Annacotty to Finnegans Roadworks

lazyman

I see that roadworks are starting tomorrow until early December between the Finnegans/Mackey roundabout and the next one in at Vistakon.
I have looked on the council website and it says they will mainly happen overnight,
Does anyone know what they are doing? Hardly just resurfacing for that length of time.

sonyair

Limerick City and County Council is beginning works that will add capacity to a section of R445 (Old Dublin Road) in order to help reduce peak waiting times for motorists.

Work will be scheduled to minimise disruption to traffic

The works will be carried out between the Mackey Roundabout and the entrance to St Vincent’s School.

They will include:

• Upgrade of the Traffic Lights and Controllers at the R445/R506 Cappamore Junction.
• Remarking ​the road lanes between Mackey Roundabout and Annacotty to increase road capacity

• These works will involve alterations to the existing traffic lights, traffic islands and resurfacing and remarking of the existing road carriageway and are planned to improve traffic flows through the Cappamore Road junction.

Works that will result in delays to traffic including road resurfacing and marking are scheduled to take place at night between the hours of 9pm and 6am.

Minor works will take place during the day after 9.30am and will minimise impact on traffic.

Motorists and other members of the public are advised that Limerick City and County Council will endeavour to minimise disruption during the works but some delays will be inevitable to traffic during the night time works, so please plan your journey accordingly.

This project is being co-financed by Limerick City and County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Mc Love

Badly needed

Berty

They've being measuring traffic flow on the incoming roads towards it for weeks now so hopefully they can improve the flow at the cappamore junction.

It's horrible there, except this week with the school's off.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Berty wrote: »

They've being measuring traffic flow on the incoming roads towards it for weeks now so hopefully they can improve the flow at the cappamore junction.

It's horrible there, except this week with the school's off.

I'm living in Murroe for the last 2 years and I've never seen it as bad since the schools went back in September. From 8 onward it's getting backed up. Some occasions when I have been running late it's been backed up as far as the entrance to the Annacotty industrial estate.

Berty

Leonidas Cold Theft wrote: »

I'm living in Murroe for the last 2 years and I've never seen it as bad since the schools went back in September. From 8 onward it's getting backed up. Some occasions when I have been running late it's been backed up as far as the entrance to the Annacotty industrial estate.

Would you not go through Boher onto the N24 and in that way?

um7y1h83ge06nx

I should try it although I work in Castletroy close to Kilmurray Lodge so once I'm through the junction I'm almost there.

Going that other way I would be going through Groody and back into Castletroy, not sure how busy that gets in the morning.

coffey87

Leonidas Cold Theft wrote: »

I should try it although I work in Castletroy close to Kilmurray Lodge so once I'm through the junction I'm almost there.

Going that other way I would be going through Groody and back into Castletroy, not sure how busy that gets in the morning.

Go by Killonan, you get no traffic

Mc Love

And when I asked the Council about it - they said they have smart traffic lights. Looks like they have gotten a lot more complaints, theyve had to do something about it

Berty

Mc Love wrote: »

And when I asked the Council about it - they said they have smart traffic lights. Looks like they have gotten a lot more complaints, theyve had to do something about it

I'd say more than likely a council employee with some senior management position was either hired recently and lives out that way or moved out that way.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

Berty

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Slow yes, stopped No. I drive against the line of traffic a lot of days and it's fine. It's getting out from the Murroe side into the flow of traffic that would annoy you.

topper75

The traffic lights are inappropriate there at the Murroe turnoff. No need for them as pedestrians almost never cross there.

A roundabout would work fine.

The Mackey roundabout has been a disaster from all approaches for some time now at rush hours. The backing up of motorway offramps isn't an inconvenience only - it is a safety issue.

Cityslicker1

topper75 wrote: »

The traffic lights are inappropriate there at the Murroe turnoff. No need for them as pedestrians almost never cross there.

A roundabout would work fine.

The Mackey roundabout has been a disaster from all approaches for some time now at rush hours. The backing up of motorway offramps isn't an inconvenience only - it is a safety issue.

It really is a safety issue with backed up traffic on the motorway especially now with the dark evenings - For some reason there is no public lighting approaching the Castletroy exit or the Ballysimon exit on the motorway - two very busy city exits. It's complete darkness on approach to both of these exits which is dangerous when queues build up.

Berty

When they finished the road I noticed that flyover had no lighting and I emailed directroute wondering where the lighting was and they said they weren't asked to build them and seeing as the roads open it's nothing to do with them anymore, fair enough. I asked the county council who said it was nothing to do with them because it should have been flagged before the road was commissioned.

