Ireland's Old Bottleknecks

road_high

Was stuck in Abbeyleix today and was thinking it is one of the last remaining really bad bottlekneck towns on our National road network.
Trying to do up a list of towns that were once notorious bottleknecks that have been consigned to history;
All used be regulars on AA Roadwatch.

Off hand I can think of;

Naas
Monasterevin
Portloaise
Kilcullen
Carlow
Gorey
Wexford
Arklow
Callan
Cashel
Mitchelstown
Fermoy
Cahir
Nenagh
Drogheda
Balbriggan
Dundalk
Longford (N4)
Athlone

c-note

nice list!
abbeyleix is a nightmare alright

One thing really that really bugs me is the new ikea right off the m50
it comes up on aa roadwatch quite a bit since opening

its great that they're creating jobs (100 more part time to come)
but ffs, the m50 should not be a motorized high street.

Wishbone Ash

Swords, Dunleer, Kilasran and Castle Bellingham.

Castleblaney and Monaghan town.

Dick Turnip

Kinnegad and Enfield can definetly be added to that list

Zoney

Kildare
Patrickswell

road_high

Rathnew
Moate
Loghrea
Ennis
Youghal
Kilkenny (partly)
Kilbeggan

tertials

N11 - Ashford and Rathnew were often murderous in the summer months. And going back a bit, Shankill, Bray and Newtownmountkennedy - tortuous. :mad:

Zoney

Newmarket-on-fergus (particularly the year or two before the bypass)

Wishbone Ash

Zoney wrote: »

Newmarket-on-fergus (particularly the year or two before the bypass)

Jesus, how did I forget that one - an awful spot then! :eek:

allthedoyles

if all those ones above are bottlenecks, then you must include New Ross...............

Hopefully '' Transport 21 '' will continue..........................

Godge

tertials wrote: »

N11 - Ashford and Rathnew were often murderous in the summer months. And going back a bit, Shankill, Bray and Newtownmountkennedy - tortuous. :mad:

Agreed Shankill was soooo bad.

And do you remember when that excuse of a Roscrea bypass was built, the time it cut off the journey even though the bypass is now a bottleneck!

mysterious

Godge wrote: »

Agreed Shankill was soooo bad.

And do you remember when that excuse of a Roscrea bypass was built, the time it cut off the journey even though the bypass is now a bottleneck!

How is the bypass a bottleneck??

It did cut off time journeys, do you realise how much mayhem it was pre bypass (despite lower traffic levels) trucks couldn't get up or down Limerick a car or truck passes from the opposite side.


Mountrath has the same problem. The traffic light system works brillantly to keep traffic moving through mountrath, but again the turn just before the the square can't allow two heavy vehicles to pass, so you can get tailbacks here. When the Nenagh to Limerick scheme opens, I suspect mountrath to be even more crazy.

Borris in Ossary (growing town) is also a bottleneck now. It will be interesting to see if the new roundabout will slow things down more. A lot of new houses have gone up here, since Borris in Ossary will be the closest town past Portaoise from a Motorway. If the house markets stabalise Borris in Ossary will be a very attractive place for Dublin buyers.

Did anyone mention

• Loughrea:eek:
• Naas
• Newbridge
• Rathcoole (one of Irelands oldest bottlenecks:))

The towns that still suffer really bad congestion
Adare
Newcastlewest
Mountrath
Abbeyleix
Ballinsloe (bypassed Q2 2010)
Gort (bypassed (Q2 2010)
Chareville
Claregalway.

They really need to start the
N20 phase 1 scheme now
Adare and Croom section start in 2010
Chareville to Mallow phase two
Mallow to Cork Phase 3

mysterious

mfitzy wrote: »

Rathnew
Moate
Loghrea
Ennis
Youghal
Kilkenny (partly)
Kilbeggan

Ennis was the worst town to go through during summer

God almighty, tailbacks used to stretch the whole way to Shannon..

No lie.

It was an absaloute crawl, and I really felt for the locals of Clareclastle, the town was divided in half. Even 15 years ago Ennis was really bad during summers. Glad the the Limerick tunnel is opening soon.


People forget that Limerick is a bad bottleneck its one of the only cities along with Waterford that still has a national route through its city centre. The Dock road in Limerick gets a mention on AAroadwatch a lot...

Run_to_da_hills

Blackrock Co Dublin before the bypass, anyone remember the Free Nicky kelly with every packet of cornflakes graffiti ?

Zoney

mysterious wrote: »

People forget that Limerick is a bad bottleneck its one of the only cities along with Waterford that still has a national route through its city centre. The Dock road in Limerick gets a mention on AAroadwatch a lot...

With the completion of SRR phase 2, it is very likely that N20, N69 and N18 will all terminate on the ring road (indeed N20 is all but definite due to northbound physically terminating on it).

