Road Report!

Son Of A Vidic

I've done a search and found nothing, so I'm just starting a road report thread for the Sligo region. I think it might be helpful to warn of dangerous routes and roads to avoid ect. If your driving toward Tubbercurry along the N17 from Sligo, you pass Connaught Gold on your right, the next left is for Achonry - Don't take it. Because if you do, you will come to a sharp left-hand turn, turning onto a long steep winding hill.....AVOID!!!! It's a notorious spot.

For the first time after 3.5 years, the hill beat me last night. Now it didn't help being the first car on it after the blizzard, maybe I was to cocky after beating the best it had thrown at me last year. I was one of the few plus some local farmers that took it on last winter. Being stuck on the apex of a hill and sliding backwards down it was not a nice feeling. Thanks to the neighbour who came along when I was stuck and thank feck he was in a 'beefy' Nissan Navara to tow me to freedom.

There are also some bad hills if you also approach Achonry from the Bunninadden direction so avoid completely.

magnumlady

Thanks for starting this thread.
If anyone else has any warnings please let us know.
I'm not driving in it today. Had a walk out and under the snow is pure ice, so be careful people.

genie

There is a very steep hill near Heapstown and the Gyreum hostel, which is on the road between Castlebaldwin and Drummacool/Conway's Cross. One to avoid!

Please drive slowly and with care. I know it seems an obvious thing to say, but my house is located on a series of very bad bends and cars are taking the bends far too fast. :rolleyes:

TequilaMockingBird

Anyone driving in town? My estate is bad (always thaws last in here), but not sure if it's clearing in town?

Wonder will the schools be open tomorrow..

Basq

Went as far as Dunnes (Cranmore) and the Retail Park.

The car park in the Retail Park is pretty bad.. it's just slush on top of slush on top of slush, but very slippy in parts.

My estate is always terrible with snow due to the steep hill leading into it.. and it's even more difficult to get out of it in this weather.

Weather Report from Ollie Williams:



IT'S GON' SNOW!

Konata

Round Rosses Point and the back roads at Cregg is pretty slippy.

Best stay inside today I think >_<

shanec1928

i know its not roads but could people try not get water on the footpath when there defrosting their car its lethal especially at the top of Churchill.

magnumlady

forza rovers wrote: »

i know its not roads but could people try not get water on the footpath when there defrosting their car its lethal especially at the top of Churchill.

I heard a fella on the radio last year saying he pours urine all over his car to defrost it. :eek:

Mint Sauce

Have been on AA roadwatch this evening, some bad conditions on the budoran rd between the leitrim/sligo boarder and sligo town.

forza rovers wrote: »

i know its not roads but could people try not get water on the footpath when there defrosting their car its lethal especially at the top of Churchill.

number of things crazy about this, especailly with warm water, it will freeze quicker on the pavements, expect plenty of slips in estates and cul de sacs. Its also likely to refreeze on your windows and if any chips on your window, could cause them to crack or break

Gipo3

Never had a problem using warm water, much better than wasting time scraping it off.

Basq

I've tried and tested numerous solutions.. each have their pros and cons.

For what it's worth:

- a de-icer is a waste of time with weather like this
- if you wanna use an ice scraper, get a rubber scraper (unless you wanna scratch and mark your windscreen with a plastic one)
- a kettle with a quarter boiling water, and 3/4 cold water is your best bet. You want it just warm enough.. not hot.

I'm trying a frost-guard tonight.. not expecting much but we'll see how it goes tomorrow:

Betsy18

Thanks for the updates guys! any update on the N15 bundoran to Sligo road tonight?? will be travelling on it early tomorrow morning bit worried bout what the roads are like around Grange and Rathcormac??

Basq

Well, the frostguard worked well for the most part.

The hill leading out of my estate was an absolute disaster however.

bennyc

If your lighting fires use the ashes on your drive its makes great grit,

The n17 as far as Ballymote from town is sound, as is the Ballisodare area main road. N17 into Ballymote is very passable and not that bad, all side roads are not treated and are not great. The road from Ballymote to Tubber was a disaster on Sat night I have been told its pretty bad since.

