[Article] Roads authority to fix 50 worst bends

munchkin_utd · 15-11-2012 10:37am #1

The National Roads Authority has compiled a list of the “State’s worst bends” which it plans to eliminate in the interests of safety.

Authority chief executive Fred Barry yesterday told TDs and Senators the top “50 or so” worst bends had been identified, and work was under way or at planning stage on making these safer.

The county in need of the most schemes was Co Tipperary, where seven bends were identified.

These were at Ballyhusty on the N74, four schemes on the N24, including two at Kilshane, and one each at Killavalla and at Borrisokane on the N52.

Six schemes were identified to eliminate the worst bends in Co Cork. Four of these bends were on the N72, including three at Dromagh and one at Ballyadeen.

A further six were identified in Co Kerry, including three on the N70, where two were at Aghatubrid townland and one at the Kilderry bends.

There were four bends identified as among the worst in Co Wicklow, and these were all on the N81. They were at Whitestown Lower, Tuckmill Upper, Knockroe and Irishtown West.

There were also four in each of Donegal, Cavan, Roscommon.

There was one in Meath, Carlow, Galway and Westmeath.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1115/1224326606583.html

personally I'm very happy to see this. Had a head on collision on a notorious nasty bend on the Cavan Clones road where many before me were not so lucky (i.e. dead + badly injured).
Thanks to a relatively modest localised realignment scheme it's now gone and that bend is no longer claiming lives and filling the Rehab departments of the Cavan/ Monaghan/ Enniskillen hospital.

It isn't as sexy an announcement as the creation of billions of euros worth of empty motorways and to many in the big smoke it goes unnoticed, but projects like it and the ones just announced on other secondary roads do make a massive difference to folks travelling cross country.

tomflynn · 15-11-2012 10:57am

Is there a concerted effort to address lower cost schemes comprising of bad bends and poor alignment etc

Some of those mentioned in the Irish Times article were also referred to in earlier this year when the 'major schemes' were announced. http://www.transport.ie/pressRelease.aspx?Id=485 In the media there was a bit about greater emphasis on national secondary network and road safety improvement schemes now that the primary network is 'relatively' complete (i.e. the Dublin radial motorway network).

Or were these type of schemes progressing during the boom with little about them as the big news was new bypass, new motorways etc but given that there is now simply so little going on, the PR effort is about making it sound like there is a concerted effort on this issue.

I remember a few road realignments but there was never much about them a few years ago, but maybe (1) they were fewer, or (2) they were not fewer but it lacked any appearance of national coordination or a concerted national PR campaign, (3) a combination of 1 and 2????

PS they are very welcome projects.

antoobrien · 15-11-2012 11:10am

munchkin_utd wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1115/1224326606583.html

personally I'm very happy to see this. Had a head on collision on a notorious nasty bend on the Cavan Clones road where many before me were not so lucky (i.e. dead + badly injured).
Thanks to a relatively modest localised realignment scheme it's now gone and that bend is no longer claiming lives and filling the Rehab departments of the Cavan/ Monaghan/ Enniskillen hospital.

It isn't as sexy an announcement as the creation of billions of euros worth of empty motorways and to many in the big smoke it goes unnoticed, but projects like it and the ones just announced on other secondary roads do make a massive difference to folks travelling cross country.

I'd love it if they'd published the list to go wiuth it, 10 here and 4 there and one here here and here is a bit annoying e.g. I'd like to know what bend they're talking about in Galway - is the the stretch between Ballindine & Milltown on the N17 that there's already plans for removing?

While it is badly needed work, seriously none of the motorways (even those that don't need to be designated as motorways for traffic quantity reason e.g. N18) are anywhere near empty. Hell even the much maligned M3 carry's an average of 13,999 vehicles a day at a time when traffic has dropped by over 10% from the boom. To put that into context the corresponding section of the N3 carried an average of 16,731 in 2009. Considering local traffic 83% of traffic moving to the motorway is not bad.

It's also worth considering the pattern, which is replicated on the N6 - where there's still a significant amount of "local traffic" using the old road - the average use is no 8,202. This indicates that there were a lot of rat runners using side roads until the motorway section was opened.

While they may not be using the new road, the presence of it has helped them move off the side roads, which has to be a good thing for road safety.

