Waterford - Tramore Road closed

Sully

Just to give people the heads up... the Waterford - Tramore road is closed from just past The Halfway House right until you enter Tramore. Diversions are in place towards the back road. The reason for the closure is due to the road being re-surfaced.. with loose chippings (which I hope wont be permanent!). The road is still passable.. with the hard shoulder being fine but the main road having the chippings.

Psychedelic

i was wondering what the hell the road was closed for. hope it's back open tomorrow. it's bloody torture going along the back road in a bus.

mike65

Loose fvcking chippings, Christ I really thought we were getting beyond that era.

Mike

Sully

Psychedelic wrote: »

i was wondering what the hell the road was closed for. hope it's back open tomorrow. it's bloody torture going along the back road in a bus.

hahaha ya I noticed. Was going to tell the driver to head though the Tramore road anyway

Loose chippings are grand on some roads, but please don't tell me there going to do it on the Tramore road!!

shanemul

The bunch of clowns in the co council can't seem to realise that loose chipping on a road that has an 80kmph is crazy or else they like cutting corners and won't spend money on proper tarmac

Sully

shanemul wrote: »

The bunch of clowns in the co council can't seem to realise that loose chipping on a road that has an 80kmph is crazy or else they like cutting corners and won't spend money on proper tarmac

I was kinda hoping that they would put tarmac over the chippings as I really dont see the point in putting those on a MAIN ROAD and one of the busiest roads. The Fenor road has the chippings at 80kmph btw

shanemul

Yeah but thats a rural road not a main road like the tramore rd that carried thousands of cars a day

JMcL

Absolute muppets. The state they left the road in over the weekend was shocking. I had my windscreen pelted 3 times by chippings on the way back from town on Saturday morning, and will probably end up having to replace it, as it's badly marked. If so, this'll be the second time I've had to stump up for a new windscreen because of those donkeys (previous one done in by loose chippings over by Bunmahon about 2 years ago). I was livid and called the council "emergency" line, and was ensured a road inspector would call me back. My arse. I'm still waiting, but not holding my breath.

What really bugs me is that the road will probably end up with a worse surface than it had before, as that stretch really wasn't that bad. The money would have been much better spent on the stretch between Superquinn and Ballindud which is in a dreadful state (I'm just back from france where the have signs occasionally warning about "Chausee deformee" - basically uneven surface - I have to laugh and wonder what they'd make of the average Irish road). The idea of the city and co. councils actually having the sense to cooperate however is probably laughable.

Sully

Joe Conway was giving out about the closure of the road saying it was bad timing and blaming the council for not maintaining the road that is so historical etc. Personally think the current format is worse then ever, but they know best I suppose. They are putting this surface down in a lot of places around Waterford it seems.

Did you get your call back? They seemed to have cleaned up the road a bit and removed excess chippings that were on the side of the road and on the main road itself.

JMcL

Sully wrote: »

Joe Conway was giving out about the closure of the road saying it was bad timing and blaming the council for not maintaining the road that is so historical etc. Personally think the current format is worse then ever, but they know best I suppose. They are putting this surface down in a lot of places around Waterford it seems.

It's shocking that they do it on a busy route though. I grew up in Donegal and while they've always used the loose chippings approach on back roads, but they've always done a proper job on busy roads (not always 'N' roads)

Did you get your call back? They seemed to have cleaned up the road a bit and removed excess chippings that were on the side of the road and on the main road itself.

I never got a call back, but I called again myself midweek to give out that they'd never bothered their arse to call me, and I actually spoke to the engineer in Tramore that would've been the one to call me, and it was the first he heard of it.

He agreed with me that that style of road surface is "particularly Irish" and the reason is that it give "best value for money". I put it to him that the councils "value for money" is at the expense of road users who've already paid for the roads through road tax having to foot the bills to repair their windscreens, or cyclists picking stones out of their legs, and he said he didn't know anything about that.

What he did say though was that if you do end up with a repair bill as a result of a road being left in a mess by the council, take a photo of the damage and forward the bill onto them. They'll probably ignore it but if they get enough, they might revise their notion of "value for money"

Sully

JMcL wrote: »

It's shocking that they do it on a busy route though. I grew up in Donegal and while they've always used the loose chippings approach on back roads, but they've always done a proper job on busy roads (not always 'N' roads)

The only thing I can think of, bar saving money, is that they want to slow traffic down as it comes into the town. Now, to be fair, I don't think I have seen many cars speeding into the town. Most traffic slows to the speed limit!

