Galway's traffic issues

McGiver

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

LillySV wrote: »

The clowns over the Galway roads system haven’t a ****in clue!!! All the roundabouts were taken out and now there’s nothing but lights in Galway slowing everything down ...and they don’t work in unison... u get stopped at every light.. prolonging the trip and making a bigger traffic jam!!! The secret of a good traffic system in a city is to get the traffic in and out fast.. In galway... the way the timing is done on the lights... there’s more time given to roads coming into junctions in town than going out of town!!! It’s clear to see why the build ups occur!!

LillySV..... It hasn't a chance of working until ALL roundabouts are taken out and a properly CCTV controlled traffic light system put in their place .
You run it like air traffic control.
Flush it out in the evenings.
Lights were green at so many junctions yesterday yet there was no place for vecihcles to move forward to .
No point having lights turned green if you can't move forward .
Clowns running the whole system .

I agree with the roundabouts, they are not suitable for high throughput traffic, unless they are large, which none of the ones in Galway are really.

But the CCTV - can you give an example of a city where this is done?

what_traffic

zell12 wrote: »

username is apt :pac:

I can be many different types of traffic!
Sometimes I affect far more people depending on my mode.
Today I am low impact mode.
I will be pedestrian and cycling traffic today.

dave 27

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Equivalent bits of Galway are already one-way: Market / Lombard, Shop / High / Quay, Middle Streets, Merchant's and Dock Roads, Cross and Abbeygate Streets, east and west ends of Eyre Square and Bothar an big-hill-that-no-one-remembers-the-name-of. Outside that, where there aren't obvious parallel streets with frequent cross-streets to allow for direction changes, it gets trickier to even think about one-way, due to the consequences.

But similarly, in Limerick, Ennis Road ain't one way. Neither is the road by the Hunt museum. Or John St. Or all of Parnell St. Or lots of other main roads.

There is an inner orbital route which diverts bulk traffic around the city centre, with everything in the centre either allowing for pedestrianisation or one way roads

LillySV

well the one roundabout that should be gone is the bohermore one but it’s still there. And in regard to down in moneenageisha.... why don’t the do something radical and try raise the road coming from bohermore up over the wellpark road like a flyover... having it drop back down just before the g....

In regard to Tuam road... why is there two different lights between liosban and riverside... they should try and imalgamate them to come out together ....

I was at the lights outside Headford road shopping centre before And it seemed like those coming in further to town had more time on lights than those getting out... should nearly be the other way

I just think they need to do a lot more thinking on what radical changes they can make...

And as regards bypass... should’ve been approved years ago!! Should be about the benefits to the majority rather than the benefits to afew

xckjoo

LillySV wrote: »

well the one roundabout that should be gone is the bohermore one but it’s still there. And in regard to down in moneenageisha.... why don’t the do something radical and try raise the road coming from bohermore up over the wellpark road like a flyover... having it drop back down just before the g....

In regard to Tuam road... why is there two different lights between liosban and riverside... they should try and imalgamate them to come out together ....

I was at the lights outside Headford road shopping centre before And it seemed like those coming in further to town had more time on lights than those getting out... should nearly be the other way

I just think they need to do a lot more thinking on what radical changes they can make...

And as regards bypass... should’ve been approved years ago!! Should be about the benefits to the majority rather than the benefits to afew

Part of the reason the bypass keeps being delayed is all the research shows it won't benefit many people. It seems counter-intuitive, but holds up if you look into it. If it goes ahead it'll just be another example of the council bowing to aesthetics instead of making decisions that will actually bring positive change.

LillySV

xckjoo wrote: »

Part of the reason the bypass keeps being delayed is all the research shows it won't benefit many people. It seems counter-intuitive, but holds up if you look into it. If it goes ahead it'll just be another example of the council bowing to aesthetics instead of making decisions that will actually bring positive change.

I don’t know about that... at present anyone who wants to get from the rest of the country (they will use Dublin motorway) to the far side of Galway city, say knocknacarra/silver strand, or to Barna/ rest of the west all end up coming through the city or city outskirts ... that seriously increases traffic into town... that would be gone if the bypass was in place

Mrs OBumble

LillySV wrote: »

I don’t know about that... at present anyone who wants to get from the rest of the country (they will use Dublin motorway) to the far side of Galway city, say knocknacarra/silver strand, or to Barna/ rest of the west all end up coming through the city or city outskirts ... that seriously increases traffic into town... that would be gone if the bypass was in place

But there are only a few people actually making that journey.

