McClays Corner Stranorlar

Cee-Jay-Cee

Its absolutely ridiculous that nothing has been done to ease conjestion at the corner! I know they werent going to touch it as the bypass was going to take away most of the traffic, well now there will be no by-pass for a long long long long time maybe the idiots in the roads office/council might think about at least putting a yellow box at this junction. Its the most ridiculous situation where there is a T junction in a town on a main road and absolutely no traffic control!! It also doesnt help that some idiot drivers dont know how to use their indicators so as to let other road users know which way they are going.

Ayla

Hehehehe, funny thing that bypass.

You know, I was looking through some old newspapers recently & came across one that was debating the Twin Town bypass. You know the date of the newspaper? 1986.

I won't be holding my breath for that bypass anytime soon. But it's good to know the country road bypass...I almost never drive through the towns anymore

sollar

<SNIP>

A roundabout there would have been much better.




Mod edit: Please stick to the topic

Senna

Seen a good few morons people who drive up the inside lane when there's a lot of traffic in the right turn lane, they then pull into the petrol station, drive straight through and indicate right:rolleyes:

muffler

sollar wrote: »

<SNIP>

A roundabout there would have been much better.

Mod edit: Please stick to the topic

sollar

muffler wrote: »

Mod edit: Please stick to the topic

There is no room for a roundabout there now.... that woud have greatly reduced the congestion. But planning was granted for said development.

For those of us who drive from Letterkenny to Donegal Town on a regular basis its very frustrating.

yourpics

The best thing to do is take the left lane (for liiford) then take the next right, down the mill brae and come out at the mart/bus eireann. Perfectly legal and it will get you ahead of a lot of traffic

byte

yourpics wrote: »

The best thing to do is take the left lane (for liiford) then take the next right, down the mill brae and come out at the mart/bus eireann. Perfectly legal and it will get you ahead of a lot of traffic

Shhh, that should be kept secret

.17hmr

byte wrote: »

Shhh, that should be kept secret

no you all go that way and i can go the short cut

Mint Sauce

yourpics wrote: »

The best thing to do is take the left lane (for liiford) then take the next right, down the mill brae and come out at the mart/bus eireann. Perfectly legal and it will get you ahead of a lot of traffic

Or turn right as your going down the hill before you come to McClays corner, eventually brings you out near Jacksons.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I know about all the short cuts and do use them some times, but thats not the point, what i was getting at is the ridiculous situation of one of the busiest junctions possibly in the whole county and absolutely no traffic control of any sort at it and the council/Roads office's complete indifference to it.

yourpics

CJC999 wrote: »

I know about all the short cuts and do use them some times, but thats not the point, what i was getting at is the ridiculous situation of one of the busiest junctions possibly in the whole county and absolutely no traffic control of any sort at it and the council/Roads office's complete indifference to it.

B for BYPASS! Thats what is needed, doubt I will see it in my lifetime though

byte

Is there any business running in McClay's premises atm?

Like, would it be overly expensive for the CoCo to buy it, toss it and throw a roundabout into the space made?

Mint Sauce

byte wrote: »

Is there any business running in McClay's premises atm?

Like, would it be overly expensive for the CoCo to buy it, toss it and throw a roundabout into the space made?

Wasn't there a baby and toddler kind of shop there. Selling clothes, toys, push chairs etc.

byte

Yeah, the toy shop was McClays (of Stranorlar), but that's gone now.

doc_17

Senna wrote: »

Seen a good few morons people who drive up the inside lane when there's a lot of traffic in the right turn lane, they then pull into the petrol station, drive straight through and indicate right:rolleyes:

The very odd morning I used to see a member of An Garda Siochanna standing outside Meenans watching for this. But all they'd have to do is take a look at the CCTV in the petrol pumps to nail those responsible. There is a certain type of driver that does this though who I won't name for fear of being accused of stereotyping!

yourpics

doc_17 wrote: »

The very odd morning I used to see a member of An Garda Siochanna standing outside Meenans watching for this. But all they'd have to do is take a look at the CCTV in the petrol pumps to nail those responsible. There is a certain type of driver that does this though who I won't name for fear of being accused of stereotyping!

is it taxis??

doc_17

No.....they are from a certain geographical region

yourpics

ah right!