The main problem I have is people driving way to slow into hills and causing everyone else to stop.

Now my worst problem with all this is when driving behind a truck, the window gets dirty trying my best to hold off on checking to see if the washer has defrosted yet its like an itch you cannot scratch

Basq

bennyc wrote: »

If your lighting fires use the ashes on your drive its makes great grit,

Yeah.. that's what people did last year, but no-one thought last night that it would be that bad this morning.

Son Of A Vidic

My stretch from Achonry to Bunninadden is still very bad, a lot more traffic moving on it today which will help. Working from home today (really waiting for fuel delivery) Council passed by on a tractor an hour ago trying to grit the road, but the stupid thing was malfunctioning - fecking typical! Proceed this direction with caution.

bonzos

basquille wrote: »

Went as far as Dunnes (Cranmore) and the Retail Park.

The car park in the Retail Park is pretty bad.. it's just slush on top of slush on top of slush, but very slippy in parts.

My estate is always terrible with snow due to the steep hill leading into it.. and it's even more difficult to get out of it in this weather.

Weather Report from Ollie Williams:



IT'S GON' SNOW!

You should move to Kevinsfort,the gritter spent the guts of half an hour in there today:rolleyes:

Edgedinblue

Any buzz on the buses from sligo to galway?! are they running at all?

Cool Running

Edgedinblue wrote: »

Any buzz on the buses from sligo to galway?! are they running at all?

Was defo working yesterday as a friend of mine got to Galway after Saturday nights service was cancelled

Best thing is to ring the station

Mint Sauce

All national services running, ie intercity, but expect delays. Would check the station for local services, not all seconary roads treated.

starbelgrade

I know people are taking it easy on the roads & trying to keep safe... but for God's sake... if there is no traffic in front of you & you look at the speedometer and you're doing 20mph on a straight stretch of a 60mph road & you look in the rear mirror & see a line of 30 cars behind you.... would you not think it would be slightly courteous to pull over in to the hard shoulder & let people pass?

Mint Sauce

Not trusting the AA site as much, cited Barnmore Gap in Donegal as unpassable yesterday morning, I know at least two who went through it in the early hours. Cited as passable with care today, didn't find it to bad my self, was driving abit slower than normal but was quite clear bar slush on the hard shoulder and on the central line in places. Still a good guide which I will continue to use though over the winter. Another recomendation, dont usally listen to local radio, but an excellent resource in this weather.

Some dusting and slush in places from the Letirm/Sligo boarder and as far as Sligo Town this afternoon. Be carefull now though, that dusting is now ice in some of the side roads and estates around the town. There was a film of ice on my car a couple of hours ago.

starbelgrade wrote: »

I know people are taking it easy on the roads & trying to keep safe... but for God's sake... if there is no traffic in front of you & you look at the speedometer and you're doing 20mph on a straight stretch of a 60mph road & you look in the rear mirror & see a line of 30 cars behind you.... would you not think it would be slightly courteous to pull over in to the hard shoulder & let people pass?

Agree and disagree, was driving a bit slower today, certainly not that slow though, usally would pull over if safe but not today, was not pulling over into slush for anyone, bar the emergancy services.

But yes, if its safe, either HTFU or pull over if shoulder is clear.

Fair play though to the drivers who moved out of the overtaking lane today, absolutly hate it when you get stuck behind someone crawling when there was no need to, and you think to your self, I'll over take them when I get as far as the over taking lane in a 1km or so, only for them to stay in the over taking lane still crawling.

TequilaMockingBird

starbelgrade wrote: »

I know people are taking it easy on the roads & trying to keep safe... but for God's sake... if there is no traffic in front of you & you look at the speedometer and you're doing 20mph on a straight stretch of a 60mph road & you look in the rear mirror & see a line of 30 cars behind you.... would you not think it would be slightly courteous to pull over in to the hard shoulder & let people pass?