The many as opposed to the few are typically travelling for only a portion of the bypass route.

LillySV

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

But there are only a few people actually making that journey.

The many as opposed to the few are typically travelling for only a portion of the bypass route.

Well if many would be using the portion, then wouldn’t it be important to build that portion to let them use it than do nothing

xckjoo

xckjoo wrote: »

Part of the reason the bypass keeps being delayed is all the research shows it won't benefit many people. It seems counter-intuitive, but holds up if you look into it. If it goes ahead it'll just be another example of the council bowing to aesthetics instead of making decisions that will actually bring positive change.

Of course it will make a difference and a massive difference at that. Nobody is saying it won’t make this difference either bar the anti-car brigade. What would really be absolutely and utterly useless is the light rail that a very odd person is looking for, would benefit feck all rather than the entire county which the bypass will benefit.

Just look at all that traffic going from west to east every morning blocking up the city almost none of which needs to be there, all that’s goes onto the bypass and the city is much easier to drive though for those who work in it or are going about their business. The difference it will make at parkmore also will be game changing with having it’s own dedicated entrance/exit onto a very high throughout road.

There is no doubt that the bypass will go ahead it’s just we need it now not in many years.

Space Dog

Since Limerick has been brought up: Hasn't the Limerick Tunnel helped tremendously to keep car traffic out of the city? I remember being stuck in traffic along the quays in Limerick on the way to Kilkenny and Cork before the tunnel opened.

Space Dog

Space Dog wrote: »

Since Limerick has been brought up: Hasn't the Limerick Tunnel helped tremendously to keep car traffic out of the city? I remember being stuck in traffic along the quays in Limerick on the way to Kilkenny and Cork before the tunnel opened.

Excellent point and as a person who has regularly driven to places the far side of limerick both before and after the tunnel the difference is just phenomenal!

xckjoo

Gwen Shallow Raccoon wrote: »

Of course it will make a difference and a massive difference at that. Nobody is saying it won’t make this difference either bar the anti-car brigade. What would really be absolutely and utterly useless is the light rail that a very odd person is looking for, would benefit feck all rather than the entire county which the bypass will benefit.

Just look at all that traffic going from west to east every morning blocking up the city almost none of which needs to be there, all that’s goes onto the bypass and the city is much easier to drive though for those who work in it or are going about their business. The difference it will make at parkmore also will be game changing with having it’s own dedicated entrance/exit onto a very high throughout road.

There is no doubt that the bypass will go ahead it’s just we need it now not in many years.

It'll improve things for a short while, but building more roads has been shown to just increase car traffic levels. It's been proven time and time again. No reason to think things will be different here. We can't just keep building roads to keep up with the demand.

The majority of the traffic is also coming from outside the city to the east of the city and don't need to cross the river. Traffic going east to west isn't too bad in the mornings. It's the evenings that's the killer. Parkmore will still have the same bottlenecks.

Space Dog wrote: »

Since Limerick has been brought up: Hasn't the Limerick Tunnel helped tremendously to keep car traffic out of the city? I remember being stuck in traffic along the quays in Limerick on the way to Kilkenny and Cork before the tunnel opened.

Good example. It helps in Limerick because the majority of the people are using it to bypass the city. In Galway there's very little further west that people are travelling to or from. The likes of Knocknacarra will benefit little as they'll still have the bottlenecks going into the estates. It'll just shift things around a bit at an enormous cost.

There's some good explanations in the M6 thread on the Roads and Infrastructure sub-forum. There seems to be at least one or two people with experience in traffic infrastructure design posting there. Just ignore all the ranty "more roads is more better because it's common sense" posters. They've no interest in figure out if it's actually beneficial or just a giant waste of money.

McTigs

I drove to work yesterday for the first time ever (for reasons that seemed good enough at the time but with hindsight.....)and I can safely say I will never put myself through that again, what a nightmare.