As regards Ennis it would only be a bit alleviated during the summer if they hadn't done the Western bypass too all the way round to N85 - thankfully they did. The town centre is even today not that great for traffic - from what I've seen it's messy enough even just with the very local traffic (i.e. actually going to/from town centre).

Chris_533976

Croom

Bards

Anyone remember Youghal before the bypass, could have taken 30 - 40 mins to get through on Fridays

Tech3

I remember Ennis pre bypass was an absolute nightmare. The N18 must have been one hell hole when people had to encounter Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ennis and Clarecastle.

I can imagine Donegal town must have been insane before the bypass was completed.

Chris_533976

Ennis was awful, definately. From Clarecastle to the north of Ennis was 40 minutes on a good day usually. Its just such a long town, at least with most bottlenecks theres one squeeze and then you're out, but with Ennis it just went on and on and on.

Cookie_Monster

Ferns
Enniscorthy

Run_to_da_hills

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Ennis was awful, definately. From Clarecastle to the north of Ennis was 40 minutes on a good day usually. Its just such a long town, at least with most bottlenecks theres one squeeze and then you're out, but with Ennis it just went on and on and on.

There was still a few rat runs out by Doora and the Quin road that not too many knew about.

L1011

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Ferns
Enniscorthy

It'd be great if either of those *were* former bottlenecks!

Kilcock could take 20 minutes pre M4; and the unwillingness of KCC to put full traffic lights on the N4 through Maynooth village meant that traffic from the southern housing estates could back up for 40 minutes at morning rush trying to turn right on to the Dublin road!

sk8board

Castledermot, one of the last serious bottlenecks in the east of the country; by-passed by October this year as part of the M7 to Waterford

there was a massive tailback of match traffic to croker today for the KK WD match. The Motorway will eliminate it completely

Bluetonic

Chapelizod & Lucan.

Mr Jinx

Ardee !!!

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Athlone used to be tortuous on a Friday evening, Church Street actually has a stretch of it known as "The Bottleneck".

Bards

sk8board wrote: »

Castledermot, one of the last serious bottlenecks in the east of the country; by-passed by October this year as part of the M7 to Waterford

there was a massive tailback of match traffic to croker today for the KK WD match. The Motorway will eliminate it completely

I'm sure you mean M9

RadioCity

Stranorlar (Westbound) and Ballybofey (Eastbound) mostly caused by the pedestrian lights at McElhinneys and the N15/R252 (Dungloe) junction, also the queue from McClays Corner where the N13 ends

Up until recently- Letterkenny.
No new road relieved the traffic, just the poor exchange rate kept NI shoppers at home.

mikemac

I'm unsure if Loughrea is bypassed now

But it deserves a place on this list

L1011

mikemac wrote: »

I'm unsure if Loughrea is bypassed now

But it deserves a place on this list

Has been for some years. Won't even be near to the M6 when its done either.

Sponge Bob

A lot of these places were only truly grim on a friday around 6pm ....in fairness .

I made O Connell Bridge - Eyre Square 20 years ago in 2 hours and with only Athlone Palmerstown and Lucan bypassed at that time , I had to go through all the rest of the problem spots starting with Leixlip ...but they were empty early in the morning .

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Sponge Bob wrote: »

A lot of these places were only truly grim on a friday around 6pm ....in fairness .

I made O Connell Bridge - Eyre Square 20 years ago in 2 hours and with only Athlone Palmerstown and Lucan bypassed at that time , I had to go through all the rest of the problem spots starting with Leixlip ...but they were empty early in the morning .

.........was there a helicopter involved??:eek:

L1011

deccurley wrote: »

.........was there a helicopter involved??:eek:

More like 6am of a bank holiday Sunday morning, I'd think.

A bottleneck's only a bottleneck when there are other cars around - I've gone a constant [speed censored] around the south side of the M25 before, when its normally infamous across Europe as a car park. It was at 5am...

Kalashnikov_Kid

Newry

Húrin

Ardee and Ratoath

L1011

ignore this, got my head backwards and was explaining why ratoath wasn't a bottleneck anymore then remember the purpose of the thread is to list ones that aren't....

Davidth88

Good thread.

We drive Dub- Killarney often , have done since 2001.

When we started.

Kildare , Monasterevin, Mountrath, then Limerick , the bypass there has I reckon saved 15-30 mins of the journey .

Sponge Bob

MYOB wrote: »

More like 6am of a bank holiday Sunday morning, I'd think.

5am of a sunny morning in June, nothing on the road. I never travelled anywhere on a friday/sunday afternoon if I could help it and I still don't unless there is a motorway or train involved .

Back to bottlenecks

Oranmore

veryangryman

Sponge Bob wrote: »

5am of a sunny morning in June, nothing on the road. I never travelled anywhere on a friday/sunday afternoon if I could help it and I still don't unless there is a motorway or train involved .

