Ploughing Match

brownswiss

Stuck in traffic yesterday morning & evening for many many hours. Did many of you see the mahem in the green Dog carpark at about 6.45pm. Some smart ass opened a gate and about 50 cars left the que at high speed for the gate but the cop was quicker than them. They tried to force their way back into the que. Tempers were high.

Drivers from the West/ NW really suffered yesterday and the thought of ever heading back to the show is not a nice one. Friends from Carlow who left their car park the same time as us were home while we had moved about 100 metres in the field.
On the way to it traffic congestion started after Athlone at junction 8. Hard to understand why it started so far from the site

Connemara Farmer

Arrive early, leave early, it's the only way to beat the traffic.

brownswiss

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Arrive early, leave early, it's the only way to beat the traffic.

...

Left house at 6 am. Arrived at abot 11. 20

Connemara Farmer

brownswiss wrote: »

...

Left house at 6 am. Arrived at abot 11. 20

Left here at 4.20 last year, parked before 7.30 I think, got out early on the Wed, 100k ppl there, but more because they were only insured to 100k that day so couldn't announce morre.

Nib

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Arrive early, leave early, it's the only way to beat the traffic.

This is what most people are doing, hence the mayhem. Thank God it's over, had to leave for work an hour earlier to beat the ques. The Gardaí on point duty are useless.

brownswiss

Nib wrote: »

This is what most people are doing, hence the mayhem. Thank God it's over, had to leave for work an hour earlier to beat the ques. The Gardaí on point duty are useless.

..

Yes ! God help the locals.. At least it was only one day for me..

Is there any answer to the Mahem. Could the Gardai do anything ?

RightTurnClyde

Brownswiss...what's the story with your username, are you a Bswiss man

_Brian

The only thing I could see would be more stretches of roads turned into two lanes rather than single file..

If approach roads were twin lane from 7-10 coming in I doubt there would be a problem.. This would of course be a huge inconvenience to the locals..

I'm already thinking of giving Tullow a miss as I think this years access problems will be multiplied moving the site more into a corner with 80% of traffic needing to come in one side of the site

Feckthis

Some difference with the routes. I went from Carlow landed on site at 9:00 was in queue for 15mins. Left at 4 and no queues at all.

I said

Portlaoise is a disaster to get around even on a normal day so I'm not surprised by the mayhem.

TITANIUM.

I was parked up for half 7 and left again at half 3. No real problems with traffic. Twas the first day so allot quieter I suppose.

severeoversteer

they should run the event from Tuesday till sunday even out the crowds a bit more

brownswiss

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

Brownswiss...what's the story with your username, are you a Bswiss man

Yes I was one of the pioneers of the breed in Ireland BUT!!that story was told many years ago

brownswiss

Feckthis wrote: »

Some difference with the routes. I went from Carlow landed on site at 9:00 was in queue for 15mins. Left at 4 and no queues at all.

Do any of you local to the area know why those coming and going to the West were so badly affected ?

I had gone to a horse show in Belgium a few days earlier in about the same length of time as it took me to get to the Ploughing

Reggie.

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Arrive early, leave early, it's the only way to beat the traffic.

That didn't work on Wednesday as I know people who left at 11am from the green car park and still took them an hour to hit the main roads

Reggie.

_Brian wrote: »

The only thing I could see would be more stretches of roads turned into two lanes rather than single file..

If approach roads were twin lane from 7-10 coming in I doubt there would be a problem.. This would of course be a huge inconvenience to the locals..

I'm already thinking of giving Tullow a miss as I think this years access problems will be multiplied moving the site more into a corner with 80% of traffic needing to come in one side of the site

I'm the same. Even the cops were telling me it's gonna be a disaster

_Brian

Reggie. wrote: »

I'm the same. Even the cops were telling me it's gonna be a disaster

the Athy site from a few years back had wonderful access from all sides.. There was talk of it being purchased as a permanent site..
I'm not sure why this didn't come to be but it would have been a great move..

Reggie.

_Brian wrote: »

the Athy site from a few years back had wonderful access from all sides.. There was talk of it being purchased as a permanent site..
I'm not sure why this didn't come to be but it would have been a great move..

