Galway traffic

what_traffic

serfboard wrote: »

And speaking of the Salmon Weir bridge, my anecdotal evidence is that the majority of people do not know that this is going to happen. When it does, I think that there will be uproar.

How many people are you talking about here? The Business Groups in the City are aware. Seen it in countless articles in local media. It is still 2 years away so expect more info to be pushed out.

Panda5000

serfboard wrote: »

And speaking of the Salmon Weir bridge, my anecdotal evidence is that the majority of people do not know that this is going to happen. When it does, I think that there will be uproar.

There will also, I reckon, be huge tailbacks on the QCB, because for an East-West car journey, of the four bridges across the Corrib:

• O'Briens bridge will be unreachable,
• the Salmon Weir will be unusable,
• the congested Wolfe Tone bridge will become undrivable, leaving only
• the QCB, which will become unmanageable.

Wasn't the QB meant to free up the city streets from cross-city traffic?

gordongekko

Deleted User wrote: »

It would have been significantly more expensive and complex to build such a bridge as opposed to one for pedestrian and bike traffic,

Nonsense. The council have no experience of bringing things in on budget or on time. I'll state it here and now that at the end of this it would have been cheaper to build a road capable of taking traffic.

gordongekko

Panda5000 wrote: »

Wasn't the QB meant to free up the city streets from cross-city traffic?

Didn't we all have black and white TVs back when it was designed? Amazing how things actually move on and progress.

beardybrewer

gordongekko wrote: »

Didn't we all have black and white TVs back when it was designed? Amazing how things actually move on and progress.

The old guard's attitude with respects to growing the city beyond the constraints of the past.

Panda5000

gordongekko wrote: »

Nonsense. The council have no experience of bringing things in on budget or on time. I'll state it here and now that at the end of this it would have been cheaper to build a road capable of taking traffic.

But wouldn't the councils poor record also apply to the more expensive car bridge?

what_traffic

gordongekko wrote: »

Nonsense. The council have no experience of bringing things in on budget or on time. I'll state it here and now that at the end of this it would have been cheaper to build a road capable of taking traffic.

Ha ha - this is hilarious nonsense. You obviously have no basic knowledge of Civil Engineering? The spec of a Road Bridge that has to carry 100's tons of weight v's a pedestrian bridge that will only carrier a minor minor fraction of that. (this bridge does not even need an EIS the ABP have ruled)
Am all ears on the merits of arguing for the merits of one type of bridge over the other - but this kind of stuff is daft. The costings of this bridge on the back of an envelope is easily 1/5 to 1/6 cost of a NEW Road Bridge at this location.

gordongekko

gordongekko wrote: »

Nonsense. The council have no experience of bringing things in on budget or on time. I'll state it here and now that at the end of this it would have been cheaper to build a road capable of taking traffic.

The laws of physics would disagree with you

cooperguy

gordongekko wrote: »

Nonsense. The council have no experience of bringing things in on budget or on time. I'll state it here and now that at the end of this it would have been cheaper to build a road capable of taking traffic.

That seems to assume that a pedestrian bridge would go over budget and get delayed while a car bridge would come in on time?

gordongekko

what_traffic wrote: »

Ha ha - this is hilarious nonsense. You obviously have no basic knowledge of Civil Engineering? The spec of a Road Bridge that has to carry 100's tons of weight v's a pedestrian bridge that will only carrier a minor minor fraction of that. (this bridge does not even need an EIS the ABP have ruled)
Am all ears on the merits of arguing for the merits of one type of bridge over the other - but this kind of stuff is daft. The costings of this bridge on the back of an envelope is easily 1/5 to 1/6 cost of a NEW Road Bridge at this location.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/eyre-square-renovation-could-now-cost-city-20m-1.898246

Mrs OBumble

Deleted User wrote: »

As stated in the previous article "The project has already secured €3.5 million in funding from the government, which has been allocated under the Designated Urban Centres grant scheme."

Final funding for the construction comes around the tender stage

The consultation documents also state "GCC secured co-funding for the proposed development under the European Regional development Fund with matched funding from the NTA. The proposed development has secured a total of 7.2 million euro in funding, paving the way for the construction of the new pedestrian and cycle bridge, upgrade works to the amenity area on Friar's River embankment and to the existing footpaths at the tie-in points on the western and eastern side of the proposed bridge"

The economy is projected to return to pre-covid levels around 2022

http://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1201/1181562-ifac-govt-expenditure-commitments/

Brexit,well that's anyone's guess but infrastructure investment is best done during periods of economic slowness anyway and the cost of this is tiny in comparison to other expenditure

There's funding for the planning, consulting and detailed design. But my reading is that actual construction is not yet funded. And that's where things could get interesting in the next few years.

The economy may return to pre-Covid levels in 2022 (though I bet that's based on best-case assumptions). But even if it does, Covid has prompted a rapid re-evaluation of workplace locations, and the 4-day week was being pushed before htat. Even if on average each worker travels to "the office" one day less per week, that's a huge reduction in the on-road traffic levels.

We also don't really know the future holds for shared transport (buses, etc). One company that I do some work for still has it banned: if I need to go to their office, I'm required to travel by myself in a vehicle, or walk. The other is facilitating me by allowing early or late starts / finishes, so I travel off-peak. At least one manager is talking about these requirements continuing, because when they thought about it, public transport is not actually a risk they want staff taking.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There's funding for the planning, consulting and detailed design. But my reading is that actual construction is not yet funded.

Well no, its not because thats not how funding for these projects is done. Funding is done in phases. This is normal.

The EU funding, I'm not sure how that works, if that is linked to phases or something else, but govt funding is tied to phases and approvals to proceed to the next phase of a project.

And that's where things could get interesting in the next few years.