I never got a call back, but I called again myself midweek to give out that they'd never bothered their arse to call me, and I actually spoke to the engineer in Tramore that would've been the one to call me, and it was the first he heard of it.

He agreed with me that that style of road surface is "particularly Irish" and the reason is that it give "best value for money". I put it to him that the councils "value for money" is at the expense of road users who've already paid for the roads through road tax having to foot the bills to repair their windscreens, or cyclists picking stones out of their legs, and he said he didn't know anything about that.

Plus, I think most people would prefer to see a decent stretch of road rather then a chipped road there.

What he did say though was that if you do end up with a repair bill as a result of a road being left in a mess by the council, take a photo of the damage and forward the bill onto them. They'll probably ignore it but if they get enough, they might revise their notion of "value for money"

Iv heard of it being done all right - should be interesting to see how they would react if it happened in Tramore but the load surface seems to have less chippings free now!

depaor

Morning All,

The 'new' surface on half the TRamore road drives me mental everyday at least twice!
WHY O WHY did they have to Ruin the perfectly good road that it was! I assume the was a little bit of money lying around and a decision on 'o we better spend that' was made poorly - why didnt they use the surfacing on the Green Road so many cars are using that every morning lately and it's full of potholes.

Anyway I'm wandering off the point - Question - how long does one have to wait after putting down a new (crap) surface before it can be lined?

The road was resurfaced the week before I went on my holidays which works out as the last week of August...that was 10 weeks ago this week.

So now the evenings are drak early and there are no lines on the road - it is very dangerous -

fricatus

You mention the newly "surfaced" section of the Tramore Road and also the Green Road. Isn't the former in the county and the latter in the city? (So two different budgets?)

Either way though, gotta agree, that road surface is AWFUL. I know KK County Council put that sort of crap on the N9 every so often - drives me cracked - but I expect better from Waterford County Council, especially when you look at the N25 down past Dungarvan and on to Youghal.

Sure the Tramore Road is probably busier than the N25 beyond Kilmeaden, so you'd expect that it would be done properly. :rolleyes:

mike65

Not used it, have they thrown down a hundred tonnes of loose chippings?

Mike

depaor

Ya, your probably right there about the city and county budgets didnt think of it really - TRamore is such a grey area with the two - I think it gets forgotton by the county and would probably be better off under the city council! That's an arguement for another day though!

Anway yes they have thrown down a mass of loose chippings - it really is awful.. luckily my windscreen is still on one piece so far - I've been using the Orchardstown road at lot more often lately I have noticed it is busier so I assume others are aswell.

You cant even hear the radio in your car when you hit the 'new' section!

Sully

Already a topic on the road, so will merge it with the exisiting one.

Topic Merged

JMcL

depaor wrote: »

Morning All,

The 'new' surface on half the TRamore road drives me mental everyday at least twice!
WHY O WHY did they have to Ruin the perfectly good road that it was! I assume the was a little bit of money lying around and a decision on 'o we better spend that' was made poorly - why didnt they use the surfacing on the Green Road so many cars are using that every morning lately and it's full of potholes.

Anyway I'm wandering off the point - Question - how long does one have to wait after putting down a new (crap) surface before it can be lined?

The road was resurfaced the week before I went on my holidays which works out as the last week of August...that was 10 weeks ago this week.

So now the evenings are drak early and there are no lines on the road - it is very dangerous -

It's quite shocking, and is really dangerous especially last week in the bad weather with the lack of lines - it's impossible to see the hedges. God help anybody on a bike that's trying to stay in the hard shoulder. I was on the Dunmore road for the first time in a long time yesterday, and there's the same crap there.

I presume it's pointless complaining to the NRA, dept of the Environment etc. I can see the response: "It's a matter for the local authority". What about Cullen? Make him actually do something useful for a change other than be present for the opening of bags of crisps

As to "why", here's a quote from my earlier posting when I finally got to talk to the engineer in Tramore after about a week of trying. Summary straight from the horses mouth: "it's cheap".

JMcL wrote: »

He [the engineer in Tramore] agreed with me that that style of road surface is "particularly Irish" and the reason is that it give "best value for money". I put it to him that the councils "value for money" is at the expense of road users who've already paid for the roads through road tax having to foot the bills to repair their windscreens, or cyclists picking stones out of their legs, and he said he didn't know anything about that.

