Galway - 61st worst traffic jams in the world

aw

Galway punching above its weight once more!

We get off relatively lightly in Ireland – although tell that to the people of Galway, our most gridlocked city ranking 61st out of 1,064 cities globally. Drivers there spend 43.5 hours a year in traffic.
Dublin drivers spent an average of 31.4 hours per year in congested traffic, followed by Cork at 24.5.
Sligo is next (19.9 hours), then Limerick (16.5 hours), Waterford (15.6 hours), Wexford (14 hours), Carlow (7.8 hours), Dundalk (6.5 hours) and Mullingar (5.5 hours).

Story in The Journal: http://www.thejournal.ie/worlds-most-congested-cities-3377455-May2017/

Data Source: http://inrix.com/scorecard/

Arghus

We wont stop being stopped until we reach the top!

Bind Torture Kill

Build bypass pls.

Mrs OBumble

Arghus wrote: »

We wont stop being stopped until we reach the top!

Build more roads and they'll come ...

Radiant Cool Crazy Nightmare

I have to be in Merlin park for 9am in the morning. Plan on leaving Athlone around 7:15ish, will this allow me enough time? Im not too familiar with the Galway traffic.

TCDStudent1

Radiant Cool Crazy Nightmare wrote: »

I have to be in Merlin park for 9am in the morning. Plan on leaving Athlone around 7:15ish, will this allow me enough time? Im not too familiar with the Galway traffic.

You should make it I'd say.

please helpThank YOU

Galway needs a road network like Limerick.

stampydmonkey

please helpThank YOU wrote: »

Galway needs a road network like Limerick.

Yeah, who needs a bridge over the corrib...we need a tunnel under it

Zzippy

Monorail!

Your Face

Its an outrage Joe.

please helpThank YOU

stampydmonkey wrote: »

Yeah, who needs a bridge over the corrib...we need a tunnel under it

Dublin ,Cork,Limerick all have got tunnels Galway needs one big time.

sammyjo90

please helpThank YOU wrote: »

Dublin ,Cork,Limerick all have got tunnels Galway needs one big time.

and the fckig traffic in jack lynch tunnel is a mare every single day. it makes no difference..you are still moving at a snails pace

Cheshire Cat

No tunnel, please! I hate tunnels, is there such a thing as tunnel claustrophobia?

Diabhal Beag

61st is great and all but what can I, humble motorist commuting 20 miles each day, to have us in the top 10 worst?

Mr_A

As it happens, this morning there was a large tailback on the N6 near Briarhill because of a Garda / customs checkpoint. As I cycled by I counted how many vehicles had more than one occupant. The result was 30 single occupant, 5 with more. There were 3, perhaps 4 commercial vehicles among the single occupant ones.

If we could get those 5 people (I saw no more than 2 adults in any vehicle) into their own cars we'd be a vital step closer to getting to the top of the rankings.

Mrs OBumble

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

61st is great and all but what can I, humble motorist commuting 20 miles each day, to have us in the top 10 worst?

Tell us your route and we can suggest ways to extend it. Worst case you could drive for 10 minutes in the opposite direction before turning around and heading for work.

GekkePrutser

Mr_A wrote: »

As it happens, this morning there was a large tailback on the N6 near Briarhill because of a Garda / customs checkpoint. As I cycled by I counted how many vehicles had more than one occupant. The result was 30 single occupant, 5 with more. There were 3, perhaps 4 commercial vehicles among the single occupant ones.

If we could get those 5 people (I saw no more than 2 adults in any vehicle) into their own cars we'd be a vital step closer to getting to the top of the rankings.

Part of the issue why people aren't carsharing is that the traffic so bad already and public transport not worth mentioning. If I'd pick up a colleague and I have to go into knocknacarra to pick them up for example, I'd be spending a lot of time getting back out of there again. Them taking the bus to me also wouldn't work as it's so unreliable. Just not worth it.

That's not a problem that's specific to galway anyway. Single-occupant commuting is everywhere. Wishful thinking is not going to make this problem go away. Road improvements are.

