Shannon Bridge Roundabout

thesimpsons

anyone see the headlines in Leader about taking out the roundabout at Dock Road junction and replacing it with lights? Personally I think its a mad idea and the roundabout works very effectively and the lights will just lead to traffic build up. However the powers that be think that the roundabout has outlived its effectiveness and that lights will improve traffic management and traffic flow. This roundabout has always worked well and even more so now with the reduced traffic in the city centre since the opening of the tunnel. I travel this route at all times of day and night and there is virtually no traffic issues there now. Wouldn't the money spent on this be better spent on repairing the state of roads around the city.

munstergirl

Seems like Limerick if its NOT broken fix it, if it is broken don't fix it

I really think they want more people using the tunnell. I think most normal drivers aren't using it at all, only commuters and bypassers.

Insect Overlord

If they're actually serious about this then whoever came up with the idea should be barred from ever holding any position of influence in the city again. The roundabout at the bridge is functioning perfectly now, even with the ridiculous positioning of the pedestrian crossings. Removing it would be insulting to the public as well as a waste of money.

kilburn

this is a daft idea, want i would love to know is who comes up with these madcap suggestions. Is it the councillors or the planners or the roads department?

mitresize5

back up traffic coming in the condell road -> more people take the tunnel -> extra revenue

Makes perfect sense

AnCapaillMor

Seems a bit mad but it can be a pain trying to get on the rounadabout from jurys and the garda barracks side.

Also its about time they put in traffic lights after the bridge by the schools. Trying to get in\out there in the evening was frustarting as hell. A few years ago someone would let you through but every since the ass feel out of the economy most people won't.

the drifter

this makes me sad

TestTransmission

the drifter wrote: »

this makes me sad

Makes me sadder,all these traffic lights are wrecking my route to work in the morning.

phill106

Stupid idea.
Just remove the pedestrian crossing. If they feel the need to spend money, let them build a small pedestrian bridge to cross the road, that will speed up traffic and stop accidents being caused the silly location of the current crossing.

Amazotheamazing

The weighting of the traffic on that roundabout isn't quite right though, the cars leaving the dock road and leaving the bridge have an advantage over cars on the quay or cars coming down Mallow street as less cars go onto the quay from the dock road (for whatever reason).

I don't think traffic lights are the way to solve it. Anyhow, it seems to working perfectly since the tunnel opened?

phill106

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The weighting of the traffic on that roundabout isn't quite right though, the cars leaving the dock road and leaving the bridge have an advantage over cars on the quay or cars coming down Mallow street as less cars go onto the quay from the dock road (for whatever reason).

I don't think traffic lights are the way to solve it. Anyhow, it seems to working perfectly since the tunnel opened?

In the absence of traffic lights on the roundabout, how does weighting work there? Just due to the amount of cars coming from the bridge.

Twin-go

Are the people here serious?

I don't know how many near/accidents I've witnessed here. Mostly because the drivers of this country don't know how to use round-abouts.

Coming from Shannon Bridge going to Dock road how many people use the left lane?

Coming from Shannon Street going to the bridge, 3 lanes trying to get into one lane. 3 into 1 doesn't go!

Coming from Dock Rd going over the bridge. Looking right to pick a gap and avoid the 3 cars trying to get into the one lane. See a small gap and go for it but, whats this a pelican crossing so jam on the breaks.

Also waiting for a gap is like Russian roulette. Trying to guess what exit people are going for because they don't use indecators and I'm no mind reader.

Taffic lights could be good if they get the cadence right.

Reaganomical

Twin-go wrote: »

Are the people here serious?

I don't know how many near/accidents I've witnessed here. Mostly because the drivers of this country don't know how to use round-abouts.

Coming from Shannon Bridge going to Dock road how many people use the left lane?

Coming from Shannon Street going to the bridge, 3 lanes trying to get into one lane. 3 into 1 doesn't go!

Coming from Dock Rd going over the bridge. Looking right to pick a gap and avoid the 3 cars trying to get into the one lane. See a small gap and go for it but, whats this a pelican crossing so jam on the breaks.

Also waiting for a gap is like Russian roulette. Trying to guess what exit people are going for because they don't use indecators and I'm no mind reader.

Taffic lights could be good if they get the cadence right.

Spot on, if ppl knew how to use the roundabout properly, it might work perfectly!

phill106

Twin-go wrote: »

Are the people here serious?

I don't know how many near/accidents I've witnessed here. Mostly because the drivers of this country don't know how to use round-abouts.

Coming from Shannon Bridge going to Dock road how many people use the left lane?

