Oddities of Irish Infrastructure

mysterious

Newlands cross at at grade. (should of been done years ago) and when the Rathcoole DC was upgraded to 3 lanes each way. But the idea was to improve the entire N7 and leave Newlands at grade.

kind of odd.

But appropriate for this thread though.

rubensni

Ireland has a unique railway gauge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_gauge

Zoney

rubensni:

Now there is one that should have popped up earlier! One or two oddities elsewhere in the world where it is present, but you'd be safe enough describing it as "Irish gauge"!

Roryhy

It is an Irish gauge, it's irish engineers that spread it to other areas.

ardmacha

In the North, they like the idea of an A37 so much that they have two, both running more or less East-West and 140km apart.

Carawaystick

rubensni wrote: »

Ireland has a unique railway gauge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_gauge

It's not unique
as the wikipedia clearly ses.


In light of the threads on the inaccesibility of the Beckett Bridge in Dublin, building bridges to take traffic from other bridges and then forcing traffic to bypass the new bridge and use the old bridge seems apt.

The N82

No digital terrestrial TV / VHF tv

Building motorway-motorway junctions with traffic light controlled junctions instead of making it freeflow M1/M50 and M1NS-M1E

Building a motorway network and no rest areas
Spending taxpayers money to build a motorway rest area 3km from a privately built service station. (M1 applegreen and the new Msa's at Ballough)

Trick of the Tail

> No digital terrestrial TV / VHF tv

What do you mean by that?

And the service station nr Balbriggan is crazy.

A.

Zoney

alinton:

We still broadcast VHF TV (from three sites I believe) and do not yet have an operational digital terrestrial service (while other countries are already switching off analogue).

L1011

Zoney wrote: »

alinton:

We still broadcast VHF TV (from three sites I believe) and do not yet have an operational digital terrestrial service (while other countries are already switching off analogue).

I wouldn't call a system running off all core transmitters and a number of relays anything but "operational", even if its not publicised! I've been using DTT for years at this stage.

Trick of the Tail

Exactly. There's nothing unusual about using VHF Band III for TV, and DTT is on the air with 5 public service channels covering a good proportion of the country already.

OK, its true its official launch and the transition to it is a cock-up, but thats because there is no commercial partner to help fund it and RTE are disinclined to fund it all themselves.

Unfortunately, the longer they take to launch it officially, the less market there is going to be for a pay-TV bouquet. I think most households that want multi-channel, pay-TV already have it courtesy of Sky or NTL/Chorus - they're not going to pay another subscription.

However, I feel this particular vein of discussion probably belongs on a different forum!

A.

Victor

Its about 37km from Ballinasloe to Athenry, with only the toll plaza and the interchange for Loughrea in between.

Road over road bridge dating from the 19th century.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=snc2bjg8xcs7&scene=27176668&lvl=2&sty=o

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=snjzspg94qkb&scene=27177586&lvl=2&sty=o

murphaph

Victor wrote: »

Its about 37km from Ballinasloe to Athenry, with only the toll plaza and the interchange for Loughrea in between.

Road over road bridge dating from the 19th century.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=snc2bjg8xcs7&scene=27176668&lvl=2&sty=o

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=snjzspg94qkb&scene=27177586&lvl=2&sty=o

I love those bridges, I'm guessing they were former railway bridges, converted to road use, like the one in East Waterford on the way to Passage.

jd

Of course we also have a non continuous national road between Dublin and Belfast

Heading north from Whitehall we have the N1, then the M50, then back to the M1 (n1)

amacachi

jd wrote: »

Of course we also have a non continuous national road between Dublin and Belfast

Heading north from Whitehall we have the N1, then the M50, then back to the M1 (n1)

Then the N1 again before the border and if you want to push it further it then becomes the A1 and finally on to the M1.

Also the M1 just north of Dundalk (just before it becomes the N1) travels slightly south of east for a very short bit.

Victor

murphaph wrote: »

I love those bridges, I'm guessing they were former railway bridges, converted to road use, like the one in East Waterford on the way to Passage.

No, no railway went there.

Mike 1972

Use of Irish/Gaelic placenames (not bilingual) for non-Gaeltacht towns in English language public transport timetables.

E.G. Navan, Newbridge, Charlieville etc

L1011

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Use of Irish/Gaelic placenames (not bilingual) for non-Gaeltacht towns in English language public transport timetables.

E.G. Navan, Newbridge, Charlieville etc

Thats mostly stopped, Baegnalstown is one of the last places lumbered with that with any frequency. Kells was another that had it in the past.

