The Coombe - Ramps

DirkVoodoo

I've just filed a report with the DCC, however I don't know how quick/urgently they will respond.

Anyone who rides over the ramps by the Coombe will have noticed by now that they have deteriorated beyond "poor" to "class 5 kill-ramps".

You can't even call it a surface anymore, it's just a series of loosely connected holes.

Plus, there are three of these ramps to navigate and all as bad as each other. The potential for losing and falling under a car or having to take evasive action (for anyone unfamiliar with the ramps) and get swiped by a car is high.

I'd urge anyone who uses this road and knows what I'm talking about to use the DCC reporting system and spend 5 minutes logging the problem to get it bumped up the queue. Assuming a queue exists and the council don't operate on a "who you know" basis.

On a side note, I'm totally opposed to cobble/brick ramps, they don't last and they must cost a fortune to maintain on busier roads. Fine for small residential areas.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I'd urge anyone who uses this road and knows what I'm talking about to use the DCC reporting system

Link?

RobFowl

I'm more concerned that Dirk is loitering around the Coombe......

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

Link?

Dublin City Council - Reporting System

Then you just report a pothole, type "COOMBE" into the search field and point it out on the map.

Lastly, type in your light-hearted rant which will hopefully be picked up by an automated system and promptly dumped into "stuff to do before elections".

DirkVoodoo

RobFowl wrote: »

I'm more concerned that Dirk is loitering around the Coombe......

A guy's gotta make a living, now where is my cowboy hat...

seamus

Yeah, boomtime ramps. They're all in the same crap state now. When times were good and councils had big budgets to blow, they went ahead and installed nice red-brick ramps all over the place. Expensive but they make a place look classy, right?

Of course as we've known for donkey's years, brick doesn't really make good road material because it's just not very robust when it comes to vehicles driving on it, and also weathers very poorly when you have ground frost and flooding. Tarmac is much better because it has some give and tolerates weathering much better.

So when we ran out of money and then had a month of lying snow in 2010, they all went to absolute crap and we couldn't afford to do anything about them.

Lumen

You mean this one on "The Coombe", or one by the Coombe hospital?

http://goo.gl/maps/zpWXY

^ this is really nasty now.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

You mean this one on "The Coombe", or one by the Coombe hospital?

http://goo.gl/maps/zpWXY

^ this is really nasty now.

Yes, that one...but there is 3 in a row. There is one before and one after the one you have linked to. They are all in a bad state.

On your lunch break, pop over and have a look. Bring a camera.

ford2600

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1988/en/si/0032.html


1. Ramps shall be provided in the following manner:—


(1) There shall be a distance of at least 20 metres and not more than 200 metres between any two ramps on any roadway.


(2) Where a road has a gradient of more than 10 degrees, a ramp shall not be provided within 30 metres of the top of the gradient and the distance between any two ramps on the gradient shall not be greater than 70 metres.


(3) There shall be not less than two ramps on any roadway.


2. Where ramps are provided, they shall not be positioned—


( a ) so as to obstruct an entrance for vehicles to premises or land adjoining the road,


( b ) on or within 30 metres of a pedestrian crossing,


( c ) at or within 30 metres of a location on a roadway where a school warden operates,


( d ) on or within 30 metres of a bridge, tunnel, culvert or other structure over which the roadway passes,


( e ) under or within 30 metres of a structure over the roadway any part of which is 6.5 metres or less above the roadway,


( f ) at or within 8 metres of a junction or a 45° bend with an inner kerb radius of less than 50 metres,


( g ) within 200 metres of a traffic sign number 202 authorised by the Regulations of 1962 on the same road,


( h ) within 30 metres of a railway level crossing.


3. A ramp shall only be provided where its centre is within 5 metres of a street light.


4. Ramps shall not be provided on a roadway where the road concerned is—


( a ) a road in respect of which a speed limit exceeding 30 miles per hour applies,


( b ) a national road,


( c ) a dual carriageway, or


( d ) a road on which an omnibus service operates.


5. Each ramp shall—


( a ) be constructed of hot rolled asphalt,


( b ) extend across the width of the roadway between channels,


( c ) be 3.7 metres in length in the direction of the roadway,


( d ) have a maximum height at the centre above the road surface of 10 centimetres,


( e ) be properly secured so as to prevent movement, and


( f ) be painted with reflectorised white paint.

Chips Lovell

RobFowl wrote: »

I'm more concerned that Dirk is loitering around the Coombe......

You may travel from Clare to the county Kildare
From Francis Street back to the Coombe;
But where would you see a fine widow like me?
Dirk Voodoo the pride of the Coombe, me boys,

ford2600

Might not do any harm to remind them of Schedule 2 section 5, a,d,e & f

buffalo

Likewise Beresford St - http://goo.gl/maps/Io1rP - crumbling, potholed, one slightly patched by tarmac, but generally in a heap. Have to slow to about 2kmph over them for fear of breaking something. Maybe that means they're working?

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Yes, that one...but there is 3 in a row. There is one before and one after the one you have linked to. They are all in a bad state.

On your lunch break, pop over and have a look. Bring a camera.

I ride those every day.

The trick is to ride on the outer double yellow line. The paint is smoother than the underlying surface.

Mad skillz, me.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

I ride those every day.

The trick is to ride on the outer double yellow line. The paint is smoother than the underlying surface.

Mad skillz, me.

I do that, except in the wet or when some inconsiderate clod decides to double park. Or there is a bus pulled in.

I would have thought you would be of the opinion that modifying how you ride to accomodate poor infrastructure is not the way forward? Fill out the report.

