The footpath extension at millstreet

mr.correct

The genius' at city council have done it again ! they have extended the width of the footpath on the end of the bridge before you turn right down nuns island now when you are coming up beside garda station or turning left after nuns island there's only enough room for one car at front of the junction this is crazy and causing so many problems already I was 15 mins trying to get from back of nuns island to Dominick street THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN MY LIFE TIME DRIVING GALWAY CITY

irisheddie85

mr.correct wrote: »

The genius' at city council have done it again ! they have extended the width of the footpath on the end of the bridge before you turn right down nuns island now when you are coming up beside garda station or turning left after nuns island there's only enough room for one car at front of the junction this is crazy and causing so many problems already I was 15 mins trying to get from back of nuns island to Dominick street THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN MY LIFE TIME DRIVING GALWAY CITY

actually I think it was a good move. it stops people driving straight out of Mill Street on to Bridge Street without looking and has stopped taxis blocking up the junction performing illegal u-turns before trying to join the taxi rank. It also slows everyone down a bit making it a lot safer for pedestrians crossing the junction

Paddyfield

My understanding is that the Council are moving the entire taxi rank to one side of the street/bridge and there will be zero parking on the other side.

It makes sense.

flynnlives

irisheddie85 wrote: »

actually I think it was a good move. it stops people driving straight out of Mill Street on to Bridge Street without looking and has stopped taxis blocking up the junction performing illegal u-turns before trying to join the taxi rank. It also slows everyone down a bit making it a lot safer for pedestrians crossing the junction

i disagree.

it was done because the Taxis do not obey the current rules of the road.
So to stop them all the rest of us have to pay.

there was an existing yield sign there so i disagree that people where not slowing down and looking for traffic coming from dominick street.

This same logic of not enforcing the law against taxi drivers is evident with the gate on flood st. which can be closed on the whim whenever the gaurds wish blocking access to middle st and austine st for residents.

Again this was done because taxi drivers crawl thru cross street. simple enforcement and making them move along could have stopped this but no, lets pass the problem onto someone else.

snubbleste

I've travelled that route and the existing footpath is now noticeably sloped.
Have the Council informed the citizenry why these 'improvements' occurred?

Fey!

These are the plans for the area. A couple of locals met went to the corpo yesterday to discuss them. This is what we understood from the meeting.

The paths are being widened to facilitate pedestrians. This includes ramps at Lombard Street and Cross Street to aid people crossing the road.

There is a painted on the road roundabout going on the road at the Cross Street/Bridge Street/Lombard Street/Mainguard Street junction. It is basically formalising what people have been doing there for years, and giving drivers a better understanding as to who has right of way at the junction.

The parking spaces outside the Bridge Mills are being slanted.

The Stop line on Mill Street is being brought forward so that drivers can see any traffic coming up Dominc Street before they pull out.

The parking on the bridge itself is being moved to the other side. This means that taxis no longer will cross into oncoming traffic when moving up the rank (note; we were told that it was the taxis who requested the rank facing Dominic Street in the first place, but they never adhered to the direction in which it was set up).

Unfortunately they are planning to make this a 24 hour taxi rank and are removing the public parking. In order to make it a 24 hour rank it needs a council vote to change the bylaws. I am personally against this, and would ask everyone to email the members of the city council and ask them to vote against this, as it further reduces parking in the city.

I passed this at several times yesterday, and the taxis were backed up along the bridge. However, there were none in Newcastle, few in either rank in Salthill, and none on the stretch between Richardsons and Garveys in Eyre Square.

The corpo feel that the the public parking is not needed as their revenue shows that Mill Street and Ravens Terrace carparks are empty, despite it being nearly impossible to get a space in either.

City councillor contact details are available on www.galwaycity.ie.

Mrs OBumble

flynnlives wrote: »

there was an existing yield sign there so i disagree that people where not slowing down and looking for traffic coming from dominick street.

I hate to break it to you ... but the presence of a Yield sign does not necessarily mean that cars actually slow down and look for traffice. It just means that they should do so - and when the evidence suggests that they do not do so, alternative measures are needed.

jkforde

hey Fey, where abouts on galwaycity.ie did you find the Bridge St. plan? - wouldn't mind seeing it in higher resolution. and do you know if any of the Local Improvement Scheme plans are on there? ta

Cleahaigh

Where are the bicycle and motorcycle parking spots being relocated to?

And I don't know if they're planning some nice finish to the footpaths or not, but at the moment they look pretty rough and there seems to be a lack of expansion joints and the kerb/carriageway levels look a bit messy in spots. Seems a shame to have to plane out the new SMA road surface outside Supermacs.