Coming from Shannon Street going to the bridge, 3 lanes trying to get into one lane. 3 into 1 doesn't go!

Coming from Dock Rd going over the bridge. Looking right to pick a gap and avoid the 3 cars trying to get into the one lane. See a small gap and go for it but, whats this a pelican crossing so jam on the breaks.

Also waiting for a gap is like Russian roulette. Trying to guess what exit people are going for because they don't use indecators and I'm no mind reader.

Taffic lights could be good if they get the cadence right.

schnellimbiss wrote: »

Spot on, if ppl knew how to use the roundabout properly, it might work perfectly!

Left lane from shannon bridge is for 1st and 2nd exit. Not Dock road.

Coming from shannon street, left lane is for dock road. Middle and right lane are for shannon bridge, or continuing around roundabout.

Never had a problem coming from dock road to shannon bridge, as SHOULD be only 2 lanes merging from my right along with myself.

the drifter

The same can be said for the new dumbell roundabouts on the dock roak interchange...oh i know..lets stick some traffic lights on them....and maybe a pedrestian crossing or two...and why not a bus stop....

Amazotheamazing

phill106 wrote: »

In the absence of traffic lights on the roundabout, how does weighting work there? Just due to the amount of cars coming from the bridge.

By rights, a steady stream of cars from the dock road should have priority over the cars coming off the bridge which would open up the lanes for cars from the quays and Mallow street, which would then regulate the cars leaving the dock road to allow the bridge to move, which would then regulate the quay and Mallow street allowing the dock road to move but for whatever reason, few cars go straight on from the dock road so the inordinate amount of cars on the bridge have priority.

Amazotheamazing

Twin-go wrote: »

Are the people here serious?

I don't know how many near/accidents I've witnessed here. Mostly because the drivers of this country don't know how to use round-abouts.

Coming from Shannon Bridge going to Dock road how many people use the left lane?

Coming from Shannon Street going to the bridge, 3 lanes trying to get into one lane. 3 into 1 doesn't go!

Coming from Dock Rd going over the bridge. Looking right to pick a gap and avoid the 3 cars trying to get into the one lane. See a small gap and go for it but, whats this a pelican crossing so jam on the breaks.

Also waiting for a gap is like Russian roulette. Trying to guess what exit people are going for because they don't use indecators and I'm no mind reader.

Taffic lights could be good if they get the cadence right.

There shouldn't be three lanes going onto one on the bridge, it should be two lanes filtering into one with one of those lanes predominately used for going onto the quays. The left lane on mallow street is left turn only, ie, dock road only, really annoys me when people cut across it as it's pretty lethal as you point out.

Again, people shouldn't be using the left lane on the bridge to get onto the dock road, that lane is left or straight ahead only.

You shouldn't be accelerating aggressively off a roundabout, you should be progressing normally which allows plenty of time to stop for pedestrians. Same applies to the roundabouts out by UL, Chawkes etc.

phill106

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

There shouldn't be three lanes going onto one on the bridge, it should be two lanes filtering into one with one of those lanes predominately used for going onto the quays. The left lane on mallow street is left turn only, ie, dock road only, really annoys me when people cut across it as it's pretty lethal as you point out.

Again, people shouldn't be using the left lane on the bridge to get onto the dock road, that lane is left or straight ahead only.

You shouldn't be accelerating aggressively off a roundabout, you should be progressing normally which allows plenty of time to stop for pedestrians. Same applies to the roundabouts out by UL, Chawkes etc.

Good, at least one other person knows how to use a roundabout!
High fives amazotheamazing!

Amazotheamazing

phill106 wrote: »

Good, at least one other person knows how to use a roundabout!
High fives amazotheamazing!

Bad practice on roundabouts is another one of the things that makes me furious, in general, Irish drivers don't handle them well.

Kess73

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Bad practice on roundabouts is another one of the things that makes me furious, in general, Irish drivers don't handle them well.

Very true, and it is not just roundabouts that Irish drivers seem unable to handle on the roads. Oddly enough I seem to find the standard of driving in and around Cork city somewhat better than most other cities or major towns in Ireland though.


I lived in Southern Germany on two occasions, coming to ten or so years, and the difference in driving there to here is astounding.

Amazotheamazing

Kess73 wrote: »

Very true, and it is not just roundabouts that Irish drivers seem unable to handle on the roads. Oddly enough I seem to find the standard of driving in and around Cork city somewhat better than most other cities or major towns in Ireland though.


I lived in Southern Germany on two occasions, coming to ten or so years, and the difference in driving there to here is astounding.

