from shopping centre to motorway

byhookorbycrook

I was in Galway today, left the shopping centre (Headford road??) and followed the signs for Dublin...to find myself on the old road as far as Loughrea. Another friend did the same thing, so where did we go wrong?

LadyMayBelle

You do realise it's called the magic roundabout...

I can't help you. I still can't get to Tesco off it never mind Dublin

Stench Blossoms

Recently moved to Galway and this keeps happening me.

They need to have clearer signs for the M6.

ScumLord

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I was in Galway today, left the shopping centre (Headford road??) and followed the signs for Dublin...to find myself on the old road as far as Loughrea. Another friend did the same thing, so where did we go wrong?

You followed the signs, they can't be trusted. I think it's some huge joke the road authority are playing on the rest of the world.

spender.j

Basically, they still have signs out for Dublin taking you from the Headford Rd roundabout up the Dublin Rd, at the outside end of the Dublin Rd beside Doughishka they had( a few weeks ago) some hand-written signs telling you to turn left (back toward the racecourse) to Dublin and right (toward Oranmore) to Limerick. I believe these signs have now gone... If you had travelled straight out the dual-carriageway past Dunnes in Terryland you would have had no problems as the new roundabout at the head of the M6 is glaringly obvious! :pac:

swe_fi

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I was in Galway today, left the shopping centre (Headford road??) and followed the signs for Dublin...to find myself on the old road as far as Loughrea. Another friend did the same thing, so where did we go wrong?

Maybe you are already clear on this but this is how I would explain it
1. When you exit the shopping centre at the "Supermacs" end, take a deep breath, say your prayers to your God of choice and keep right.
2. Take the 3rd exit (270 degrees), the road you come on to is passing Dunnes & Statoil on your right. Stay in the right lane.
3. When you come down to the next roundabout after Statoil take the 3rd exit (again, 270 degrees!) - move safely on to the left lane here or get flashed and beeped over)
4. Cruise along up to the next roundabout which you go straight through (180 degrees!) - stay in the left lane
5. Soon you come up to Morris Roundabout where you continue on left to the Dual carriageway - ride along that til you come down to next roundabout (change safely to right lane close to the end of this stretch) - 3rd exit towards Dublin - Yes 270 degrees again
6. Now you are nearly there, get over in the left lane if you are not already there to enter the Slip road towards Dublin - Even if you miss the slip road you still have a chance to enter the Dual Carriageway via the Roundabout ahead (Still a fairly popular choice among motorists - must be the allure of Galway roundabouts!)

LadyMayBelle

swe_fi wrote: »

Maybe you are already clear on this but this is how I would explain it
1. When you exit the shopping centre at the "Supermacs" end, take a deep breath, say your prayers to your God of choice and keep right.
2. Take the 3rd exit (270 degrees), the road you come on to is passing Dunnes & Statoil on your right. Stay in the right lane.
3. When you come down to the next roundabout after Statoil take the 3rd exit (again, 270 degrees!) - move safely on to the left lane here or get flashed and beeped over)
4. Cruise along up to the next roundabout which you go straight through (180 degrees!) - stay in the left lane
5. Soon you come up to Morris Roundabout where you continue on left to the Dual carriageway - ride along that til you come down to next roundabout (change safely to right lane close to the end of this stretch) - 3rd exit towards Dublin - Yes 270 degrees again
6. Now you are nearly there, get over in the left lane if you are not already there to enter the Slip road towards Dublin - Even if you miss the slip road you still have a chance to enter the Dual Carriageway via the Roundabout ahead (Still a fairly popular choice among motorists - must be the allure of Galway roundabouts!)

Story of my life when it comes to that roundabout!!

Captain Darling

Signage in this country is an absolute joke. You'll invariably get lost if you rely on road signs.

I was up in Belfast a few months ago and managed to get in and out of the city centre easily with no fuss. Our signs are a total waste of time, it always seems at a critical junction they have to either have no signs at all or make it totally confusing. :mad:

swe_fi

Captain Darling wrote: »

Signage in this country is an absolute joke. You'll invariably get lost if you rely on road signs.

