New road surfacing in Knocknacarra.

topcat77

has anyone else seen the new road surfacing in knocknacarra? I can't believe how shoddy a job it is. I don't know who is doing the job but it's awful. I don't know how the head city engineer could sign off the job in it's current state.

the_sonandmoon

I agree! I drove through on Tuesday evening and we laughed all the way down the Western Distributor. Its so bad!

stampydmonkey

Haven't seen it but will be out there later.

Not to derail the thread but If its like the surfacing on the community centre road in oranmore its a disgrace. Thought it was a temporary surface but saw the crew raising manhole covers on Tuesday so it's probably not. Their traffic management was well below standard. They just left cones out on the road on the manholes and fceked off while the mastic set. No advance warning signs. No markings on the vans either. Will email the council later.

beardybrewer

Agree, it's rougher than before. Smacks of a past backhanders having secured a contract before the bust to resurface a road that doesn't need it every 2 years. Every time they make it worse. Meanwhile the surface of the bike path hasn't been redone in years and all the new works have taken their toll. Even a drunk would be embarrassed at the weaving line between the new road and the bike path.

zarquon

Its an utter disgrace, road surface is worse than before and the state the bike lane is left in is shocking.

Incompetence of the highest order from the council once again. The whole things snacks of spending budget for the sake of doing so. Contractor shouldn't be let near another galway road.

galwaycyclist

Any pics folks? If they havent resurfaced the bike lane (again) then that sounds pretty poor. Assuming they have left a lip between bike lane and other lane?

snubbleste

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Any pics folks? If they havent resurfaced the bike lane (again) then that sounds pretty poor. Assuming they have left a lip between bike lane and other lane?

The new tarmac is overspilling haphazardly onto the fainted red bike lane and blobs of tarmac littering the bike lane making for a bumpy uneven ride. The bike lane has not been touched since it was created. There are no markings left at all on the road surfaces.

galwaycyclist

snubbleste wrote: »

The new tarmac is overspilling haphazardly onto the fainted red bike lane and blobs of tarmac littering the bike lane making for a bumpy uneven ride. The bike lane has not been touched since it was created. There are no markings left at all on the road surfaces.

Ah I get it. So another public show of appreciation from the City Council towards the cyclists of Galway?

snubbleste

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Ah I get it. So another public show of appreciation from the City Council towards the cyclists of Galway?

Well also the motorists - it really is a bad surface.

kal7

Thought was just my old car shuddering going around roundabout.

Road surface very poor.

Cycling in alot of bike lanes is asking for punctures, could the main ones be swept every so often, as the cars kick up all crap into bike lanes.

bobbyss

Saw it during the week. It's shti. Anyone know why it's being done? Excess tar they have to use up?

Mrs OBumble

Has anyone actually been in touch with the Council about the state of the works?

stampydmonkey

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Has anyone actually been in touch with the Council about the state of the works?

Sent them an email. Also county council about Oranmore

Moo Moo Land

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Has anyone actually been in touch with the Council about the state of the works?

Can I rewrite your quote on the Eyre Square revamp (below)...

"I totally agree that the massive cost over-run should never have been allowed to happen. But given that it did, there's not much point harping on about that now: it doesn't fix the problem, or pay the debt."

as....

"I totally agree that the <poor road re-surfacing> should never have been allowed to happen. But given that it did, there's not much point harping on about that now: it doesn't fix the problem, or pay the debt"

??

gordongekko

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Can I rewrite your quote on the Eyre Square revamp (below)...

"I totally agree that the massive cost over-run should never have been allowed to happen. But given that it did, there's not much point harping on about that now: it doesn't fix the problem, or pay the debt."

as....

"I totally agree that the <poor road re-surfacing> should never have been allowed to happen. But given that it did, there's not much point harping on about that now: it doesn't fix the problem, or pay the debt"

??

There is a big difference. The cheque for the road resurfacing is not cashed yet.