Using an anglecised Irish placename rather than the English placename was another former oddity (Mostrim for Edgesworthstown).

Mike 1972

MYOB wrote: »

Thats mostly stopped

Then there is those monolingual "An Lar" destination signboards on the front of city busses when all other destinations are Bilingual or English only.

It gets really laughable on cross-city services e.g. "Tallaght (via An Lar)"

AndrewMc

Unless things have changed since I last checked, a private car isn't actually allowed follow the N11, supposedly a National Primary Route, fully through to O'Connell Bridge. Same, I think, south on the N1 at O'Connell Street? Not much of a route, really, in that case.

larryone

Minister Dempsey has recently changed the law wrt flashing lignts on bikes.
They were illegal, oddly.
Then it was noticed Dublinbikes used flashing lights, and were hence illegal.
So he made it legal.
How rare.

larryone

AndrewMc wrote: »

Unless things have changed since I last checked, a private car isn't actually allowed follow the N11, supposedly a National Primary Route, fully through to O'Connell Bridge. Same, I think, south on the N1 at O'Connell Street? Not much of a route, really, in that case.

There is a way onto O'Connell street southbound in a private car, but not for the full length of it.
What is or isnt a N road loses a certain amount of significance when you get closer to the city centre. Then again I suppose if you dont know your way through the city, and want to follow signposts you're kindof screwed.
This way to Wexford, but only if you're a bus, taxi or cyclist....

Hadto

I find these quite odd:

Carawaystick

larryone wrote: »

Then again I suppose if you dont know your way through the city, and want to follow signposts you're kindof screwed.

You shouldn't be though, I've been to Bordeaux, Cannes, Barcelona, Trier, Luxemburg, Bilbao, Seville, Capetown city centres and found my way about from the signposts. only in Ireland, and Britain with their silly system of signing road numbers instead of destinations has city centre driving on spec been an issue.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Victor

Plowman wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Its also a junction.

Carawaystick

Victor wrote: »

Its also a junction.

Is that not why the limit signs are there?
ignoring the fact the one sign is twisted around, if the mainroad was in a built up area with the lower limit, then the 80 limit for unbuiltup areas applies on the boreen.

murphaph

Carawaystick wrote: »

You shouldn't be though, I've been to Bordeaux, Cannes, Barcelona, Trier, Luxemburg, Bilbao, Seville, Capetown city centres and found my way about from the signposts. only in Ireland, and Britain with their silly system of signing road numbers instead of destinations has city centre driving on spec been an issue.

Signing by road number has advantages (eg minimises the amount of info you need to keep in your head, remembering 2 road numbers is a lot easier than a string of control destinations) and disadvantages (numbers are harder to remember than names). Ditto for signing by destination. I think the theory in the RoI is actually quite sound. It is a happy compromise between road numbers and control destinations (eg on N routes the end destination should always be displayed top, followed by the closer destination(s) below, on R roads the only thing to be displayed is the number and the next most important town along the route. IME this is one of the most broken rules and you end up with R roads in Lucan pointing to St. Margaret's (wherever that is!) with no mention of Clonsilla/Blanchardstown!!

As for city driving in (the Republic of) Ireland. It's the pits because the rules aren't implemented properly. Dublin is far and away the worst signed city I have ever driven in. You can drive for ages and not meet a road sign, even on a busy arterial (and regional!) route. Compare to Belfast, peace of cake driving there without a map as the important stuff is all well signed. If Dublin roads were signed according to the procedures laid down in the TSM, it would also be easy to navigate in without a map.

Owenw

I find it quite odd that there isn't a single roadsign in Dublin to direct you to the main railway stations, yet as soon as you step onto a platform there's a sign every 10 metres!

murphaph

It may have been mentioned already, but "new world" yellow diamond warning road signs are unique in Europe.

veryangryman

Sorry to be pedantic but..

The actual debate that there is on Athlone bypass becoming Motorway despite there being,

- No decent slip/merge road at either of the Roscommon side junctions
- Crap sight lines (especially coming from either side of the M6 at speed)

And yet the dumb contractors put new signage as Motorway towards the west end. Idiots :mad:

The road is good, but not good enough.

icdg

The biggest oddity of Irish infrastructure was that nearly 27 year period when new directional signs showed distances in kilometres, but speed limits remained in mph...

For me the fact that we are exceedingly bad at signing railway stations (in most cases fingerposts erected by Irish Rail are the only signs, they don't tend to get included in official signs), and as I've mentioned it before, the fact that the biggest railway station in the country (Heuston Station) has not one exterior sign, mentioning the name of the station, or even the fact that it is a railway station - would it kill them to put up a sign saying "IE Hueston Station" outside?