I was up in Belfast a few months ago and managed to get in and out of the city centre easily with no fuss. Our signs are a total waste of time, it always seems at a critical junction they have to either have no signs at all or make it totally confusing. :mad:

It makes sense though. Because the signs are so bad, it is really hard to get out of here, which means the likelyhood of the people designing the junctions having been outside Ireland (or their own county even) is low (because the bad signage prevents them), meaning they were probably never exposed to a properly functioning infrastructure. I think it is an element of defiance as well in a "Don't-you-come-here-and-tell-me-how-to-design-junctions-tis-roundabout-is-grand-lets-build-another-one" kind of way. I'm actually amazed Roundabouts only have one level here, if there was ever a place to build a two storey roundabout it would be here. Galway - City of the Tribes & the Multi-storey roundabout. Great tourist attraction.

Black_Knight

Been in Galway for years now, never once used a sign to get around the place. Use the force... or google maps.

swe_fi

swe_fi wrote: »

It makes sense though. Because the signs are so bad, it is really hard to get out of here, which means the likelyhood of the people designing the junctions having been outside Ireland (or their own county even) is low (because the bad signage prevents them), meaning they were probably never exposed to a properly functioning infrastructure. I think it is an element of defiance as well in a "Don't-you-come-here-and-tell-me-how-to-design-junctions-tis-roundabout-is-grand-lets-build-another-one" kind of way. I'm actually amazed Roundabouts only have one level here, if there was ever a place to build a two storey roundabout it would be here. Galway - City of the Tribes & the Multi-storey roundabout. Great tourist attraction.

The M6, M17, M18 junction near Athenry is going to be a multi level roundabout (it won't be called that though)

soundbyte

Deleted User wrote: »

The M6, M17, M18 junction near Athenry is going to be a multi level roundabout (it won't be called that though)

Indeed, a 'stacked interchange' sounds far more cosmopolitan! :pac:

ScumLord

Black_Knight wrote: »

Been in Galway for years now, never once used a sign to get around the place. Use the force... or google maps.

I prefer force, I can't go throwing my laptop at people I need it.

scart

and dont rely on a sat nav as the M6 from athlone to galway dosent exist according
to my garmin sat nav with the latest up to date mapping:mad:

biko

My sat nav shows me driving through fields whenever I go on the new motorway. Not that I need it in Galway much anyway.

byhookorbycrook

scart wrote: »

and dont rely on a sat nav as the M6 from athlone to galway dosent exist according
to my garmin sat nav with the latest up to date mapping:mad:

It doesn't know how to get from Carlow to Tullamore by-pass either.

KevR

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I was in Galway today, left the shopping centre (Headford road??) and followed the signs for Dublin...to find myself on the old road as far as Loughrea. Another friend did the same thing, so where did we go wrong?

You sort of went wrong by following the signs. I'm guessing you went out the Dublin Road (R338) and then followed signs for Dublin at the Browne roundabout? i.e. - you went straight on at the roundabout and onto the "N6" dual carriageway to Oranmore? To get on the M6, you would need to turn left at the Browne roundabout and travel a short distance on the R446 (old N6) dual carriageway to the new N6 roundabout at Doughiska. Then, from the Doughiska roundabout, you go on the brand new N6 DC towards Dublin which leads directly/seemlessly into the M6 at Junction 19.

The signage at Browne roundabout hasn't yet been updated. Although, when I passed there a few days ago there were new signage poles so hopefully the signs will be updates very shortly.

OpenStreetMap is a lot more up-to-date than Google or Yahoo Maps when it comes to major roads such as motorways. However, it doesn't have some minor roads in certain areas.

Part of the old N6 DC at Oranmore has become part of the N18. The rest of the old N6 between Oranmore and Doughiska has become the R446. Hopefully they will update the road signs soon to reflect this change.

Old N6 route (in black)

New N/M6 route

LadyPennyworth wrote: »

You do realise it's called the magic roundabout...