So obviously my fault I didn't tell them before they did the plans. Sorry guys.

steveon

They should build a road down onto the motorway from the bridge coming from murroe towards raheen direction for a lot of the trucks coming out of the industrial estate, theres plenty of room there and could be done easily. all the traffic at these junctions have been caused by the enginners who designed these stupid junctions in the first place and whom should be sacked as there a joke. They reduced the capacity of the road years ago for bike lanes that very few people use as they are at the same level as the road a serious waste of taxpayers money.

Berty

Actually I always maintained that they could have reduced the traffic IF Newport had it's own link to the Birdhill flyover. Instead Newport would have to drive over the flyover, into birdhill back up a link and over another flyover. If they could build the 2-3km road to the roundabout(which already exists) from the Newport side of the M7 then we could all use the M7 thus avoiding the roundabout and freeing it up for everyone else.

The amount of people who use the Newport(Mackey) Roundabout and then take the onramp onto the M7 is way more than those going in the Dublin road so most of us would be on the M7.

Then there's those who use the Mountshannon road(sssshhh it's a secret)

topper75

Berty wrote: »

Then there's those who use the Mountshannon road(sssshhh it's a secret)

Funny. My personal suspicion is that it was probably actually complaints about increased traffic on that ratrun which finally prompted this proposed change on the R443.
No evidence, just suspicion. :pac:

topper75

Anything actually being done there yet? All I saw were a few trimmed trees when I passed this morning.

Berty

topper75 wrote: »

Anything actually being done there yet? All I saw were a few trimmed trees when I passed this morning.

Lots of vans there last night around 8pm and a trailer with a blacktop removing vehicle.

Guess if they want to change the lights they need to change the sensors under the ground as well.

But yeah, passed a few times. Nothing really looked like it was done.

yankinlk

Stop looking at the trees lads they are resurfacing the road. Look down and see the new road they are laying at night.

Berty

I've never seen it so bad. Both lanes were full this morning around 8:30am. There was a queue to get off onto the Dublin road but there was a queue trying to get from the Dublin road onto the roundabout along with the queues from the Old Dublin Road, Newport Road and Nothbound&Southbound off the M7. It was a mess.

Whatever they're doing is getting worse

Please let it be, what it looks like it could be, two lanes inbound with a new slip road to Annacotty Ind Estate/Murroe?

h3000

Berty wrote: »

Please let it be, what it looks like it could be, two lanes inbound with a new slip road to Annacotty Ind Estate/Murroe?

That's what it looks like so far anyway.

I just wish they had slip access from the motorway to the Ind Est / Murroe in the first place. It would make that section of the Finnegan's to Vistakon much quieter.

I'm no road designer but something like the below would work.

Cookiemunster

h3000 wrote: »

That's what it looks like so far anyway.

I just wish they had slip access from the motorway to the Ind Est / Murroe in the first place. It would make that section of the Finnegan's to Vistakon much quieter.

I'm no road designer but something like the below would work.

It's too close to the J28. You can't put 2 full junctions that close together on a motorway.

h3000

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It's too close to the J28. You can't put 2 full junctions that close together on a motorway.

Maybe it should have always been designed as a dual carriageway though. I think Annacotty Ind Est should have access like above. The Ballyneety road should probably have access. There should be access to Roxboro when heading towards the tunnel. I (not a civil engineer) believe it would help a lot of the traffic problems.

Vanquished

h3000 wrote: »

Maybe it should have always been designed as a dual carriageway though. I think Annacotty Ind Est should have access like above. The Ballyneety road should probably have access. There should be access to Roxboro when heading towards the tunnel. I (not a civil engineer) believe it would help a lot of the traffic problems.

This stretch of the M7 is part of the national Motorway network and also serves to divert unnecessary traffic away from lower capacity roads within Limerick city. Peppering it with junctions would completely dilute it's effectiveness and operating capacity. Not to mention compromise safety as a result of extra weaving, merging movements etc.

bazz26

So how would the current volume of traffic say from Raheen get to Castletroy, Newport, Castleconnell or Murroe and vice versa without using the M7? Go through the city? It's not just used as a national bypass route but also as a ring road to avoid going from one part of the city to another without having to go through the city itself. The current intersections are not able to cope with today's volume of traffic at peak times, they were never designed for that.

They also took away the Rosbrien exit which put extra strain on the Ballysimon and Newport exit. It also wasn't very clever making the only entry and exit of the M7 for Castleconnell, Newport and Murroe all on the same slip road and roundabout.

Vanquished

bazz26 wrote: »

So how would the current volume of traffic say from Raheen get to Castletroy, Newport, Castleconnell or Murroe and vice versa without using the M7? Go through the city? It's not just used as a national bypass route but also as a ring road to avoid going from one part of the city to another without having to go through the city itself.

If you read my post properly, you'd have seen that I said it also diverts unnecessary traffic away from the city.