Sponge Bob · 15-11-2012 1:38pm

Does anyone have the list handy.

The worst N Road bends in Galway are the ones in Luimnagh on the N84 and the ones south of Ballindine on the N17 where replacement alignments are in design at least....if not near tendering out. A bad bend north of Tuam on the N17 was taken out this year.

They along with two ancient bridges in Abberyknockmoy and Kilchreest on the N63 and N66 respectively (where you would need a new bridge) are the ones I really loathe.

munchkin_utd · 15-11-2012 1:43pm

the news is a result of the NRA addressing the Transport committee in the Dail yesterday

Transport Committee discusses national road network with NRA
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications today met with Fred Barry, CEO of the National Roads Authority (NRA) to discuss a number of significant issues related to Ireland’s road network.

14 November 2012

Mr Barry told the committee the NRA have procured considerable provisions of gritting salt to be deployed in the event of a harsh winter, and are working to ensure the fifty most dangerous bends across the country were eliminated.

Chairman of the Committee Tom Hayes TD says: “We thank Mr Barry for a wide-ranging and forthright engagement on our national road network. We heard that with funding for new road projects considerably curtailed in recent years, his Authority’s operations and staffing have been scaled back accordingly.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/mediazone/pressreleases/name-13558-en.html

the minutes of the meeting are not yet published and seem to be taking a week to come online.
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/committeebasebyyear/2012?opendocument

AugustusMinimus · 15-11-2012 4:24pm

A few links from google maps would be great to see these corners.

road_high · 15-11-2012 7:45pm

Great to see some of the worst accident black spots get attention at last.
These are low cost schemes but will pay major dividends in terms of road safety.
One that sticks in my mind is that stretch of the N17 (?) between Galway and Mayo where 4 young students were killed a few years back on a sweeping bend in bad weather.I think this has been realigned since. Not saying accidents like that wouldn't have happened, but are far far less likely if such blackspots are eliminated. There's only so much signage can do.

Ascii · 16-11-2012 12:38am

mfitzy wrote: »

Great to see some of the worst accident black spots get attention at last.
These are low cost schemes but will pay major dividends in terms of road safety.
One that sticks in my mind is that stretch of the N17 (?) between Galway and Mayo where 4 young students were killed a few years back on a sweeping bend in bad weather.I think this has been realigned since. Not saying accidents like that wouldn't have happened, but are far far less likely if such blackspots are eliminated. There's only so much signage can do.

Work has commenced there in the last two weeks. Will be six months before its complete...progress none theless

North Cork · 17-11-2012 4:31pm

Ah yes the Sandpit Dromagh Cork

http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&cp=7&gs_id=q&xhr=t&q=dromagh&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38625945&biw=1440&bih=708&wrapid=tljp1353166328555012&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

corktina · 23-11-2012 12:09pm

i thought that had already been improved.

mydiscworld · 23-11-2012 2:12pm

munchkin_utd wrote: »

the news is a result of the NRA addressing the Transport committee in the Dail yesterday

http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/mediazone/pressreleases/name-13558-en.html

the minutes of the meeting are not yet published and seem to be taking a week to come online.
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/committeebasebyyear/2012?opendocument

Minutes now up

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/committeetakes/TRJ2012111400004?opendocument#Road Network: Discussion with National Roads Authority

yer man! · 23-11-2012 5:53pm

antoobrien wrote: »

While it is badly needed work, seriously none of the motorways (even those that don't need to be designated as motorways for traffic quantity reason e.g. N18) are anywhere near empty.

Don't mean to be pedantic about it but isn't the Gort bypass the M18? not the N18. The only stretch of the dual carriageway that isn't motorway restriction is near Shannon to Limerick.

antoobrien · 23-11-2012 6:26pm

yer man! wrote: »

Don't mean to be pedantic about it but isn't the Gort bypass the M18? not the N18. The only stretch of the dual carriageway that isn't motorway restriction is near Shannon to Limerick.

It is, I was being slightly tongue in cheek to the o.p, because I'm sick and tired of hearing whining about empty motorways (which they're not), too much capacity etc.

yer man! · 23-11-2012 6:59pm

antoobrien wrote: »

It is, I was being slightly tongue in cheek to the o.p, because I'm sick and tired of hearing whining about empty motorways (which they're not), too much capacity etc.

