Galways Newest Roundabout Needs Fixing.

Sponge Bob

This is the roundabout where the Motorway ends and is only 3 years old. Needs a bit of work and the work will take place in 2012....not after the January sales.

The money due for the Bodkin etc from the NRA has been reallocated for this project as long as it is spent by the end of the year. And so it will be unless they give Coffey the job.

Basically someone finally noticed it is too narrow. But honestly you would think they could build a proper roundabout in Galway of all places AND in 2009.

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=SEP381615

Improvement works are proposed to the Coolagh roundabout. The circulartary carriageway width of the roundabout will be widened by the reduction of the central island. In addition works are also proposed to alter the kerb alignments on the entry and exits to the Coolagh roundabout and the introduction of Adavanced Directional Signage and
road markings along the carrigeway as well as alterations to existing signage faces and locations. As part of this contract it is also proposed to extend the right turn lane along the N6 Bothar Na dTreabh on the north bound approach to the Lynch junction. Works to include extended sections of carriageway and ancillary works.
Specifically the Contract is proposed to include the following:
(i) Amendments to the existing Coolagh Roundabout and extension to the existing right turn lane on the N6 on the north bound approach to the Lynch junction. At both locations facilities to allow for amended drainage, kerbing, lighting and surfacing.
(ii) Planing and replacement of the existing surface course in the vicinity of the roundabout
(iii) Introduction of Adavanced Directional Signage and road markings along the carrigeway as well as alterations to existing signage faces and locations.
(iv) Minor landscaping preparatory works in the vicinity of the existing roundabout

yer man!

There was a serious enough crash there today actually, would have been great if it had been grad separated when it was being built....

Stench Blossoms

It's called the Coolagh roundabout isn't it?

I heard there was a crash there yesterday but on Today FM they said something like 'Because of the crash on the Coolagh roundabout there is a delay on Bothar na dTreabh'. Highly confusing.

It's not the first time there's been an accident there either.

ethernet

That roundabout was ridiculously oversized. About time they're fixing this.

beardybrewer

Very happy it's finally being done. My wife will be happy too as she won't have to hear me say the same damned thing everytime I drive through it.

It gives me some hope they're not all complete muppets.

snubbleste

yer man! wrote: »

There was a serious enough crash there today actually, would have been great if it had been grad separated when it was being built....

I saw this as well, looked very nasty ..all emergency services were there, plus the road was'nt cleaned properly afterwards when I went by later.

Iwannahurl

Sponge Bob wrote: »

you would think they could build a proper roundabout in Galway of all places

Why would they want to break with tradition? We value our heritage in Galway. Their only regret is that there are just fourteen tribal names with which to venerate their shoddy work.

Fey!

Not the first crash there. I wrote off my car coming through it a few months after it opened. The assessor told me that it was mostly down to the road surface (I have a crash camera which recorded the speed, position and braking levels which showed that I wasn't speeding, on the phone or braking heavily).

The NRA and RSA, when contacted, didn't care, and the Gardai couldn't give me stats on the number of accidents already there, of which I know there were almost a dozen at that stage.

I was lucky; I narrowly missed the light post before the armco started and went down the 2 metre embankment throught the steel reinforced wall. Part of the steel went through the drivers door and came an inch short of impaling me.

If you're passing by on the way into town look down and to the left as you exit the roundabout. There are two sections of wall missing. My accident is the first one.

Fozzie Bear

newkie wrote: »

It gives me some hope they're not all complete muppets.

Oh no don't doubt yourself, they are. Muppets. Complete and utter muppets. Actually muppet does not even half ways describe the stupidity of these cretins.

The same cretins who brought you the total **** of a design for the traffic lanes as you come from the Tuam Road towards the junctions at Ballybrit/Ballybane that is now up for re-design too apparently, Morris Junction Markings

The same cretins who brought you The Bishop O'Donnell Road saga.

Can you imagine the absolute, all consuming, cluster fúck the Bodkin roundabout removal at the Galway Shopping centre is going to be when those monkies are let loose on it.