Sully

Road is even worse now. The council have placed traffic cones in the center of the road. I assume its to stop people driving in the middle or passing out to stop the loose chirpings hitting other cars!

Poor Uncle Tom

According to the news on the local radio, this is likely to be the surface which will be in place for the next few years because the budget will not allow for it to be changed. Are these clowns for real?:(

Psychedelic

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

According to the news on the local radio, this is likely to be the surface which will be in place for the next few years because the budget will not allow for it to be changed. Are these clowns for real?:(

yeah i heard that too. what a disgrace.

Sully

They are saying that with a local election coming up? My god, they are brave!

JMcL

What a bunch of muppets. I really can't believe they're so dumb that the actually signed a contract to get what we've ended up with, if not they should pursue the contractor to leave it in an acceptable state. If they DID sign a contract for that mess, then let's get those knives nice and sharp for the local election next year.

Whatever, somebody needs to put lines down on that road NOW before somebody is seriously injured or even killed

shanemul

JMcL wrote: »

What a bunch of muppets. I really can't believe they're so dumb that the actually signed a contract to get what we've ended up with, if not they should pursue the contractor to leave it in an acceptable state. If they DID sign a contract for that mess, then let's get those knives nice and sharp for the local election next year.

Whatever, somebody needs to put lines down on that road NOW before somebody is seriously injured or even killed

Your talking about the Waterford coco Jmcl it will take for some to get killed or seriously hurt before they do anything

Sully

JMcL wrote: »

Whatever, somebody needs to put lines down on that road NOW before somebody is seriously injured or even killed

I believe thats why they have the cones down.. and I suppose to stop the chippings flying everywhere during overtaking or driving to close to the center of the road.

Joe Gt

but sure there was noting wrong with the surface on the road , ive used the road for many years now to go to work and never been a problem on it , only seen two crashes on it and i know the people and it was nothing to do with the surface ,

JMcL

Joe Gt wrote: »

but sure there was noting wrong with the surface on the road , ive used the road for many years now to go to work and never been a problem on it , only seen two crashes on it and i know the people and it was nothing to do with the surface ,

Exactly the point. These muppets who now claim they're so broke they can't even afford to put lines down on road managed to find the cash to waste on actually making the road surface worse. Who're the local councillors for Tramore? I'm going to start hassling them to see if they can answer why this was done. It was our money that was burned after all!

Sully

See: http://www.waterfordcoco.ie/en/localauthorities/tramoretowncouncil/towncouncillors/

Tramore Councillors.

ex_infantry man

loose chippings should have been taken uwith road sweeper like anywhere else in the country where roads are being surfaced

Psychedelic

Update:

Councillors see red over road surface

By Marion O’Mara

SHOCK has been expressed that the rough, noisy surface on the main Waterford / Tramore Road from Robin Hill to Pickardstown Cross is not to be tarmacadamed for a number of years at least.

Some months ago the twokilometre section of road was closed to traffic as the new rough chipping surface was laid. Motorists believed that the surface was a temporary one, but last week it emerged that there are no plans, in the short term, for an improvement.

Local area engineer told members of the Town Council last week that only surface dressing work was carried out because the road had not reached a standard where a full tarmac overlay was required.

In addition to the type of surface which has been laid, Cllr. Joe Conway complained that there was no central or lateral lining on the new surface linings on part of the road and that the ‘cats eyes’ had been partially covered with tar.

In a written complaint to the County Council’s Director of Transport and Infrastructure, he said that without the lining and because of the condition of the cats eyes, studding the road could be dangerous at times of bad visibility.

He also pointed out that the surface, which was applied in September, had in some parts failed to stick properly.

There has been severe criticism of the road by Tramore businessman, Stan Nangle who told the Waterford News & Star that he had driven extensively in the UK, and also in the US, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Hungary, and had never seen such a ridiculous resurfacing technique used anywhere else, even on rural roads.

“My colleague Paul Jackman has travelled on his motorbike in North Africa and in South America, and he tells me that even in these third world countries they use the asphalt surface used on most other main roads in Ireland. He has never seen tar and chip used anywhere else either.”