Fey!

@jkforde - I got that plan at the meetig yesterday. I don't know if it's on galwaycity.ie. If you pm me your email I'll send you on the higher res scan; I lowered it so as not to make it too big for some users.

@Cleahaigh - the bicycle spaces are on the plan, just moved slightly. They're also due to replace the Maingurd Street ones in the not too distant future.

I did ask about the motorcycle spaces, and I understood that they will be relocated. I did point out that they were in constant use when not covered by trucks, and that there are very few motorcycle spaces in the city.

I also asked about the number of poles for signage. The old ones will be removed when the signage is transferred to the new ones. I forgot to ask about the footpath surface (despite bringing pictures of it), but I assume (hope) it will be done when the poles are gone and the road is being resurfaced.

I hope that the whole things works out as well as it was explained to us as (aside from the parking) the plan looks very good, and should improve things for pedestrians in the area.

Cleahaigh

Cheers, Fey. As I say, as long as the final finish is decent and they replace the cycle parking it'll be grand. I have some reservations about the mini roundabout (especially when it's choc-a-bloc on a Saturday), but it'll be easy enough to change it back if it doesn't work I suppose.

I agree that the changes are good for pedestrians. And the taxis needed to be organised better but the exit from mill street really has been messed up imo it has increased the time quite dramatically it takes to get out from mill street and nuns island, at peak times. its a crawl.

Harps

Cleahaigh wrote: »

And I don't know if they're planning some nice finish to the footpaths or not, but at the moment they look pretty rough and there seems to be a lack of expansion joints and the kerb/carriageway levels look a bit messy in spots. Seems a shame to have to plane out the new SMA road surface outside Supermacs.

Walked along there today and would have to echo this, I thought the finished parts looked awful, very amateur looking with bits of messy looking bitumen filled in along any gaps and uneven connections between the road and footpath

Hopefully as mentioned they do a proper job of it when resurfacing the road

thesandeman

I don't drive, but that temporary blue hut thing they have at the bottom of Nuns Island must be very dangerous. You can't see what's coming up from Dominick Street till you get around the corner and have to be watching what's coming from Mill Street at the same time.

Iwannahurl

With regard to the overall scheme, reducing the amount of parking in the city is a good idea. Parking draws traffic and generates congestion, and if the overall objective is to reduce traffic congestion in the city then parking must be addressed as a matter of priority.

There is a school on Nuns Island, and another one just up the road (Presentation Secondary). In my view it should have been made a controlled crossing, though the new layout perhaps make crossing a bit easier. I haven't walked (or driven) there recently.

I'm not sure whether Lower Dominick Street is included in the scheme, but the crossing there is awful, especially with kids in tow.

fishy fishy

maybe one day in the next century they might start working on the henry street /dominick street area - its atrocious.

Iwannahurl

fishy fishy wrote: »

maybe one day in the next century they might start working on the henry street /dominick street area - its atrocious.

There's a plan for that, afaik.

Would be a good topic for a separate thread, imho.

Fey!

Iwannahurl wrote: »

With regard to the overall scheme, reducing the amount of parking in the city is a good idea. Parking draws traffic and generates congestion, and if the overall objective is to reduce traffic congestion in the city then parking must be addressed as a matter of priority.

Reducing parking has the knock on effect of people not coming into the city centre because they can't park, which reduce customers for business', which forces business' to shed staff or close.

Also, the reason for this move is because of there being too many taxis in the city; they're increasing the size of this rank despte other ranks being empty. The taxis were already bullying people out of the parking on the bridge, literally, and now the city has to succumb to them. Over the last 2 years a huge amount of space has been handed over to the taxis.

Galway currently has more taxis per capita than New York. Surely they should be working at reducing the numbers at this stage.

yer man!

Fey! wrote: »

Reducing parking has the knock on effect of people not coming into the city centre because they can't park, which reduce customers for business', which forces business' to shed staff or close.

Also, the reason for this move is because of there being too many taxis in the city; they're increasing the size of this rank despte other ranks being empty. The taxis were already bullying people out of the parking on the bridge, literally, and now the city has to succumb to them. Over the last 2 years a huge amount of space has been handed over to the taxis.

Galway currently has more taxis per capita than New York. Surely they should be working at reducing the numbers at this stage.

Ok this is just scaremongering now, reducing the amount of spaces in the core of a city does not reduce people shopping in the city. If that was the case Dublin would be empty due to removing parking around grafton street and o connell street.