Sponge Bob

The corpo did not design this Roundabout, the NRA did. However the corpo had no issues with the design of the roundabout either.

Night Falls

I'm all for voicing disagreement or objections to issues, but FB, there's only one person who comes out of your post looking foolish, and I'll give you a clue, it's nobody at City Hall.

?Cee?view

Night Falls wrote: »

I'm all for voicing disagreement or objections to issues, but FB, there's only one person who comes out of your post looking foolish, and I'll give you a clue, it's nobody at City Hall.

Other than FozzieBears questionable language, what could you possibly disagree with in what he wrote?

Iwannahurl

churchview wrote: »

Other than FozzieBears questionable language, what could you possibly disagree with in what he wrote?

One minor quibble perhaps: the Bodkin roundabout already is, in a manner of speaking, a "cluster fúck".

aido76

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

Oh no don't doubt yourself, they are. Muppets. Complete and utter muppets. Actually muppet does not even half ways describe the stupidity of these cretins.

The coolagh roundabout is at the end of the N6 duelcarraigeway, not the motorway. The motorway finishes at the Oranmore junction. It is rare to see a car going under the speed limit (100Km/h) heading into that roundabout. I would blame the inappropiate signage at the Oranmore junction to show the speed limit has reduced to 100Km/h.

biko

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

Oh no don't doubt yourself, they are. Muppets. Complete and utter muppets. Actually muppet does not even half ways describe the stupidity of these cretins.

Location: The Muppet Theater

Well, I lolled.

However, I ask you now to tone it down on the "abuse a politician" front. Save it for the pub or anywhere off-site.

antoobrien

aido76 wrote: »

I would blame the inappropiate signage at the Oranmore junction to show the speed limit has reduced to 100Km/h.

The signage can't be much clearer than it is. End of motorway, use of green signs and 100km/h limit signs. What more do you want, someone to hold your hand?

I can suggest a good optician.

connemara man

People know the change but you cant stop some people breaking the limit on a high quality rd

ratracer

It is a bit ridiculous that the speed signage changes but the road quality/size does not. Surely there should be large rumble strips put in the road surface fro at least 200m approaching the slip road and roundabout which would gently calm the traffic speed. It is a bit silly to end a 2 1/2 hr motorway/ dualcarriageway with a roundabout. The signage is relatively ineffective as it is a passive warning, whereas rumble strips would induce a physical reaction, which would most likely cause drivers to reduce their speed.

Night Falls

churchview wrote: »

Other than FozzieBears questionable language, what could you possibly disagree with in what he wrote?

If someone can't debate like an adult and without resorting to juvenile insults, don't expect their opinion to be treated seriously.

Oh, and I wouldn't take it for granted that the Bodkin upgrade works would be the cluster**** he is suggesting. The other junction upgrades were carried out without being *too* disruptive (there's absolutely no way you can completely eliminate issues during construction, only minimise them).

antoobrien

Night Falls wrote: »

Oh, and I wouldn't take it for granted that the Bodkin upgrade works would be the cluster**** he is suggesting.

The fear around bodkin is well founded - look at the utter mess that the works at the lights the at other end of the QB contributed to last year.

Night Falls wrote: »

The other junction upgrades were carried out without being *too* disruptive (there's absolutely no way you can completely eliminate issues during construction, only minimise them).

You're kidding right? They didn't keep to their "promises" that they would not close lanes during peak times and caused havoc.

Night Falls

antoobrien wrote: »

The fear around bodkin is well founded - look at the utter mess that the works at the lights the at other end of the QB contributed to last year.



You're kidding right? They didn't keep to their "promises" that they would not close lanes during peak times and caused havoc.

I'm not saying the concern isn't valid, rather that it's not the foregone conclusion some are anticipating. For instance, work at the Western Motors junction seems to have been done with minimum disruption.

