Why can't we be organised and honest like the Czechs?

Sponge Bob

In Ireland roads are announced and cut back and put back and reannounced and generally left at the whim of political shystering, eg Cork - Midleton which is on a constant stop go stop go cycle depending on what politicians thing we want to hear.

The Czechs do things differently . They have a website ( in English) devoted to their Motorway and Expressway network. They show what they have and how they intend to improve it over time.

It is such a simple clear site, not even a final year degree project level site. Yet we have nothing of the sort bar an out of date list of individual projects on the NRA website

http://www.motorway.cz/motorways

Each road has a clear entry and future plans are shown, eg overall



more here http://www.motorway.cz/maps

Visualisations http://www.ceskedalnice.cz/video/vizualizace

And to an individual road. The D11

Schematic

http://www.ceskedalnice.cz/schema/d11

Overview with AADTs

http://www.motorway.cz/motorways#d11

Long Term Plans

spacetweek

This isn't a smart question or anything, but what exactly is your point here?

The Czechs don't have exact dates for any of this for the same reason we don't - because they don't know when particular projects will have funding available. We've an economic crisis since 2007, Eastern Europe has had one since 1991.

So what exactly does it matter that they've drawn up a map? Doesn't prove anything, doesn't make planning any more of an exact science than it is in Ireland.

While I'm here I'd like to plug my own map that I drew

D'Peoples Voice

spacetweek wrote: »

While I'm here I'd like to plug my own map that I drew

Now what would be really helpful is if you could superimpose your road network on this map http://www.bestcountryreports.com/zoomify.asp?name=Z_Irelan_Pop
Whats the point in having lines on a map unless we have an idea as to their usage?

Road-Hog

spacetweek wrote: »

This isn't a smart question or anything, but what exactly is your point here?

The Czechs don't have exact dates for any of this for the same reason we don't - because they don't know when particular projects will have funding available. We've an economic crisis since 2007, Eastern Europe has had one since 1991.

So what exactly does it matter that they've drawn up a map? Doesn't prove anything, doesn't make planning any more of an exact science than it is in Ireland.

While I'm here I'd like to plug my own map that I drew

+1..........not up to the usaul 'Sponge Bob' standard.............name one country (bar communist ones) where politics does not have a local aspect?

Sponge Bob

spacetweek wrote: »

The Czechs don't have exact dates for any of this for the same reason we don't - because they don't know when particular projects will have funding available. We've an economic crisis since 2007, Eastern Europe has had one since 1991.

The Czechs don't have dates but they evidently have a plan and by having a plan they let others plan too.

We have managed to confuse matters by abandoning WS2 and then 2+1 in the space of only 5 years, now An Bord P is taking umbrage with 2+2 as we saw in Mayo recently.

Time to finish a PLAN, add the finished bits and map it on a dedicated website.

How the Czechs allow 130kph on their 2+2 "R Road" expressways as well as on their Motorways would also be worth investigating

Building will take a lot longer as we all know.

spacetweek

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The Czechs don't have dates but they evidently have a plan and by having a plan they let others plan too.

We have managed to confuse matters by abandoning WS2 and then 2+1 in the space of only 5 years, now An Bord P is taking umbrage with 2+2 as we saw in Mayo recently.

Time to finish a PLAN, add the finished bits and map it on a dedicated website.

How the Czechs allow 130kph on their 2+2 "R Road" expressways as well as on their Motorways would also be worth investigating

Building will take a lot longer as we all know.

We have plans too. The interurbans, the Atlantic corridor etc. The next wave of works don't have end dates, but neither do Eastern Europe's roads.

The 2+1/2+2 stuff is merely the evolution of our thinking on these issues. Nothing wrong with trying stuff out. The move from 2+1 to 2+2 and the refusal of the N26 dualler both made perfect sense in their own ways, as discussed elsewhere.

The 130km/h speed limits you get on the continent are interesting, but highly debatable. Germany yes, but there's no way it's safe to let French and Spanish people drive at that speed, from my experiences there! Nutters! And as for Eastern Europe, sure they're like us in that they're still getting used to the idea of having any motorways at all.

marmurr1916

I'm not sure what the big deal about the Czech road websites is. Sure every country has plans...

I was in the Czech Republic about a year ago. Czech roads are very similar in quality to Irish roads.

Their equivalent of regional roads are generally S2 (variable width) with some reasonably well-surfaced sections, lots of poorly surfaced sections.

Their equivalent of national primary roads are generally S2 with hard shoulders, pretty well surfaced with reasonable signposting.

Their motorways are generally D2M.

Like for like, their roads are about the same standard overall as Irish roads despite the fact that it's a much less wealthy country.

wellbutty

Have to agree Sponge Bob, the approach to infrastructure information sharing in Ireland is atrocious.

Taking any random scheme, here's the full Waterford to Glenmore proposal:

http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/KilkennyCountyCouncil/N25WaterfordtoGlenmore/SchemeName,16504,en.html

Local Authority: Kilkenny County Council
Start County: Kilkenny
End County: Kilkenny
Description: The proposed scheme comprises the design of new section of N25 between Glenmore and Luffany linking the New Ross and Waterford City bypasses.
Mainline Length (km): 10
Current Project Phase: Route Selection

Ok it will be years before any sod-turning takes place but why cant they keep everything is one central place (EIS, route selection, minutes of local meetings held last year). There's no map, no details of motorway/dual etc

We also have numerous websites (nra.ie, transport21.ie, m50.ie etc).........why cant we have one? Click your county and see everything in it. Schemes, traffic alerts, road closures, planned opening dates etc

Here's the M9 website and the project programme:
http://n9-n10kilcullen-waterford.ie/project-programme.htm

It's ludicrous to spend billions on infrastructure and then keep all the information about them scattered and out of date...for the sake a few grand.

Rant over!