[Article] Kinsale Road Roundabout - Opened-ish

Bards

A €50 MILLION flyover on one of the country’s most chaotic junctions will open this morning — the start of one of the busiest weekends on the roads.


But engineers gave assurances last night that the bridge over Cork’s Kinsale Road roundabout will help ease chronic congestion which has grid-locked the city over the last three days.

Up to 100,000 vehicles use the junction every day. The new flyover is expected to take over half of those over the junction cutting east-west journey times by up to 20 minutes.

Engineers are expecting more that 55,000 vehicles to use the flyover every day this weekend.

Gardaí will be on duty and engineers will closely monitor the situation to ensure everything runs smoothly, a project spokesman said.

Lord mayor Michael Ahern and county mayor John O’Shea will drive over the flyover at around 10.30am. But three eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes will open to general traffic at around midday.

The move will allow engineers to implement new traffic plans on the roundabout underneath, which will be resurfaced and re-lined. Lane restrictions will be in place, but gardaí are predicting no major delays.

It is hoped the entire project will be finished in early in October — six months ahead of schedule.

Ascon Construction Ltd’s project manager Adrian Cunningham said the recent good weather had helped speed up the delivery of the scheme.

“We would like to express our gratitude to the motoring public for their cooperation during the works,” Mr Cunningham said.

Assistant city manager, Dan Buggy, said the flyover was a major improvement in the city’s roads infrastructure.

Cork County Council has widened lanes and upgraded traffic lights to cater for an increase in traffic at these roundabouts.

County engineer Edmond Flynn said subject to funding, it is hoped similar flyovers on these roundabouts built by 2009.

Chris_533976

I really really truely wish they'd left this opening until the 21st August, when the tunnel will be fully open again. They've put the Lee Tunnel down to one lane each way, and its causing kilometer or two long tailbacks in the middle of the day, apparently taking a good 90 minutes to get through at rush hour.

At least the Kinsale Road Roundabout held the traffic THERE for a bit. Now I wouldnt be surprised if people got over the shiny new bridge and immediatly stopped in traffic for the Tunnel.

I'm really glad its opening, but common sense should have told them to leave it until the tunnel maintenance is finished on the 20th.

Victor

I passed the Kinsale Road Interchange last night. Traffic from the east to Wilton and beyond can now use the overbridge. Local traffic for Kinsale Road and Pouladuff Road interchanges need to use the slip road, roundabout and the third carriageway.

I imagine it is similar eastbound, but wasn't able to check.

Chris_533976

Yeah I went over it today from East to West. Didnt go back the other way because of the tunnel. Will be interesting to see how the jamup at Sarsfield will be next week. And of course, the tunnel.

They've made a bodgeup of the gantries though, I've put that in another thread

Our man in Havana

Why is the tunnel down to one lane?

Chris_533976

They're replacing the manhole covers again

Theyve got one half of the tunnel closed and contraflow down the other bore.

Its causing bloody mayhem until the 20th Aug

BTW heres a nice pic from the car of the new flyover in its 10-laned glory

Victor

I went Wilton Roundabout - Pouladuff Roundabout - Kinsale Road Roundabout - Douglas - Kinsale Road overbridge - Wilton Roundabout -
Pouladuff Roundabout - home today.

The area is still a building site and 60km/h limits are still in place. Be careful for slower drivers and also note the curvature on the bridge means visibility is quite short. Just because you have 3 lanes doesn't mean you can floor it.

Watch out that some slips are now closed (this is to stop weaving traffic):

Westbound for Pouladuff Road, exit at Kinsale Road slip and join parallel access road.)

Eastbound from Pouladuff Road, join parallel access road, exit at Kinsale Road slip and join at Kinsale Road interchange).

Chris_533976

Im still quite impressed that they mananged to keep that big tree on the roundabout

nordydan

Looks good, any chance of making this a motorway when its finished?

Chris_533976

Doubt it. Although I've heard they're putting 120kmh DC-style on the Ballincollig section once its done.

I'd say they wouldnt go to the effort of getting it motorway spec like the M50.