Mr. Nangle pointed out that the Tramore Road is one of the busiest roads under the control of Waterford County Council and is treated as a National Primary Road in the County Development Plan, yet was only resurfaced as if it were a boreen.

http://www.waterford-news.ie/news/story/?trs=cwsngbojey&cat=news

JMcL

Good. The sniff of electoral blood next year might make them do something about it.

Poor Uncle Tom

I think for this one it is going to be a case of 'who shouts the loudest will be listened to'. It's only 2km. They are re-surfacing from Carrolls Cross to Dunphy's Pub on the N25 now, hardly needed it.

We need to call councillors, even show up at the council meetings, call roads dept and complain, anyway that is my strategy.

Sully

Lines are being placed on the road at some stage - hence why the cones are down. Also, it doesn't get the same funding as other roads so while regional and national roads get worked away the spending on this road is limited to local funding which is again restricted into what areas it can be spent on. So I was told anyway!

Sully

Most cones removed today... People complaining about them being a distraction when driving I think.

longshanks

has the road been lined yet or had the cats eyes replaced? it'll be dodgy as **** with people overtaking and not getting back in, especially at night

Sully

longshanks wrote: »

has the road been lined yet or had the cats eyes replaced? it'll be dodgy as **** with people overtaking and not getting back in, especially at night

Nope. They placed cones along the stretch so you couldn't pass out but due to complaints (I think) they were reduced. There are plans to put down lines on it. Looking at it tonight, still an awful lot of loose chippings in the centre of the road which will make passing out a pain.

depaor

I emailed the council to ask when the road would be lined - 'I GOT A REPLY!!!' it said the work on the lines was scheduled to begin today... I havent been on the road yet today - has it started?

Sully

depaor wrote: »

I emailed the council to ask when the road would be lined - 'I GOT A REPLY!!!' it said the work on the lines was scheduled to begin today... I havent been on the road yet today - has it started?

Left early this AM and there was no cones on the road. Was in a bit of a rush but I thought I saw one of the trucks parked up by the bridge. Wont be back till later this evening.

Was with a chap who was commenting on some of the roads we travelled on from Waterford to Tip were being re-surfaced and the Tramore one was ****e. But no funding for that type of road it seems!

JMcL

Being lined at this very moment apparently

depaor

Yip, just drove into Waterford it's almost completely lined already - Finally!

Sully

Ya wasnt done last night on my way home and it looked like they removed the loose chippings that were flying about. At least some progress has been made I guess

CantGetNoSleep

Sully wrote: »

Ya wasnt done last night on my way home and it looked like they removed the loose chippings that were flying about. At least some progress has been made I guess

It is still worse than it was before they touched it in the first place though, no doubt this has cost several thousand

Sully

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

It is still worse than it was before they touched it in the first place though, no doubt this has cost several thousand

Agreed but the surface put there now has seen a bit of an improvement which is better then none! Though for some reason they never fully completed the new road markings.

CantGetNoSleep

Sully wrote: »

Agreed but the surface put there now has seen a bit of an improvement which is better then none! Though for some reason they never fully completed the new road markings.

But doing nothing at all to it would have been better, do you not agree?

Stan Nangle

Sully wrote: »

Agreed but the surface put there now has seen a bit of an improvement which is better then none! Though for some reason they never fully completed the new road markings.

They spent €50,000 making the surface worse that it was before.

A high traffic volume road like that should not have received a tar and chip surface as it is totally inappropriate. I'm not aware of any other Country that uses that cheap and nasty method except on boreens.

The Road Markings is another disaster. There was a broken line the whole length of that road before, but now they have put sections of continuous lines in places where it is perfectly safe to overtake. This will only cause congestion on the road and increase the incidence of dangerous overtaking.

The bit they left unlined at the top of Robin Hill looks like they are planning to put in a ghost island to facilitate right turns. This, again, will cause more problems than it solves.

I'm told that the problem with the inappropriate surface is going to be addressed in the New Year, and given the way the chippings are stripping off the surface, leaving a very slippery bitumen surface, it is only a matter of time before a biker comes off and is injured.

But the biggest farce of all is the signs showing a 25km/h limit that they put on the road just before Christmas. There is no such thing as a 25km/h limit. The 2004 Act clearly sets out the limits that Councils can use, and when and where they should be used. The choices are 30, 50, 60, 80, 100 and 120.

There is no 25km/h limit in the Act.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

mike65

Nope! Local road fiddling depts are clueless.

Sully

Stan Nangle wrote: »

They spent €50,000 making the surface worse that it was before.

