M50 Grass Verges/Median

SimonMaher

Hello all,

Apologies if this is a misplaced question but its just a quick one.

Long story short I was involved in an incident on the M50 early last week where a motorcyclist swerved to avoid 2 small foxes and I nearly collected him! Luckily I had seen the foxes running accross the opposite carriageway but owing to the fact that DLR County Council seem to have abandoned maintenance of the meridian strip in the middle of the road, the motorcyclist couldnt see them because of the foot high grass and weeds.

So, I contacted the local authority to find out why they had abandoned grass cutting etc and funnily got no reply. Eventually I got passed to the NRA who passed me straight back to DLR CoCo.

Now, in the absence of any sense at all from the town hall, despite emails and phone calls Im wondering does anyone here know specifically who's responsibility these verges are and maybe even know why they have been let go this year!

Many thanks,
Simon

MLM

I think you might find the answer here...www.nra.ie/

tonc76

The NRA are an overseeing body and therefore would not have responsibility to maintain the median or any either part of the road. The responsibility lies with either 1) the local authority who took over ownership of the stretch of road after completion of construction or 2) the contractor who built the road. In the case of the contractor this would typically a tolled road. The contractor builds the road and maintains it for a set period of time, typically 20-30 years. During this time the contractor collects the tolls which allows them to recoup the money invested .... and the rest!!! After this period of time the contractor would "hand over" the stretch of road to the local authority whose responsibility it then becomes to maintain.

Victor

I don't see a particular need to maintain grass strips - and it is rather dangerous.

If anything, wildlife should be prevented from accessing the carriageway.

Wishbone Ash

Simon Maher wrote:

the motorcyclist couldnt see them because of the foot high grass and weeds

Many dual carriageway type roads have hedges, shrubbery and trees growing in the centre median!

silverside

i think having long grass / trees is nice to look at, and stops you being blinded by traffic in the opposite direction at night

i can appreciate that it may be dangerous if animals dart out, but (apart from your unfortunate case) i cant see it being a major problem - foxes badgers squirrels mice and rats would probably be the biggest animals, and you could probably run over a fox without serious damage (ok maybe not if you are on a bike).

of course larger animals (sheep cows horses) should be prevented from encroaching. i remember a family acquaintance being hospitalised a few years ago, some horses escaped and got onto the dual carriageway at mulhuddart and caused an accident. i think he sued the council over it.

SimonMaher

I dont neccessarily disagree with any of that stuff about maybe it being wild. To each their own and all that. I think it looks manky and as I said, based on my own experience, I believe that it does pose a safety risk.

Now, as was pointed out before the road was opened, tens of thousands of Euro was spent on landscaping the meridian. Why then has its maintenance just suddenly stopped this year. I have no problem at all with the hedges in the middle of the meridian (blocking the glare of oncoming cars is of course useful).

I just dont understand why the meridian strips are maintained pretty much on every other road (N11 etc) in the are but suddenly not on this stretch of the M50 and nobody in the local authority or NRA can tell me why. I dont buy the excuse of its only a small animal, what damage could it do? Except as I mentioned to someone on a motorbike, or someone driving behind them or beside them. If it made sense to do something to minimise risk last year (and someone in the NRA said to me that maintenance was for "vista and safety reasons"), why would it not make sense now? I dont get it.

Simon

Del2005

At a wild guess I'd say they can't cut the grass since they put in the cheese grater crash barriers. The barriers where just slapped down along the median and I'd say there no way to get a tractor inside the wires and no way to drive a tractor half in the overtaking lane and half in the median to get at the grass outside the wire without closing the lane. And since most council workers don't work nights and the chance of closing a lane is the day is slim we'll have to wait till winter for the grass to die.

Wishbone Ash

Del2005 wrote:

no way to drive a tractor half in the overtaking lane and half in the median to get at the grass outside the wire without closing the lane. And since most council workers don't work nights and the chance of closing a lane is the day is slim we'll have to wait till winter for the grass to die.

I regularly see grass being cut along very busy roads in the wee small hours (2am-5am). The overtaking lane is usually closed and the whole thing is usually very well managed with five or six mowers of various sizes working simultaneously. For safety,they use those large truck mounted electronic signs and give loads of advance notice. It's generally done by private contractors - not local authority employees.

jimmycrackcorm

When I lived and travelled outside the pale, I became acutely aware at how suicidal various animals are at 5 a.m. in the morning. Foxes, Badgers, stoats or whatever and rabbits - all alike - they're all running to the light at the end of the headlamp.

Wonky Knees

oops

Goofy

silverside wrote: »

some horses escaped and got onto the dual carriageway at mulhuddart

There were some camels loose on the N18 outside limerick a couple of years back

corktina

the grass would give you somewhere nice to sit when grid-locked on the M50...(I dont think Foxes would attack a human...not in daylight anyway...not unless they were on crack

What grass!! most of it's gone west!

Ham'nd'egger

I was recently talking to a guy from Fingal County Council about cutting the grass on Motorways. According to him, it cost €6,500 PER HOUR to close off a lane of motorway for grass cutting, installing signage etc, hiring out the large truck with the arrow, crews etc. In his area, it was the Parks Department who undertook that work so I'd guess it may be the same elsewhere.

icdg

There won't be a grass median on the M50 any more (well, except J1-J3 and J14-J17) following the upgrade, only a concrete barrier. Could this be the reason they would have stopped maintaining it?

Wishbone Ash

Hamndegger wrote: »

it cost €6,500 PER HOUR to close off a lane of motorway for grass cutting

'Round Up' comes to mind!

feylya

corktina wrote: »

the grass would give you somewhere nice to sit when grid-locked on the M50...(I dont think Foxes would attack a human...not in daylight anyway...not unless they were on crack

Some sort of crack fox? I thought they lived in rubbish piles

Ham'nd'egger

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

'Round Up' comes to mind!

Yeah, it sure sounds that way. Think of all the Mark 1's you could get for that money

Victor

On topic please.

Skyhater

Didn't M50 Concession (website still not up and running) get the contract for maintain the entire M50 once it is completed??
I wouldn't be surprised if the CoCo's were doing as little as possible in the mean time.

ipodrocker

mad to think that the last time i checked the m50 concession website was still not up! why bother advertising it if there is no info.!

Irish and Proud

ipodrocker wrote: »

mad to think that the last time i checked the m50 concession website was still not up! why bother advertising it if there is no info.!

The site server seems to be located in Spain, so I guess it's a case of:

MANANA!!! :mad:

Regards!