Come to think of it though theres only a little local access on it so you never know. Tho I'd say it would be better and more useful to classify N8 as M8 once the Cork-Dublin is finished.

1huge1

nordydan wrote:

Looks good, any chance of making this a motorway when its finished?

probably as much as the new dual carriageway from limerick to portlaois (unlikely)
but we can thank our friends in dublin for that
it looks like a motorway
it tastes like a motorway (or so i've heard...)
but its not

1huge1

Chris_533976 wrote:

Doubt it. Although I've heard they're putting 120kmh DC-style on the Ballincollig section once its done.

I'd say they wouldnt go to the effort of getting it motorway spec like the M50.

Come to think of it though theres only a little local access on it so you never know. Tho I'd say it would be better and more useful to classify N8 as M8 once the Cork-Dublin is finished.

so you think they will make it the M7 for the whole way then to?

darkman2

It looks a useful project but what the hell is the roundabout still doing there.

Lennoxschips

it looks like a motorway
it tastes like a motorway (or so i've heard...)

ah, yes, but if it was a motorway they'd have to do things like install sound walls, pay compensation to local residents...

nordydan

The Newy Dundalk road will definitely be 120km/h (I got confirmation from Louth Co Co) like the N2 and I suppose all the N6/7/8/9 (except maybe part of the Athlone bypass) will be as will the N11 from Rathnew-Clogh.

What I should have asked is whether junction design plays a part in speed limit designation, eg LILO such as on the new N18 is not quite the full motorway spec

I'd live without the blue signs if the upper limit applied. To be honest there is no reason why a 130km/h limit could not apply on the motorways here.

Victor

darkman2 wrote:

It looks a useful project but what the hell is the roundabout still doing there.

The slip roads and four roads still meet there - the South City Link Road, Kinsale Road (to city), Kinsale Road (to airport / Kinsale) and Donnybrook (?) Road.

The next stage would be a flyover, over the flyover to take South City Link Road - Kinsale Road (to airport / Kinsale) traffic.

murphaph

Chris_533976 wrote:

The gantries are a balls but I'm glad we're seeing these UK style merge signs becoming the norm on new schemes. They're on quite a few DCs now and are essential really.

darkman2

murphaph wrote:

The gantries are a balls but I'm glad we're seeing these UK style merge signs becoming the norm on new schemes. They're on quite a few DCs now and are essential really.

Murphaph, UK road signage is crap, the less of that we have the better. TBH the gantries are great:)

corktina

oh yeah and Irish signage is state of the art....not.....

Alun

darkman2 wrote:

Murphaph, UK road signage is crap, the less of that we have the better. TBH the gantries are great:)

*cough*, *splutter* You can't be serious, can you?

Chris_533976

1huge1 wrote:

so you think they will make it the M7 for the whole way then to?

Im not sure At the start, no, definatly not.

When the whole lot is done though, they might. I dont think theres much point in them opening a 30km section and making just that bit a motorway.

Maybe in 2010 when the whole Cork - Portlaoise DC is done, they might. We live in hope

nordydan

Seems some posters round here wont be satisfied till all signs are just like over on the "mainland" and Queen Elizabeth II is cutting the ribbon on each road project! Get a grip, the signs aren't perfect but they aint like the old days. To be honest I think the signage in the US is actually worse.

If its a compensation issue re: motorway status, time to change the laws. The framers are already paid for their land.

Chris_533976

Yes the motorway laws do need to be changed, its silly.

Yes the gantries on this flyover are a joke. Check my other thread on Corks gantries (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054972271). If you look at them, they're downright misleading.

darkman2

corktina wrote:

oh yeah and Irish signage is state of the art....not.....

Never said it was.

corktina

darkman2 wrote:

Never said it was.

never said:) you did....

murphaph

darkman2 wrote:

Murphaph, UK road signage is crap, the less of that we have the better. TBH the gantries are great:)

UK road signage is amongst the best in the world. It is highly logical and a LOT of research has gone into it. It's not always implemented perfectly of course but their 'hit rate' is an order of magnitude higher than ours.