When I look at my commute, I see a lot of extremely badly planned intersections. For example, look at the seamus quirke road. Only 5 metres after a roundabout going towards the westside you have to merge from 2 into one lane, leading to a huge mess on the roundabout, stalling even people going into directions which are not congested.

The lane merging should have been put way further down, this is actually unsafe because when traffic is moving it distracts you from the already busy roundabout, having to be aware of both the roundabout and the upcoming merge at the same time. I've seen a lot of near-misses there. Or it should have been 2 proper lanes all along of course.

beardybrewer

GekkePrutser wrote: »

Part of the issue why people aren't carsharing is that the traffic so bad already and public transport not worth mentioning.

In the San Francisco area rather than have bus lanes only for public transport and taxis they had "car pool" lanes where you had to have at least 2 or sometimes 3 people to use the lane. To enforce it the fines were pretty large, several hundred dollars. On the whole, you didn't see people abuse it much if at all. Also the rule was only active during the busiest times of the day, like maybe 6-10am and 4-7pm Monday thru Friday.

I wish we could try this here as it wouldn't even cost much other than doing up some new signs.

I agree with your other points as well. When you look around Galway there are a lot of roads which increase risk rather than subvert it. Whatever about old parts of the city where you sorta expect a certain amount of this from a bygone era when cars were less common it's especially enraging when new junctions and roads are done wrong and encourage risky behaviour.

joeKel73

beardybrewer wrote: »

I wish we could try this here as it wouldn't even cost much other than doing up some new signs.

What about the cost of enforcement?

please helpThank YOU

Galway City was never designed for heavy traffic and the road networks are not in place to deal with this heavy traffic, Dublin ,Cork,Limerick have the great road networks to deal with this heavy traffic . Galway City needs a bye pass road today not tomorrow.

Wombatman

Why would any business base themselves in Galway knowing this?

Needs to be sorted ASAP. Only so much you can achieve dicking about with junctions and roundabouts and traffic light sequencing.

How long will this take? 15 years? Get the diggers rolling now!

Mearings

"How long will this take? 15 years? Get the diggers rolling now!"

Will Galway be able to hang on to its 61st place in the meantime?

irish_major

Wombatman wrote: »

Why would any business base themselves in Galway knowing this?

Needs to be sorted ASAP. Only so much you can achieve dicking about with junctions and roundabouts and traffic light sequencing.

How long will this take? 15 years? Get the diggers rolling now!

I dont get how people think that helps with anything? 99% of people are not looking to bypass galway so the traffic in the city will remain the same as far as i can see

ronnie3585

irish_major wrote: »

I dont get how people think that helps with anything? 99% of people are not looking to bypass galway so the traffic in the city will remain the same as far as i can see

joeKel73

irish_major wrote: »

I dont get how people think that helps with anything? 99% of people are not looking to bypass galway so the traffic in the city will remain the same as far as i can see

I don't think that much of the traffic is people from out West of the city travelling to out East of the city (or visa versa). But that a ring road will allow is commuters in the city to travel outwards to the ring road, move quickly around the city, then travel in/out from the nearest ring road exit to their destination/work.

irish_major

J o e wrote: »

I don't think that much of the traffic is people from out West of the city travelling to out East of the city (or visa versa). But that a ring road will allow is commuters in the city to travel outwards to the ring road, move quickly around the city, then travel in/out from the nearest ring road exit to their destination/work.

And there will be absolute carnage on these exit roads trying to get onto the bypass!

Mearings

Knocknacarrians wishing to travel to Merlin Park, Garda HQ etc will drive 7km west to Furbo & then it will be a piece of cake so to speak.

what_traffic

irish_major wrote: »

I dont get how people think that helps with anything? 99% of people are not looking to bypass galway so the traffic in the city will remain the same as far as i can see

It is not 99% but the crux of your argument is actually correct. Even the Engineering Consultants responsible for drawing up the current plans have confirmed this. That's why it will be more like a US style Urban Expressway compared against the Motorway/Tunnel model around Limerick City.

?Cee?view

Mearings wrote: »

Knocknacarrians wishing to travel to Merlin Park, Garda HQ etc will drive 7km west to Furbo & then it will be a piece of cake so to speak.

Why, can they not just join near the Knocknacarra Dunnes?

