R139 (pointless) hard shoulder

chewed · 15-07-2014 3:35pm #1

Can someone please explain why there is a hard shoulder on this road coming to and from the roundabout at the Bewley's hotel? It is pointless having this here and everybody just treats it as 2 lanes anyway!

https://goo.gl/maps/GMBHj

Carawaystick · 15-07-2014 4:22pm

It's pointless alright.
That junction is a mess too, there should have been slip left lanes built to get from Bewleys to the M50S *, instead of stopping at the roundabout
and also for traffic from the M1S to the R139
I don't see why there is a roundabout here, there is no reason for traffic to go from M1S to M50S or M50W; or from M50E to M50S.

* where the directions are the directions of travel, not the logical names for the carriageways. In France, they use interior and exterior to identify the carriageways/directions on city ring roads.

celticbest · 15-07-2014 4:46pm

I've seen the Guards pulling people on more than one occassion for driving in the hard shoulder along that strtch of road.

My advise is never drive in it just incase....

Davy · 15-07-2014 7:28pm

It had lane markings for 2 lanes and a narrow hard shoulder a few years ago, but they were removed and replace with the current setup. Its a crazy setup for such a busy piece of road.

There is a pinch point at the roundabout coming from the m50 where its one lane from 2 on the junction but most people go back to using 2 lanes after it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.410365,-6.225103,3a,75y,144.82h,62.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWdzKJ9ulpJZ7bvb_-5un5w!2e0

chewed · 16-07-2014 9:00am

Davy wrote: »

It had lane markings for 2 lanes and a narrow hard shoulder a few years ago, but they were removed and replace with the current setup. Its a crazy setup for such a busy piece of road.

There is a pinch point at the roundabout coming from the m50 where its one lane from 2 on the junction but most people go back to using 2 lanes after it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.410365,-6.225103,3a,75y,144.82h,62.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWdzKJ9ulpJZ7bvb_-5un5w!2e0

Is it Fingal who are responsible for this stretch of road now?

donspeekinglesh · 16-07-2014 9:01am

Carawaystick wrote: »

It's pointless alright.

I don't see why there is a roundabout here, there is no reason for traffic to go from M1S to M50S or M50W; or from M50E to M50S.

I guess it's still there for people who can't read signs. There's always cars/trucks using it. But no obvious reason as to why.

Carawaystick · 16-07-2014 12:59pm

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

I guess it's still there for people who can't read signs. There's always cars/trucks using it. But no obvious reason as to why.

Like the roundabout on the m1 for the airport
Apparently it's so people can make a uturn!

sdanseo · 19-07-2014 3:28am

Pet peeve. People are either colourblind or totally ignorant, and my money's on the latter

Jayuu · 27-07-2014 1:12pm

Davy wrote: »

It had lane markings for 2 lanes and a narrow hard shoulder a few years ago, but they were removed and replace with the current setup. Its a crazy setup for such a busy piece of road.

There is a pinch point at the roundabout coming from the m50 where its one lane from 2 on the junction but most people go back to using 2 lanes after it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.410365,-6.225103,3a,75y,144.82h,62.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWdzKJ9ulpJZ7bvb_-5un5w!2e0

Yeah, that a real pain. I use it every day and I always stay in the middle lane but also always have a last minute check to make sure somebody isn't in my blind spot on the left.

The hard shoulders on the R139 are ridiculous and never used as such. I don't understand why they just don't widen this exit a little to have two continuous lanes and then repaint the road. Sometimes the solutions are so obvious you do end up wondering what planners are thinking.

sdanseo · 27-07-2014 3:33pm

Jayuu wrote: »

Yeah, that a real pain. I use it every day and I always stay in the middle lane but also always have a last minute check to make sure somebody isn't in my blind spot on the left.

The hard shoulders on the R139 are ridiculous and never used as such. I don't understand why they just don't widen this exit a little to have two continuous lanes and then repaint the road. Sometimes the solutions are so obvious you do end up wondering what planners are thinking.

The whole length of the R139 needs urgent attention - the bus lanes are out of use which means people can drive in them legally, but so few people realise this that undertaking is the norm. There'll be an accident here soon because someone will undertake without bothering to pay any attention.

They need to put in a solid median, re-paint two normal 3.25m running lanes, up the speed limit to at least 80km/h and properly manage the two junctions, and just have a one-sided slip on/off for the halting site. Then, redesignate the whole thing N32 again. The whole idea was to de-trunk roads inside the M50 ring - looking at a map at least, this stretch is outside it.

chewed · 30-07-2014 11:56am

I just received this via Fingal County council Engineer (Roads dept.), who maintain this part of the R139.

".... this road was considered a National Road but was downgraded to a regional road, in conjunction with the NRA. The Traffic Engineer says that they will not be removing the hard shoulder at this location as it is needed in case someone breaks down. There are no plans to change the layout of this road. "

In case someone breaks down????

In that case, why not implement hard shoulders on all our Regional Roads!

celticbest · 30-07-2014 12:51pm

Just sent this to Fingal Co.Co. via Twitter, maybe if people keep hassling them about it they might do something.... even in this street view pic. there's a car using it!

R139 (pointless) hard shoulder

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