Mill estate, creating a rat run in what is already a large estate with heavy traffic volumes and lots of young kids. That was just lazy (and potentially dangerous) planning.

I think you got that wrong. The Link road was/is planned for the back of Old Town Mill, joining up at Oldtown Road from the applegreen roundabout. The great thing is that, yes it would give Oldtown Mill estate a second exit/entry point at the back of the estate , and I can not see any negatives wit this. Traffic in Oldtown Mill would actually ease as there is no need to drive through the whole estate and wait 20 minutes to get out of it...

ZV Yoda

koheim wrote: »

I think you got that wrong. The Link road was/is planned for the back of Old Town Mill, joining up at Oldtown Road from the applegreen roundabout. The great thing is that, yes it would give Oldtown Mill estate a second exit/entry point at the back of the estate , and I can not see any negatives wit this. Traffic in Oldtown Mill would actually ease as there is no need to drive through the whole estate and wait 20 minutes to get out of it...

Check the plans. The negative is that it creates a potentially lethal rat-run through a residential estate containing lots of families with young kids. There is also a creche on that road. Traffic coming from the village could simply run straight through OTM & come out at Applegreen (and vice-versa). It would result in an even busier road running through OTM during rush hour - i.e. at the very time when creche kids / schoolkids are out in force travelling to / from school by foot / on bikes.

mloc123

My understanding was it would join up here... not through the estate?

koheim

mloc123 wrote: »

My understanding was it would join up here... not through the estate?

Yes, that is correct, but those living in the estate dont seem to understand this

ZV Yoda

koheim wrote: »

Yes, that is correct, but those living in the estate dont seem to understand this

Maybe a picture will help. Attached is the original proposal. The link road (black circles) did not run along OTM. Instead it was closer to St Raphaels. As a result, you can see that opening up the back of OTM creates a rat run (the OTM spine road) by default. I coloured it in yellow.

Those not living in the state don't seem to understand this.

CCR

I live in Oldtown Mill and thought that road was a great idea. Was at some meetings and most in the estate seemed against it. Don't think they thought about the benefits.

Don't see how it would be a rat run if traffic calming in place on spine road. The link road would have joined with Oldtown Road and Shackleton Road so don't see how any benefit going through estate would be.

Getting out of Oldtown Mill can take ages at rush hour and this would have been a big help

CCR

CCR wrote: »

I live in Oldtown Mill and thought that road was a great idea. Was at some meetings and most in the estate seemed against it. Don't think they thought about the benefits.

Don't see how it would be a rat run if traffic calming in place on spine road. The link road would have joined with Oldtown Road and Shackleton Road so don't see how any benefit going through estate would be.

Getting out of Oldtown Mill can take ages at rush hour and this would have been a big help

The green and blue routes would be far quicker that driving through an estate

Riskymove

CCR wrote: »

I live in Oldtown Mill and thought that road was a great idea. Was at some meetings and most in the estate seemed against it. Don't think they thought about the benefits.

couldnt the residents just support the link road but oppose a new entrance to the Estate?

CCR

Riskymove wrote: »

couldnt the residents just support the link road but oppose a new entrance to the Estate?

Another thing brought up at these meetings was that they didn't want more development behind estate either which was also removed from plan.

Presume road would have been built as part of new development planning.

Movie Maestro

So is the link road going ahead through OTM or is it still being debated?

mloc123

Movie Maestro wrote: »

So is the link road going ahead through OTM or is it still being debated?

No, not happening... not in the next 5 years of local planning anyway

Movie Maestro

mloc123 wrote: »

No, not happening... not in the next 5 years of local planning anyway

Thanks for that

paddythe goat

reading about possible ring road/link road from apple green to clane road, by running at back of present housing estates, old town mill and others...i think it was in the plan for celbridge lap.....2017...2023...... from kcc, then it was out...........................and now things have changed again after recent court case re extra 400 houses close to crodaun forest estate on that side......

with the over all plan suggesting strongly that celbridge will get a new 3000 houses or more, on both sides of bridge...........maynooth road which is badly congested presently, will only get worse...........
so hopefully all residents associations and presons living in affected areas will put pressure on all tds and local councillors, and kcc planners in naas, to put back the ring road on maynooth side of celbridge, which hopefully will in time run over the liffey and keep going all the way up to railway station.....including new outer bridge, which will be big help to all residents of celbridge.

new inner bridge also required, make present bridge go from 2 narrow lanes, to four lanes, with proper footpaths on both sides plus cycle lanes, buses would move better and somewhat quicker, and journey times to and from rail station should improve..............complicated?? not really if the planners want 3000 new houses we need real and proper infrastructure first.....not chaos and then playing catch up for following 30 years................//?? we have four tds in north kildare ,only ever hear from one of them re traffic...........the other three will turn up when votes are required.....any chance they might help out now.....regards

Ken Tucky

".and now things have changed again after recent court case re extra 400 houses close to crodaun forest estate on that side".....