Mearings

?Cee?view wrote: »

Why, can they not just join near the Knocknacarra Dunnes?

"GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, GO WEST"

Mrs OBumble

Mearings wrote: »

Knocknacarrians wishing to travel to Merlin Park, Garda HQ etc will drive 7km west to Furbo & then it will be a piece of cake so to speak.

Yah ... they'll travel on the Expressway 'til it meets the N6, and then they'll come all the way back to Renmore using either the Dublin Rd, or the suburban roads thru Ballybane.

I can see that happening, for shure!



But don't worry - no matter how many roads we build, the car traffic will expand to fill them. It's one of the few road engineering principles that applies everywhere in the whole world.

yer man!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

But don't worry - no matter how many roads we build, the car traffic will expand to fill them. It's one of the few road engineering principles that applies everywhere in the whole world.

You're correct about this but, by moving the bulk of the current car traffic out to the bypass it allows the city to do more with the city roads. Currently there's really no space to put in any more bus lanes or pedestrianise anymore streets without causing complete gridlock all over the city. Nothing can happen in Galway until that bypass is built, no extensive city wide bus corridors, no more open city spaces.

Happyilylost

Some may not know but expect traffic to be horrendous in Galway today with the Galway Mayo football match in Salthill. Already long tailbacks into Claregalway and town is quite busy also. The rain won't help matters. Just a friendly warning. Anyone heading salthill side safe travelling and enjoy the day.

what_traffic

Happyilylost wrote: »

Some may not know but expect traffic to be horrendous in Galway today with the Galway Mayo football match in Salthill. Already long tailbacks into Claregalway and town is quite busy also. The rain won't help matters. Just a friendly warning. Anyone heading salthill side safe travelling and enjoy the day.

You mean CAR traffic right? Did not see any BUS traffic jams yesterday in the City.
Why GAA Clubs/Connacht Council all over Galway & Mayo cannot organise a fleet of buses to these well known events is beyond me. Date and time well known in advance + predictable travel patterns for majority of attendees.

KevR

Just skimmed through the replies, I don't think anyone has made the following point:

Galway City: 20 sq mi (53 km2)
Los Angeles: 469 sq mi (1,214 km2)
Dallas: 340.5 sq mi (881.9 km2)

I assume average commute distances (miles/kilometers) in the big cities are more than Galway...

Spending 43.5 hours stuck in traffic per year when your urban commute distance is miles (a guess for Galway)
-vs-
Spending 59 hours (Dallas) with a commute distance of perhaps 10+ miles

It can take 20 - 25 mins to do a couple of miles in Galway when traffic is bad. That's approx. 6 miles per hour which is horrendous!
I have been stuck in LA and Dallas "gridlock" a number of times. You typically can still cover 10 - 15 miles per hour.

Galway is so poorly laid out with huge volumes of traffic being funneled into a small number of under-spec'd pinch points. Substantial infrastructure investment is needed in Galway - major new roads and public transport, it's not one or the other!

what_traffic

KevR wrote: »

Just skimmed through the replies, I don't think anyone has made the following point:

Galway City: 20 sq mi (53 km2)
Los Angeles: 469 sq mi (1,214 km2)
Dallas: 340.5 sq mi (881.9 km2)

Why are you comparing apples and oranges?
Why not pick a similar size city in UK or Irleand with similar populations and size if you want to make comparisons.

KevR

what_traffic wrote: »

Why are you comparing apples and oranges?
Why not pick a similar size city in UK or Irleand with similar populations and size if you want to make comparisons.

You have missed the point.

While the average commute distance will be further in these big cities, you will still have many people with shorter commutes which are similar in distance to the Galway average. These commuters are likely to spend less time in traffic than their Galway counterparts over the same distance. Get it?

Regarding your suggestion of picking a similar size town in Ireland or the UK (why are you limiting it to these 2 countries BTW?), you are alluding to the fact that this will result in a different overall conclusion. On the contrary, it reinforces my point. Limerick, Waterford and Cork are far better off than Galway. Only London in the UK has a worse score, all the smaller cities and towns have a better score than Galway!