Seems some posters round here wont be satisfied till all signs are just like over on the "mainland" and Queen Elizabeth II is cutting the ribbon on each road project! Get a grip, the signs aren't perfect but they aint like the old days. To be honest I think the signage in the US is actually worse.

Yawn. I'm tired of your politcal views clouding your opinions on everything on this forum. UK signage is simply much better than what we have here. FACT. Now, you seem to acknowledge that the UK does it very well, yet don't want to follow their excellent example and are happy that you think it's 'better than it used to be' (not always true by the way, our old 1950's directional signage was often better than our modern stuff as it had map style diagrams prescribed which isn't prescribed in the current TSM!!) and you then point at american signage and say, "sure at least it's better than that" (which it usually isn't-the americans have also invested heavily in research in this field) so that's ok. That's a strange thing to do really. Why pick what you believe to be inferior signage and be happy that ours is 'better' rather than picking superior signage and aspiring to that?

Let's see, what's more informative about an upcoming motorway/dual carriageway merge, this sort of thing (up to now a common sight, even on fairly complex tiger tail merges etc.).....



or maybe this is a bit more useful......

nordydan

murphaph wrote:

Yawn. I'm tired of your politcal views clouding your opinions on everything on this forum.

Pot, this is kettle. Over.

murphaph

nordydan wrote:

Pot, this is kettle. Over.

Ah right, so no coherent argument then. Many countries have signage to be proud of. The UK is just one of them. I would aspire to all these countries (Australia is another good example of how to do it well) ways of doing it. I would never point at inferior signage and claim "sure it's better than that". I mean, where do you stop? We have superior road signage to many african states (though by no means all!), is that good enough?

nordydan

From a man who wants rid of bilingual signs, a return to the UK (and lavished praise on it at every available opportunity while slating this country), prefers A and B roads, wouldnt mind seeing miles back and would cast off Donegal and any other non-profitable parts of the land???? And my political views cloud my opinion on everything. They certainly dont agree with your brit views, but they don't cloud everything. No point making any type of argument to a BLATANTLY HYPOCRITICAL statement.

Yawn yourself, I certainly don't post for your benefit and I am also tired of listening about how crap things are in this country, and how great things are in GB. They aint. In general its a lot more enjoyable driving here than in England.

1. They still use imperial measurements
2. They sign in yards, but measure in metres (?), and use metric measurements on street signs.
3. There red on black is (in my opinion) not as good as our black and yellow.
4. Their numbering system aint as good as ours, (especially in the north).
5. All their roads are gridlocked.
6. Their women are uglier
7. Their beer is crap

FACT? Your opinion, no more or less important than mine.

In MY opinion, I think our signs are a lot easier to read than those in the states, I prefer the font and the size. Just my opinion there big lad. You may have read a lot of signage documentation, but that does not mean your opinion is anything more important that one man's (clouded) opinion. You sound like a preacher! Sorry lad.

"I would never point at inferior signage and claim "sure it's better than that".
I mean, where do you stop? We have superior road signage to many african states (though by no means all!), is that good enough?"

Thats clearly not what i said. This analogy is tripe, I was comparing the signage on our recently wealthy country to the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. Not Rwanda. And tell me which of these African countries has superior signage??? Somalia? Ridiculous

Lennoxschips

i think the best road signs and logical motorways are to be found in germany, holland and france. i'm not too impressed by the UK or Irieland

nordydan

Lennoxschips wrote:

i think the best road signs and logical motorways are to be found in germany, holland and france. i'm not too impressed by the UK or Irieland

I have to say that I agree. The Germans are the ones to copy in this respect. Don't like the French font as much though.

Victor

/slaps nordydan and murphaph with a soggy lettuce. Behave.

nordydan

Victor wrote:

/slaps nordydan and murphaph with a soggy lettuce. Behave.

I take it you were aiming for murphaph and hit me by accident. No hard feelings.

Victor

nordydan wrote:

I take it you were aiming for murphaph and hit me by accident. No hard feelings.

Ahem, you are not innocent - "6. Their women are uglier 7. Their beer is crap".