It's not the first driver you should blame, it's the second that is stopping over-taking. Anyway, I couldn't care less how late anyone is, I'll drive in what I consider a safe manner. If someone's tail-gating me and I have no safe opportunity to pull in, I'll just wreck your head by tipping my brake now and then. Back the F*ck off and we'll all get there alive.

BronsonTB

bennyc wrote: »

The main problem I have is people driving way to slow into hills and causing everyone else to stop.

This is sooo true....esp when the first car is only doing 25km incl braking & going up a hill with 10 cars behind them.....

============
Bronson
Irish Celica Club Member

magnumlady

Well the council have come to the rescue and put a few teaspoons full of gravel (not salt) on our lane. :rolleyes:

genie

Their rapid response tractor was out yesterday and gritted bits of the road at the end of my road, but didn't come up my road at all! :rolleyes:

sligono1

i do think the councils response is better than last january,they cannot get to every road that would be impossiable,we can give out all day long but i think we will have to adapt to this type of weather,after all other countrys get this all winter and they just get on with things.

TequilaMockingBird

Lidl Dishwasher Salt is amazing stuff. Chuck it on paths/drives and it sizzles through the ice. 99c a pack.

(Don't buy it ALL, I need more!)

Son Of A Vidic

genie wrote: »

Their rapid response tractor. :rolleyes:

Rapid response tractor - LOL

In fairness though they gritted my road a couple of times, as long as they keep it up when needed for the rest of the winter.

TequilaMockingBird

The Rapid Response Tractor made it to the entrance to my road, it did everywhere else, but looked at my road and thought "Nah".

It's a small cul-de-sac, how hard would it have been to FINISH THE JOB.

shanec1928

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

The Rapid Response Tractor made it to the entrance to my road, it did everywhere else, but looked at my road and thought "Nah".

It's a small cul-de-sac, how hard would it have been to FINISH THE JOB.

is it a private road into the cul-de-sac?

TequilaMockingBird

forza rovers wrote: »

is it a private road into the cul-de-sac?

No, very much Corpo' territory.

genie

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

The Rapid Response Tractor made it to the entrance to my road, it did everywhere else, but looked at my road and thought "Nah".

My road runs between two hills and gets very little sun during the winter so, I thought they could have spared a few shovel-fulls. :rolleyes:

I've also noticed in a couple of other places, that a trailer-full of gravel has been left on the roadside for the residents to scatter themselves. Nowhere near me, though.

I scatter the ashes from the stove on the road outside my house but I seem to be the only person who does this.

TequilaMockingBird

It would be great if they'd just leave piles of it that we could shovel ourselves.

In London there's little bunkers around with salt and grit and you can help yourself.

Mint Sauce

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

It would be great if they'd just leave piles of it that we could shovel ourselves.

In London there's little bunkers around with salt and grit and you can help yourself.

They wont do that for health and saftey, they got rid of the bunkers in london years ago for similar reasons as well I believe.

magnumlady

They have left some grit (gravel) up our lane. It's rubbish though.
When I was on the Sligo-Dublin train I saw some streets in Dublin that had containers of road salt left for the residents to use.

Son Of A Vidic

About 3 inches of snow fell out my way last night, so the roads are bad again because the old grit is now useless.

Zxc01

Hi
does anyone know what condition this road is in?
May have to travel on it this weekend and would appreciate if anyone can give me an update?:D

North West

Hi
Went to Enniskillen yesterday roads good. bad corners well gritted. The slowest part I found was around Glenfarne, slow but fairly good.

Drive safely should be ok. Give yourself an extra 20 mins for safety

North West

Son Of A Vidic

Will depend on the snowfall in the area last night, a couple of inches of snow will render the grit useless.

Mint Sauce

Drive carefully out there people. Was on the duel carriageway this morning, parts of the over taking lane were still half covered in a dusting of snow and slush.