Basically, Galway's transport infrastructure is amongst the worst you will come across in any first world town or city (small, medium, large or mega).

what_traffic

KevR wrote: »

Regarding your suggestion of picking a similar size town in Ireland or the UK (why are you limiting it to these 2 countries BTW?), you are alluding to the fact that this will result in a different overall conclusion. On the contrary, it reinforces my point. Limerick, Waterford and Cork are far better off than Galway. Only London in the UK has a worse score, all the smaller cities and towns have a better score than Galway!

I am not alluding to that at all - I am just showing how poor your comparisons are. Comparing Galway with Los Angeles is pretty daft.

Please do tell how Limerick, Waterford and Cork are far better off than Galway?

please helpThank YOU

what_traffic wrote: »

I am not alluding to that at all - I am just showing how poor your comparisons are. Comparing Galway with Los Angeles is pretty daft.

Please do tell how Limerick, Waterford and Cork are far better off than Galway?

Cork , and Limerick, have a superior road infrastructure . Galway road infrastructure had been left behind and Cork , Limerick are light years ahead of Galway poor roads.

KevR

what_traffic wrote: »

I am not alluding to that at all - I am just showing how poor your comparisons are. Comparing Galway with Los Angeles is pretty daft.

Not daft at all. You are not "showing" anything. It's a poor attempt to undermine a point without putting forward a constructive counter-argument.

Do you disagree with my point that someone in Dallas or LA commuting 3 miles is likely to spend less time in traffic than someone commuting 3 miles in Galway? If so, why?

what_traffic wrote: »

Please do tell how Limerick, Waterford and Cork are far better off than Galway?

Refer to the OP. The stats are clear and easy to understand.

The onus is not on me to explain and justify the stats to you. If you disagree with the stats or the point I made, you should try putting forward a constructive counter-argument.

In the OP: "Data Source: http://inrix.com/scorecard/"

xckjoo

KevR wrote: »

Not daft at all. You are not "showing" anything. It's a poor attempt to undermine a point without putting forward a constructive counter-argument.

Do you disagree with my point that someone in Dallas or LA commuting 3 miles is likely to spend less time in traffic than someone commuting 3 miles in Galway? If so, why?




Refer to the OP. The stats are clear and easy to understand.

The onus is not on me to explain and justify the stats to you. If you disagree with the stats or the point I made, you should try putting forward a constructive counter-argument.

In the OP: "Data Source: http://inrix.com/scorecard/"

Not sure what the value of comparing a medieval city like Galway to a large US city is. Their cities are designed around car usage and never-ending space, while ours were designed around defense against marauding vikings or whatever. 3 miles in LA or Dallas is their version of pulling out of the driveway .

You could argue that our city planning should switch to match the US-style sprawling metropolis but that's only necessary if we base our whole lives around cars. I personally like being able to walk places. Doesn't do the heart of waistline any harm either.

Mrs OBumble

xckjoo wrote: »

You could argue that our city planning should switch to match the US-style sprawling metropolis but that's only necessary if we base our whole lives around cars. I personally like being able to walk places. Doesn't do the heart of waistline any harm either.

Also we don't have the landmass to support it.

We already have atelatively high proportion of the country devoted to roads.

what_traffic

KevR wrote: »

Do you disagree with my point that someone in Dallas or LA commuting 3 miles is likely to spend less time in traffic than someone commuting 3 miles in Galway? If so, why?

I do not disagree but it is a pointless point.
Comparing a small medieval town like Galway to a very large NEW 20TH Century US city like Los Angeles is still daft.

KevR

what_traffic wrote: »

I do not disagree but it is a pointless point.
Comparing a small medieval town like Galway to a very large NEW 20TH Century US city like Los Angeles is still daft.

A small part of Galway is medieval.

The city has expanded drastically in recent decades. The majority of Galway City is by no means medieval.

Many commuters in Galway are coming from suburban areas which are only a few decades old and travelling to industrial/office areas that again are "NEW 20th Century". They are not limited to passing through the medieval core.