Oh, here's an oddities of Irish infrastrucure question. Anyone who can tell me what is unique about the N67 over any other national road gets a prize.

larryone

There is a sign outside saying Heuston!




....on the luas stop

Roryhy

icdg wrote: »

The biggest oddity of Irish infrastructure was that nearly 27 year period when new directional signs showed distances in kilometres, but speed limits remained in mph...

For me the fact that we are exceedingly bad at signing railway stations (in most cases fingerposts erected by Irish Rail are the only signs, they don't tend to get included in official signs), and as I've mentioned it before, the fact that the biggest railway station in the country (Heuston Station) has not one exterior sign, mentioning the name of the station, or even the fact that it is a railway station - would it kill them to put up a sign saying "IE Hueston Station" outside?

Oh, here's an oddities of Irish infrastrucure question. Anyone who can tell me what is unique about the N67 over any other national road gets a prize.

It's number of course!;)

icdg

Roryhy wrote: »

It's number of course!;)

Other than that :-).

What's "special" is probably more the query, at least, I can't think of any other N-road in the Republic where you have to do this, but there's at least one A-road in the North where you must...

murphaph

icdg wrote: »

Oh, here's an oddities of Irish infrastrucure question. Anyone who can tell me what is unique about the N67 over any other national road gets a prize.

Only National Route interrupted by a ferry service?

icdg

murphaph wrote: »

Only National Route interrupted by a ferry service?

Correct. As far as I remember. Its an odd one. The A2 up North is also interrupted by a car ferry. Its wierd because when leaving Tarbert town to head to the ferry terminal there's an RCS signing Killimer, of course the distance includes the Shannon estuary...

mysterious

We have planners, road engineers and a road authority who can't seem to plan or build our roads right. Or stick to any orginal plan. They also can future proof roads. And we tend to build roads that are less needed than others, namely because A TD wants to build a bypass for the village named ballymacklanders.

Trick of the Tail

Oddity: (For isn't that what this thread is for?)

Travelling west on the M7, at the N8 junction, the slip road to the left which has been barriered off ever since it was built.

Why?

A.

L1011

Someone on here got a response from the NRA about that, 'land access' was the reason I think.

Trick of the Tail

What does that mean? When it was planned and built, the access to lands its in front of must have been taken into account.

Oh. Hush my mouth.

A.

Carawaystick

the nice lady at the nra wrote:

The opening of this slip road is a matter for Laois County Council as
the road authority for the area. I have, however, made enquiries into
the matter and I understand that following the opening of the N7
Portlaoise Bypass, Laois County Council failed to reach an acceptable
agreement with the adjacent landowner and the slip road has not been
opened as it impacts on the access to the landowners property.

THis is what I was told.
There;s a gateway that could only be entered by crossing the slip on the N8

Trick of the Tail

And the gateway wasn't noticed before / couldn't be moved?

How long has that slip been built and lain unused?

A.

L1011

Since the motorway - 13 years this year I think.

Trick of the Tail

Why does Phoenix Park, situated north of the Liffey, have an even-numbered Dublin area - Dublin 8?

All other even numbers are south of the river, and odd numbers are north of it.

How can parts of Dublin 8 be southside and parts be northside?

A.

L1011

Official reason - its served by a southside sorting office
The rumour - so the president can have a southside postcode

oddiot

alinton wrote: »

Why does Phoenix Park, situated north of the Liffey, have an even-numbered Dublin area - Dublin 8?

All other even numbers are south of the river, and odd numbers are north of it.

How can parts of Dublin 8 be southside and parts be northside?

A.

Parts of D20 are also north of the river.

richardjjd

alinton wrote: »

Why does Phoenix Park, situated north of the Liffey, have an even-numbered Dublin area - Dublin 8?



All other even numbers are south of the river, and odd numbers are north of it.



How can parts of Dublin 8 be southside and parts be northside?



A.

Chapelizod and Mount Sackville school are also D20 post coded...

unit 1

Anyone seen this http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsinchujohn/3585734914/

L1011

unit 1 wrote: »

Anyone seen this http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsinchujohn/3585734914/

..and the effective cart-track that leads up to it from one side, yes.

Victor

unit 1 wrote: »

Anyone seen this http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsinchujohn/3585734914/

Alternative photos http://www.geograph.ie/gridref/C1538

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/roadstransport/majorprojects/mulroybaybridge.htm