Ongar Distributor Road

murphaph

Hi all,
Does anyone know or have any idea about a completion date for the Ongar Distributor Road. For those unfamiliar with the plan it goes like so;

The road between Coolmine Industrial Estate (Power city side) and Coolmine Community School is part of it. It will continue between Lohunda estate and the new houses on Shelerin Road and run on down between Hartstown and Mount Symon estate on the Clonsilla road. Effectively the distributor road parallels Clonsilla road from St. Mochta's primary school down to Clonsilla Station and runs on to Ongar village.

I'd love to see it completed as it includes plans to give pedestrian access from Hartstown through to Clonsilla Station in about 5 to 10 mins walk.

murphaph

Interestingly I see fencing going up along the reservation for this road between Shelerin Rd. and Ongar. Just drove past quickly so only caught a glimpse. Might finally be able to walk directly to Clonsilla Station someday soon

murphaph

Jeez it really feels like I'm all alone here!
Anyway, the Ongar Distributor road is finally under final construction between Blanchardstown rd. South (Power City Coolmine) and Ongar. The scheme will doubtless be a relief to some motorists who currently use Clonsilla rd. but of prime concern to me is that the scheme incorporates footpaths/cycle lanes to allow pedestrian access from Hartstown to Clonsilla station. Yipp-f***ing-eee!!!

spacetweek

According to this document, judging from the expenditure on the Ongar road over the next 2 years, they seem to be aiming for substantial completion by end 2006.

2005
€4,000,000
2006
€3,500,000
2007
€500,000

mackerski

spacetweek wrote:

they seem to be aiming for substantial completion by end 2006.

That's a sod of a long time for a normal single-carriageway that's already looking well on its way to completion. Can this really be true?

Dermot

MrJoeSoap

I heard the road will take a year to complete, meaning mid-2006 at the earliest.

On a completely unrelated note, the link posted above says that €18million has been allocated over the next 3 years for "traveller accomodation" compared to €8.75m for "traffic management".

:mad:

Enii

I think they scrapped the access from Hartstown to CLonsilla station. i think the people in Mount Symon complained about people from different estates walking through their estate.

murphaph

Enii wrote:

I think they scrapped the access from Hartstown to CLonsilla station. i think the people in Mount Symon complained about people from different estates walking through their estate.

Sort of correct AFAIK. From reading the Northside People a while back I remember seeing that the access to the station via Mount Symon wouldn't be going ahead but that the feeder road from Clonsilla Road to Ongar Road would allow the same journey in roughly the same amount of time. If this is true then the feeder road must be emerging onto Clonsilla Road at that patch of scrubland between Mount Symon and the protestant church. That would be acceptable to me as a Hartstown property owner, however I wonder will the Mount Symon residents not be using this road to access the Hartstown Shopping Centre via Hartstown housing estates :rolleyes:

The Mount Symon residents made out like it was a safety concern wrt their kids walking onto the Ongar Distributor Road more than one of concern about Hartstown residents walking through their estate (on public footpaths!). It's bullsh!t, they're worried that it'll lower the tone and the councillors bowed to their demands.

Anyway, I can't believe we're talking 2007 for completeion of this scheme. Perhaps early 2006 but that's as long as it should take. Part of the surface has already been laid, the feeder road into Hartstown is well under way, many of the boundary walls are built.

murphaph

zaph wrote:

Last I heard there were going to be high walls either side of the road and the Mount Symon residents weren't allowing access through the walls because they reckoned there'd be "gangs hanging around alleyways". I'm a bit pissed off about this seeing as I bought a house just beside Hartstown SC late last year and one of the most attractive selling points was that I could walk to Clonsilla station when the road was completed. Now it looks like I'll still have to drive to Coolmine, and there'll be an extra set of lights on Shelerin Road to contend with. :mad:

Not sure if you actually read my post zaph but from what I can gather you will be able to walk to the station. The Hartstown side will have access through the wall onto the new road, from there you can walk directly on to Clonsilla Rd (at the Protestant church). That's what I read in the Northside People a few months back. It's a big issue for me too. I want to rent my house out over the coming year and the proximity to a station within walking distance is a big selling point. The value of the house will skyrocket if and when the DART is extended to Maynooth.

Zaph

Sorry Murph, got slightly confused due to my rant! Hopefully that is the case, but it looks like I won't be able to walk to the station for a while yet anyway.

murphaph

zaph wrote:

Sorry Murph, got slightly confused due to my rant! Hopefully that is the case, but it looks like I won't be able to walk to the station for a while yet anyway.

No worries zaph, I was well p!ssed off with those Mount Symon residents when I initially heard about they're petition to deny Hartstown residents access to quality public transport, especially considering it was always possible to walk across the fields from Hartstown to Clonsilla station before Mount Symon was even a glint in an 'architect's' eye!

Please God it'll be a 10min walk or less once the scheme is complete. Have you walked down to the new road yet? I keep meaning to walk down there to see if you can make it across the road yet (unofficially of course!)

Zaph

No, I haven't walked down to it, just seen it passing by in the car on Shelerin Road. There's another road being built to link it with Hartstown Road, presumably to take some of the pressure off Shelerin Road. I presume it's an extension of the feeder road you mentioned.

MrJoeSoap

The new road situation is going to lift a lot of the pressure of the section of the Clonsilla road between Clonsilla village and train station, but I can't believe the arrogance of the Mt. Symon residents. The estate is only a year or two old, and they think they have the right to block access to Clonsilla train station for the residents of Hartstown?

I was talking to a friend of a friend from Hartstown on this matter as we walked home from the train station after the Dublin match, who said his walk is more than doubled as a result of their being no direct access through Mt. Symon.

