The Tourist Route Schemes (National Secondaries)

A Moycullen Bypass was first planned around 40 years ago. What they may well do is get this through planning, complete the CPOs at the east end of the scheme , widen the road either side of that bridge by knocking walls and putting in fencing etc and abandon the scheme at that point.

johngalway wrote: »

Sponge Bob, where are the wind farms you speak of to be located, just out of curiosity?

Generally east of Maam and west of Moycullen.

With another part of Donegal thru An Bord Pleanála here are the 'live' schemes right now.

1. Westport to Newport and Newport to Mulranny Mayo c.20km N59
2. West of Glenties to south of Dungloe Donegal c20km N56
3 West of Oughterard to Maam Cross Galway c.15km N59
4. Annascaul to Gortbreagoge c.4km N86

galwaycyclist wrote: »

That has been in place for a few years and as you say is only a section in fact I need to check but in that case there may have an old section of abandoned road already in place. It has its origins in a local political initiative it did not "come" from the NRA.

That section is the Original type 3 pilot and the full standard was written into the design manual around when it was built. I believe the first Type 3 'standard' was published in early 2009 and the latest iteration or restatement of the Type 3 standard is from late 2011. The lane widths in this standard are a mere 3m each when most lanes widths are 3.5m or 3.65m

See > http://nrastandards.nra.ie/road-design-construction-standards/func-startdown/453

As we had a green coalition Derrylea was overendowed with cycle tracks but importantly the Design and Tendering of the Derrylea section predates the publication of the first standard....about when the diggers went onsite in early 2009 in fact. > http://www.willsbros.com/Road_and_Bridge_Construction/102/project-page.html

Type 3 is for lightly trafficked sub 5k Aadt roads and not always in touristy areas. The road type can also be severely cambered (by design) which militates against leisure cycling but which would be good fun for triathletes. While Type3 is twistier there is not so much of an issue as the low traffic volumes mean that overtaking opportunities are still there albeit separated somewhat.

I believe it is a good and practical standard given all the considerations but it does require that pedestrians and cyclists are taken off the road to the side for their own good. If you think about it logically a Type 2 road such as the section west of Roscahill does have room for pedestrians and cyclists within the overall carriageway cross section but it is not particularly comfortable for them.

I would personally argue that in tourist areas Type 2 should NOT be used at all ( eg Moycullen to Oughterard) and that Type 3 with full separation of peds and cyclists offline should be the standard .....or else Type 1 with wide hard shoulders. The Moycullen Bypass will be Type 1 and the section to around Roscahill is a half arsed type 1 which should be fully upgraded online to Type 1 . Thereafter go for Type 3 and separate out the pedestrians, this includes, to my mind, a future Oughterard Bypass as the peds and cyclists can always go offline into the town on the old road meaning the number of vehicles bypassing Oughterard will be quite low.

The problem with offline Type 1 is that it is an each way bet for conversion to Type 3 Dual ( 2+1) in future if traffic patterns dictate so as this is a rather trivial upgrade. This means the hard shoulders would disappear. You will have the exact same separation issues with Type 2 DUAL carriageway ...ie there is insufficent room for cyclists and pedestrians because Type 2 DC is basically a Type 1 Single with cars driving on the hard shoulder and no side openings save at proper junctions. Too tight for other potential users.

However these Type 2 Duals are built offline and the old road is still available while Type 3 duals or 2+1 are retrofits, the NRA will not build any nerw Type 3 Dual ( 2+1) in future and only really built 1 of them ( in Monaghan) in the past.

As there will be a revisitation of the County Development Plan soon you should take it up with them at that stage. Before you sharpen your quill you should read the BIBLE , > here http://www.nra.ie/RepositoryforPublicationsInfo/file,17885,en.pdf (41Mb) and especially section 9 of the bible.

And remember there are only 3 Single Types and 3 Dual Types in the design manual (apart from the 3 Type 1 Dual Motorway 'variants ' D2M D2 Wide M and D2 Urban M which are of no concern to respectable cyclists )

The Bible tells us that

Design Speed Type of Road Capacity (AADT) for Level of Service D Edge Treatment
85 Type 3 Single (6.0m) Carriageway S2 5,000 0.5m hard strips
100 Type 2 Single (7.0m) Carriageway S2 8,600 0.5m hard strips
100 Type 1 Single (7.3m) Carriageway S2 11,600 2.5m hard shoulders
100 Type 3 Dual (7.0m + 3.5m) Primarily for retro fit projects 14,000 1.0m hard strips
120 Type 2 Dual Dual * 2 Lane Carriageways (2 x 7.0m) 20,000 0.5m hard strips
120 Type 1 Dual Dual 2 Lane Carriageways (2 x 7.0m) 38,100 2.5m hard shoulders
120 Standard Motorway 2 Lane (7.0m) (D2M) 44,100 2.5m hard shoulders
120 Wide Motorway 2 Lane (7.5m) (D2M)55,500 3m hard shoulders

I think that there is no cycling provision 'within' the standard and that it may be a case by case direction. What you need to know is that there are only 5 road standards in effect and that all designs comply to them...even regional roads.