M6/4 Motorway Galway to Dublin (for discussing completed sections)

marco_polo

Steviemak wrote: »

This is the first sign for the Galway turn-off - only a few hundred meters before the junction. Even the most minor turn offs in most motorways have 1 or 2 km notices but this is a major spilt with hardly any signing.

If you are overtaking a few trucks when you get to this sign it'll be very difficult to cut across safely.

Every time I head towards home I nearly miss this feckin' exit Could definately do with at leat one extra sign

csd

Wild Bill wrote: »

Where the M7 Naas By-pass turns into the Naas Road the overhead gantry are solid colours like the end of the M6 and the signs on the side of the road are blue patched - so that seems to be consistent.

Oh I know it's consistent, and at the start of the the M4 at Leixlip it's the same (except blue on an N road), I just don't think it's right! In this case I prefer UK practice, which has patching on the overheads as well as the fork signs.

There should be a 2km advance sign for the M6/M4 split as this is the norm for all exits. Is there one at the M7/M9 diverge...can't recall. Memory thingy.

There is one on the M7/M9 split, but as has been mentioned earlier on this thread, J10 Kinnegad East is right on top of J11 (the M6 diverge), so a 2 km ADS might confuse people. As someone suggested, the answer is probably a double fork or something similar to what you see in the US:

KINNEGAD EXITS
J10 Kinnegad East 2 km
J11 Galway (M6) 2.8 km
J12 Kinnegad West 3.9 km

/csd

Wild Bill

Ugh! Since when did UK practice = "right"? :mad:

Double fork seems like an excellent solution for this junction.

Wild Bill

Wild Bill wrote: »

Ugh! Since when did UK practice = "right"? :mad:

Double fork seems like an excellent solution for this junction.

There are a number of double fork signs on the M6 in the UK near the Manchester turn off where the M56(i think) crosses the M6.

csd

Wild Bill wrote: »

Ugh! Since when did UK practice = "right"? :mad:

Well they did write the book on signage. In this case I believe the UK practice is right, since you're patching the fork sign, why not patch the gantry for consistency's sake?

Anyway, I agree a double fork would seem to do the trick nicely here.

/csd

csd

oddiot wrote: »

Great shots, I've noticed the road surface being quite white myself when I was down last week - is this because of lots of 'salting' and not a lot of rain washing it away due to our recent dry/frosty weather? Anyone any ideas?

Thanks. This was also my assumption -- lots of gritting but nothing to wash it away. I presume it's all clean now with the recent rains.

/csd

munchkin_utd

marco_polo wrote: »

Every time I head towards home I nearly miss this feckin' exit Could definately do with at leat one extra sign

Something like the sign below could be put up.
You have an exit in 1000m and a motorway interchange at 2500m, and you are well notified in advance of both.

Wild Bill

I note no hard shoulders at this Autobahnkreuz!

No studs on the road. No reflectors on the barriers. No street lights. Pretty worn/faint lookinglines on the road.

I assume this is a construction area or are German standards slipping?! :cool:

L1011

I checked today and if there is a 2KM warning for the Galway diverge, it managed to hide itself...

csd

Wild Bill wrote: »

I note no hard shoulders at this Autobahnkreuz!

No studs on the road. No reflectors on the barriers. No street lights. Pretty worn/faint lookinglines on the road.

I assume this is a construction area or are German standards slipping?! :cool:

Yellow lane markings (in Germany) = temporary markings during construction, so I also assume that this is a construction site!

/csd

Wild Bill

MYOB wrote: »

I checked today and if there is a 2KM warning for the Galway diverge, it managed to hide itself...

So...we are the fools! It certainly ain't the green vegetation that is obscuring the sign.

Maybe we need a flashing sign....like the ones that on the M7 at Monasternevin and on the Naas Road which permanently warn of floods - even when we've had no heavy rain since November.

etchyed

Wild Bill wrote: »

Ugh! Since when did UK practice = "right"? :mad:

Double fork seems like an excellent solution for this junction.

Why are you jumping to conclusions? csd quite pointedly didn't say that UK practice always = "right":

In this case I prefer UK practice, which has patching on the overheads as well as the fork signs.

And indeed, why shouldn't we follow UK practice in this area? We have similar rules regarding motorway and non-motorway traffic, but they've had motorways for longer. Patching is a very clear way to tell drivers what type of road they're on now, as opposed to what type they'll be on a kilometre up the road. Fully green gantry signs on a motorway (and vice versa) are confusing and wrong.

Wild Bill

Ugh!

BluntGuy

etchyed wrote: »

Fully green gantry signs on a motorway (and vice versa) are confusing and wrong.

I agree, our patching is very clunky in this regard.

A terminal ADS will be blue with green or white patching, but a terminal gantry will be green or white, along with the "Exit" gore signage. This is completely inconsistent.

"End of motorway" and "start of motorway" (and I suppose "motorway ahead") signage is enough.

csd

This quirk of not patching terminal/initial gantries is one of only two gripes I have left about Irish signage. The other is the insistence of using the motorway chopsticks along with the motorway number on direction signs. It seems we're half-copying the French (using the motorway chopsticks to denote 'a motorway is this direction') and half copying UK-style signing norms, but the latter only use the chopsticks to denote 'start of motorway restrictions'.

