The new trafic mess on the Quay.

Wanderer78

beauf wrote:

What they need is a congestion toll inside of town.

We need to stop this tolling(taxation) business, it doesn't always work. It is great to have the new bridge and road network, but it really does bring you out west of the city and of course well away from the east of the city. I do feel for those that need to do so but the city does look better now. I'd do my nut if I had to drive through the city regularly.

kayaksurfbum

If only there were shops and schools in south kilkenny, then we would have no traffic blocking up the quay!

Daffodil.d

I don't normally post but what I saw this afternoon was just terrible. A bus couldn't get into its set down outside Granville and traffic backed up thanks to a lack of a middle Lane. But in the traffic there was an ambulance desperate to get up the Quay. In the end the ambulance had to partially mount the path in the middle to pass the traffic off. Absolutely disgraceful. This is a struggle our emergency services should Not have to get through to save lives. Why is nobody fixing this? Those vital minutes could be the difference between life and death.

Max Powers

Daffodil.d wrote: »

I don't normally post but what I saw this afternoon was just terrible. A bus couldn't get into its set down outside Granville and traffic backed up thanks to a lack of a middle Lane. But in the traffic there was an ambulance desperate to get up the Quay. In the end the ambulance had to partially mount the path in the middle to pass the traffic off. Absolutely disgraceful. This is a struggle our emergency services should Not have to get through to save lives. Why is nobody fixing this? Those vital minutes could be the difference between life and death.

So the bus driver held up traffic trying to get into space too small is it?,I guess he should be moved on by gardai is easiest answer there or have courtesy for other drivers and park somewhere else.

looksee

Max Powers wrote: »

So the bus driver held up traffic trying to get into space too small is it?,I guess he should be moved on by gardai is easiest answer there or have courtesy for other drivers and park somewhere else.

Yes, he should have gone and parked in Bolton Street car park, there are plenty of bus spaces there. :rolleyes:

BBM77

Daffodil.d wrote: »

I don't normally post but what I saw this afternoon was just terrible. A bus couldn't get into its set down outside Granville and traffic backed up thanks to a lack of a middle Lane. But in the traffic there was an ambulance desperate to get up the Quay. In the end the ambulance had to partially mount the path in the middle to pass the traffic off. Absolutely disgraceful. This is a struggle our emergency services should Not have to get through to save lives. Why is nobody fixing this? Those vital minutes could be the difference between life and death.

I wouldn’t waste your time. For a lot on here what has been done on the Quay has turned into a faultless exercise were all criticism is down to the person being “uneducated”, “has never left the country” or “someone who is too lazy to walk and just wants to drive everywhere”. Facts that you can see with your own two eyes and the realities of the type of people movement we have in Waterford don’t come into it.

cgcsb

Sounds terrible. The quays should be bus/emergency services/cyclists/pedestrian only, ensuring that emergency services don't get stuck and public transport becomes more attractive. Also the quay side car park should be converted to a pedestrian promenade with kiosks, public seating etc.

Who ever thought it was a good idea to turn such an important space, the City's waterfront, into a big disgusting car park needs to be fixed so they can't do any more damage.

beazee

cgcsb wrote: »

Also the quay side car park should be converted to a pedestrian promenade with kiosks, public seating etc.

Who ever thought it was a good idea to turn such an important space, the City's waterfront, into a big disgusting car park needs to be fixed so they can't do any more damage.

Private owned car park companies?
Mainly Waterford Port Company?
Easy money with little investment.

BBM77

beazee wrote: »

Private owned car park companies?
Mainly Waterford Port Company?
Easy money with little investment.

That argument does not stack up. The city council compulsorily purchased the car park down by the crane about ten years ago. Instead of doing something to reduce the amount of parking on the Quay they built a roundabout to make it easier to get into and out of their carpark therefore reinforcing the Quay as a parking area.

cgcsb

beazee wrote: »

Private owned car park companies?
Mainly Waterford Port Company?
Easy money with little investment.

Ok, needs to go either way. With the north quays being redeveloped and a new bridge going in the river quays need to become more of a civic space for people and not for cars. It's insane that the City's riverfront was allowed to be treated the way it was. It would not be tolerated elsewhere. Riverfront space in towns and Cities is an amenity not to be squandered.

Cabaal

Daffodil.d wrote: »

I don't normally post but what I saw this afternoon was just terrible. A bus couldn't get into its set down outside Granville and traffic backed up thanks to a lack of a middle Lane. But in the traffic there was an ambulance desperate to get up the Quay. In the end the ambulance had to partially mount the path in the middle to pass the traffic off. Absolutely disgraceful. This is a struggle our emergency services should Not have to get through to save lives. Why is nobody fixing this? Those vital minutes could be the difference between life and death.

So rather then blame the idiot bus driver for double parking to unload people and not parking somewhere more suitable you'd rather blame the council?
The issue here is drivers not obeying the law and/or drivers not getting out of the way of ambulances properly.