The transport infrastructure that was built during Galway's 20th and 21st century expansion has been woeful. Medieval Galway is not to blame.

beardybrewer

KevR I'd agree with most of what you're saying to a point. However I think a historic town/city is more likely to be built near a water source and therefore naturally have bridges that act as bottlenecks.

connemara man

KevR wrote: »

A small part of Galway is medieval.

The city has expanded drastically in recent decades. The majority of Galway City is by no means medieval.

Many commuters in Galway are coming from suburban areas which are only a few decades old and travelling to industrial/office areas that again are "NEW 20th Century". They are not limited to passing through the medieval core.

The transport infrastructure that was built during Galway's 20th and 21st century expansion has been woeful. Medieval Galway is not to blame.

and there's only one bridge over the river that means you don't have to go through the medieval city

what_traffic

KevR wrote: »

Medieval Galway is not to blame.

Of course its not

But comparing Galway with LA or Dallas is not going to get you anywhere in terms of looking at Galways CAR traffic woes. Why bother?

More useful exercise is comparing Galway with comparable size towns in Ireland, UK & Europe with populations of 70k -> 200k

KevR

what_traffic wrote: »

Of course its not

So why even bring up Medieval Galway in the first place?
You made the point that Medieval Galway is not comparable with NEW 20th century urban settings in other countries.
Most of Galway City is 20th and 21st century. The problem is, it's very badly planned in comparison to other towns and cities (of all shapes and sizes) the world over.

what_traffic wrote: »

But comparing Galway with LA or Dallas is not going to get you anywhere in terms of looking at Galways CAR traffic woes. Why bother?

"not going to get you anywhere" and "why bother" - again with attempts to undermine without putting anything constructive forward...

We absolutely should be looking at best practices in planning, street design, transport...etc.
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is congestion and a poor quality of life for commuters.
If other cities (big or small) can move people at average speeds 3 or 4 times faster than Galway, we should be trying to understand how they do it and emulate certain aspects as applicable given Galway's size. Outright dismissing comparisons against big cities is ignorance.

I see no reason why we should avoid comparing against big cities in certain respects. No - we are not going to build 10 underground railway lines in Galway; no - we are not going to build highways that are 14 lanes wide. But.... are we planning properly in Galway? Are our streets well designed? What is the optimal mix of low capacity residential streets -vs- higher capacity thoroughfares? How do we eliminate existing transport choke points? What is our masterplan?

Big cities have been there and done that. In fact, many have solved problems that are more difficult than Galway's transport woes. We just have very sloppy planners here and the public are failing to hold them accountable.

what_traffic wrote: »

More useful exercise is comparing Galway with comparable size towns in Ireland, UK & Europe with populations of 70k -> 200k

OK, Limerick and Cork commuters spend less time in traffic than people in Galway. None of the 3 (Limerick, Cork and Galway) have light rail or what you would call well developed public transport. Limerick and Cork both have partial ring roads. Galway does not. What does this tell us?

A North Ring Road is likely to be eventually built in Cork. They are forward planning in Cork and want to position the city so that it can grow and act as a counter-balance to Dublin. What's the plan for Galway? Fight over a ring road for another 25 years and remain in a position where the city cannot grow?

KevR

connemara man wrote: »

and there's only one bridge over the river that means you don't have to go through the medieval city

Exactly! Badly planned. Another bridge should have been built 15+ years ago as the city was expanding to avoid us having this bottleneck.

marno21

City bypass will be ready to go to construction in 2021, it's currently with An Bord Pleanala. More info - www.n6galwaycity.ie

sammyjo90 wrote: »

and the fckig traffic in jack lynch tunnel is a mare every single day. it makes no difference..you are still moving at a snails pace

If you place a signalised roundabout at the intersection of 4 motorway standard dual carraigeways then you have traffic jams, if the approach from the N40 was a bridge you'd have the same jams.

what_traffic

KevR wrote: »

So why even bring up Medieval Galway in the first place?

I am not BLAMING Medieval Galway. Medieval Galway is just that, a Medieval City! Comparing Medieval Town/City with a huge US Metropolitan area designed around the Car in the 20th is still not going to give you any new information on Galways CAR traffic woes.
3/4 Bridges in the City are in the Medieval Town/City.

One thing I would agree with you on is that yes we have had very poor planners in Galways recent history.