I can only really speak for the M18 and the M6 myself as they are the only two I ever use, but from my experience they are fairly well trafficked roads anyway.

mydiscworld · 17-01-2013 4:44pm

Have any of the 50 named worst bends been fixed/works commenced yet?

munchkin_utd · 17-01-2013 8:06pm

mydiscworld wrote: »

Have any of the 50 named worst bends been fixed/works commenced yet?

yup,
for example the relatively major works on the N53 outside Dundalk on the Castleblaney road is finished and open to traffic
Same with the 3.5km N52 realignment between Mullingar and the M6 (on way to Tullamore)
Smaller stuff like the 0.8km realignment Corduff/Ballytrust on the N55 in Cavan is also opened since the late summer.

And still underway are projects like the Belturbet By-Pass, which on the face of it is a bypass of a country town but is actually a realignement of a very dangerous road that has claimed many lives over the years that happens to skip the town thanks to a new crossing of the river Erne.

Heres the list of stuff due to start last year most (if not all) which did and is approaching completion or is finished at this stage:
http://www.transport.ie/uploads/documents/news/2012%20Minor%20Works%20Construction%20starts.pdf
a few other projects that had already started are here mentioned in the blurb http://www.transport.ie/pressRelease.aspx?Id=485

Chris_5339762 · 17-01-2013 10:56pm

I wonder if this doozie of a bend is on the list, or whether it'll have to wait for the M20 to be built? Its a shocker if you meet a lorry on it after you've just come down the Croom bypass at 100kmh.

http://goo.gl/maps/n9mGC

munchkin_utd · 21-01-2013 4:02pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I wonder if this doozie of a bend is on the list, or whether it'll have to wait for the M20 to be built? Its a shocker if you meet a lorry on it after you've just come down the Croom bypass at 100kmh.

http://goo.gl/maps/n9mGC

its not on the list of stuff being planned for down the line anyhow.
http://www.transport.ie/uploads/documents/news/2012%20Minor%20Works%20at%20Planning%20stage.pdf

road_high · 21-01-2013 5:36pm

The N77 between Durrow and Kilkenny is a pure ass of a road in places and a few short bend removals would make a huger difference. I know there's a realignment planned at Ballynaslee on the Laois border.

marmurr1916 · 03-02-2013 10:34pm

Looks like even these improvements have fallen victim to spending cuts:

Only three of Ireland’s worst accident blackspots have been upgraded a year after plans to fix the country’s 60 deadliest road bends were trumpeted.

While work has begun on another 28 hazardous corners, a huge question mark now hangs over the remaining 29 projects.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar announced in January last year that he was handing over €100 million to overhaul half of the 60 identified blackspots.

But he admitted at the time that the other half would only get the go-ahead if the funds were available.

It is understood that the National Roads Authority (NRA), which has responsibility for carrying out the upgrades, has been told there is no money in the budget this year for more works. Another €100 million is needed to carry out the next phase of the safety overhaul.

...

Sean O’Neill, spokesman for the NRA, said: “As of right now, no additional funding for the remaining schemes is in place.”

Works at the 28 blackspots where construction began during 2012 are expected to be completed this year, according to the NRA.

The authority said the projects will cost exactly the €100 million set aside for the first half of the upgrade programme.

The Department of Transport could not say when that money would be available.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0203/breaking11.html

It's good that 31 projects will have been completed by the end of 2013, but disappointing that there seems to be no money for the remaining 29 projects.

Vardkar does not appear to be a minister who is effective at protecting his department's budgets.

Sponge Bob · 04-02-2013 11:01am

marmurr1916 wrote: »

Vardkar does not appear to be a minister who is effective at protecting his department's budgets.

Thing that strikes me is Varadkars utter inability to communicate what he IS doing and WHY??

The 60 bad bends program is a very good use of some of the roads budget.