Cos apparently the committee or something decided that it should be moved about and not stuck to one location

Limestone Cowboy

Reggie. wrote: »

Cos apparently the committee or something decided that it should be moved about and not stuck to one location

No fear they would move it to the west though!

Reggie.

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

No fear they would move it to the west though!

Sure nothing but hills over there

I said

brownswiss wrote: »

Do any of you local to the area know why those coming and going to the West were so badly affected ?

I had gone to a horse show in Belgium a few days earlier in about the same length of time as it took me to get to the Ploughing

Mountmellick

skoger

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

No fear they would move it to the west though!

I'm sure they could get 800 acres of commonage for it if they could get 50% agreement

_Brian

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

No fear they would move it to the west though!

Yea.
Nor can I see it coming to Cavan.
Now that would test the ploughs.

And it would be followed by a six week stone picking contest !!

Zoo4m8

I said wrote: »

Mountmellick

That's right.. Traffic crawled between Tullamore and Mountmellick and was stationary for long periods just because people were directed through the town centre..
I left the green car park round 4.15 heading for the M7 and Wicklow, very slow moving but moving, finally allowed onto the motorway just east of Emo..

Fuxake

severeoversteer wrote: »

they should run the event from Tuesday till sunday even out the crowds a bit more

You might find that exhibitors would not tolerate being stuck there that long

red bull

Anna May said it may be the same site next year it was so good this year ?

larrymiller

red bull wrote: »

Anna May said it may be the same site next year it was so good this year ?

Tought it's in tullow?

red bull

larrymiller wrote: »

Tought it's in tullow?

On radio tonight she said she was having talks with the landowners for the same site, Im sure it costs much less with the infrastructure in place, its all about money with NPA

dzer2

I am from close enough to the site and not all the access roads were used properly. Munster and the west and northeast were all funnelled into the same area while the southeast had the use of same amount of roads. Really close to the site they should have had a one way system in place for the entire event. Up until 1.00pm they should one have one exit and if you want to leave you use it even if it takes you 15 miles out of your way. Then in the evening have the opposite system all roads away and one in. Locals will know the area and be able to get around. Tullow will be a disaster as they havent the same access roads. Any way on a prolonged event I couldnt see it taking off as it is we have lost a weeks work and if the weather was bad imaging standing in slop for 6 days

Sam Kade

I went two days Tuesday and yesterday. On Tuesday coming from Cork I left at 10 am and there only had a slight delay in Abbyleix and a 2 km before the ploughing. No delay yesterday straight in and out, I left at 8.30 am and left the ploughing at 6.30. I could see queues building up in the car park (brown I think) beside us as we breezed out the gate

farmerjj

Sam Kade wrote: »

I went two days Tuesday and yesterday. On Tuesday coming from Cork I left at 10 am and there only had a slight delay in Abbyleix and a 2 km before the ploughing. No delay yesterday straight in and out, I left at 8.30 am and left the ploughing at 6.30. I could see queues building up in the car park (brown I think) beside us as we breezed out the gate

Think you were lucky,i got stuck in abbyleix on wed for 40mins going up and over a hour coming down, been a few years since I last went and think it,ll be another few before I,d go back.

Sam Kade

farmerjj wrote: »

Think you were lucky,i got stuck in abbyleix on wed for 40mins going up and over a hour coming down, been a few years since I last went and think it,ll be another few before I,d go back.

I picked the two right days so The worst ever was Wexford miserable weather and stuck in traffic for half the day :mad:

brownswiss

dzer2 wrote: »

I am from close enough to the site and not all the access roads were used properly. Munster and the west and northeast were all funnelled into the same area while the southeast had the use of same amount of roads. Really close to the site they should have had a one way system in place for the entire event. Up until 1.00pm they should one have one exit and if you want to leave you use it even if it takes you 15 miles out of your way. Then in the evening have the opposite system all roads away and one in. Locals will know the area and be able to get around. Tullow will be a disaster as they havent the same access roads. Any way on a prolonged event I couldnt see it taking off as it is we have lost a weeks work and if the weather was bad imaging standing in slop for 6 days

I knew someone would know the reason for the delay and how it should have been avoided. Local knowledge is a great thing.

mcgarrett

brownswiss wrote: »

I knew someone would know the reason for the delay and how it should have been avoided. Local knowledge is a great thing.

It's a great thing if you know what you're talking about :rolleyes: