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N59 - Moycullen Bypass [completed Dec 2023]

2

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,507 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00


    A few photos as promised.

    Photo taken from the new Knockferry road (L1313) bridge, looking towards the Oughterard end of the bypass.


    From the same new bridge, but looking towards the Galway city side of the bypass.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 646 ✭✭✭GBXI


    This will be a major improvement for Moycullen and for those travelling further west to Connemara. Surely there are plans to bypass Oughterard? It would make the journey to Clifden and Connemara so much more bearable for the 10s of thousands who make it every year.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,988 ✭✭✭Andrea B.


    Something fairly amiss with this bypass.

    Aside from traffic and school, there is a large coach company and large hauliers who have depots on the Church Road.

    Added to this, there is a bottleneck hairpin at church itself.

    As we know, the bypass runs under, without a slip road, so the trucks and buses have to manoeuvre all these.

    4 slip roads may not have been necessary as the bypass City side exit/entry to Church Road may have been enough to cover traffic requirements.

    You just need to watch the manoeuvring of the busses and HGVs at the tight village crossroads+ having to pass school + church (funeral removals etc) to see the safety risk alone, not to mention traffic build up.

    Fairly daft, as one thing for sure, the as slip roads will be added at some stage.

    Likely sold for votes at a later stage and paid for by the public.

    At a cost and inconvenience multiples of what it would cost during construction of bypass.

    Post edited by Andrea B. on




  • “Likely sold for votes at a later stage and paid for by the public”


    very weird comment, undermines everything else you posted (which by the way is very hard to read / follow)



  • Posts: 15,362 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Just on slip roads, we are removing them, not adding them, as they offer virtually no increase in throughput but are incredibly hostile for pedestrian/cyclist use



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭Mrs Dempsey


    It's a bypass - not a distributor road.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,988 ✭✭✭Andrea B.


    Post edited by Boards.ie: Mike on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,988 ✭✭✭Andrea B.




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,988 ✭✭✭Andrea B.


    Slip roads, roundabouts whatever. Pedestrian and cyclist risk? Feel free to watch the trucks and buses from 2 significantly large depots manoeuvre the school, church and extremely tight village crossroads.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,507 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00


    Road markings were done a few days ago




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    We continue the baffling Irish practice of wasting almost half of a road, I see.

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭KrisW1001


    It's not wasted. Wide shoulders suit our rural primary routes, which have low traffic volumes but a relatively high number of slow vehicles. Giving slower traffic a space to pull in safely prevents long tailbacks from forming.

    There is nowhere near enough traffic here to justify a dual carriageway. The other alternative of two lanes each way with no median divider is proven to be far, far more dangerous than a single carriageway with wide shoulders, and so it isn't permitted for new construction.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Nobody is asking for a dual carriageway but there is almost enough space to allow for two lanes in each direction.

    Giving slower traffic a lane to travel in not just a half-arsed space for them to pull into if they can be bothered, but will remain completely unused almost all of the time.

    How is it safer to NOT have an overtaking lane?

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,226 ✭✭✭Pete_Cavan


    Wait, so you are not asking for a dual carriageway but want an overtaking lane?



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    They're not the same thing. Why make the road that wide but only have one lane that can actually be driven in? It's not like there's a cycle lane or footpath, either, or any need for them on this route. Waste of tarmac.

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,226 ✭✭✭Pete_Cavan


    An overtaking lane on a short stretch of new road like the Moycullen bypass is essentially a dual carrigeway, unless you want a 2+1 which we don't build. The hard shoulders are too narrow for driving lanes so can't just be converted.

    Hard shoulders allow for breakdowns or accidents to be moved to the side, avoiding delays and reducing potential for further accidents. The margonal extra cost of the hard shoulders is small and brings benefits, I really don't see what your problem is.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,064 ✭✭✭Chris_5339762


    This was originally due to be 2+2, or at least dual carriageway before the idea of "2+2" came into being. Probably would have been better for safety reasons, but its a case of build whatever we can at the moment I guess.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭Paddico


    Holy shít, a dual carriage way around the village of Moycullen.

    Ive seen it all now



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai


    No it isn't, it's a single carriageway. Those yellow lines divide the live lane from the hard shoulder.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭KrisW1001


    Because this configuration is safer. The thing you’re suggesting, a four lane road without a median divider, is proven to be lethal in every country it’s been tried.

    On this type of road, the hard shoulder is there for the use of non-motor users including cyclists and pedestrians, and there is a need for them because this is a national road, and thus a public right of way.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Again I ask, how does adding an overtaking lane make a road less safe?

    Would cyclists or pedestrians in particular take a long detour on this road instead of going through the town?

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭KrisW1001


    If you provide an overtaking lane on the open, flat road, there's a significant share of drivers who will speed up to use them, even if they were already driving at the speed limit: we all know the type - needs to be ahead of everyone else. The problem with this is that when the lane ends, they can end up facing oncoming traffic, at high speed. This behaviour was seen on all of the 2+1 pilot roads with significant traffic, and that's why we don't do 2+1 roads anymore. (undivided 2+2 roads are lethal in a different way, because cars travelling fast in the passing lane can meet cross traffic or right-turners from the opposing lane).