The standard of driving seems to get worse the further up the country you get. Galway is far worse than Limerick (or maybe it's more roundabouts).

It's something we need to rethink, driving should taught in schools here.

Kess73

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The standard of driving seems to get worse the further up the country you get. Galway is far worse than Limerick (or maybe it's more roundabouts).

It's something we need to rethink, driving should taught in schools here.

Totally agree with that.

CrazyChick18

I dont think any road can survive without having traffic lights!! Its very annoying!

bazz26

Another obstacal imo to force drivers to go through the Clonmaken toll plaza instead of using the Condell/Dock road.

zuroph

you know what would solve this?! :pac:

cee_jay

zuroph wrote: »

you know what would solve this?! :pac:

Monorail!!

kilburn

zuroph wrote: »

you know what would solve this?! :pac:

blow the bridge ?

Mc Love

How about traffic lights on the roundabout??? They use them to good effect in Dublin and Galway!

phill106

Mc Love wrote: »

How about traffic lights on the roundabout??? They use them to good effect in Dublin and Galway!

Well the galway one is called magic roundabout, need some to get through it apparently.

Jofspring

With the amount of traffic lights going up around the city a simple 5 minute drive into town on a quiet day is going to turn into a 15 to 20 minute one. Its going to be even worse early mornings. How many times in this city have you been sitting at traffic lights at rush hour and when the lights turn green about two cars get through and they are back red again? Roundabouts when used properly are much more effective at keeping the traffic flowing. Most places around the country are putting more roundabouts in to manage the flow of traffic but Limerick seems to want to get rid of them and pop in traffic lights instead :rolleyes:

If they are putting more traffic lights in around the city they need to manage them better and not have one set of lights green for 2 minutes and the other green for 20 seconds (Henry Street and all the junctions onto it are desperate for this).

johndaman66

schnellimbiss wrote: »

Spot on, if ppl knew how to use the roundabout properly, it might work perfectly!

+1 on this but my inkling is that most people are too downright lazy or obsessively try to get ahead of the car in front as to not use roundabouts proplerly....A lot of drivers out there have full licenses so I'd be thinking/ hoping they at least learned how to use roundabouts at some stage in their lifes. Granted there are the percentage who don't have an absolute to use roundabouts full stop though.

Is it just me or do other people reckon the pedestrian crossings being just after the exits on the Groody roundabout in Castletroy are just lethal, being so close to the roundabout. I hope not but I can forsee a pedestrian being killed or seriously injured crossing there at some stage.

johndaman66

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The standard of driving seems to get worse the further up the country you get. Galway is far worse than Limerick (or maybe it's more roundabouts).

Christ the standard of driving must be pretty poor in Galway so if thats the case!

Peoples misuse of roundabouts is my number one pet hate on the roads. Followed by people who don't seem to want to or are very slow to dip their lights to oncoming traffic at night...and there seems to be plenty of them too.

Jofspring

johndaman66 wrote: »

Is it just me or do other people reckon the pedestrian crossings being just after the exits on the Groody roundabout in Castletroy are just lethal, being so close to the roundabout. I hope not but I can forsee a pedestrian being killed or seriously injured crossing there at some stage.

I think it is ridiculous having crossings so close to the roundabouts. Most people when on a roundabout are trying to concentrate on the traffic around them, getting onto the roundabout and exiting the roundabout, and possibly having to switch lanes on larger roundabouts. With the amount of people that use the wrong lanes and try cut in in front of other drives i can definitely see somebody being killed. A small drop in concentration and somebody stepping out on the crossing could easily cause an accident.

Mc Love

There's roundabouts with traffic lights on them at Dublin Airport and in Swords (near the pavillions) and they work pretty well.

But I guess the reason for putting traffic lights at this roundabout would be to not make it work well

Liam Byrne

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

There shouldn't be three lanes going onto one on the bridge, it should be two lanes filtering into one with one of those lanes predominately used for going onto the quays. The left lane on mallow street is left turn only, ie, dock road only, really annoys me when people cut across it as it's pretty lethal as you point out.

Absolutely! It's a recipe for disaster when someone doesn't use this correctly.

Mind you, this is the junction that - when it was first opened - had "N69 & N18 use both lanes" - i.e. a left-hand lane car could be going straight ahead while a car in the middle lane could be going left!!! Recipe for disaster until they copped themselves on!

The other thing that bugs me is that if you do - correctly and legally - use the right-hand lane to go out over the bridge and proceed properly, the car in the middle lane will almost always accelerate and blow you and make nasty gestures.

I'm not saying that I agree with having the right-hand lane as a "go over the bridge lane", but it's the way that junction works, and I've lost count of the time that some idiot has objected to me using the right-hand lane and trying to merge safely.