The remainder are mainly on the list that Munchkin published 2 weeks back ( it is a year old)

http://www.transport.ie/uploads/documents/news/2012%20Minor%20Works%20at%20Planning%20stage.pdf

And yet, from that list, the Abbeyknockmoy jobbie is under way and a few quid was found for the Luimnagh scheme as well see > http://seankyne.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NRA-Galway-County-2013.pdf

N55 Corduff - Killydoon is also on Munhckins list and gets a few quid

http://www.anglocelt.ie/news/breakingnews/articles/2013/01/23/4014079-over-16m-for-cavans-roads/

The three Roscommon jobs listed in Munchkins link get a few quid too. 1 on the N60 and 2 on the N61.

http://www.roscommonpeople.ie/itemdetail.asp?itemID=20567

So for dead schemes they are slightly alive....perhaps the NRA fully intends to claw all the money back rather than spend it seeing as they are sort of allocating those monies to themselves anyway.

But if these schemes are not cancelled more or less then Varadkar is certainly guilty of dreadful communications or perhaps he is hiding the numerous R road schemes in his own constituency where a load of bad bridges over the Maynooth railway line ( plus approach roads) are getting done ...finally...along with the N2-M3 link and M3 junctions. Dublin West has some diabolic little boreens masquerading as R roads and are equally as unsafe as the N roads and carry as much traffic.

There is nothing WRONG with targeting a % of capital spending towards bad bends on N roads...in fact it looks wise.

serfboard · 04-02-2013 1:05pm

Sponge Bob wrote: »

There is nothing WRONG with targeting a % of capital spending towards bad bends on N roads...in fact it looks wise.

Absolutely - jobs like N17 Castletown, N17 Carrownurlaur, N21 Killarney Pole were badly needed. Considering the state of the country, I think we should be thankful we're getting anything at all.

antoobrien · 04-02-2013 1:12pm

serfboard wrote: »

Absolutely - jobs like N17 Castletown, N17 Carrownurlaur

Castletown has been reported as being done, Carrownurlaur has funding (GCC)/is started.

munchkin_utd · 04-02-2013 1:19pm

very apt in being broadcast on the same evening as the announcement of the Government cancelling road safety capital works;
RTE radio's history Sunday evening documentary (+discussion) show's main item was about read deaths in Ireland, with the main theme of that half hour piece being that the only thing that reduced road deaths and injuries in a meaningful way was structural changes in existing roads/ new safer roads being built!
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/

If the show wasnt a result of months of research and trawling of government archives you'd swear it was deliberately timed to question the wiseness of cuts announced !

mydiscworld · 17-10-2013 12:30pm

Any progress made on fixing these top 50 worst bends yet?

serfboard · 17-10-2013 6:17pm

mydiscworld wrote: »

Any progress made on fixing these top 50 worst bends yet?

These three ...

serfboard wrote: »

N17 Castletown, N17 Carrownurlaur, N21 Killarney Pole

... are all finished. Great jobs the three of them - the N21 has (I'd guess) well over a mile of 2+1.

It's a pity more money couldn't be found to fix up the rest of the N17 stretch between Milltown and Ballindine but it's an improvement on what was there.

flazio · 22-10-2013 8:37pm

Was the N52 works between Borrisokane and Nenagh, or the N17 between Tuam and Claremorris part of this scheme?

EDIT: answer my own question from reading the OP, yes Borrisokane was but not sure about N17.

Danno · 23-10-2013 2:13am

road_high wrote: »

The N77 between Durrow and Kilkenny is a pure ass of a road in places and a few short bend removals would make a huger difference. I know there's a realignment planned at Ballynaslee on the Laois border.

JCBs on site this week... it would be a decent stretch to replace if it is for this work.

Also, R434 in Durrow at the GAA grounds is being done.

road_high · 23-10-2013 7:20pm

Danno wrote: »

JCBs on site this week... it would be a decent stretch to replace if it is for this work.

Also, R434 in Durrow at the GAA grounds is being done.

Here's hoping...not holding my breath though, this one has moved at a glacial pace for decades.

Danno · 07-11-2013 10:39pm

The N77 work is underway indeed, passed it during daylight twice this week and there is fencing up, earth moved and lots of concrete pipes there to go in also.

road_high · 07-11-2013 10:52pm

Danno wrote: »

The N77 work is underway indeed, passed it during daylight twice this week and there is fencing up, earth moved and lots of concrete pipes there to go in also.

That's fantastic news. Was nothing in the local media, about time!

[Article] Roads authority to fix 50 worst bends

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