Poor Quality Roads List

dutopia

The differences in quality of road surfaces around Ireland astonishes me. You can find some roads in the middle of the countryside in Co. Galway that are new, smooth and without potholes, and some in Dublin that look like a patchwork quilt and have cyclists and drivers swerving left and right avoiding massive potholes. I want make a list/sticky(possibly?) listing the worst roads and the most in need of resurfacing. Maybe we can petition local councils to look at resurfacing these roads. I'll start the ball rolling:

Clontarf Road - R807
This road is in absolute tatters. All the way from Howth around the coast to East Point and beyond, this road is in bits. The amount of potholes, bad patchwork, changes in surface and badly aligned manhole covers make it a pain to drive on this road. Also, it has a cycle lane! It's dangerous for cyclists that have to swerve around to avoid bad pieces of road.

The entire stretch from Rathgar Road to Rathmines Road to Portobello.

Mr Simpson

dutopia wrote: »

The differences in quality of road surfaces around Ireland astonishes me. You can find some roads in the middle of the countryside in Co. Galway that are new, smooth and without potholes, and some in Dublin that look like a patchwork quilt and have cyclists and drivers swerving left and right avoiding massive potholes. I want make a list/sticky(possibly?) listing the worst roads and the most in need of resurfacing. Maybe we can petition local councils to look at resurfacing these roads. I'll start the ball rolling:

Clontarf Road - R807
This road is in absolute tatters. All the way from Howth around the coast to East Point and beyond, this road is in bits. The amount of potholes, bad patchwork, changes in surface and badly aligned manhole covers make it a pain to drive on this road. Also, it has a cycle lane! It's dangerous for cyclists that have to swerve around to avoid bad pieces of road.

Most of the howth to sutton stretch was relaid just before the olympic torch run, so its not so bad. Also from St Fintans School all the way to alfie byrne road, the cycle lane is completely segregated. The road is completely shocking though. Also, the surface on the malahide road at Donnycarney is terrible.

donspeekinglesh

mmcn90 wrote: »

Also from St Fintans School all the way to alfie byrne road, the cycle lane is completely segregated.

Except for the part between the causeway and the wooden bridge.

Mr Simpson

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

mmcn90 wrote: »

Also from St Fintans School all the way to alfie byrne road, the cycle lane is completely segregated.

Except for the part between the causeway and the wooden bridge.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that bit.

Mycroft H

Might be easier to list the roads with good surfaces

MJohnston

This absolute abomination of a "road" is short, but just terrible. Not to mention (but actually to mention) the weird artificial one way traffic light system on the other side of the bridge:

http://goo.gl/maps/vygO1

Lapin

dutopia wrote: »

You can find some roads in the middle of the countryside in Co. Galway that are new, smooth and without potholes, and some in Dublin that look like a patchwork quilt .....

You appear annoyed by the fact that there are roads in Co Galway in better condition than some in Dublin.

murphaph

Lapin wrote: »

You appear annoyed by the fact that there are roads in Co Galway in better condition than some in Dublin.

Really? I don't see that. He's just pointing out that urban roads can be in rag order just as quick as rural roads

Cookie_Monster

roads forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1394

dutopia

Lapin wrote: »

You appear annoyed by the fact that there are roads in Co Galway in better condition than some in Dublin.

It's just surprising that heavy traffic laden roads in Dublin get ignored while some country roads with light traffic have been resurfaced. Still, it's nice that some roads are getting resurfaced! You'd just expect it to be the opposite!

dutopia

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

roads forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1394

Jeez, how did I miss that. Mods feel free to move...

antoobrien

dutopia wrote: »

It's just surprising that heavy traffic laden roads in Dublin get ignored while some country roads with light traffic have been resurfaced. Still, it's nice that some roads are getting resurfaced! You'd just expect it to be the opposite!

The roads in Galway get resurfaced ones in a blue moon, but when they're done they're usually done to last a fair while. There are parts of the Monivea Rd just outside the city that were re surfaced in the mid 90s and still look pristine (better than some parts of the former N6 and thanks to the motorway it'll probably last an extra 10 years before it needs resurfacing), go a couple of miles out the road and it starts to deteriorate badly.

There were large stretches of the N83 that were totally destroyed with the two severe winters in a row. It took over 18 months to get them fixed, there are a lot of regional and local roads that are in far worse conditions than the Coast road at Clontarf or Malahide Rd at Donnycarney (I work in Eastpoint).

MJohnston

I guess the point of this thread is pointing out roads which tip the balance of usage vs quality. For example the condition of somewhere like North Wall Quay might be more notable for it's prominence to visitors to Ireland compared to neglect on a Donegal boreen.

Having said all this, I'm just after spending 8 weeks in parts of the USA and after driving in most of them, our roads are far, far superior. The condition of some heavily trafficked roads in particular there is amazingly bad. The Brooklyn-Queen's Expressway and a lot of roads surrounding Manhattan stood out to me especially for their state of deterioration and their total lack of safety.

dowlingm

MJohnston - much wider temperature swings between winter and summer in NE USA and central Canada that anything a road in Ireland would deal with.

MJohnston

dowlingm wrote: »

MJohnston - much wider temperature swings between winter and summer in NE USA and central Canada that anything a road in Ireland would deal with.

Probably, but it likely doesn't help that they barely spend anything (relatively) on their infrastructure in general, never mind the roads: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-04/news/30358493_1_infrastructure-spending-water-lines-infrastructure-policy

alentejo

Dónal wrote: »

The entire stretch from Rathgar Road to Rathmines Road to Portobello.

Good News - DCC appear to have commenced a full resurface of both Rathmines and Rathgar roads. Let us hope!!

blackplum123

I see they have put huge speed humps on the Seafield road east, Clontarf and near the roundabout in Artane.
In between these new speed humps on Seafield road, the road is in absolute sh.te,
Surely the money would be better spent on repairing the normal road surfaces and badly damaged existing speed humps.
These humps are not cheap to install and I wonder who surveys these roads and decides what work should be carried out.
Is it a case of a budget needs to be spent before the end of year or loose it ....

some times I just wonder

donvito99

Its amazing the difference in noise coming from the Rathmines/Rathgar Road.

Pleasure to live near!

Chris_5339762

The new surface on that is better than some of the motorways. And I like the way they have nice wide cycle lanes (until it hits Rathgar when the cyclists are spit into the area between two lines of traffic)