Works to Roundabout?

slowharry

Does anyone have the remotest idea what is the reason behind the works to the roundabout on the Athlone/Ballymahon road out of Mullingar.

It seems like the Council have dug up the existing and are just replacing it without making (from what what I can see as) any significant changes.

Good to see the council isn't wasting any money:mad:

Please Kill Me

Yeah, seen that the other day. It doesn't make sense at all. Not beneficial in any way from what I can see. Maybe they need to justify their budget? :mad:

CORaven

The old roundabout was a hazard as it was too high up to see traffic already on the roundabout clearly.

lakill Farm

I heard that Danny McLoughlin didnt like the old types and wanted them like the ones in roscommon.

yupya1

This is a disgrace, such a waste of money! and ripping up the road barrier on the N4 after spending thousands on it 1 year before.

But they wouldnt fix up a ghost housing estate in Athlone and a boy was killed, these muppets have blood on their hands through their incompetence

paultf

CORaven wrote: »

The old roundabout was a hazard as it was too high up to see traffic already on the roundabout clearly.

I go past that roundabout everyday - that is what I concluded too: the old roundabouts were too high such that in your car you couldn't see the other side. Badly designed in the first place.

They have done the same work on at least 2 other roundabouts on the C-Link. Plus I think they are working on the roundabout near the Joe Dolan bridge - same problem.

The CoCo could be using up the remainder of their budget. The way it used to work, if it came near end of budget year, the CoCo outdoor staff would be out doing all sorts of work. Why? Well, if they don't use their budget, the CoCo won't get it next year!

Plus in the Advertiser recently, it was reported the CoCo made €500,000 from parking tickets last year. In the paper they stated they were going to use some of this money to rebuild roundabouts.

Off topic, what a waste of money to install the permanent exercise equipment along the canal. Must of cost a fortune. Does anyone use it?!!

Please Kill Me

paultf wrote: »

Off topic, what a waste of money to install the permanent exercise equipment along the canal. Must of cost a fortune. Does anyone use it?!!

Really? Where? I'd use them if I knew where they were!

paultf

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Really? Where? I'd use them if I knew where they were!

The one I definitely know of is along the canal opposite The Moorings housing estate - if you cross the bridge over the canal there is some exercise equipment on the right. The best way to get to it is to enter the canal at the railway station and walk 1 mile out of town towards Grange.

There are other places too. As far as I can remember there is at least 1 near Millies garage at the top of Austin Friar Street - not sure if its on the left or right of the bridge - there may even be 1 on each side.

Also I think there are some in the Town Park.

I had a quick look on the CoCo website but couldn't see anything. I remember at the time they were announced as it was in the paper. If you ring the CoCo they will tell you all the locations.

EDIT: Explained here: www.advertiser.ie/mullingar/article/47460 four locations along the canal + town park = €25,000

Please Kill Me

Good on ya Paul, thanks for that. I do training in a boxing club on Wednesdays and Fridays, and if the lads knew about these, they'd be used. Must have a look before the next training session. Nice one!

yupya1

You need to see to the right of a roundabout not through/over it, its no excuse to waste money when its needed elsewhere.

Even taking your point what was the idea of ripping up all the no maintenance red brick and replacing with a heavy maintenance flower bed.

Why didnt they just reduce the height? No common sense you see

paultf

yupya1 wrote: »

You need to see to the right of a roundabout not through/over it, its no excuse to waste money when its needed elsewhere.

Even taking your point what was the idea of ripping up all the no maintenance red brick and replacing with a heavy maintenance flower bed.

Why didnt they just reduce the height? No common sense you see

That particular roundabout - Clonmore Industrial Estate/Ballymahon Road - is very big i.e. not only in height but also in width - it takes time to get fully around it.

I think it needed to be reduced in height as many a time I was coming from the C-Link road side and taking the 3rd exit, by the time I got to the Clonmore exit (2nd exit), a car would pull out in front of me. Why? They couldn't see me coming from the other side/from the side at the 1st exit, so they got caught out.

I have been told by someone in the know these changes had to be made for Health & Safety. 12-15 years ago when these roundabouts were built H&S rules were different.

I agree why not rebuild with brick instead of higher maintenance grass/flowers? I suppose they did it that way to make the town look better or for Tidy Towns reasons.

slowharry

I agree it was poorly designed in the first place but has there been many car accidents at that location due to the height of the roundabout.
Unless there were regular car accidents at this location the project is a waste of money.

As pointed out this smells of the typical council attitude of 'we have money in the budget we better spend it or we wont get any money next year and we need to justify our jobs'.

and I'm reserving judgement on the new pedestrian bridge in Athlone at Ericssons which I suspect will be a bigger waste of money.