    Overtaking lanes are only used on hills, so that traffic doesn't get stuck behind heavy vehicles, but in this case the steep gradient also prevents excessive speed from overtaking cars.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    So really the problem is bad drivers and poorly designed junctions not the road itself. 2+1s with the alternating overtaking lane vs no overtaking lane just gave eejits more opportunity to be eejits, but we're not talking about a 2+1 here.

    There is (or used to be) a really low quality DC near Mullingar with badly designed junctions, it wasn't the presence or absence of a divider in the middle which made that road less or more dangerous.

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,550 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    I doubt there's more than one dual carriageway in Mullingar, but it was the main N4. Looking at a map the junctions are grade separated now.

    In Cavan there was a great fire / Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire / It would be a shame / If the nuns were to blame / So it had to be caused by a wire.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭yannakis


    Have they published a date when this is expected to open?

    Also, do we know the old N59's part new road name/number?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,988 ✭✭✭Andrea B.


    Again yesterday morning watched an articulated trunk trundle from it's depot past a busy national school and with great difficulty manoeuvre the tight junction in village.

    Anyone familiar with the bypass going under Church Road can see the available land which would have allowed an entrance/exit City side only between the bypass and Church Road.

    The madness (Irish type) is, that it will be done. At a later date with inconvenience and cost. Just not now.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,507 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭Mrs Dempsey


    The bypass received planning permission in 2012 and started construction in January 2022

    Decade dance



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 71,188 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    It was on GCC development plans from the 70s.

    The main section of the ring road of my town was on development plans from 1987 onwards and still hasn't broken ground (although I think the CPOs have vested). One section is built through two estates and still closed. We may beat Moycullen yet.



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,228 Mod ✭✭✭✭spacetweek


    Which town is your town?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    Hope Moycullen can now get the long awaited bus shelters in the Village itself. Waiting decades for them



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭tphase


    a real pity they didn't include a hard shoulder on the N59 Bunnakill to Maam Cross section. I believe the logic was it would make the carrigeway feel wider and drivers would be more likely to speed. Instead they have 50cm of tarmac and a wide grassy area on either side of the road with the result that it does feel wide to drivers but it's not particularly safe for cyclists (or pedestrians but not that many of those would use that section of road) .



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai


    Sure the old road's there beside it most of the way, can the people on bicycles not use that?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭tphase




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai


    Is this bypass not supposed to be open already?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    Have to wait for the Greenway.........will be the northern side of this section that was done from Bunnakill to Maam Cross. Pretty simple job this stretch, nearly 100% on the old railway alignment and was used as a road to service the bog when Keoghs cut turf here until recently.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭tphase


    looking forward to the greenway but it won't suit the Tour de Connemara boys out on their Sunday spin



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    Agree.

    Last time I was passing Recess about 3 weeks ago they looked to be clearing section of the Greenway from the Quarry to Joyces(lakeside) - any other area's getting work done West of that towards Clifden?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭tphase


    not sure what's being done west of Recess. Don't know if any work has been done on the section between Recess and the canal stage...it'll be walkable but that might mean hopping a gate or a fence. I don't think there's a surface laid on it.

    Further west, around Ballinafad-Ballynahinch is done but doesn't connect at either end. I reckon about 0.5km short of the N59 (and the section referenced above) on the east end and maybe 2km between Derryvickrune and Munga on the west end. I'm guessing based on google maps and the last time I walked/biked those sections

    Funnily enough I was talking to lad today who owns a bit of land in Munga - he was happy to do a reasonable deal ( a simple land swap) with the council for the land for the greenway but they were playing silly buggers with him. I know there's landowners acting the pr1ck over this greenway but the obstructions to it being completed are on both sides



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    Thanks for that info tphase


    Official opening date is 11th

    https://connachttribune.ie/taoiseach-to-officially-open-moycullen-bypass-on-december-11th/

    Will Road be officially opened first though for walking and cycling first weekend of the 9/10th of Dec I wonder?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai


    Any news on this today?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭yannakis


    Do we know what's the reclassification of the old part of N59 going through the town?



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,108 ✭✭✭nordydan




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    https://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2023/1211/1421347-galway-bypass/#

    "

    I'm a strong believer that it is compliant with the climate action plan. Building the ring road will free up the city in so many different ways for pedestrians, for cyclists, being able to use road space much more efficiently for these people.

    "

    no specifics or examples on what freed up space will be created from Taoiseach Leo in Galway City - but for this thread what are they going to do with the freed space now in Moycullen village?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,924 ✭✭✭orangerhyme


    I guess Moycullen can do a public realm improvement and traffic calming plan.

    Loads of funding for that.

    I think Galway probably needs a ring road as well as public transport improvements. I don't think it's either/or.

    Double tracking the rail to Oranmore and encouraging population growth along that corridor with a few stations would be good also instead of the current sprawl in the West of the city. Most of the jobs are east of the city anyway.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,161 ✭✭✭what_traffic


    It should really be the Part 2 of the Moycullen Bypass plan. What to do now with the freed up space in the village.

    This should apply to ALL bypass plans IMHO.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭idi na khuy hai


    It means they can cross the road without becoming a bonnet ornament, now.



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