A high traffic volume road like that should not have received a tar and chip surface as it is totally inappropriate. I'm not aware of any other Country that uses that cheap and nasty method except on boreens.

The Road Markings is another disaster. There was a broken line the whole length of that road before, but now they have put sections of continuous lines in places where it is perfectly safe to overtake. This will only cause congestion on the road and increase the incidence of dangerous overtaking.

The bit they left unlined at the top of Robin Hill looks like they are planning to put in a ghost island to facilitate right turns. This, again, will cause more problems than it solves.

The road is fairly congested at the moment more so then ever. Iv just decided to go the back road rather then sitting in traffic. The houses Christmas lights on the road didnt help traffic much either!

I completely disagree that the road needed to have that type of surface. It was a lot better before the job then it is now. Now the road is an accident waiting to happen and probably has damaged peoples cars as a result.

I'm told that the problem with the inappropriate surface is going to be addressed in the New Year, and given the way the chippings are stripping off the surface, leaving a very slippery bitumen surface, it is only a matter of time before a biker comes off and is injured.

Any ideas what type of surface, or just a patch up job?

But the biggest farce of all is the signs showing a 25km/h limit that they put on the road just before Christmas. There is no such thing as a 25km/h limit. The 2004 Act clearly sets out the limits that Councils can use, and when and where they should be used. The choices are 30, 50, 60, 80, 100 and 120.

There is no 25km/h limit in the Act.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Might have been old sign - did they use km/h signage on road work signs before all road signs changed officaly? I always wondered how many people pay attention to such limits. Im going to assume the speed limit was implemented due to the placing of the cones. You will notice that the hard shoulder past Robin Hill has its lines removed for a small stretch. At first, we thought they were finishing the job properly but they seemed to have just started then left it as it was.

If this keeps up any more it will look very poor when tourists start arriving into the town.

Stan Nangle

The next time you are near Dungarvan, take a spin out to Clonea Strand.

That is the type of road surface we should have on the Tramore road, but the Council chose to spend the money on a cul-de-sac leading to a small beach near Dungarvan instead of spending it on the main road between Waterford City and the largest Town in Waterford County.

Stan Nangle

As you can imagine, this was a hot topic at the Town Council Meeting last night.

The Council are going to address the issue, but there was disagreement as to when this would happen.

Councillor Blaise Hannigan reported that he brought an independent roads engineer to see the problem and the engineer told him that the job was a disaster and the chips would continue to strip off the surface over the coming weeks.

He wanted the problem fixed in the short term before the road becomes too slippy.

The Council Officials acknowledged that there was a problem with the material they had used to surface the road (and also some other roads in the area), and they admitted that the work was done by Council Staff (not a Contractor).

They were of the opinion that the work would not be done until May.

This would indicate to me that they are planning to do another tar and chip botch job instead of putting down hot rolled asphalt. Tar and Chip has to be done in Summer, whereas hot rolled asphalt can be done at any time (and is being done at South Park, Priest Road today).

Blaise Hannigan made the point strongly that his advice was that the road needed to be resurfaced within weeks, not months, or else it would become a skating rink.

James McCartan asked that they put a proper traffic management plan in place before they resurface the road, but the Council Official gave him some nonsense about Health and Safety (How come every other Council can resurface a road and keep half of it open, but Waterford CoCo can't?).

Fair dues to Blaise and James for getting stuck in on the issue!

Sully

I have to hand it to James, anytime iv seen him speak he doesnt take no for an answer for easily. Some people get fobbed of far to quickly or just accept the answers from those more senior. I was on the road when they re-surfaced it and was wondering why the council were doing the job.

Leaving it to May would be a hazzard regardless of what they do. If they are ignoring the situation until May, can there not be another route people can take to get someone to take the issue more serious?

Fair play anyway to James and Blaise - good to see some councillors getting stuck in and listening to the concerns of the public.

Stan Nangle

Sully wrote: »

Leaving it to May would be a hazzard regardless of what they do. If they are ignoring the situation until May, can there not be another route people can take to get someone to take the issue more serious?

There is an Election in June :eek:

Should focus their minds

Sully

Stan Nangle wrote: »

There is an Election in June :eek:

Should focus their minds

True.. Hopefully that will get them to cop on a bit and do a proper job. Thing is, they may wait until just before the elections to do it which wouldn't be wise!