Moo Moo Land

gordongekko wrote: »

There is a big difference. The cheque for the road resurfacing is not cashed yet.

Cheque to whom? Required rework will mean wasted man hours and materials for the council and taxpayers.

Mrs OBumble

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Cheque to whom? Required rework will mean wasted man hours and materials for the council and taxpayers.

Can you really not see the difference between a project which is current and one which was completed ten years ago?

Gadgetman496

I drive it many times every day and the resurfacing in progress is an appalling effort to say the least.

J.pilkington

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Cheque to whom? Required rework will mean wasted man hours and materials for the council and taxpayers.

I'm sure there are minimum standards of quality mentioned in the contract and contractor is responsible for meeting these.

Are you actually arguing that the council should do nothing and accept this, or is it just your human nature to disagree with everyone?

Or maybe you want to complain about it in 15 years time instead?

gordongekko

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

Cheque to whom? Required rework will mean wasted man hours and materials for the council and taxpayers.

Most contracts are fixed price contracts there will be NO EXTRA COST TO THE TAXPAYER.

Moo Moo Land

gordongekko wrote: »

Most contracts are fixed price contracts there will be NO EXTRA COST TO THE TAXPAYER.

No need to get angry - this is a discussion forum right?
How do you know this is a fixed price 3rd party contract?

Moo Moo Land

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Can you really not see the difference between a project which is current and one which was completed ten years ago?

Ok now we are getting somewhere. You said re the Eyre Sq revamp disaster (both monetary and final product):
"I totally agree that the massive cost over-run should never have been allowed to happen. But given that it did, there's not much point harping on about that now: it doesn't fix the problem, or pay the debt."
What is the statute of limitations for criticising council waste? What time period do people have before you attack people for "harping" on about waste?
1 month, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?

buzz11

The contractors vans are marked CHM Ltd


CHM Group
Ballymount Road Lower,
Walkinstown,
Dublin 12

gordongekko

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

No need to get angry - this is a discussion forum right?
How do you know this is a fixed price 3rd party contract?

I'm not one bit angry. You posted a statement of fact that was completely without foundation and are now using a passive aggressive behavior to hide that fact you were pulled up on the incorrect information.

Moo Moo Land

gordongekko wrote: »

I'm not one bit angry. You posted a statement of fact that was completely without foundation and are now using a passive aggressive behavior to hide that fact you were pulled up on the incorrect information.

Woah there? Passive aggressive?

What fact?

My point all along is that is perfectly acceptable to criticise our shoddy council for poor work.
All council criticism seems to be shut down here immediately and I don't know why.

galwaycyclist

J.pilkington wrote: »

I'm sure there are minimum standards of quality mentioned in the contract and contractor is responsible for meeting these.

Are you actually arguing that the council should do nothing and accept this, or is it just your human nature to disagree with everyone?

Or maybe you want to complain about it in 15 years time instead?

There is a difference between the concepts of poor standard and required standard.

Works carried out to the "required" standard as set out in the applicable contract may still be seen as very poor by other observers.

stampydmonkey

buzz11 wrote: »

The contractors vans are marked CHM Ltd


CHM Group
Ballymount Road Lower,
Walkinstown,
Dublin 12

As far as I am aware, CHM will only do traffic management. Could be wrong but don't think they do slurry seal overlays

Mrs OBumble

Moo Moo Land wrote: »

What is the statute of limitations for criticising council waste? What time period do people have before you attack people for "harping" on about waste?
1 month, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?

Realistically, probably 2-3 years: within that time-frame, current people and processes are likely to have been involved. When you go back as far as 10 years (actually more, because the contracting problems which caused the issue stem from 2004 and earlier), too much has changed.

If you are feeling "attacked" because someone expresses an opinion which is different from yours, then you really need to get out more.