I can't believe that is part of a lot of peoples day to day life...... i'd be depressed waking up just thinking about what the day had in store for me.

what_traffic

McTigs wrote: »

I drove to work yesterday for the first time ever (for reasons that seemed good enough at the time but with hindsight.....)and I can safely say I will never put myself through that again, what a nightmare.

Useful reminder though to oneself.

?Cee?view

McTigs wrote: »

I drove to work yesterday for the first time ever (for reasons that seemed good enough at the time but with hindsight.....)and I can safely say I will never put myself through that again, what a nightmare.

I can't believe that is part of a lot of peoples day to day life...... i'd be depressed waking up just thinking about what the day had in store for me.

Around the docks and Merchant's Road was particularly bad yesterday.

BrokenArrows

I suppose this is as good a thread as any.

Im staying in Oranmore in a few weeks and will need to travel to Parkmore for work for 9am.

Hows the traffic on that route these days? I havent lived in galway in about 10 years.

DuckSlice

Leave at 8:20, should give you plenty time to get there.

Ashleigh1986

Traffic will be light until you get to the roundabout at galway clinic .
When you turn off that roundabout it will usually be light again until you hit the next one at end of motorway from Dublin .
It's from there on it gets heavy .
As etxp has suggested 8.20 will get you into parkmore for 9.00.

flazio

Space Dog wrote: »

Since Limerick has been brought up: Hasn't the Limerick Tunnel helped tremendously to keep car traffic out of the city? I remember being stuck in traffic along the quays in Limerick on the way to Kilkenny and Cork before the tunnel opened.

From Galway city? Kilkenny would be M6 to Kilbeggan, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Durrow wouldn't it?

gordongekko

McTigs wrote: »

I drove to work yesterday for the first time ever (for reasons that seemed good enough at the time but with hindsight.....)and I can safely say I will never put myself through that again, what a nightmare.

I can't believe that is part of a lot of peoples day to day life...... i'd be depressed waking up just thinking about what the day had in store for me.

The last 10 days in the leadup to schools returning are always unusually heavy. It'll be back to normal by the middle of next week

Mrs OBumble

flazio wrote: »

From Galway city? Kilkenny would be M6 to Kilbeggan, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Durrow wouldn't it?

It is now that there's an M6.

But before that, it was less clear cut.

It took me a while to learn that the north-south road from the south east are usually better than the east-west ones.

Space Dog

flazio wrote: »

From Galway city? Kilkenny would be M6 to Kilbeggan, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Durrow wouldn't it?

Sorry I meant Killarney, my phone autosuggested it

what_traffic

?Cee?view wrote: »

Around the docks and Merchant's Road was particularly bad yesterday.

Bonham Quay construction works a factor at all now or just the usual shopping traffic and through traffic?

?Cee?view

what_traffic wrote: »

Bonham Quay construction works a factor at all now or just the usual shopping traffic and through traffic?

Just the usual I'd say. I don't see any impact (yet) from Bonham Quay

zell12

It was all over on Wednesday afternoon, sheer volume of cars apparently

Traffic ground to a halt on several roads from the city centre between 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday with the worst affected arteries being College Road, Lough Atalia Road and the Moneenageisha Junction outwards to the Coolagh Roundabout.

Roadworks in the Prospect Hill/Bohermore area
a large volume of ‘shopping and visitor traffic’.
https://connachttribune.ie/renewed-call-for-light-rail-after-latest-traffic-chaos/

what_traffic

zell12 wrote: »

It was all over on Wednesday afternoon, sheer volume of cars apparently

Same oul same oul so.
When are GTU and Galway City Council actually going to start implementing at least half the recommendations from the Galway Transportation Strategy written up in 2015 I wonder?

McGiver

what_traffic wrote: »

zell12 wrote: »

It was all over on Wednesday afternoon, sheer volume of cars apparently

Same oul same oul so.
When are GTU and Galway City Council actually going to start implementing at least half the recommendations from the Galway Transportation Strategy written up in 2015 I wonder?

What can we do as the public to put pressure on them? Can we write a letter? Are they legally obliged to answer and withing what time period?

biko

Ban cars and force everyone onto motorbikes

McGiver

biko wrote: »

Ban cars and force everyone onto motorbikes

Dust masks will be provided by the Galway City Council.

Gremlinertia

We're going to need to put the roundabouts back for those