Victor

Layout http://www.corkcorp.ie/ourservices/roads/pdf/eis_pg3.pdf

Other information http://www.corkcorp.ie/ourservices/roads/kinsale_roundabout.shtml

murphaph

Like I said, there are apects of signage I would aspire to from all over the world, not just the country you live in dan

I am happy we have new world warning signage and believe it far superior to red triangle stuff. Yep, black on yellow is also better than black on white, however, the direction signage in the UK is (when correctly implemented) the best in the world overall IMO. The patching system invented with the Guildford Rules was and still is ingenious. Many countries have attempted to copy it (including us) but it rarely comes close to the UK's take on it.

Anyway. I was specifically refering to these UK style merge signs which show the driver EXACTLY what the road layout is ahead, unlike what we had before which could be described as rudimentary at best. Do you believe that a simple diamond merge sign is superior to the UK style signs which show ctual lane layout at the merge or what?

Chris_533976

Victor wrote:

Layout http://www.corkcorp.ie/ourservices/roads/pdf/eis_pg3.pdf

Other information http://www.corkcorp.ie/ourservices/roads/kinsale_roundabout.shtml

Just looked at the Layout pdf. It says

a pedestrian underpass will be constructed approximatly along the line of the at-grade pedestrian crossing

am I going mad or does this not exist?

corktina

As an Englishman 20 years preferring life in ireland..I must protest.....


"7. Their beer is crap"



English "Real" ale is the nectar of the Gods.....



mind you he is right about the women:) , thats why I married a Cork girl......

Bards

Can someone start a new thread about Irish V UK V rest of world signage instead of hijacking this thread.

Victor

Official brochure http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/656899583.pdf

Chris_533976

They really need to hurry up starting Sarsfield/Bandon road ones though.The traffic at Sarsfield one already backs up to the new flyover at peak times. And the Bandon one then backs up to the Sarsfield one, causing a desperate mess.

When they're done, it'll be easier. But they need to do them now and stop fannying about.

corktina

they have started.......:)

Chris_533976

Approaches, or have they started clearing the trees etc from the roundabouts???

/ignore my location, Im in Galway for college...

jank

The council have done preliminary work on these roundabouts but i dont think "actual" work has started yet!

Or did they?

****ing **** of the NRA, get it done now and it will cost way less then say 2 years down the road. What are we talking about here anyway 80 million or so. Not a whole considering the tens of thousands of drivers it effects everyday!

This project should be started now!

Winters

Victor wrote:

Official brochure http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/656899583.pdf

Thanks for the links Victor.

Chris_533976

From what I heard the funding was pulled for a couple of years. Whether thats still true, I dont know. I thought that the work that was going on at the roundabouts was a preliminary (Cork co. co) scheme to reorganise traffic flow slightly to make it move a little better.

Hopefully Im wrong though, but I havent heard anything new about the main scheme - its not yet on the NRA website.

jank

Maybe Corktina can clarify this.

There has been growing political pressure in cork over this issue, as its coming up to election time well I wouldnt be surprise if funding is actually given to this project.

dmeehan

they reorganised the Bandon Rd roundabout and this has made an enourmaous difference to the traffic situation, especially in the evenings. by replacing the mini-roundabout (at the entrance to dunnes) with a set of traffic lights appears to have cleared the log jam westbound in the evenings. and they also re-configured the main roundabout

if only they could apply some of the same logic to sarfields rd roundabout

invincibleirish

surprisingly theres an excellent article in the current edition of the cork independant detailing progress in corks transport development under T21,unsurprisingly its quite critical on all aspects of T21 and cork(who could blame them).i cant find the article on the web and dont have access to a scanner so if anyone could post it up it would be appreciated!

corktina

oops double post...really struggling with boards.ie of late....i think im going to give it a miss.....def low tech.....

corktina

from what i can see they have taken land both sides of the dual carriageway including a slice of Dunnes car park......

traffic pretty bad there in the mornings...I call to Dunnes Bishopstown followed by Dunnes Douglas and have been known to go via Ballygarvey and Grange to do it.....

the traffic backs right up from sarsfield O to the Bandon O