I can't help you. I still can't get to Tesco off it never mind Dublin

Have a look at these pictures, they might help:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j36/Kev-Ryan/GalwaySCroundabout.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j36/Kev-Ryan/GalwaySCroundabout2.jpg

Magnus wrote: »

My sat nav shows me driving through fields whenever I go on the new motorway. Not that I need it in Galway much anyway.

scart wrote: »

and dont rely on a sat nav as the M6 from athlone to galway dosent exist according
to my garmin sat nav with the latest up to date mapping:mad:

Will probably take a while for Sat Navs to get up-to-date. They don't do updates everytime a new road opens, they only do it periodically (I haven't a clue when though, sorry!).

As far as I know, for certain Sat Navs you can take road traces off OpenStreetMap and update your Sat Nav. I don't know how to do it because I don't have a Sat Nav but know it can be done..

padraig71

Road signs in Ireland are terrible. I had some job finding the road back to Galway from the Sheraton hotel in Athlone last night. And if you want a real nightmare of a roundabout, try driving to the Red Cow hotel in Dublin. :eek:

cooperguy

LadyPennyworth wrote: »

You do realise it's called the magic roundabout...

I can't help you. I still can't get to Tesco off it never mind Dublin

This is what I call a magic roundabout!!

http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/12/08/magic_roundabout.jpg

kayos

swe_fi wrote: »

Maybe you are already clear on this but this is how I would explain it
1. When you exit the shopping centre at the "Supermacs" end, take a deep breath, say your prayers to your God of choice and keep right.
2. Take the 3rd exit (270 degrees), the road you come on to is passing Dunnes & Statoil on your right. Stay in the right lane.
3. When you come down to the next roundabout after Statoil take the 3rd exit (again, 270 degrees!) - move safely on to the left lane here or get flashed and beeped over)
4. Cruise along up to the next roundabout which you go straight through (180 degrees!) - stay in the left lane
5. Soon you come up to Morris Roundabout where you continue on left2nd exit 90degrees to the Dual carriageway - ride along that til you come down to next roundabout (change safely to right lane close to the end of this stretch) - 2nd exit towards Dublin - Yes 270 degrees again
6. Now you are nearly there, get over in the left lane if you are not already there to enter the Slip road towards Dublin - Even if you miss the slip road you still have a chance to enter the Dual Carriageway via the Roundabout ahead (Still a fairly popular choice among motorists - must be the allure of Galway roundabouts!)

Fixed your directions for ya.... the 3rd exit on the western motors roundabout brings you to the Briarhill shopping center. If am wrong I blame the lack of coffee.


Also whats the point in taking the M6 to get to limerick I never undertstood that sign in the future you would but right now no (pretty sure the sign at the enterence for the M6 says you go that way to limerick as well). If you go out the M6 you just end up taking the first Oranmore exit then taking a crappy road (complete with a level crossing) into oranmore and then out the limerick road. Stick to the old way and you have dual carriage way all the way.

LadyMayBelle

cooperguy wrote: »

This is what I call a magic roundabout!!

http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/12/08/magic_roundabout.jpg

Panic attack.

swe_fi

Kayos you are right, thanks for correcting. I go this way EVERY day I should be ashamed of myself! I suppose it just feels like the 3rd exit :-) Hopefully no-one followed this advice or they could still be floating around Doughiska / Roscam.

My Directions were aimed for people going to Dublin, agree on the Limerick comment.

On the topic of the roundabout, this is mad:

http://www.roundaboutsusa.com/

Can someone with time on their hands make a webpage dedicated to the Magic Roundabout?

KevR

kayos wrote: »

Also whats the point in taking the M6 to get to limerick I never undertstood that sign in the future you would but right now no (pretty sure the sign at the enterence for the M6 says you go that way to limerick as well). If you go out the M6 you just end up taking the first Oranmore exit then taking a crappy road (complete with a level crossing) into oranmore and then out the limerick road. Stick to the old way and you have dual carriage way all the way.

Agree!

In future (possibly 3 years from now) you will take the M6 for Limerick and Tuam. You will go on the M6 to Rathmorrissey near Athenry where there will be a 3-level stacked roundabout interchange for the M6/M17/M18.

But at the moment it's defnitely better to take the R446 (old N6) Dual Carriageway to Oranmore and getting on the N18 there. As you said, by going on the M6 now, you end up on a crappy section of N18 between junction 19 of the M6 and Oranmore.