M1 Belfast Bedlam - what a shambles

magpie

As a person who regularly bemoans the state of roads, signage, planning, policing etc in the Republic I received a salutary lesson in how wonderful all of the above are compared with the frankly sub-eastern block shambles that is Northern Ireland.

Aat 7.30 am yesterday morning two lorries collided on the M1 going into Belfast, resulting in the closure of the motorway. So far so good. By 1.45 when I was attempting to go back to Dublin it was still closed causing enormous tailbacks (its the only way out south of Belfast), eventually I made it to a roundabout where there were no Police guiding traffic nor any diversion signs. Taking a gamble I headed for the A55 Ringroad thinking "there must be a way out of the city from the Ringroad". 1 hour later I'm back at the start of the original traffic jam thanks to no signage indicating how the hell to escape the city. Now its rush hour, so traffic chaos has tripled. Still no Police, still no alternate signage. I get talking to some fellow civilized southern reg drivers and between us we concoct an escape route via Lisburn, Moira, Armagh, Newry. This involves sitting in traffic for another 3 hours, map reading on the hoof as the night set in, cross country driving down narrow, windy, bumpy, ill-signed roads in the pitch black. I was expecting to have to try and jump over some barbed wire fences a la Steve McQueen at one point. Eventually got home at 10.30 pm. 8 hours 45 minutes Belfast to Dublin.

This was the most appallingly policed situation I have ever been in. I did not see one single Police Officer the whole time, no attempt was made at singposting alternate routes and there was clearly no rush to re-open the motorway.

To conclude - up the Republic! at least we would have had guards on duty within half an hour, and probably got at least one lane open in under 6 hours from the accident happening.

Stuff the North - the Brits can keep it. What a kip! :mad:

Bluetonic

Did you maybe try ringing the PSNI to find out what the situation was, and was traffic flow being managed?

They are normally a helpful bunch, I'm sure they would have obliged.

magpie

:rolleyes: I can only presume you're being sarcastic. I knew what the situation was from listening to BBC Radio Ulster and traffic wasn't being managed at all - which is why it took over 8 hours to get from Belfast to Dublin.

Was anyone else here in that jam?

Dman_15

You got unlucky. Yestreday was possibly the worst day you could have been in Belfast.

Major roadworks on the Westlink as well as a pedestrian killed early in the borning along with the accident on the M1 led to complete chaos.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6046758.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6043078.stm



Complaining about signage is a bit rich considering the shamballs that is Dublin

segadreamcast

Was in a similar situation to yourself unfortunately OP. Traffic was awful all over. Lisburn to Belfast took much, much longer than usual at noon - though the worst was when I took the Aircoach from Belfast back to Dublin - ugh! It left at 2:30 and, by 3:30, after going down many back roads (which the bus clearly wasn't equipped for), we were still in ruddy Belfast! We ended up being just a little over an hour late - which, obviously, doesn't compare to your ordeal OP - though the most frustrating aspect was that, after Drogheda, the 3:30 aircoach was immediately behind us... clearly that driver had had a far better run... perhaps you should've started at Jury's and followed the Aircoach?

El Stuntman

magpie wrote:

Stuff the North - the Brits can keep it. What a kip! :mad:

well said sir, we'd be broke inside 5 years if we had to take on that gang of handout-addicted wasters

MrPudding

El Stuntman wrote:

well said sir, we'd be broke inside 5 years if we had to take on that gang of handout-addicted wasters

I am sure the majority up there have no interest in being ruled by the corrupt and useless idiots running the country down here. So that's OK then.:D

MrP

A Dub in Glasgo

The last time I took the car from Glasgow to Dublin via Belfast, the signage out of the ferry port was appalling if you want to head south to Dublin. It was very insular, you really needed to know the area to follow the sign.

Kashkai

MrPudding wrote:

I am sure the majority up there have no interest in being ruled by the corrupt and useless idiots running the country down here. So that's OK then.:D

MrP

Yeah and we've no interest in being ruled by bigots, terrorists and all round gangsters like up north! Talk about being stuck in a time warp - those eejits will never get their act together and settle down and get on with their lives. It must be so much more fun hating someone else because your ma and da hated them too:rolleyes:

As for traffic chaos, it took me an hour to get from Heuston station to the M50 yesterday when a broken down truck blocked one lane of the N4 at the roundabout over the M50 and this was at the early time of 4.00pm. Our esteemed cops were standing around chatting while not one of them was directing traffic.