They also took away the Rosbrien exit which put extra strain on the Ballysimon and Newport exit. It also wasn't very clever making the only entry and exit of the M7 for Castleconnell, Newport and Murroe all on the same slip road and roundabout.

Reinstating the Rosbrien inbound access would create more problems than it would solve. The Carew Park link road simply isn't up to the required standard to handle exiting motorway traffic. There are too many access points to business and residential premises and the junction with the Childers road would also pose a major problem. Just as it did even prior to the opening of phase 2 of the southern ring road when traffic frequently backed up on to the M20 due to congestion on the short link road and at the Childers road junction. This would be even more pronounced now with higher traffic volumes.

bazz26

Vanquished wrote: »

Reinstating the Rosbrien inbound access would create more problems than it would solve. The Carew Park link road simply isn't up to the required standard to handle exiting motorway traffic. There are too many access points to business and residential premises and the junction with the Childers road would also pose a major problem. Just as it did even prior to the opening of phase 2 of the southern ring road when traffic frequently backed up on to the M20 due to congestion on the short link road and at the Childers road junction. This would be even more pronounced now with higher traffic volumes.

I really cannot see it being worse to be honest, the traffic volume is still there and it just uses the Dooradoyle and Ballysimon interchanges instead which even with the redesign in recent years still isn't able to cope.

The slip roads at Ballysimon and Newport at least need to be upgraded to dual lanes at the very least as the current single lane slip road exits are a bottleneck at peak times and I'm surprised there haven't been fatalities yet given that inside approaching driving lane on M7 are usual backed up for about 2 miles back.

Cookiemunster

bazz26 wrote: »

I really cannot see it being worse to be honest, the traffic volume is still there and it just uses the Dooradoyle and Ballysimon interchanges instead which even with the redesign in recent years still isn't able to cope.

The slip roads at Ballysimon and Newport at least need to be upgraded to dual lanes at the very least as the current single lane slip road exits are a bottleneck at peak times and I'm surprised there haven't been fatalities yet given that inside approaching driving lane on M7 are usual backed up for about 2 miles back.

Those junctions exit onto the Dock Rd and Ballysimon Rd which lead directly into the city. The Carew Park link road is 300m long and ends at a T junction with traffic lights. If the access to the M20 from here was reinstated you would again have traffic backed up onto the M20.

The Newport exit would not be affected in any way by opening this access.

topper75

Berty wrote: »

I've never seen it so bad. Both lanes were full this morning around 8:30am. There was a queue to get off onto the Dublin road but there was a queue trying to get from the Dublin road onto the roundabout along with the queues from the Old Dublin Road, Newport Road and Nothbound&Southbound off the M7. It was a mess.

Whatever they're doing is getting worse

Please let it be, what it looks like it could be, two lanes inbound with a new slip road to Annacotty Ind Estate/Murroe?

Rough one again this morning.

Let's hope that these will be the last of our woes and that this 'fix' of theirs will work. That Mackey r'about is a giant pile of stress before I ever even get to work!

Any drawings available that I could look at?

Berty

I left 20 minutes earlier today so the roundabout about 7:50am and it was getting bad already. I was already 15 cars back on the Newport road and starting to pile up towards the M7 exit onto the roundabout.

I've decided that in future I'm going North through Birdhill and onto the M7 because I take J29 Ballysimon exit anyway and this Mackey Roundabout thing is tedious.

um7y1h83ge06nx

This morning, there was a hold-up on the main road between the Vistakon roundabout and the turn-off to the Annacotty industrial estate due to a loose horse wandering. I was passing by around 0815-0820.

topper75

By my layman eyes, the key development so far is the addition of an ample footpath to FURTHER narrow the road. There are few enough walking on the existing path on the western side of the road so I was quite flummoxed to work out what they were thinking with that.

Though I'm a keen cyclist, I think it would be best if they did not restore the bike lanes for that stretch by Finnegan's pub.

Unless there is a followup with some very imaginative line painting (ideally redraw the bus lane going by Annacotty as a regular driving lane), I can't see how these works will actually increase capacity in the morning for citybound traffic. Or the similarly chaotic outbound evening traffic.

We may be doomed to suffer the Mackey roundabout gridlocks for all time!

I'd be happy to be re-educated on my pessimism if somebody knows more?

Berty

I did think it was ample wide enough even with footpath for two inbound lanes but i didn't think of the cycle lane so that could be that ideas undoing.

They did reduce the size of the traffic island at the roundabout which lead me to believe there must be two inbound lanes coming though.

Let's hope so these new smart lights they say they're doing help.