Mc Love

Jofspring wrote: »

I think it is ridiculous having crossings so close to the roundabouts. Most people when on a roundabout are trying to concentrate on the traffic around them, getting onto the roundabout and exiting the roundabout, and possibly having to switch lanes on larger roundabouts. With the amount of people that use the wrong lanes and try cut in in front of other drives i can definitely see somebody being killed. A small drop in concentration and somebody stepping out on the crossing could easily cause an accident.

Its the exact same at the roundabout at Kilmurry lodge! Utter nightmare the amount of pedestrians and traffic you have to look out for. There has been some near fender benders there.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

I think it is ridiculous having crossings so close to the roundabouts. Most people when on a roundabout are trying to concentrate on the traffic around them, getting onto the roundabout and exiting the roundabout, and possibly having to switch lanes on larger roundabouts. With the amount of people that use the wrong lanes and try cut in in front of other drives i can definitely see somebody being killed. A small drop in concentration and somebody stepping out on the crossing could easily cause an accident.

I think the problem is Irish drivers aren't taught how to drive on roundabouts correctly. You should never be driving "through" a roundabout at such speed as to make braking difficult if you see someone at a pedestrian light.

I lived in France for a bit and every roundabout is also an unmarked pedestrian crossing, drivers expect pedestrians to cross at them and drive accordingly.

Imo, they are the best place on a road for a crossing, except for a traffic light junction because any other place on a road will have cars slowing from a higher speed to accommodate people crossing the road, for example, if they were 200m's from a roundabout most cars would have built up considerable speed and would have other traffic travelling at speed behind them.

The fault isn't in their placement, it's in the standard of driving.

Raiser

Maybe the critical infrastructural decision which impacts the City and multiple Counties was allowed to be made by the Residents of Carew Park again?

- Anyway I wouldn't worry too much, if its utterly stupid, nonsensical, downright dangerous, wastes a pile of money and totally inefficient then Limericks Public Servants will definitely get the job done.

thesimpsons

Liam Byrne wrote: »

The other thing that bugs me is that if you do - correctly and legally - use the right-hand lane to go out over the bridge and proceed properly, the car in the middle lane will almost always accelerate and blow you and make nasty gestures.

you and I must be one of the few people who use this lane. Its perfectly workable, its clearly signalled but some drivers take major exception to drivers who take this lane.

One of the other problems with roundabouts in this country is that there are so many variations to them. Alot of roundabouts don't have just the clock formation of 4 on/off roads, so many of them have an extra one thrown in (dock road onto Tunnel, moylish roundabout, Clonmacken roundabout, roundabout by B&Q) or only 3 exit routes (roundabout after Casey's furniture). Our rules of the road don't allow for these type of roundabouts, they only cover the 4 road entries/exits. Rules state if "going straight on" - straight ahead is often not the 2nd exit.

Liam Byrne

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I think the problem is Irish drivers aren't taught how to drive on roundabouts correctly. You should never be driving "through" a roundabout at such speed as to make braking difficult if you see someone at a pedestrian light.

That would be fine except for the fact that it's illegal to stop on a roundabout.

So if there's one car stopped at said pedestrian crossing, what is someone who "uses roundabouts correctly" meant to do ?

There should be no pedestrian crossings within 100 yards of a roundabout.

munstergirl

Your not ment to stop on a roundabout, you keep driving around
Anytime i use shannon bridge roundabout i find it fine.
The only roundabout i hate is parkway. Its nuts!

Amazotheamazing

Liam Byrne wrote: »

That would be fine except for the fact that it's illegal to stop on a roundabout.

So if there's one car stopped at said pedestrian crossing, what is someone who "uses roundabouts correctly" meant to do ?

There should be no pedestrian crossings within 100 yards of a roundabout.

Not enter until it's clear to exit?

It's all well and good saying they should be 100 yards away but that would be more dangerous imo as cars would have picked up speed and be back in traffic when they'd have to stop again. Cars a meant to be relatively slow moving exiting a roundabout.

Insect Overlord

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

It's all well and good saying they should be 100 yards away but that would be more dangerous imo as cars would have picked up speed and be back in traffic when they'd have to stop again.

They actually are putting down another pedestrian crossing 100 yards away! The junction by Salesians has been under work for the last fortnight. It's going to have traffic lights on it, I know, but it's still ridiculously close to the other one.

Amazotheamazing

Insect Overlord wrote: »

They actually are putting down another pedestrian crossing 100 yards away! The junction by Salesians has been under work for the last fortnight. It's going to have traffic lights on it, I know, but it's still ridiculously close to the other one.