People were saying the exact same thing when shop street was being pedestrianised too, oh the shops will all close down, nobody will want to walk blah blah, I go into town regularly and I don't bother looking for a space so close to shop street, I go to a bigger car park or some pay and display spaces in newcastle.

45mhrc7evo1d3n

Fey! wrote: »

Also, the reason for this move is because of there being too many taxis in the city; they're increasing the size of this rank despte other ranks being empty. The taxis were already bullying people out of the parking on the bridge, literally, and now the city has to succumb to them.

Why does the city have to succumb to them though? It certainly does appear that there are too many taxis in Galway and they all seem to congregate in this area for some reason. Surely there must be a limit on the number of taxi licences allocated to Galway city? The ranks should be policed to ensure that drivers don't queue outside the rank as they currently do on O'Brien's Bridge and on Flood Street/Cross Street. Shutting the street to all traffic just to stop wrongdoing by taxis is completely unfair to residents and business owners who need to access that area.

yer man!

Mack Quick Dolt wrote: »

Shutting the street to all traffic just to stop wrongdoing by taxis is completely unfair to residents and business owners who need to access that area.

Who said anything about closing off a street?

45mhrc7evo1d3n

Sorry if I wasn't clear, that reference is to the gate on Flood Street that the Guards use to shut off the street whenever they feel like it. Slightly off-topic but an example of how the powers that be pander to taxi drivers instead of making them obey traffic laws like the rest of us have to.

yer man!

Mack Quick Dolt wrote: »

Sorry if I wasn't clear, that reference is to the gate on Flood Street that the Guards use to shut off the street whenever they feel like it. Slightly off-topic but an example of how the powers that be pander to taxi drivers instead of making them obey traffic laws like the rest of us have to.

Ah I see, would I be wrong in saying that these gates are closed on nights that there would be a lot of people around the cross street area making it safer not to have cars cross their path. I always thought it was weird that the gates weren't up near the dail bar. Again this is off topic, sorry.

ben.schlomo

Fey! wrote: »

Reducing parking has the knock on effect of people not coming into the city centre because they can't park, which reduce customers for business', which forces business' to shed staff or close.

Also, the reason for this move is because of there being too many taxis in the city; they're increasing the size of this rank despte other ranks being empty. The taxis were already bullying people out of the parking on the bridge, literally, and now the city has to succumb to them. Over the last 2 years a huge amount of space has been handed over to the taxis.

Galway currently has more taxis per capita than New York. Surely they should be working at reducing the numbers at this stage.

Have to say thats a load of rubbish, theres tons of parking in and around the city, the Dyke Road is nowhere near as full as in years gone by any day of the week and there are a plethora of multi storey carparks with loads of space.

45mhrc7evo1d3n

ben.schlomo wrote: »

the Dyke Road is nowhere near as full as in years gone by any day of the week and there are a plethora of multi storey carparks with loads of space.

That may be true but the parking spaces that are being given over to taxis are the short-term "handy" spaces which are cheaper if you need to make a quick stop off in town. Payment in the Dyke Road is by the day and it's not exactly convenient for Shop Street while the minimum period you can pay for in multi-storeys is an hour, plus there's the additional time spent getting in and out of them. Not very helpful if you need to spend literally 15 minutes in town.

ben.schlomo

Mack Quick Dolt wrote: »

That may be true but the parking spaces that are being given over to taxis are the short-term "handy" spaces which are cheaper if you need to make a quick stop off in town. Payment in the Dyke Road is by the day and it's not exactly convenient for Shop Street while the minimum period you can pay for in multi-storeys is an hour, plus there's the additional time spent getting in and out of them. Not very helpful if you need to spend literally 15 minutes in town.

By no means does any of that stop someone going into town.

45mhrc7evo1d3n

ben.schlomo wrote: »

By no means does any of that stop someone going into town.

I didn't say it would stop someone going into town but having to pay for a days parking and spending 30 minutes round trip walking to and from a parking space for a 15 minute errand certainly makes it less attractive. And that's what contributes to killing off small, specialised businesses in city centres.

Cleahaigh

I don't buy into the 'too many taxis' argument. If they weren't making enough money they'd do something else. Presumably they stack at the bottom of Shop Street because that's where most of the business originates. I doubt if they're doing it for the craic.

As someone who remembers the hell of pre-deregulation limited taxi numbers, any attempt to go back to that makes me very nervous. And I thought Frankeen had frozen the issue of any new taxi licences before the Failers got booted out of office?

Iwannahurl

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Have to say thats a load of rubbish, theres tons of parking in and around the city, the Dyke Road is nowhere near as full as in years gone by any day of the week and there are a plethora of multi storey carparks with loads of space.