Just in relation to the Newcastle Road junction works, I'll hold my hands up and admit to not knowing a huge amount about it as I wasn't around, what did they mess up on that score?

aido76

antoobrien wrote: »

The signage can't be much clearer than it is. End of motorway, use of green signs and 100km/h limit signs. What more do you want, someone to hold your hand?

I can suggest a good optician.

No problem with my eye sight. However if you are travelling along for a few hours at 120Km/h and all that is telling you there is a change of speed limit is 2 very small 100km/h signs well to me that inappropriate. The end of motorway signs don't really stand out considering there are alot of information signs in the area with the junction. They could have put in larger 100km/h signs, possibly write 100km/h on the road and, as was mentioned earlier, rumble strips so you can't miss it.

Iwannahurl

Signage notifying end of M6 motorway in 400 metres


Signage marking end M6 Motorway, with 100 km/h speed limit sign


N6 Signage 1


Roundabout Signage 1


Roundabout Signage 2


Roundabout Signage 3


Lane Signage


Roundabout Signage 4


Approach to Coolagh Roundabout


There does seem to be enough signage indicating the M6 termination and the N6 approach to Galway at the Coolagh Roundabout.

I'm no roads engineer, but since the character of the road doesn't change much after the M6 ends, I would be inclined to agree that more 100 km/h signs are needed, though I imagine that rumble strips would be more applicable much closer to the roundabout itself.

Now that I think of it, does the signage effectively indicate a 100 km/h speed limit on the roundabout itself? This slip road has an 80 km/h speed limit.


.

KevR

Signage about the motorway ending and the 100kmh signs are absolutely fine. The signs for the rounadbout are ok too.

It should never have been built as a roundabout. I don't understand how anyone could have thought is was a good idea to terminate a 200km motorway/DC at a roundabout. It was the wrong option in terms of safety, the wrong option considering traffic volumes in the area and it was the wrong option in terms of disruption during construction.

Now that the damage is done, they need to put in rumble strips 200m back from the roundabout so people will realise in time that the DC is about to end.

Just to clarify, the DC West of the Oranmore junction is built to the exact same spec as the motorway East of the junction. There is no legal reason why the motorway status can't be extended right up to the roundabout. Assuming rumble strips were put in, there would be no safety reasons why the DC bit could not have a 120kmh speed limit even without motorway status (yes, DCs can have a 120kmh limit). There is certainly no reason why the Eastbound carriageway couldn't have a 120kmh limit.

The reason why the motorway status currently ends at the Oranmore junction is because of the planned Galway Bypass. If the motorway status continued West of Oranmore, it would mean that a part of the GCOB would need a motorway order. This would only delay the bypass further. I wouldn't be surprised if the motorway status was extended westwards after construction starts on the bypass.

Iwannahurl

Just curious: what would the correct option have been? Is there another example you could link to on StreetView?

I'm not a fan of (Irish) roundabouts myself, but I'm not personally aware that Coolagh is worse than any other. The NRA seems to like roundabouts, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's their preferred option in most cases. Roundabouts are cheap, right?

Cicero

I don't normally have major issues with roundabouts but is there something about the design of Galway city roundabouts that's different? Maybe it's the heavy traffic coupled with smaller roundabouts coupled with traffic light controls but I've had a few near misses through in the years at the ones coming into the city.

KevR

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Just curious: what would the correct option have been? Is there another example you could link to on StreetView?

M9/N10 Interchange - only one bridge over the existing N6 would have been required. The N6 could have been left largely intact and there would have been a lot less traffic disruption during construction. Fully free-flow junction.

Iwannahurl

KevR wrote: »

M9/N10 Interchange - only one bridge over the existing N6 would have been required. The N6 could have been left largely intact and there would have been a lot less traffic disruption during construction. Fully free-flow junction.

That's not the end of the motorway, though, is it?

This is where the M9 ends near Waterford. Yes, another roundabout.

End of the M8 near Cork.

End of the M3 near Kells.

End of the M2 near Ashbourne.

It does look as if the NRA are fond of terminating motorways at roundabouts.


.