I'm quite happy to criticise the council where it's warranted. And there are plenty of cases where it is. But I don't subscribe to an ideological belief that everything government workers do is automatically wrong. I'm well aware that the commercial sector is equally prone to cost-over runs and the like, and that local and central government are subject to funding and contracting restrains that the private sector aren't.



PS Earlier, someone asked if the council pay me to stick up for them. Ahh, no. I make a little out of their incompetence (running public transport website: said they were making one in 2009, and didn't - I did make one). What I make covers the domain registration and some of my time, but not all of it. With the skills I learned, I run some other websites. They make quite a bit more money. Even so, I still need a day job for the forseeable future.

Moo Moo Land

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

If you are feeling "attacked" because someone expresses an opinion which is different from yours, then you really need to get out more.

Hmmm. And I am considered passive aggressive! It was WhereisGalway you "attacked" in the Eyre Sq thread where you were all over the place and looking for an easy out. I defended him and pointed out that your response was arrogant and naive (I can provide the post if you like). Anyway my point is made.

biko

Bumble and Moo Moo - don't post in this thread before Monday morning.

thefonz

I agree that it's poor quality. I suggest we raise our concerns with our Galway West representatives on the council or directly to the council.



(I cant post links and emails due to new user restrictions but the contact details are easily found on the galwaycity dot ie/your-council/council-mayor-information#6 web.)

stampydmonkey

Got a response regarding Oranmore. My comments were "noted" by the Area engineer. In all fairness to the council, they responded very quickly.

Nothing back from city council though.

GekkePrutser

I wish they'd do this resurfacing on a road that actually needs it. Drove from Gort to Galway last night and the road wear was horrendous. So many deeply worn tracks that turned into strips of water that splashed up above my roof when I hit them. So I had to stay towards the centreline.

When we got to Galway the Dublin road wasn't much better. Very bumpy and puddles everywhere. Compare that to the western distributor which was in great nick.

bobbyss

Although it may be private property, if you drove straight from the garage pumps at the Pillo Hotel (is it?) up to Dunnes Stores car Park, you would need great suspension. It is need of massive repair. It's as if it has been bombed. The sad thing is that it has been like that for quite some time.

what_traffic

Same road slurry resurfacing has been installed on the Ballybrit Business Park Road (road outside the NDLS / Supermacs Depot) yesterda. Think this is a Private Rd. Its is a cheap and a dirty road surfacing "solution".

ronnie3585

Drove on the Western Distributor this evening for the first time in ages.

Surely it isn't the final road surface?? It's insanely bad.

what_traffic

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Drove on the Western Distributor this evening for the first time in ages.

Surely it isn't the final road surface?? It's insanely bad.

Afraid so - it will be worn out in about 2 years and they will have to do it all over again. Check out McHugh Avenue in Mervue. Not a heavily trafficed street anymore and this road slurry resurfacing job is in bits after just 3 years. It turns into gravel and grit.
First time I have seen them do this on heavily trafficed roads in the City. It is a waste of money and benefits knowbody. Dmages car's with the chips and tar, bumpy and dirty surface for cyclists, create's trip hazards for pedestrians as the surface is bumpy. This road surface slurry is really sh*t!

Mr_A

what_traffic wrote: »

Same road slurry resurfacing has been installed on the Ballybrit Business Park Road (road outside the NDLS / Supermacs Depot) yesterda. Think this is a Private Rd. Its is a cheap and a dirty road surfacing "solution".

Don't think it's a private road, but not sure either.

I assumed it was only some sort of base layer and the job wasn't finished. Couldn't believe today when I saw it was lined.

The new tar doesn't even reach the side of the road where cars were parked that day. Unbelievably amateurish stuff.

pure.conya

mass apathy throughout the city, county and nationally only encourages these types of wasteful practices and we really only have ourselves to blame, even if we're too busy to pipe up and make a stand to demand our road be returned to the decent quality road it was 2 or 3 weeks ago before all this messing began!

it really is beyond belief that a company can come along with the city councils permission and make $hite of a perfectly good public road which in my mind is now very dangerous due to the uneven surface and general looseness of the tar and gravel/stones in the mix, especially now it's raining.