Not really, this project is the lynchpin on which many aspects of the GTS are reliant. This will be built no matter what

We also don't really know the future holds for shared transport (buses, etc)

Thats one unknown that will be answered within a very short period of time i.e.1-3 years

What is known, on the other hand, is:

• The city roads were at max capacity for many years
• The city population is estimated to grow by 50% over the next 2 decades
• Cars are pretty crap at moving people when you have capacity issues
• Buses are pretty bad at adhering to schedules due to traffic
• Cycling is pretty scary in a lot of parts of Galway
• Galway has among the highest % of pedestrian commuters over the other cities
• Gains in terms of capacity can only be achieved by facilitating other modes i.e. walking, cycling & buses and decreasing the priority of cars

Basically the status quo will not be maintained regardless of other societal changes simply because if the city wants to grow and evolve it has to embrace the movement of people over the movement of cars.

Panda5000

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

We also don't really know the future holds for shared transport (buses, etc). One company that I do some work for still has it banned: if I need to go to their office, I'm required to travel by myself in a vehicle, or walk. The other is facilitating me by allowing early or late starts / finishes, so I travel off-peak. At least one manager is talking about these requirements continuing, because when they thought about it, public transport is not actually a risk they want staff taking.

I expect public transport to go back to normal capacity by the middle of 2021. We're just coming out of Level 5 restrictions and capacity is already being increased back up from 25% to 50%. It's a short to medium term problem that we should plan beyond.

what_traffic

gordongekko wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/eyre-square-renovation-could-now-cost-city-20m-1.898246

I see why you just posted a link with no comment :rolleyes:

McTigs

What happened to Van Immense Bug? He was one of the most amusing parts of the Galway forum, this place is nothing without his view of the world.

Laviski

What happened to Van Immense Bug? He was one of the most amusing parts of the Galway forum, this place is nothing without his view of the world.

<snip>
was good fun whilst they were here, helped bring balance against some of the other posters on the other extreme side.

Panda5000

He's busy, he started a new job as a writer for The Simpsons;
https://www.facebook.com/29534858696/posts/10157840477718697/

Panda5000

Panda5000 wrote: »

He's busy, he started a new job as a writer for The Simpsons;
https://www.facebook.com/29534858696/posts/10157840477718697/

That.Was.Awesome!

Laviski

Laviski wrote: »

<snip>
was good fun whilst they were here, helped bring balance against some of the other posters on the other extreme side.

He was always entertaining, I'll give him that and yes, while he may have been stuck in the dark ages re: urban planning, he was always able to make a logical counter point as opposed to "cars gud, everytin else bad rar!"

Looks like protected junctions are finally making their way here, only took 50 years

Dublin City Council are kicking off with this, near IKEA

Protection & segregation like this is sorely needed on Galway routes

Check out the booklet for more info or watch the video below

topcat77

McTigs wrote: »

What happened to Van Immense Bug? He was one of the most amusing parts of the Galway forum, this place is nothing without his view of the world.

I think i read he got a red card from a different forum.

sorry if i'm wrong

biko

He closed account.

Back on topic please.

Panda5000

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Looks like protected junctions are finally making their way here, only took 50 years

Dublin City Council are kicking off with this, near IKEA

Amazing. What has happened in Dublin that they've started churning out so much great infrastructure in the last year? Change of personnel or some pivotal decision to change focus?

Thargor

Is it that great? Seems like you're asking to be left hooked if going straight and you need to wait through 2 red light cycles to make a right turn. Might just be safer and faster to take the lane and carry on as things are now.

sasal

https://twitter.com/DubCityCouncil/status/1335915825694437378

There's no way cars will yield to cyclists.

No gluas..... Was never going to happen in our lifetimes anyway

Full steam ahead for bus connects

Transport Minister confirms no further feasibility study planned for light rail in Galway

https://galwaybayfm.ie/galway-bay-fm-news-desk/transport-minister-confirms-no-further-feasibility-study-planned-for-light-rail-in-galway/

The Transport Minister has confirmed that no further feasibility study is planned for light rail in Galway.

Minister Eamon Ryan made the statement in Dáil Éireann in response to a parliamentary question submitted by Galway TD Eamon Ó Cúiv.

Deputy Ó Cúiv argues the Transport Minister has made it clear the Galway Bus Connects is the solution to the city’s traffic issues.

The Fianna Fail TD says this is a further example of regional imbalance – with billions spent on projects in Dublin including Metro, Dart underground and Luas extensions but little investment in the west.

Deputy Ó Cúiv argues Galway’s traffic problems can only get worse as the population of the city is set to grow by 40,000 over the next 20 years.

He believes light rail is the best option going forward….

timmyntc

Deleted User wrote: »

No gluas..... Was never going to happen in our lifetimes anyway

Full steam ahead for bus connects

Never made sense - Galway doesn't have the population density for light rail.
Plus, the fact that so much traffic bypasses the city center, a light rail line that would inevitably go through eyre square would not be faster than sitting in traffic on the way to parkmore.

Bus lanes & bus connects are the only way to solve it

Panda5000

sasal wrote: »

There's no way cars will yield to cyclists.

This is a concern. Are these junctions in place elsewhere and how do they fare?

serfboard

sasal wrote: »

https://twitter.com/DubCityCouncil/status/1335915825694437378
There's no way cars will yield to cyclists.

Agree. The only way that would work properly (in Ireland/Galway) would be for there to be a filter light for left-turning traffic that only comes on after the cyclist light has gone red.

Otherwise, sideswiping and shouting and roaring will prevail.

what_traffic

Deleted User wrote: »

No gluas..... Was never going to happen in our lifetimes anyway

You'd swear O'Cuiv was in opposition! :rolleyes:
Never heard him over the years discussing GLUAS much.