Sorry, what was the court case about. Did they get the go ahead for these houses?

I have never seen it so bad as it is lately, when the new estate is up and running beside Aldi its going to be even worse. Please tell me they are not building more houses along the Maynooth road!!!

paddythe goat

sorry ken, more traffic bad news, the site next door to crodaun forest park, on that side has just being allowed build up to 400 houses........not forty but 400....

brief history............land used to be zoned industrial/commercial, then crash came , then nama stepped in, and then nama stepped out........10 years in between...........
kildare county council said yes to building on this site under lap, local area plan,2017 to 2023..............junior minister english stepped in and said no thanks, not on this site, we will build out from the town and services......in other words there are other sites we can build on first....we will leave that site for open space and a park......................

owners went to high court in recent weeks and months, and got minister damien englishs opinion changed............so more houses on maynooth road,,,,, as you probably know, there will be houses on opposite side of road as well......numbers i am not sure, safe to guess another 400 or more.............

can galway road cope?? can slip ways cope every morning and evening?? can old maynooth road down in to village cope?? will students be able to get in and out of schools?? have primary and secondary schools got capacity for hundreds of extra students?? houses are needed and welcome, but 3000 new houses in one small town that is groaning under congestion for last 15 years......congrats planners, think you done it again.................time for people to rise up and say, stall the ball there charlie.........good infrastructure first, then slowly introduce houses..but maybe not 3000...............................

Ken Tucky

Cheers Paddy,

Amazing stuff really. We will be told that we need to build new houses. Yeah sure, like the ones that are being sold for half a million...we need loads of them. Pure filthy greed.

They will be built, too much money involved for the skimmers off the top. And the whole damn thing starts again. Out with the old, in with the new....they are all the same.

Cant do the commute much longer. Its heart breaking getting out of the Dublin congestion to have to spend another half an hour trying to get into Celbridge. The line of cars is shameful but according to one of the TD's its not too bad because he checked it out. I think it was Sunday when he was out and about doing his research!!

mloc123

Ken Tucky wrote: »

Cant do the commute much longer. Its heart breaking getting out of the Dublin congestion to have to spend another half an hour trying to get into Celbridge. The line of cars is shameful

Devils advocate... you are not stuck in traffic, you are part of it. There are plenty of commuting options into town with buses, trains, bicycle etc..

The issue as I see it is that people are driving when there is no need to. The amount of people I see driving kids to school in the mornings, the schools are limited to catchment areas so any child in the school should be within walking/cycling distance.

Ken Tucky

mloc123 wrote: »

Devils advocate... you are not stuck in traffic, you are part of it. There are plenty of commuting options into town with buses, trains, bicycle etc..

The issue as I see it is that people are driving when there is no need to. The amount of people I see driving kids to school in the mornings, the schools are limited to catchment areas so any child in the school should be within walking/cycling distance.

I agree, but for me to get to work(where im from) i would have to bus to Heuston and then get a Luas. When i do the journey on a Saturday it takes me less that 25 mins. During rush hour its 1 hour in and over 1 hour home once nobody decides to crash into something that is moving in the same direction.

So i disagree about commuting options. You seem to think we have a good public transport system.:D

Maybe if i wasnt priced out of buying a house where im from i could have bought there. My story is the same for hundreds of thousands of people.
We are not the fault of greed and bad planning-we are the result of it!!

mloc123

Ken Tucky wrote: »

I agree, but for me to get to work(where im from) i would have to bus to Heuston and then get a Luas. When i do the journey on a Saturday it takes me less that 25 mins. During rush hour its 1 hour in and over 1 hour home once nobody decides to crash into something that is moving in the same direction.

So i disagree about commuting options. You seem to think we have a good public transport system.:D

Maybe if i wasnt priced out of buying a house where im from i could have bought there. My story is the same for hundreds of thousands of people.
We are not the fault of greed and bad planning-we are the result of it!!