So many times I've seen drivers either not bother moving out of the way of an ambulance or make some half arsed effort to do so,

Previously the quays had multi lanes and even then you couldn't use them because of idiots parking in them,

Cabaal

BBM77 wrote: »

That argument does not stack up. The city council compulsorily purchased the car park down by the crane about ten years ago. Instead of doing something to reduce the amount of parking on the Quay they built a roundabout to make it easier to get into and out of their carpark therefore reinforcing the Quay as a parking area.

Irish people are lazy when it comes to parking, without effecting business in the city centre where do you propose all the cars park instead?

I'm not saying parking on the quays is perfect, its not. But so many Irish people have the mentality that they must park as close to the checkout in the shop as they are able to.

Max Powers

Cabaal wrote: »

Irish people are lazy when it comes to parking, without effecting business in the city centre where do you propose all the cars park instead?

I'm not saying parking on the quays is perfect, its not. But so many Irish people have the mentality that they must park as close to the checkout in the shop as they are able to.

Council plan is get waterside open and when money becomes available, reducing cars in council owned section.this will prob happen when pedestrian bridge happens .how many years?
Bad mouthing council by one of the previous posters for keeping their section open just silly, if they actually had the money to do so and just close it without alternatives, same people would be whinging about lack of parking,.

dreoilin

The congestion is caused by more than the layout of the quay.

People parking in bus lanes being one example - buses then can't pull in and have to block a whole lane of traffic to let people on. This problem isn't just on the quay.

The fact that there's only one point of entry if you're coming into Waterford from South Kilkenny and the Ferrybank/New Ross direction is also causing it. There's always the option of using the toll bridge to come through the city if you're coming from Kilkenny/the motorway, but that's the complete opposite side of town.

Regardless, frustrating to sit in that kind of traffic and heartbreaking to see emergency services caught in it regularly.

TheQuietFella

Cabaal wrote: »

So rather then blame the idiot bus driver for double parking to unload people and not parking somewhere more suitable you'd rather blame the council?
The issue here is drivers not obeying the law and/or drivers not getting out of the way of ambulances properly.

So many times I've seen drivers either not bother moving out of the way of an ambulance or make some half arsed effort to do so,

Previously the quays had multi lanes and even then you couldn't use them because of idiots parking in them,

I would assume that he was bringing visitors to the Granville Hotel. If he was pulling up outside of it, that is a designated parking area for buses if I'm not mistaken?

allthedoyles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYplM2kmW4

If the central median opposite hotel was same width as the one running by Centra , it would ease the problem for emergency services .

I said it here during construction that this width would be a platform for peaceful protesters , and it has been used at times .

TheQuietFella

http://www.munster-express.ie/community-notes/paramedic-confirms-delays-and-damage-to-vehicles/

Straight from the horses mouth so to speak!!!

wmpdd3

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST

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Paramedic confirms delays and damage to vehicles
By Kieran Foley. Published on Friday, July 29th, 2016 at 10:45 am


Paramedic Keith Bradfield

A local paramedic has confirmed that ambulances have hit cars as a result of the controversial new road layout on Waterford’s Quay.
Paramedic and UNITE shop steward Keith Bradfield says the layout has also resulted in significant delays when responding to emergency calls.
He has also expressed concerns over an increased number of pedestrians using the median to cross
The Quay rather than pedestrian crossings.

He confirmed Cllr Kelly’s claims that ambulances have damaged cars while trying to navigate The Quay’s new layout.
Mr Bradfield says there have been a number of incidents, including wing mirrors being struck by ambulances struggling to get past other vehicles.

“We also notice cars having to mount pavements in an effort to move out of our way and, while this is appreciated ,there is undoubtedly damage caused to these vehicles and that in itself adds to the stress of us getting to a call,” he said.

“The city council engineer came out a while back with dimensions showing that two vehicles could pass on all stretches of The Quay but I beg to differ. If this was the case no one would have to mount kerbs or our vehicles wouldn’t come into contact with other vehicles.”

Mr Bradfield says many people have asked why emergency services do not use Waterford’s new bridge instead.
“Many people have asked why we don’t use the new bridge and that, indeed, is a valid question,” he said.

“But, for example, our base at UHW to Dawn Meats in Grannagh via the new bridge is 15.9km and via the Quays is 9.2km. Our base at UHW to Waterford Golf Club via the new bridge is 17.6km and via Quays 6.7kms.

Besides the difference in the actual distances involved, what people need to understand is that using the Outer Ring Road involves approximately 13 roundabouts at which we have to slow our vehicles whereas on The Quay, prior to the upgrade, we had a clear run with no obstacles. Every second/minute counts in some of the calls that we attend and we always take the quickest route. This has of course been slowed because of the new Quay upgrade.