If we hired a certain ethnic minority group they'd have done a far better job on the road

stampydmonkey

I don't see mass apathy. I'm sure lots of people have been onto the council and local councillors. I read an article in the advertiser in relation to it by a local councillor. It nearly read word for word of the complaint I sent in. A few boardies pm'd confirmed they too were contacting both councils and councillors. What more can one do?

GDSGR8

The new surface is basically the same surface that was laid the last time a few years ago, it takes a bit of time to bed down. It is a less expensive alternative to a full resurfacing, presumably there isn't a sufficient budget available to do much else. It's to address a problem with grip as the previous surface was starting to wear away, exposing the original surface (witness the two centrelines evident between Gort na Bro and the Seamus Quirke/Bishop O'Donnell Road. The first surface constructed for the road when new was poorly specified or a poor material was used and quickly developed a serious grip problem. The boy racers loved drifting around the roundabouts and more innocent civilians often had spinouts. That stopped pretty quickly when the new surface was installed, imperfect as it may seem.

galwaycyclist

GDSGR8 wrote: »

The new surface is basically the same surface that was laid the last time a few years ago, it takes a bit of time to bed down. It is a less expensive alternative to a full resurfacing, presumably there isn't a sufficient budget available to do much else. It's to address a problem with grip as the previous surface was starting to wear away, exposing the original surface (witness the two centrelines evident between Gort na Bro and the Seamus Quirke/Bishop O'Donnell Road. The first surface constructed for the road when new was poorly specified or a poor material was used and quickly developed a serious grip problem. The boy racers loved drifting around the roundabouts and more innocent civilians often had spinouts. That stopped pretty quickly when the new surface was installed, imperfect as it may seem.

As I recall the WDR was not all built by the council. Some parts were built by various developers as a condition of the planning permission* for various housing estates.

* its not clear that all of the WDR had planning permission

GDSGR8

galwaycyclist wrote: »

As I recall the WDR was not all built by the council. Some parts were built by various developers as a condition of the planning permission* for various housing estates.

* its not clear that all of the WDR had planning permission

Most of it was constructed and/or reconstructed by the corpo/DOE/EU. The stupid scheme signs are still there for all to see nearly 20 years later.

Storm 10

Just drove down the Sean Mulvoy Road towards the shopping centre and they have put down the same tarmac in the centre of the road ,its just put down on the existing road and as you drive on it there are stones flying in all directions. It seems to be coming off the road as the traffic drive on it, its a terrible surface, who in Gods name passed this kind of road surface for the City.

biko

Drove over it yesterday, great for keeping the speed down...

topcat77

http://connachttribune.ie/anger-over-state-of-western-distributor-road-011/

Worn Out

GDSGR8 wrote: »

Most of it was constructed and/or reconstructed by the corpo/DOE/EU. The stupid scheme signs are still there for all to see nearly 20 years later.

I was going to enquire the legal length of time the council must maintain the corpo/DOE/EU signs for. Anyone know as over 20 years is daft and an eyesore

snubbleste

Seems to have improved a bit.
Bike path is still woeful

Gadgetman496

If you could get your hands on one of these it would be grand.

spurscormac

snubbleste wrote: »

Seems to have improved a bit.
Bike path is still woeful

It's settled a bit on the straight sections, still terrible on the roundabouts though if going around the inside, especially on the Blake roundabout at Ballymoneen Rd.

Uneven surface most visible after a rain shower as you can see the little pools of water.

Still a terrible resurfacing job overall.

topcat77

I think it'll never settle. It'll carry on moving until there are big troughs, mounds and pot holes and will have to be redone. i'll give it one winter.

Still looks like there's no full explanation from the authorities on this one.