That's at a junction though.

The pedestrian lights out by Barrington's pier are an example of what I mean, it's usual to see cars breaking the speed limit on that stretch of road.

concussion

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I think the problem is Irish drivers aren't taught how to drive on roundabouts correctly. You should never be driving "through" a roundabout at such speed as to make braking difficult if you see someone at a pedestrian light.

I lived in France for a bit and every roundabout is also an unmarked pedestrian crossing, drivers expect pedestrians to cross at them and drive accordingly.

Imo, they are the best place on a road for a crossing, except for a traffic light junction because any other place on a road will have cars slowing from a higher speed to accommodate people crossing the road, for example, if they were 200m's from a roundabout most cars would have built up considerable speed and would have other traffic travelling at speed behind them.

The fault isn't in their placement, it's in the standard of driving.

I wish I could thank you twice.

Another good reason they are on the roundabout is because pedestrians aren't going to walk 100 m up the road and back down the other side, they will simply cross there anyway. A foot bridge may accomodate some people, but those in wheelchairs will need a significant ramp and those carrying heavy shopping won't bother.

kilburn

The biggest problem with Irish drivers is that some of them never did a test and got a free licence. How many people here have been behind someone who enters a roundabout in the wrong lane, doesnt indicate, speeds up when you are overtaking them and hogs the white line. Age group reflects the problem. Younger drivers have had much more training and testing, while I saw this I am also aware that the theory test is a joke but you have to read it at least.

yammagamma

zebra crossing on shannon bridge is a night mare waiting to happen. when you are driving from dock road turning left over bridge your focus is to your right as that is where traffic is coming from and the powers to be stick a zebra crossing to your left..
im a professional driver and this stupidly behaviour in planning is putting my health and safety at risk, the roads are my work place but health and safety law seems not to cover us professional drivers. ie work place deaths do not count professional drivers killed on roads..
my last few days....i was behind a driver last friday at 4.15 pm coming from the dublin side and the vehicle in front of me tried to go fully the wrong way around the roundabout at finnegans pub, no joke it was like something out of a carry on movie..then on monday heading out of town i turned off dock road at new roundabout to head towards tipp road and on the slip road too join new motorway road a women driver was heading straight towards me she either did a u turn on slip road or turned left after new flyover crossed dockroad and drove straight towards all traffic, i pulled up in middle of road put on hazzards and got her to turn around again so she was driving with flow of traffic..this is my 5th time meeting traffic driving towards me on a motorway and everytime it has been a old women..

Berty

Problems I see with this roundabout

(1) Pedestrian Crossings should not exist
(2) There should only be 2 lanes on Mallow Street and not 3. Currently there is a lane for going out the Dock Road a lane going over the bridge and a lane which can also go over the bridge(somehow) but which also facilitates people turning right.

Accessing the roundabout from Russells Quay or Lower Mallow Street is very difficult because of the nearly constant flow coming from the bridge. The only saving grace is the pedestrian crossing but then again, like mentioned already, I disagree with it.

Traffic lights are NOT the way forward here.

Leave the roundabout as it is and tidy up the lanes on Lower Mallow Street.

I sent an e-mail to Limerick City Council previously and told them they should widen the lanes coming over the bridge because the outbound lane was far too wide anyway. They replied "we will look into it". 6 months later they did it.

I should really send them an e-mail telling them to "leave it well alone"

Amazotheamazing

yammagamma wrote: »

zebra crossing on shannon bridge is a night mare waiting to happen. when you are driving from dock road turning left over bridge your focus is to your right as that is where traffic is coming from and the powers to be stick a zebra crossing to your left..

Your focus should be on both directions, people should not be racing through roundabouts, all the cars should be going pretty slowly.

That being said, I think James Nix, the Green party candidate in the last local elections wanted the railings on that path changed as they can obscure visability, makes sense.

Agree about old women drivers, hazards, every single one of them.

Amazotheamazing

Berty wrote: »

(1) Pedestrian Crossings should not exist

People are always going to cross the road at the bridge, whether it's kids going to Ardscoil and Salesians and the skate park etc or people going into town.

On that stretch of road (from the roundabout to Barrington's pier) there's several places where pedestrians make lethal and nonsensical crossings. I think the pedestrian lights are a better alternative to having kids leg it in between cars, tbh.

if you didn't have a crossing at the bridge, where would you have it?

Berty

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

if you didn't have a crossing at the bridge, where would you have it?

The thread is about the roundabout. Pedestrian Crossings and roundabouts do not mix.