Back to bottlenecks

Oranmore

Anyone ever watch that film "Cars" about how upset everyone is in the town when the highway is built passed it.

Tough titties talking trucks is all ill say

Redsoxfan

Ballyshannon/Bundoran
Carrickmacross

Although not part of our 'national' network, the bypasses/ring roads at Omagh, Newtownstewart and Strabane have been an improvement to the Donegal-Dublin route.

murphaph

mysterious wrote: »

People forget that Limerick is one of the only cities along with Waterford that still has a national route through its city centre.

Do you check anything before you type? Dublin and Cork have a load of national routes forming city streets too. :rolleyes: Pretty much every city in Ireland (inc. NI) has national routes or primary routes through its centre!

veryangryman

murphaph wrote: »

mysterious wrote: »

People forget that Limerick is one of the only cities along with Waterford that still has a national route through its city centre./QUOTE]
Do you check anything before you type? Dublin and Cork have a load of national routes forming city streets too. :rolleyes: Pretty much every city in Ireland (inc. NI) has national routes or primary routes through its centre!

In fairness to mysterious, im sure he meant that the other cities have bypasses that lead you to not have to use roads like the N1/2/3/4/11 right into their middle.

Although...Sligos N4 goes right to city centre too.

Nonetheless i have my popcorn at the ready. Arguments with Mysterious on this forum have become like celebrity deathmatch..without the celebrities

murphaph

What about bypasses that themselves became bottlenecks? Kill (N7) on a friday evening saw traffic backed up from the lights all the way to Rathcoole sometimes!

Davidth88

How about Swords , the only town where the bypass was bypassed .....

I used to drive from Blanch to Feltrim , often cut past the a/port and up the old N1 to where Pavilions now is ..... it was horrible .

veryangryman

murphaph wrote: »

What about bypasses that themselves became bottlenecks? Kill (N7) on a friday evening saw traffic backed up from the lights all the way to Rathcoole sometimes!

Kinnegads non-motorway bypass can get busy at times. Same for Loughreas.

Enfields, while not busy IS brutal and thats if you dont get stuck at the lights.

M50 can be a bottleneck. I used to always question people who recommend "avoid the M50" at rush hours until i tried doing it a couple of times. For instance Leixlip-Clonee-Blanch can be much quicker that M4-N4-N50-Blanch

mysterious

murphaph wrote: »

Do you check anything before you type? Dublin and Cork have a load of national routes forming city streets too. :rolleyes: Pretty much every city in Ireland (inc. NI) has national routes or primary routes through its centre!

Oh oh and another whack.

Murphaph, Murphaph what do we do with you??

I said Limerick was a more of a through road for national traffic, the other cities have national routes that merely end or begin at arrival. It doesn't only have national routes forming its streets but its also the main east-west and north south crossroads of this country. Limerick is also a major crossing of the River Shannon.

Limerick still is a huge national traffic bottleneck,
The city centre and Dock/Dublin roads still suffer chronic national route traffic despite the southern ring road in place.

Some of the routes
Cork - Galway
Wateford Galway
Kerry - Dublin (bypassed)
Clare - Dublin
North Cork - Dublin (bypassed)

These routes use the main streets of Limerick STILL.

serfboard

veryangryman wrote: »

Kinnegads non-motorway bypass can get busy at times. Same for Loughreas.
Enfields, while not busy IS brutal and thats if you dont get stuck at the lights.

Swords
Kinnegad
Enfield
Loughrea (2010)

Anyone like to add any others (I'm sure there are plenty)?

L1011

serfboard wrote: »

Swords
Kinnegad
Enfield
Loughrea (2010)

Anyone like to add any others (I'm sure there are plenty)?

Cahir, Mitchelstown.

Bards

mysterious wrote: »

Oh oh and another whack.

Murphaph, Murphaph what do we do with you??

I said Limerick was a more of a through road for national traffic, the other cities have national routes that merely end or begin at arrival.

erm, Waterford City (until the bypass is finished) is the main route for Cork/Rosslare traffic

Carawaystick

serfboard wrote: »

Swords
Kinnegad
Enfield
Loughrea (2010)

Anyone like to add any others (I'm sure there are plenty)?

Dublin - ORR is a partial solution.
Balbriggan - Harry Reynolds road - Although I dunno if this was built before or after the M1.
Dundalk


I don't think it's fair to say Loughrea will be bypassed, The route from Ballinasloe to Athenry goes so far away from Loughrea, there's no way you could reasonably go from near Craughwell to say the N65 on the second bypass(M6). If you look at a map you'll see how much of a detour the current road takes to get from Ballinasloe to Galway.
It's actually one of the sensible choices made building the Motorway network. as opposed to linking bypasses together....

mysterious

Bards wrote: »

erm, Waterford City (until the bypass is finished) is the main route for Cork/Rosslare traffic

I mentioned that on the previous page if you looked.