Badly done/Incomplete bypasses

veryangryman

Since Longford N5 has just opened, it also opens up a fresh topic in my mind.

2 bypasses of the town, yet its still not fully bypassable. Traffic from Athlone/Roscommon/Galway still has to use the town centre as the N63 is not integrated. Portlaoise N80 another example.

Im going to use Athlone as an example. Regardless of what approach you take (N6, N55, N61, N62), you can bypass the town with no hassle. This, on a bypass opened in 1991. Another recent good example is Tullamore N52/N80.

Why on earth cant a bypass be built in proper format. Does anyone have history of local issues for these things. Is there just a simple rule of "If traffic is not Dublin bound, it aint happening?"

Sponge Bob

Kells is bypassed properly too as is Mullingar.

Other examples of epic failures are

1. Carlow N80.
2. Loughrea, missing western leg.
3. Galway ...looks like they will leave out the western end of the bypass.
4. Claregalway needs a bypass no matter if they build a motorway to the east.
5. Castlebar, see Carlow ...only waaaay worse.
6. Cahir, missing a leg to the NW

JupiterKid

One of the worst/most incomplete has to be Bandon, Co. Cork on the N71. The so called "bypass" built over 20 years ago, takes Skibbereen bound traffiic from the Cork city side of Bandon and then dumps it in the middle of the town.

Mallow is incomplete too - it needs an E-W bypass on the N72 - as does Fermoy.

Monaghan town needs a bypass in a SW-NE direction for the N54-N12 direction.

Boyle could do with a route to connect the N61 to the south of the town to the existing N4 bypass.

JoeyJJ

Was on the Longford N5 east bound yesterday and as someone who uses the N4 east more than the N5 east I was concerned about the Roundabout causing a backup on the N4 during peak hours, on the older N5 road there was lights in Longford breaking traffic before getting on the N4, now it is more straight forward. I reckon you will see pissed off drivers on the N4 which could mean lights on that new roundabout at some stage.

veryangryman

JupiterKid wrote: »

Monaghan town needs a bypass in a SW-NE direction for the N54-N12 direction.

Monaghan traffic can be a joke at times; out of all the listed sofar i wouldnt begrudge them an integrated bypass

L1011

New Ross and Carrick on Shannon were bypassed in the 1980s

In both cases, they avoided building a new bridge, so just pulled the traffic back in to the existing bridge... In both cases, they never protected the bypass from development.

Neither town realistically has a bypass now and both are going to get re-done.

Letterkenny - while R25x traffic is pulled off the main street and N56 traffic is pulled away from the town centre, neither is done right.

AugustusMinimus

Fermoy

Two sliproads could have been added to the M8 bypass fairly easily.

N72 to M8 southbound
M8 to N72 northbound.

But they didn't do it.

Cleahaigh

They would then be ring roads rather than bypasses per se. No point wasting money catering for relatively small volumes of traffic in most cases.

veryangryman

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Fermoy
Two sliproads could have been added to the M8 bypass fairly easily.
N72 to M8 southbound
M8 to N72 northbound. But they didn't do it.

There was a reason for this. Try to guess it.

veryangryman

Cleahaigh wrote: »

They would then be ring roads rather than bypasses per se. No point wasting money catering for relatively small volumes of traffic in most cases.

I disagree. Any traffic that doesn't need to be in a town should not have to go through it. In the case of longford it would have taken an extra 2KM of road hardly breaking bank to service all non dublin traffic

AugustusMinimus

veryangryman wrote: »

There was a reason for this. Try to guess it.

I can't think of any reason.

if you are thinking about toll collections issues, then there are none.

1. If you are coming off the motorway at N72, you will have paid the toll at Watergrasshill.
2. If you are getting onto the motorway at N72, you will pay the toll at Watergrasshill.
3. If you are getting onto the motorway at N72 but exiting at the next junction with the R639, then you will pay the toll there.
4. If you are coming off the motorway at N72 after joing the motorway at the previous junction with the R639, you will have paid the toll entering the motor at that previous junction with the R639.


Topography of the area might have been an issue, although I doubt it as a lot of stupid design issues are taken in this country.