Cee-Jay-Cee

doc_17 wrote: »

The very odd morning I used to see a member of An Garda Siochanna standing outside Meenans watching for this. But all they'd have to do is take a look at the CCTV in the petrol pumps to nail those responsible. There is a certain type of driver that does this though who I won't name for fear of being accused of stereotyping!

Pointless...as its not a traffic offence, if they obey the rules of the road while entering/exiting the petrol station then they are not committing any offence! The only way to prevent it from happeneing is for the petrol station owners to close one of the entry/exit points which they wont do as it will effect their business so there is nothing anyone can do about it unless they come up with some way of preventing it, however wouldn't it be simpler to put up a set of bloody traffic lights that operate during peak hours, say 8am-6pm!

yourpics

CJC999 wrote: »

Pointless...as its not a traffic offence, if they obey the rules of the road while entering/exiting the petrol station then they are not committing any offence! The only way to prevent it from happeneing is for the petrol station owners to close one of the entry/exit points which they wont do as it will effect their business so there is nothing anyone can do about it unless they come up with some way of preventing it, however wouldn't it be simpler to put up a set of bloody traffic lights that operate during peak hours, say 8am-6pm!

the owner has a sign up saying no through road.

doc_17

So if the owner only allows cars into his property if they are customers then are the ones taking the shortcut breaking the actual law or only breaking his rules?

EasyE

<SNIP>

Lets get real here about the possible solutions... the Council are broke they are running on an ever extending overdraft so at best we might get a set of traffic lights at some stage in the future.

Lets also get real about the delay I passed through that junction ever day twice a day for 5 years I'd say max delay 5min.:cool:

firemansam4

shame there is no room for a roud about, ide be a fan of them over traffic lights any day!

Thinfin

Completely agree with OP. They badly need traffic control. And yet they have lights in Killygordon up the road

Cee-Jay-Cee

doc_17 wrote: »

So if the owner only allows cars into his property if they are customers then are the ones taking the shortcut breaking the actual law or only breaking his rules?

Theyre not breaking any law so long as they enter/exit the petrol station court legally. The owner can put up all the signs he wants but in reality he's powerless to do anything or even enforce his own rules.

Thinfin wrote: »

Completely agree with OP. They badly need traffic control. And yet they have lights in Killygordon up the road

Yeah two sets within 10 meters of each other in a village (village is actually over stating it, its a wide spot in the road with a few houses) is absolutely ridiculous when 5 miles down the road a major bottle neck is left with no traffic control!

The problem is that the council is run by a bunch of bureaucratic idiots that got jobs because of who they knew and not what they know. The council waste more money having ridiculous surveys done on roads/junctions than they actually do on the actual road traffic controls, then they need some planning office/engineer in some other part of the country/world to examine the survey results and draw up a report which none of them know how to read or can understand as theyre all a bunch of bureaucratic idiots that got the jobs because of who they knew and not what they know....

yourpics

CJC999 wrote: »

Theyre not breaking any law so long as they enter/exit the petrol station court legally. The owner can put up all the signs he wants but in reality he's powerless to do anything or even enforce his own rules.

....

If you had a house which had road frontage on 2 roads and therefore 2 entrances, how would you like someone driving through your property to skip traffic? Obeying the sign that the owner has put in place is just common decency and respect

Cee-Jay-Cee

yourpics wrote: »

If you had a house which had road frontage on 2 roads and therefore 2 entrances, how would you like someone driving through your property to skip traffic? Obeying the sign that the owner has put in place is just common decency and respect

I think maybe you should read the entire thread as you obviously just read my last post and assumed i was condoning the behaviour. Do you always jump in at the end of topics and add your tuppence worth?

I was simply pointing out that signs the owner puts up will not work as he is powerless to enforce them (unless he stands guard at the entrance all day) and people are not committing any traffic offence by using his forecourt to skip queues. Please keep up :rolleyes:

muffler

Listen up lads. Can we just leave the issue of whether it's legal or not to drive through a forecourt and get back to discussing the topic. Thanks.

byte

Traffic lights are surely not that expensive? Heck, there's 2 schools a few hundred yards between each other in Donegal town, but they are getting a set of traffic lights each, where one would've done.