The Quay, at any given time, is at gridlock from Parnell Street to the bridge. Because of this, William Street is then backed up to De La Salle College, a situation that we have only needed to deal with in the last couple of years.
He said the new layout has also changed people’s attitudes to pedestrian crossings on The Quay.
“Before the new design of The Quay there were certain pedestrian crossings that people used, but now we find that people are using the new median as a crossing point from the GPO all the way up to the bus terminal,” he explained.

“And with the inclusion of the trees on the median our visual scope of people crossing is severely hindered. Thank God, up to this point, no one has been injured due to this but you can see it happening.”

Mr Bradfield said the majority of road users assist emergency services.
“The majority of road users, when they hear or see us coming, do their best to move aside. But it only takes one person to panic or do the completely opposite thing to what they should do and that brings us to a complete stop,” he said.

I couldn't have said it better my self.

I did always wonder why the system sent ambulance drivers down the quay, its true that the distance of the by pass is just too much, if it was 3km then maybe it would be an option. But its a 6km detour for me to take it to work, according to google maps, that means it will take the same amount of time to travel Rice bridge or the Suir bridge.

I did have a very near miss where a pedestrian walked out in front of me at 11:30pm at night outside the Cancer Charity shop, Between the floodlight on the ground and the tree, I didn't see him at all.

I've read back over my first post on this thread and the fact of the matter is I just dont use the quay anymore, I see New Ross and Kilkenny more than I see the quay in Waterford and I live 2.5 km form the quay.

We will just have to wait and see if changes will be made.

JMT2016

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I couldn't have said it better my self.

I did always wonder why the system sent ambulance drivers down the quay, its true that the distance of the by pass is just too much, if it was 3km then maybe it would be an option. But its a 6km detour for me to take it to work, according to google maps, that means it will take the same amount of time to travel Rice bridge or the Suir bridge.

....I just dont use the quay anymore, I see New Ross and Kilkenny more than I see the quay in Waterford and I live 2.5 km form the quay.

Imagine if there was a bridge from Ardkeen across to Ross Abbey!

The current setup is bad for health and bad for business!!

allthedoyles

Buses even park side-by-side as you can see in this clip

robtri

allthedoyles wrote: »

Buses even park side-by-side as you can see in this clip

you see that sort of stupidy all the time... cars parking in the bus lane as they pop into the shops. center i think... people stopped in the turn left lane up to city square as they nip into the post office...

there are a lot of people in waterford who think only about themselves and dont care how much of a mess they make of the quay....

wmpdd3

That particular lane is a total waste.

Cabaal

robtri wrote: »

you see that sort of stupidy all the time... cars parking in the bus lane as they pop into the shops. center i think... people stopped in the turn left lane up to city square as they nip into the post office...

there are a lot of people in waterford who think only about themselves and dont care how much of a mess they make of the quay....

The failing here is the traffic wardens and Gardai, even if they spent 2 weeks ticketing anyone that double parked for even 30seconds in the lane it would do alot to get the message across.

The mentality you speak of is not down to Waterford, its Irish people in general when it comes to thinking about other road users

robtri

Cabaal wrote: »

The failing here is the traffic wardens and Gardai, even if they spent 2 weeks ticketing anyone that double parked for even 30seconds in the lane it would do alot to get the message across.

The mentality you speak of is not down to Waterford, its Irish people in general when it comes to thinking about other road users

so agree.... spend some time seriously ticketing and word gets around and people will think twice...

it is an Irish mentality, but i do find it particularly bad in waterford city...

Taxburden carrier

allthedoyles wrote: »

Buses even park side-by-side as you can see in this clip

And there is a perfectly good bus lane across the road that he could have parked in :rolleyes:

looksee

To get to that bus lane though you have to go to the junction, turn right across the bridge, round the roundabout, back across the bridge and along the quays. Then you are facing in the wrong direction.

Taxburden carrier

looksee wrote: »

To get to that bus lane though you have to go to the junction, turn right across the bridge, round the roundabout, back across the bridge and along the quays. Then you are facing in the wrong direction.

Was being sarcastic given that while bus lane parking is common place in Waterford, it's a shooting offence in Dublin !

sparkling sea

Our Minister for Transport has said he would love to open up the bus routes, however the advice he has received would make this a dangerous situation for the emergency services: therefore would be legal implication for the government.

So why isn't there legal implications given the difficulty the new layout of the Quays in Waterford have caused the emergency services here

O Riain

Was driving in London today on a new road with two lanes going the same way. Cars had to mount the curb in order to make room for the ambulance (road was also extremely busy). People didn't have a panic attack like they seem to do on the quay and the ambulance got through easy enough.

Just saying.

TheQuietFella

That's because the vast majority of London streets have red lines on the road side which indicates that you cannot under any circumstances park or stop there and it is strictly enforced. Over here we don't give a f**k where we leave the car as long as we can do our little errand.