I think Celbridge in general has good commuting options.

-Two train lines within 2-3 miles
-Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann with dedicated bus lanes from the N4 in to town.
-Less than 20km to O'Connell street with bike lanes all along the N4 (or a separated bike lane all along the grand canal from Lucan) means you could cycle in 45mins etc..

What other options would you want?

Ken Tucky

mloc123 wrote: »

I think Celbridge in general has good commuting options.

-Two train lines within 2-3 miles
-Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann with dedicated bus lanes from the N4 in to town.
-Less than 20km to O'Connell street with bike lanes all along the N4 (or a separated bike lane all along the grand canal from Lucan) means you could cycle in 45mins etc..

What other options would you want?

Well due to the fact i was discussing my commute, i would like a public transport service to go where i need it. And that isnt into town, or within miles of a train station.

It would take me over an hour & to cycle in and more on the way back. Thats not viable.

Look its not about me, as i said there is thousands like me that have no way they can use public transport due to location. The fact is, Celbridge is a mess already. 400 new houses might bring 500 + cars onto the road. From what i read above nobody making these decisions gives a feck.

paddythe goat

agree public transport is improving slowly............very slowly......got 67 bus last saturday from salesians college, heading into dublin.................30 minutes to get from maynooth road to graveyard, and from there it was all good, just another 30 minutes into dublin city centre........i am not a genius but 30 minutes to get from one side of celbridge to the other side is crazy............and i am not pointing the finger at any of present tds or councillors... my beef is with the people who allowed celbridge and maynooth and confey grow and grow without putting in wider bridges, extra bridges, more public parks, better footpaths, decent cycle lanes, ring roads, permanent schools properly built in good locations..
we need to be very careful before extra 3000 new houses come to celbridge???..........local elections this time next year, could be our first real chance to let them know ,what we all seem to want.......love to love to see more public car parks close to main st......what genius allowed castletown house to have lovely walk in entrance from main st?? but no public car park, we are all forced to park outside beautiful private houses in castletown estate and /or do lap of north kildare to get in to official and fine car park to rear of house?? castletown is super amenity but needs help in terms of parking, close to bus route and main st............

mloc123

Ken Tucky wrote: »

Well due to the fact i was discussing my commute, i would like a public transport service to go where i need it. And that isnt into town, or within miles of a train station.

It would take me over an hour & to cycle in and more on the way back. Thats not viable.

Look its not about me, as i said there is thousands like me that have no way they can use public transport due to location. The fact is, Celbridge is a mess already. 400 new houses might bring 500 + cars onto the road. From what i read above nobody making these decisions gives a feck.

Assuming all those people drive in to town right... and don't use other transport?
My point is that we have good commuting options to town, maybe they don't suit you but I suspect they work for 80% of people that work in the city.

The main issue with traffic in and out of the village is at two set times a day... 8-8.45am and around 4.30-5.30pm and this is almost all down to school traffic. People stopping at the side of the road dropping kids and blocking traffic pisses me off no end.

Main street on Saturday from 11-1 is also a mess, I assume this is mostly kids being dropped to football, dance classes etc..

Riskymove

Ken Tucky wrote: »

I agree, but for me to get to work(where im from) i would have to bus to Heuston and then get a Luas.

there are now trains to GCD also as well as heuston

Dub_Jim_Royle

Link road will not alleviate any traffic problem, it will just move it further up the road. The M4 is already impossible to access.
The link road would also open up the lands on either side of it for thousands more houses, and what would that do to the traffic over this side of Celbridge?
The other side of the bridge has all the public amenities, sports clubs, train station and with improvements could have excellent access to the N7 as well the N4.

paddythe goat

celbridge needs numerous link roads, simply does not make sense that we just about have the same roads as we had 25 years ago..........population is now over 22,000 and set to rise to 35,000 or more in short few years.

we must plan for improvements to all infrastructure now, we must not wait to chaos first and then play catch up.

trim has four bridges and 7000 population...........most modern towns now have ring roads, and semi by pass routes, all help cars, buses, cyclists, trades people get about their daily lives in a degree of comfort.

big population demands bigger access points and exits points for all young and old.........or else dont build another 3000 new houses on both sides of the town??......proper planning demands proper structures be put in place first....................we have the land, we are close to dublin city, the demand is there, people need new houses, we just must plan properly............