Maybe the fact the main junction is also close to the exit of the filling station and the turn off to mill brae is why there are no lights?

Funny enough, I thought traffic went smoother the time the street was forced one way due to pipe/cable laying a couple of years ago.

Cee-Jay-Cee

According to todays Donegal News over €100,000 was made available a few years back from the NRA to help alleviate the problem at the corner but the council in their infinite (lack of) wisdom decided to spend it on footpaths and Meeting Street resurfacing or something like that instead. Who ever made that decision should be sacked. Money was specifically set aside for the junction more than likely on the basis of some report submitted by the council to the NRA and then someone decided to use it elsewhere!

Thousands has been wasted on surveys and BS over the years and now theyre at it again looking for ways to sort the problem which inevitably means more surveys and reports. It reports that traffic lights have been suggested but that local businesses have protested saying that they will cause traffic to back up and effect their businesses which IMO is complete bull****, if people are going to stop and go into a buisiness premises, traffic being backed up will have absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever and TBH i dont think traffic can get any more backed up than it already is.

sesswhat

I notice they have cables down at all the approach roads so another traffic survey seems to be under way.

byte

I saw a snippet in the Donegal Times (Editor's Diary), where "the problem of the junction that causes the worst back-ups in the county is about to be solved. According to reports, traffic lights are, at last, to be placed on McClay's corner in Stranorlar."

muffler

byte wrote: »

I saw a snippet in the Donegal Times (Editor's Diary), where "the problem of the junction that causes the worst back-ups in the county is about to be solved. According to reports, traffic lights are, at last, to be placed on McClay's corner in Stranorlar."

That will be interesting.

On a side but associated note I was driving in from Kilross last Friday and was behind a lorry which, when approaching the junction (at the turn in where Foys shop was) he was straddling both traffic lanes and then decided to go left.

When he got as far as Reids he swung in through the forecourt and out the other end to turn right to go towards Ballybofey thus avoiding the little bit of waiting (as he thought) behind the few cars that were in the right hand lane.

I turned left on the Main Street just as he was about to pull out of the forecourt. He was a good bit out on the road and was expecting me to stop and let him out but the muffler was having none of it. I deliberately accidentally stalled the car right in front of him and kept him there for another wee while. He wasnt happy

But to show there was no road rage or the likes on my part I saluted him by waving my fingers as I was driving off again.......something like this \ /

KERSPLAT!

Have seen that a few times Muffler. I tend to go left then right and... Eh come out at the church on the main St I think, just before the bridge. Dunno if it saves anytime but I really can't stand sitting in traffic, stems from my time working in Dublin city centre 30 mins for 30 metres

Back on topic, does the traffic get bad enough to need traffic lights? Usually only 4-5 cars at most turning right when I'm there but that wouldn't be rush hour so it probably gets alot worse

sesswhat

If they do go for lights, I hope they don't use the same people who designed and installed the system at Killygordon. So if you are reading this DCC, if you want someone to stop at a stop line, put the light adjacent to it, and NOT THIRTY METRES DOWN THE ROAD!!:)

yourpics

muffler wrote: »

That will be interesting.

On a side but associated note I was driving in from Kilross last Friday and was behind a lorry which, when approaching the junction (at the turn in where Foys shop was) he was straddling both traffic lanes and then decided to go left.

When he got as far as Reids he swung in through the forecourt and out the other end to turn right to go towards Ballybofey thus avoiding the little bit of waiting (as he thought) behind the few cars that were in the right hand lane.

I turned left on the Main Street just as he was about to pull out of the forecourt. He was a good bit out on the road and was expecting me to stop and let him out but the muffler was having none of it. I deliberately accidentally stalled the car right in front of him and kept him there for another wee while. He wasnt happy

But to show there was no road rage or the likes on my part I saluted him by waving my fingers as I was driving off again.......something like this \ /

Disgraceful behaviour by all involved

muffler

yourpics wrote: »

Disgraceful behaviour by all involved

Thats the kind of response I expected from you.