The only argument I could possibly see these residents making is about the "gangs of youths" using such pathways but Clonsilla has gone to the dogs so much in recent years that it may be the residents of Hartstown who are worried about such gangs coming from the opposite direction.

More, no doubt, to follow in the coming months.

JoeSoap.

murphaph

zaph wrote:

No, I haven't walked down to it, just seen it passing by in the car on Shelerin Road. There's another road being built to link it with Hartstown Road, presumably to take some of the pressure off Shelerin Road. I presume it's an extension of the feeder road you mentioned.

It's a different link road. There will be a link road to Hartstown and a different link road further west to Clonsilla road, which makes sense, otherwise there is no easy way for traffic from Lucan to get to the new road.

Interestingly, the one way system between Molloys Liquor Store on the Clonsilla road near Coolmine and the National School in Clonsilla was only supposed to be implemented once the Distributor road was open!

ciaran76

I live in Hartstown at the moment soon moving to Clonee but know the road quite well.

I have walked it unoffically of course about 2 weeks ago. There doesn't seem to be any public path off towards Clonsilla station at the moment !

There does though seem to be a road (the one that goes to Mount Symon) that connects to the Ongar road) which should have a footpath but to get into Hartstown there doesn't seem to be any access at all yet.

I hope that is clear. As i live there i know it in my head but finding it hard to put down in words !

murphaph

Ciaran, when you say there's no access to Hartstown....
I live near the SC in Hartstown and I took a walk towards the new road. I could see all the construction vehicles clearly so I assume there's no wall built up blocking the new road from Hartstown (yet)?

ciaran76

murphaph wrote:

Ciaran, when you say there's no access to Hartstown....
I live near the SC in Hartstown and I took a walk towards the new road. I could see all the construction vehicles clearly so I assume there's no wall built up blocking the new road from Hartstown (yet)?

What i did was i walked from the Clonsilla section towards Ongar. There was tall brick walls on both sides all the way down untill i got just past Stonebridge(not sure what the new name for that area in Harstown is called) where there is just kinda mesh fence the criss cross type.
So basically there was a tall wall all down the left side of the road (Clonsilla side) except for the side road that looks like its going to connect to Mount Symon.

Maybe there will be but i doubt it they will have a gap in the Hartstown section down near Stonebridge ?

Walk down it yourself if the security guy stops you tell him there is no sign at the Clonsilla side to say No Entry and you were just walking. He tried to get me to turn around but i told him i was nearly on the otherside and he should just drive me down there which he did !!!! Or tell him you are looking for your dog he ran down there or something !!!!

From Ongar side you can walk into Hartstown pretty easily

murphaph

I get ya! That's why I could see the construction plant. I walked down towards stonebridge so I must have been looking across the green through the mesh fence you described. That gap in the wall near Mt Symon is actually ging to be a new link road to come out onto the clonsilla road, traffic won't drive through mt. symon afaik to reach the new road (as if the residents would allow that and not pedestrians through!). It sounds ok to me, they will leave an access hole in the wall from Hartstown and from there we'll be able to walk down the link road onto Clonsilla road beside the station. I hope!

murphaph

Just thought I'd post an image showing the 32 min (according to the DTO journey planner) long walk around from Hartstown to the station. Clearly the direct route across the new road and out through the current access road to Mount Symon would reduce this to more like a 10 min walk at most (probably faster for most people). The line of the new Ongar Distributor can be made out. It will run perpendicularly from Blanchardstown Road South westwards, roughly parallel to the Clonsilla Road (name obscured by the route indicator). It looks like the current access road to Mt. Symon will be extended to intersect with the new road and pedestrians will be able to reach the station from Hartstown this way.

dowlingm

Hartstowners will benefit from a reopened Navan line though right? I seem to recall the IE plan having a station there.

murphaph

dowlingm wrote:

Hartstowners will benefit from a reopened Navan line though right? I seem to recall the IE plan having a station there.

No, shouldn't think so. The westernmost part of Hartstown might be in the catchment area of the proposed Hansfield station, but the vast majority of Hartstowners will benefit from direct walking access to Clonsilla station quite soon.

I just took a spin down to Mount Symon. The access road to there is indeed being extended to connect at right angles to the New distributor road, it's actually done, but barricaded off for the time being. It will thus link Clonsilla road and the new road. This is the road hartstown residents will now walk along just after crossing the new road (I believe at pedestrian lights) coming from Willow Wood/Stonebridge. It's a pretty direct route and will be most welcome, however it will place further strain on the Maynooth line, underlining it's urgent need of upgrading to DART as part of the DRP, or preferably before then as part of the new Spencer Dock station. Not ideal but a big help for those working in the docklands.

Edit: Added a map of the scheme as I see it now. The thick black line is the Ongar Distributor Road proper, the thin black line is the link to the Mount Symon access road, which will now link the new road with Clonsilla road. There are no houses fronting onto this road so this is acceptable. The red lines are walls which are up. They must have built them off site and dropped them onto foundations as they absolutely flew up! The gaps in the walls to allow access from Hartstown are there, but currently they are blocked off with wall 'panels' which appear to have been leant up against the permanent wall to temporarily secure the site from kids etc.

I have indicated the pedestrian route from Hartstown SC to the station with green arrows. It will be <10 mins walk I have no doubt. Can't wait for this to be opened up. It'll be great to finally be able to walk to the station in a reasonable time and not across fields which are impassable in the winter!

murphaph

No worries Zaph, it'll be like a 5 or 6 min walk for you to the station once it's all opened up so!

IE may well have to extend the bike rack, it's full as it is in the mornings and now there'll be easier access for hundreds more folks!