Would you not be as handy going up Thomas Street?

Doctor Bob

I've heard a small rumour that ramps on some bus routes in Dublin city centre might be replaced/upgraded this year, but I don't know which ones. Even if The Coombe is on the list, it can't hurt to send in reports/requests.

This ramp on Mercer Street is probably the worst one I know of in Dublin currently. Sadly it's not on a bus route.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Fill out the report.

Yes, but....

http://oi46.tinypic.com/504ahl.jpg

buffalo

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Dublin City Council - Reporting System

Anyone know is this a better or worse place to report than fixmystreet.ie ?

Wishbone Ash

seamus wrote: »

Yeah, boomtime ramps. They're all in the same crap state now. When times were good and councils had big budgets to blow, they went ahead and installed nice red-brick ramps all over the place. Expensive but they make a place look classy, right?

Of course as we've known for donkey's years, brick doesn't really make good road material because it's just not very robust when it comes to vehicles driving on it, and also weathers very poorly when you have ground frost and flooding. Tarmac is much better because it has some give and tolerates weathering much better.

So when we ran out of money and then had a month of lying snow in 2010, they all went to absolute crap and we couldn't afford to do anything about them.

They may look like they are made of brick but usually it's coloured imprinted concrete. I agree with you sentiments though -a lot of them seemed to have become damaged following the very cold spell at the end of 2010 and have been deteriorating even since.

godtabh

DLRCC are replacing these types of ramps in my estate with tarmac ones. They were fairly bad in parts.

godtabh

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

They may look like they are made of brick but usually it's coloured imprinted concrete. I agree with you sentiments though -a lot of them seemed to have become damaged following the very cold spell at the end of 2010 and have been deteriorating even since.

Its generally just tarmac. Dont have a spec handy but concrete isnt widely used in roads in Ireland

DirkVoodoo

http://kieranbinchy.ie/2013/01/21/deterioration-of-speed-ramps/

Question to City Manager City Council Meeting 14/01/2013
Q100. COUNCILLOR KIERAN BINCHY
To ask the Manager for a full report on the serious deterioration of the red-brick speed ramps around the city, including information on what material was used, who made the decision to use this material, whether the deterioration is due to the material being inherently unsuitable for our climate or whether it is due to a fault with otherwise suitable material, and whether the costs of maintaining and mending the speedbumps is to be borne by the Council or by a negligent third party.


CITY MANAGERS REPLY
The majority of red asphalt ramps in the City Council area have been installed between six and twelve years ago. Prior to the use of red asphalt, speed ramps were constructed with modular materials (i.e. individual red bricks) which was best practice at the time. These red brick ramps proved hard to maintain as they gradually deformed due to the impact loading from traffic. The red asphalt ramps were introduced to deal with this problem and did provide a good solution until the severe weather events of 2010 and 2011 when deterioration took place.

No case has been taken against the Contractors who installed these ramps as the ramps are in place in excess of twelve months, which is beyond the contractual liability period for these works, and in addition, it is difficult to identify the exact source of the fault which resulted in the ramps’ deterioration.

HivemindXX

godtabh wrote: »

Its generally just tarmac. Dont have a spec handy but concrete isnt widely used in roads in Ireland

I agree that it is not brick but some material which had a pattern imprinted on to it after it was laid. I saw them putting them in around my area and they made the ramp then used something to make the 'brick' pattern.

I don't think it is tarmac though, at least not the same stuff that they ususally use. On Heytesbury Street there was a bunch of these and they rapidly disintegrated. They were damaged within months and after one Winter it was like someone had emptied a few barrows of rubble and stuck it down with glue. These were replaced really quickly by the old style speed bumps made of black tarmac the same as the road. These have lasted a couple of years with no major wear and tear that I can notice.

In my opinion this style of speed bump was a fiasco. They did not last anything like the rest of the road surface. Whatever about not maintaining the roads because of a shortage of money, how specifying and installing something that turned out be so monumentally unsuitable for the purpose could have happened needs to be investigated.

Wishbone Ash

Doctor Bob wrote: »

This ramp on Mercer Street is probably the worst one I know of in Dublin currently. Sadly it's not on a bus route.

Mercer Street - Thank you! I knew there was one terrible one that I negotiate regularly but I couldn't recall where it was. (The Google image must be quite dated).

Chartsengrafs

Thanks Dirk, I go home that way in the evening. Lethal ramps (the second one in particular). Will log a complaint.

buffalo

I reported a couple of potholes on fixmystreet.ie earlier, and have been prompted today to fill in a questionnaire asking if the issue had been fixed. When I selected 'no', I was brought to a screen that said:

"We’re sorry to hear that. We have two suggestions: why not try writing direct to your councillor(s)"

The link provided was http://www.writetothem.com/ which allows one to "Contact your Councillors, MP, MEPs, MSPs, or Northern Ireland, Welsh and London AMs for free".

Something tells me fixmystreet.ie is a bit of a placebo.

godtabh

is fix my street run by South Dublin County Council? They had a good pilot scheme not so long ago very similar to this and it seemed to get very good feed back

HeidiHeidi

Thanks for the link OP! Was only in the last few days trying to figure out how to report the surface at the traffic lights at the Rialto exit of James' Hospital, which is a disaster and forces cyclists out into the middle of the road or risk a wheel.

Report duly made.

I won't hold my breath!

Chartsengrafs

Not sure if it's a coincidence or not but the particularly bad ramp has been fixed up and is all nice and smooth now. The hole-ridden coloured concrete has been replaced with tarmac. Success!