Now then, back on topic please.

puffdragon

By stalling your car on the main road (as you said you did ) then you were impeding the traffic on the main road just to prove a point , no medals here I'm afraid, I think we should let the owners of the petrol station deal with their own abuses and not impede or endanger other road users in our heroics. I hate bad drivers and have seen this junction abuse many times , not only here but also at Kilross where some traffic will turn left to avoid the queue and then turn around and head towards Stranorlar again, I would have loved to have done what you did and applaud your intentions however misguided or testoserone, Patience my friend , just like when your stuck behind a cyclist or a tractor, take a breath.

Cee-Jay-Cee

puffdragon wrote: »

not only here but also at Kilross where some traffic will turn left to avoid the queue and then turn around and head towards Stranorlar again, I would have loved to have done what you did and applaud your intentions however misguided or testoserone, Patience my friend , just like when your stuck behind a cyclist or a tractor, take a breath.

Kilross is a ridiculous junction. The convoy road (R236) is a regional route, the Letterkenny > Ballybofey road (N13) is a National Route, yet traffic has to give way to traffic continuing onto a minor road resulting in major delays in the mornings/evenings....Only in Ireland!

A roundabout is required at that juntion badly.

Sorry for going Off topic.

Pique

muffler wrote: »

Thats the kind of response I expected from you.

Now then, back on topic please.

lol, the ironing !:rolleyes:

Traffic lights are the least of what's needed.

That junction would've been solved years ago if it wasn't for the NIMBY-ism of the locals (and probably greed in some cases, holding out for more money from the CPO).

Their town is now doomed to be choked with traffic for the next 10 years I expect.

Small-town Ireland illustrated beautifully.

Stanirish

Have the blue prints for the original bypass - date 1956 !!

Pique

Stanirish wrote: »

Have the blue prints for the original bypass - date 1956 !!

:eek: 1956 !!! Post it up if you can. Pleeeze ?

Senna

Stanirish wrote: »

Have the blue prints for the original bypass - date 1956 !!

Little did they know back in 1956, we'd have flying cars and people living on the moon before the bypass got built:D.

Minister Boyce

Stanirish wrote: »

Have the blue prints for the original bypass - date 1956 !!

Ah so thats why they ripped up the railway line back then...:D

ootbitb

why no roundabout.

there is a mini roundabout just outside Derry heading for Killea using far less space than is available at McClay's corner.

ftnbase

puffdragon wrote: »

By stalling your car on the main road (as you said you did ) then you were impeding the traffic on the main road just to prove a point , no medals here I'm afraid, I think we should let the owners of the petrol station deal with their own abuses and not impede or endanger other road users in our heroics. I hate bad drivers and have seen this junction abuse many times , not only here but also at Kilross where some traffic will turn left to avoid the queue and then turn around and head towards Stranorlar again, I would have loved to have done what you did and applaud your intentions however misguided or testoserone, Patience my friend , just like when your stuck behind a cyclist or a tractor, take a breath.

I agree
Always drive as if your child is in the other car.

Cee-Jay-Cee

ootbitb wrote: »

why no roundabout.

there is a mini roundabout just outside Derry heading for Killea using far less space than is available at McClay's corner.

Trucks wouldnt be able to turn there if there was a physical roundabout and if they simply painted one of those white spots on the road it would be ignored like all the rest of them. They need lights or else toss McClays old store and make a proper roundabout (which wont happen) so its lights or nothing.

ootbitb

CJC999 wrote: »

Trucks wouldnt be able to turn there if there was a physical roundabout and if they simply painted one of those white spots on the road it would be ignored like all the rest of them. They need lights or else toss McClays old store and make a proper roundabout (which wont happen) so its lights or nothing.

trucks ignore the roundabout at old Dunnes , Letterkenny, but this roundabout works well on an equally busy road.

mistermouse

Would have been more sensible not to have allowed the planning for the petrol station years ago and forward thinking would have earmarked that site for a proper setup. But that's local politics in Ireland, lack of planning and planning for those in the know

KERSPLAT!

<SNIP>