The Specialist

I really hope they don't have plans for a cycle lane on that stretch. It's bad enough watching the traffic trying to cram in to the road from M7 & Mackey R/A without throwing lycra clad **** in to the mix as well.

pigtown

Is it possible that more lycra-clad **** would mean fewer cars?

The Specialist

pigtown wrote: »

Is it possible that more lycra-clad **** would mean fewer cars?

No it would mean traffic chaos considering there are 2 motorway exit ramps feeding on to the roundabout there.

topper75

The R445 is no motorway in fairness so bikes have as much right as any other road user there. :-)

BUT, I would question the wisdom of a dedicated lane for them or for buses when the route is so congested.

Worth bearing in mind also that many of the motorists are travelling in quite a distance and biking is not a viable alternative. There is no commutable suburb worth speaking of beyond the Mackey roundabout.

pigtown

Anyone who uses this road, would you ever consider using a P&R if one was located near the roundabout and connected with the technology park/UL/city centre?

This is one of the main access routes to the city and seems like it could be a good location for a good quality bus route.

h3000

pigtown wrote: »

Anyone who uses this road, would you ever consider using a P&R if one was located near the roundabout and connected with the technology park/UL/city centre?

This is one of the main access routes to the city and seems like it could be a good location for a good quality bus route.

My wife would definitely use a park and ride from there. I believe there was talks to have one near the traffic lights a few years ago but planning was refused.

dashoonage

pigtown wrote: »

Anyone who uses this road, would you ever consider using a P&R if one was located near the roundabout and connected with the technology park/UL/city centre?

This is one of the main access routes to the city and seems like it could be a good location for a good quality bus route.

I work there and commute from the foynes side. For me to use a P&R facility id want the bus to have no delays, i can as easily sit in my car as i can on a bus, the park facility would also want to have direct access to the motorway, id prefer not to sit in a queue of cars trying to get out of the facility.

I would only use it if i made my commute shorter not longer.

I'd actually love to have the ability to cycle to work or use public transport...this would leave me with the ability to have a nice V8 for the weekends instead of a TDI

Mr E

Not sure what we happening there last night (about 11) but I was stuck in traffic at the Murroe junction for 15 minutes late night heading towards the Mackey roundabout. The lights changed about 20 times at least and nothing was moving. Ended up doing a u-turn and going out to Mount Shannon Road.

Berty

Saw a load of guys on the road today wearing clean hard hats and clean Hi ViZ jackets marking out the road for future lines and the like.

There is a turning lane in the middle for Finnegans meaning there could NOT be 2 lanes inbound at all. Strange then as it seems like they are just resurfacing and thanking a long time to do it. (lights look the same)

There are some new poles erected near the traffic lights but they don't look like poles for traffic lights because they're only on the inbound side.

Mc Love

Berty wrote: »

Saw a load of guys on the road today wearing clean hard hats and clean Hi ViZ jackets marking out the road for future lines and the like.

There is a turning lane in the middle for Finnegans meaning there could NOT be 2 lanes inbound at all. Strange then as it seems like they are just resurfacing and thanking a long time to do it. (lights look the same)

There are some new poles erected near the traffic lights but they don't look like poles for traffic lights because they're only on the inbound side.

Don't know why they have a turning lane for the pub, customers could easily go around the roundabout to enter the pub.

Berty

Mc Love wrote: »

Don't know why they have a turning lane for the pub, customers could easily go around the roundabout to enter the pub.

Guess if you're the pub and paying your rates you can stipulate it and/or object to the plans.

The Specialist

Berty wrote: »

Saw a load of guys on the road today wearing clean hard hats and clean Hi ViZ jackets marking out the road for future lines and the like.

There is a turning lane in the middle for Finnegans meaning there could NOT be 2 lanes inbound at all. Strange then as it seems like they are just resurfacing and thanking a long time to do it. (lights look the same)

There are some new poles erected near the traffic lights but they don't look like poles for traffic lights because they're only on the inbound side.

You're right, I drove home past Finnegans and there are 2 lanes outbound and 1 inbound. Traffic heading for the m7 now has its own lane.

h3000

Just passed there a little bit ago. There are two lanes inbound from the Murroe junction as far as the village turn off. The left lane feeds into the bus lane. Maybe they will get rid of the bus lane. There are two lanes outbound again from the village junction but I’m not sure for how far it goes, there is also a filter lane for Murroe direction. There’s definitely no room for people to stop at the outbound bus stop now.

Berty

h3000 wrote: »

There’s definitely no room for people to stop at the outbound bus stop now.

They will. They always do. It's like around Arthur's Quay. They'll park anywhere to drop people off on the buses.

h3000

Berty wrote: »

They will. They always do. It's like around Arthur's Quay. They'll park anywhere to drop people off on the buses.

You’re probably right unfortunately.

dashoonage

The could move the bus stop to a more appropriate place