El Stuntman

MrPudding wrote:

I am sure the majority up there have no interest in being ruled by the corrupt and useless idiots running the country down here. So that's OK then.:D

MrP

so we agree

I can tell you, I'd rather put up with this often infuriating little country than live in that outdoor lunatic asylum....

I think the "Silent Majority" actually might agree with me!! 32 county republic - no thanks....

nordydan

I fail to see the connection between one accident on the Westlink and not wanting part of your own country back.

Re: handout-addicted wasters: I work hard for a living in Belfast but you are indeed correct. one tory mp called it a soviet state, not far off. 71% of gdp comes from the public sector, still the only part of the uk were public sector pay is higher than the private sector. needs a lot of work.

"To conclude - up the Republic! at least we would have had guards on duty within half an hour, and probably got at least one lane open in under 6 hours from the accident happening"

I agree, very disappointing to hear so much slagging of the republic all the time. Remember its the only functioning democracy on the island. There may be some bad decisions made in the 26 counties but at least they are made by its citizens, unlike lalaland up here. DUP & Sinn Fein would be found out very quickly in a "normal" european democracy. However talk of up the republic seems to think that people up here are somehow critizing it. Only about half are, and they do so for now extinct reasons.

"32 county republic no thanks"

How about a 30 county one??

wwhyte

magpie wrote:

I get talking to some fellow civilized southern reg drivers and between us we concoct an escape route via Lisburn, Moira, Armagh, Newry. This involves sitting in traffic for another 3 hours, map reading on the hoof as the night set in, cross country driving down narrow, windy, bumpy, ill-signed roads in the pitch black. I was expecting to have to try and jump over some barbed wire fences a la Steve McQueen at one point. Eventually got home at 10.30 pm. 8 hours 45 minutes Belfast to Dublin.

Why not just go to Lisburn and down the A1 from Sprucefield?

El Stuntman

nordydan wrote:

"32 county republic no thanks"

How about a 30 county one??

still no thanks, look what taking East Germany on did for the Germans, 1 trillion Euro and counting

actually maybe we could ask Her Majesty would she mind taking Longfrod back, Roscommon too....whaddya think?

in all seriousness however, I do think I may be somewhere in the ballpark here. Most under 35s in the South view the North negatively, have little or no republican sentiment towards it and are secretly glad we don't have the burden of policing it or paying for it...my 2 cents worth anyway, certainly reflects the way that I (and most of my friends/family) think

(lol @ lalaland)

Navan Junction

nordydan wrote:

How about a 30 county one??

Good point, and if people could vote with their feet this is what we would have in the morning.

I agree with you about politicians there btw.

There is no credible opposition anywhere on this island.

I'm also very unhappy with FG, Labour, SF and Greens indifference to lots of urgent issues, especially the transport issue.. I'm voting Christian Democrats next election if they are still around...

Fine Gael and labour don't even have a transport plan!

dowlingm

A Dub in Glasgow re:signage due south

don't you know that "THERE'S NOH GOIN' DAWN THE DUBBLIN ROWD" as Dr Paisley would say? [At least not unless there's a 6 nations game on anyway]

El Stuntman

Navan Junction wrote:

Good point, and if people could vote with their feet this is what we would have in the morning.QUOTE]

which people?

the ones in Norn Iron or the ones down here?

the ones down here might vote sensibly i.e. against it

mikemac

Navan Junction wrote:

I'm voting Christian Democrats next election if they are still around...

QUOTE]

Is there such a party?

This may be a stupid question but as I only recently learned that there was a communist party in Ireland anything is possible

nordydan

El Stuntman wrote:

Navan Junction wrote:

Good point, and if people could vote with their feet this is what we would have in the morning.QUOTE]

which people?

the ones in Norn Iron or the ones down here?

the ones down here might vote sensibly i.e. against it

I doubt they would, as it would appear to be a permanent solution, and would settle the island down for a while. TBH I would not favour a UI if it completely unsettled the Republic, having 6 basket case counties is enough on the island. Repartition would leave 2 basket case ones, the 4 new ones would settle very quickly and catch up quite easily.

Back on topic, it would complete the N3 to ballyshannon!

The North is not East Germany, such comparisons are utterly stupid. Both are capitalist (well the north of is), and there is free movement between the two. The north does not have the stasi and many people actually live in the north and work in the south and vice versa.I would not expect the north to be subsidised by the south, if it cant pay for itself then tough **** for its citizens. But it is still part of the Irish nation.

magpie

Why not just go to Lisburn and down the A1 from Sprucefield?

Where were you when I needed you?

If the couple in the Fiat Punto with the map who I ended up following out of Belfast are reading this - I owe you a pint.