Correct. For example, the Jurys car-park, or whatever it's called, is frequently empty from Level 3 up. It has seven levels, iirc, and it's only one car-park in the city centre...

yer man!

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Correct. For example, the Jurys car-park, or whatever it's called, is frequently empty from Level 3 up. It has seven levels, iirc, and it's only one car-park in the city centre...

And every-time you park in it, your car gets progressively smaller, it's a win-win

snubbleste

But where will parents park their vehicles when awaiting their precious progeny alighting from schools?

Neyite

snubbleste wrote: »

But where will parents park their vehicles when awaiting their precious progeny alighting from schools?

Well, where they always have, of course. On the pavements, corners and double yellow lines right outside the schools using their "park anywhere" lights.

Fey!

Firstly, it's not scaremongering. According to the corpo Mill Street carpark is always empty, which is the main carpark on this side of town. Unfortunately you can never get a parking space in this empty carpark.

Dyke Road is all well and good if you don't have to carry anything up town. However, for those balancing kids and all that entails it might as well be on mars.

As for Jurys carpark, a lot of people refuse to park in it. The marks on the walls of the ramps are refered to as the Jurys Kiss, as are the marks on the bumpers of many of the cars in there. The spaces are too small to get in and out of your car, and if you're in anything bigger than a mid sized car it's a nightmare. I parked in there daily for 10 years, but stopped because my car was getting destroyed in there from people opening doors into it.

Several people have said that a removing parking won't stop people from coming into town; why would you come into town if you can't park? The city centre is quiet enough right now, and it's just going to get quieter.

Someone mentioned that we couldn't have too many taxis; we have over 1,300 taxis here (as mentioned earlier, more per capita than New York).

Over the last couple of years a lot of extra space has been given over for taxi ranks, which includes in Eyre Square and Market Street. A lot of existing ranks aren't being utilised, but there is still more space being given over.

Paddyfield

Fey! wrote: »

Over the last couple of years a lot of extra space has been given over for taxi ranks, which includes in Eyre Square and Market Street. A lot of existing ranks aren't being utilised, but there is still more space being given over.

There are taxi ranks everywhere now including Salthill and Knocknacarra.

I didn't know that there was one on Market Street too. Why wasn't it there ten years ago when I was going home alone from CP's on wet Tuesday nights in November?

Mrs OBumble

Fey! wrote: »

Firstly, it's not scaremongering. According to the corpo Mill Street carpark is always empty, which is the main carpark on this side of town. Unfortunately you can never get a parking space in this empty carpark.

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I've been told that the difference could be due to the effect of a St Paul's Credit Union book left in the car dashboard. Never observed it myself - but then I've never tried to park a car there.

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

So I wouldn't think that the removal of a few hard-to-get-out-of-safely parks in Bridge St is going to destroy the town.

ben.schlomo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I've been told that the difference could be due to the effect of a St Paul's Credit Union book left in the car dashboard. Never observed it myself - but then I've never tried to park a car there.

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

So I wouldn't think that the removal of a few hard-to-get-out-of-safely parks in Bridge St is going to destroy the town.

Im sure theres a plausible excuse as to why these arent usable though, people are probably too fat to fit in the entrances etc etc.;)

snubbleste

Lots and lots and lots of motorists don't bother paying for parking in MillStreet car park and the Council are aware of this for decades yet turn a blind eye.
It's not clear why this is the case. :rolleyes:

Fey!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

You're absolutely right about Mill Street; they are judging it by revenue, and it has been pointed out that it is always full, and that a large number of spaces get blocked by imaginative parkers.

With the exception of Market Street carpark, most of the others are the other end of the town, which doesn't suit a lot of people who find it too awkward to drag themselves across the town (or who just can't be bothered; if it isn't handy, then don;t bother mentality).

St Pats is great at the weekend, but it's only at the weekend, and frequently has a queue to get into it.

It may only be 10 or so spaces, but it's another 10 or so spaces, as over the years a lot of on street parking have become loading bays and taxi ranks.

Zzippy

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. Taxis have been progressively taking over this space, even blocking cars in - we had a taxi driver almost refuse to move to let us out of a space at Bridge Mills once, he was pulled in across the front of the car and didn't want to lose his place in the "queue". Now we're supposed to give in to that behaviour and lose those parking spaces to pander to them? I'm sure a lot of people with limited mobility will welcome being told to feck off to Mill St or the Dyke Rd car parks, with the extra walking...

ben.schlomo

Zzippy wrote: »

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. Taxis have been progressively taking over this space, even blocking cars in - we had a taxi driver almost refuse to move to let us out of a space at Bridge Mills once, he was pulled in across the front of the car and didn't want to lose his place in the "queue". Now we're supposed to give in to that behaviour and lose those parking spaces to pander to them? I'm sure a lot of people with limited mobility will welcome being told to feck off to Mill St or the Dyke Rd car parks, with the extra walking...