The issue then is that there is no clear and objective meaning for a sign with chopsticks and a motorway number on it. In some cases it means 'start of motorway restrictions' and in other cases it means 'the numbered motorway lies in this direction'. IMO they should get rid of chopsticks in all cases except to show start of motorway restrictions.

This sign on the N4 illustrates my point. The M50 symbol could mean 'start of the M50 motorway right here' or 'the M50 lies somewhere along this road'.



Mind you, they're two fairly small gripes. Compared to where we were even four or five years ago, signage along Irish primary routes and motorways is in a different league. The standards are better, and they're implemented more consistently. All the things that used to bug me (dodgy gantries, signs too small, etc) are either gone or on their way out as new schemes come online with new standards. If only they'd publish the new TSM online...

/csd

BluntGuy

csd wrote: »

If only they'd publish the new TSM online...

Where is this new TSM? I have inquired about it numerous times and been told it's coming "soon".

We're in 2010, and I'm fairly certain it was meant to be published as early as 2005. This is a disgrace quite frankly.

csd

BluntGuy wrote: »

Where is this new TSM? I have inquired about it numerous times and been told it's coming "soon".

We're in 2010, and I'm fairly certain it was meant to be published as early as 2005. This is a disgrace quite frankly.

Yes well that's a good question. Chapter 8 is online (Road works signage) at the DoT website, but I'm assuming the rest of it does exist, as all the recent schemes have been fairly consistent in their signing so the designers must have been using something as a reference, and it isn't the 1996 TSM!

/csd

serfboard

Pity they don't grade-separate that junction at Palmerstown as well ...

L1011

http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/more_details/10-03-31/Petition_to_Wind_Up_N6_Construction_Limited.aspx

This company were the 'builders' of Ballinasloe-Galway I thought? Googling the name seems to suggest they were. Bit odd that there is a winding up order requested now.

Chris_5339762

They should be praised for making the best bit of motorway in the country. The crowd building Nenagh - Limerick should be the muppets wound up.

antoobrien

MYOB wrote: »

http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/more_details/10-03-31/Petition_to_Wind_Up_N6_Construction_Limited.aspx

This company were the 'builders' of Ballinasloe-Galway I thought? Googling the name seems to suggest they were. Bit odd that there is a winding up order requested now.

Reading the note on the article it appears they may have been doing the same thing as many 'construction' companies in this country over the past few years - not paying their contractors and suppliers. Oran pre-cast, who are taking the case, would have been one of the big supplier of knowledge and materials to any major project like this.

I hope this won't affect repairing the local roads

Would I be right in thinking that the company was formed with the sole objective of building the M6 and it's one of the sub-contractors who has reneged on the costs.

The consortium would have been disolved after the contract was complete anyway, so any creditors would need to act quickly.

Sponge Bob

You would be right in thinking that the directors of that particular 'n6 construction' company are no longer in the state and that the road is run by another company called 'n6 concession' something or other with different directors, naturally

KevR

What will happen with the other Athenry link road which is nowhere near complete and the existing Athenry link road which only has a temporary surface + temporary speed limits??

Poster King

I drove the entire route from Galway City Centre to Dublin City Centre late last night in record time. I may have been slightly over the 120km limit at times but not a lot. It is a very easy drive (despite the rain).
The main thing that struck me was how good the cats' eyes are on the Galway to Ballinasloe section and how they seem to deteriorate as you get closer to Dublin. Some sections were really bad, I think the Kinnegad to Kilcock probably the worst but can't be sure.
I think the good cats' eyes are a great safety feature, especially if you can't drive with full headlights due to oncoming cars. With dipped headlights you can see the line of the road ahead for quite a distance. With old/poor cats' eyes it is difficult to make the line of the road out.

One other issue is the "lay-bys". These need to be better highlighted. I think they are dangerous. They should either get rid of them or have them properly lit. I was cruising along at one stage and next thing out of the dark rear tail lights suddenly appeared to my left and an flashing right indicator. It gave me quite a fright.

veryangryman

Poster King wrote: »

One other issue is the "lay-bys". These need to be better highlighted. I think they are dangerous. They should either get rid of them or have them properly lit. I was cruising along at one stage and next thing out of the dark rear tail lights suddenly appeared to my left and an flashing right indicator. It gave me quite a fright.

+100

I once tipped the kerb on one of them at a decent speed when Kilbeggan-Tyrellspass section first opened

Wakes you up, ill tell ya that much

roosterman71

veryangryman wrote: »

+100

I once tipped the kerb on one of them at a decent speed when Kilbeggan-Tyrellspass section first opened

Wakes you up, ill tell ya that much

I dunno how ya managed that. The road markings indicate where the road is, and don't these laybys have signs on the kerbing indicating that they are there?

antoobrien

Poster King wrote: »

One other issue is the "lay-bys". These need to be better highlighted. I think they are dangerous. They should either get rid of them or have them properly lit. I was cruising along at one stage and next thing out of the dark rear tail lights suddenly appeared to my left and an flashing right indicator. It gave me quite a fright.

You mustn't have been paying too much attention. With the exception of the one near Tyrellspass (eastward) you can see the lay-bys for about a half mile - so you should at least notice the cars reflectors. I've often noticed traffic slowing down around these, since the Gardai (used to) love hanging out there with their radar guns.

sonyair

has this sign been put up on the on slips as some people use the road as a cycle lane and tractors

L1011

They're meant to be, and I've not seen them missing, present at every interchange. Sometimes one per side of the overbridge rather than on the slips, but still there.