Still long sections of the Lough Gill Road have a bit of every thing, dustings, compact snow and slush, did meet the gritter on part of it (carrowrow roundabout - dromohaire section).

And as I look out the window, its snowing again.

peasant

Lads, tonight is going to get dicey

After a relatively warm afternoon roads around Sligo now have a slight film of slush/sleet/salt on them. This is just beginning to freeze into a really tracherous film of "brown" ice.

Be very careful when turning off main roads that are still clear ...even the off ramps on the dual carriageway are beginning to ice over as we speak (just came off one).

Sideroads and less traveled mainroads may appear to be claer ....assume that they aren't

dee o gee

Sligo to bundoran road between drumcliff and grange was absolutely cat this morning, the road was completely white (except for following the car in front you wouldn't know you were on a road :eek:) and like a sheet of glass. We were reduced to about 15-20mph heading towards bundoran but heading into town was reduced to funeral pace barely 5-10mph with people stopping and starting. On the way home this evening there was a fair bit of brown sludge in the centre and sides of the road in places so take care if your on it tonight or in the morning.

lubie76

Was going up by the pension offices about 6.30pm this evening when a guy who was standing on the road stopped us to tell us not too attempt going down Gallows Hill as their was a couple of car accidents in the last few minutes. Seemingly was like an ice rink due to freezing rain which seemingly is different than snow and alot more treachourous.

You could see a load of cars piled up from about halfway down the hill. 4 Fire Brigades arrived and cops closed road from roundabout in Caltragh. Connaughton road closed for similar reasons. All the roads just froze over for about an hour but seemed to thaw out a bit after that. It was lethal conditions.

blackiebest

Hello all and hope ye are warm. I drove in a 4x4 this morning from Dromahair to Ballintogher and in 25 years driving I have never exerienced such dangerous conditions. Really was like driving on a polished lake. Be VERY carefull if you are going anywhere today, the worst conditions by far in this spell.

Son Of A Vidic

Ya it's really bad this morning, I've been out re-gritting my section of road this morning. Thank feck I've got a stack of builders gravel left over from the summer. The N17 turn off onto the Achonry to Bunninadden road remains very treacherous. Some nasty hills, but they're a decent bunch out here and locals living beside these hills have been gritting the roads themselves. Me, well I'm keeping bunkered in for the weekend. Take care out there folks.

magnumlady

I ventured out walking just to have a look. Roads are like pure ice. I wouldn't be driving on it. I was only OK walking as I kept on the snow.

CityMan2010

Hi All;
Saturday Evening: What are the roads like between Sligo Town out to Cooloney? Is there a thaw? Are the main roads safe enough?

Thanks..

(Mods the other weather threads are not specific enough, (geographically or time wise) for my enquiry, so would appreciate if you could allow this thread to run this evening:

Thanks

mod note, merged into main thread sunday evening

magnumlady

From AA's website:
*SLIGO/LEITRIM* Severe black ice on the N17 Sligo/Galway Rd between Collooney and Charlestown. * The Council is advising extreme caution on all routes around Sligo county even on treated routes. Conditions are treacherous. * Icy on the N4 Dublin/Sligo Rd from Sligo to Carrick-on-Shannon, on the N16 Sligo/ Manorhamilton Rd and the N59 Ballisodare/Ballina Rd.

Son Of A Vidic

magnumlady wrote: »

From AA's website:
*SLIGO/LEITRIM* Severe black ice on the N17 Sligo/Galway Rd between Collooney and Charlestown. * The Council is advising extreme caution on all routes around Sligo county even on treated routes. Conditions are treacherous. * Icy on the N4 Dublin/Sligo Rd from Sligo to Carrick-on-Shannon, on the N16 Sligo/ Manorhamilton Rd and the N59 Ballisodare/Ballina Rd.

Wonderful! There's been a fair bit of rain this morning also, so when that freezes tonight :eek:

magnumlady

We cleared our drive of snow yesterday and it's now pure ice.