Or they could just park in the Eyre Sq Centre and have everything they need under the roof.

Zzippy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Or they could just park in the Eyre Sq Centre and have everything they need under the roof.

Did you miss the bit about people with limited mobility? Mill Street would be closer than Eyre Sq for certain parts of town, but its still too far for some people. And what relevance is a car park/shopping centre under one roof to people who want to visit a certain shop in another part of town?

ben.schlomo

Zzippy wrote: »

Did you miss the bit about people with limited mobility? Mill Street would be closer than Eyre Sq for certain parts of town, but its still too far for some people. And what relevance is a car park/shopping centre under one roof to people who want to visit a certain shop in another part of town?

Are the spaces they are getting rid of all for disabled people? There are many disabled spaces around the town, and to add your wonderful point what good is a space on Bridge St to one of these disabled people going to WhiteHall for instance?

Zzippy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Are the spaces they are getting rid of all for disabled people? There are many disabled spaces around the town, and to add your wonderful point what good is a space on Bridge St to one of these disabled people going to WhiteHall for instance?

No, and I didn't mention disabled people, I said people with limited mobility. That could include older people, people with illnesses, mothers with young children, people needing to drop off or collect bulky items. I wasn't talking about disabled spaces, there are some of those already on Bridge St. (I don't know if these are planned to remain).
I'm not sure where Whitehall is in Galway, I've never heard of it. But I was talking about the usefulness of the spaces on Bridge St to people visiting businesses in that part of town i.e. in the vicinity of Bridge St., so unless Whitehall is close by there its completely irrelevant and I'm not sure why you mentioned it.

Iwannahurl

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I was wondering whether that might be the case.

Mill Street car park is often full, but the Council isn't getting all the revenue it could. The reason is obvious.

EDIT: just spotted Snubbleste's post above.

Iwannahurl

Fey! wrote: »

As for Jurys carpark, a lot of people refuse to park in it. The marks on the walls of the ramps are refered to as the Jurys Kiss, as are the marks on the bumpers of many of the cars in there. The spaces are too small to get in and out of your car, and if you're in anything bigger than a mid sized car it's a nightmare. I parked in there daily for 10 years, but stopped because my car was getting destroyed in there from people opening doors into it.

Several people have said that a removing parking won't stop people from coming into town; why would you come into town if you can't park? The city centre is quiet enough right now, and it's just going to get quieter.

Jurys is a bit tight, that's true. I had a scrape there myself once, but I became much more careful after that.

I never park on anything but an empty level, of which there are many, which eliminates the door banging problem.

City centre parking, and parking management generally, is a major issue that needs to be addressed in Galway. Anyone know the total number of spaces in the city centre?

Storm 10

With regard to Millstreet Car Park I parked there recently and there was a guy in the blue container hut that is there, I saw him come out and walk around the car park looking to see if there were tickets on display, beware of that.

Mrs OBumble

Zzippy wrote: »

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. .

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

01902

Was so lovely to walk past the Bridge Mills today on the new widened footpath. It has always been to slim there.

Zzippy

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

Between shops, restaurants, pubs, public buildings, language schools, cultural centres, doctor/dentists surgeries, etc there are at least 40 "commercial" premises between the canal on Dominick St and the junction with Cross St., not to mention the dozens more businesses on Mainguard St., Cross St., Lombard St., Shop St., Quay St. and High St., all of which are within a minute's walk of the parking on the bridge.

Or does there have to be a M&S or Dunnes for a street to qualify as a "retail mecca"?

Fey!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

Cross Street, Mainguard Street, High Street, Lombard Street, Market Street.

A lot of great, independent shops who rely on local custom.

yer man!

Fey! wrote: »

Cross Street, Mainguard Street, High Street, Lombard Street, Market Street.

A lot of great, independent shops who rely on local custom.

What about the likes of Easons, Powells, Anthony Ryans and every other shop on shop street, they were up in arms when pedestrianization was first mooted, saying people won't be as likely to come into town or will avoid the area. Ever since they got rid of cars there, the place has flourished. It's standard practice for any urban area, you cannot have a situation where everyone can bring their 3X2 metre metal transport box just because they don't want to walk a little bit.