What have we done wrong?

Jhcx

It frustrates me the issues that i notice with our county.

My biggest one is probably the lack of signage for Clarecastle I knew there was an issue with signs when the new M18 was opening, but its only recently ive come to discover that there is probably all of two signs that actually point to the village of Clarecastle. Regardless of how small or spread out the village is, there should be more signage. with the unfortunate closing of the Latoon bridge all traffic has been diverted to ennis. Which is grand, but one should not have to drive upto clareabbey roundabout to find the diversion sign pointing to Clarecastle.

There is still a south road available, be it is a bit tight but would lessen congestion with all traffic diverting into the north of the village. I saw it in motion during the fleadh and thought it was wonderful to see both ends of the village having people transit. I sometimes feel there is a hatred from the people of ennis that the village should not be on the map or should not grow for fear it might have an affect on Ennis. There should be a sign at J11 along with Quin for Clarecastle and again on the n85 at Skehanagh Roundabout showing a southern rd into the Village.

I drive a lot of the country pretty much leaving on the motorway. and when youre sitting in a car for 4 hours you take notice of the different parts of the motorway on how it was built. one thing that baffles me though is J12 on the M18 is a foggy spot, but more importantly it is our main passage into the capital town of the county. Yet one would barely know that Ennis was even there. There is a lack of lighting pointing to a main town. The first of any such lights begin on the bridge, yet when i pass through sections of motorway pointing to villages theres more lights that on the runway at Shannon.

The lack of lighting here can sometimes be dangerous as you dont really know where the ramp exit begins, especially in foggy weather . Its the same coming from Tulla rd side there is no lighting lighting up signs for Ennis or the N85. Is ennis just another town to be forgotten about that anyone using the Western corridor should just pass by and go straight to Galway. We need more expansion in our Town more growth. not to be hidden away from our visitors.

Which brings me onto last piece the lack of road markings at clarecabbey roundabout. I cant understand for the life of me such an important & busy junction that it is has ZERO road markings on it. Its no hidden statement that Irish people cant navigate roundabouts correctly. But there is many a day my heart does be in my mouth watching people in near misses. So many drivers often pull into the middle of the roundabout causing car crashes. for reasons ive been told they dont want anyone over taking or undertaking them in what should be a two lane roundabout. Not only is this selfish but dangerous on so many levels. the speed in which motorist come off the n85 from the motorway is crazy im surprised no one has been seriously injured. But why is it taking so long to put road markings on a main large roundabout like this. Ive seen smaller roundabouts with two lanes on them why is this so different?

Carazy

Jhcx wrote: »

It frustrates me the issues that i notice with our county.
My biggest one is probably the lack of signage for Clarecastle

I think extra signage for Clarecastle will just bring back too many bad memories for people and put them off turning at J12 for the coast 😛
Most people in Clare, myself included, are happy to never again have to drive through Clarecastle and Newmarket since the motorway opened!
Still get shivers in the summer when I think of the hours and hours I spent in NOF,CC,Clare Road and the Mill Road coming home from work in SNN.

Jhcx

Carazy wrote: »

I think extra signage for Clarecastle will just bring back too many bad memories for people and put them off turning at J12 for the coast 😛
Most people in Clare, myself included, are happy to never again have to drive through Clarecastle and Newmarket since the motorway opened!
Still get shivers in the summer when I think of the hours and hours I spent in NOF,CC,Clare Road and the Mill Road coming home from work in SNN.

But what about us who want to make a living? As a person from Clarecastle the whole village is dying. We've suddenly become a cul de sac. Forget who lives here. We need new business. More people and families to move in. Just because there is extra signage doesn't mean you have to go that way.

Shapey Fiend

The lighting for the motorway exit could be a bit more comprehensive alright.

The problem with Clarecastle up until pretty recently was there wasn't any reason to go there other than a couple of decent pubs. Now however I regularly recommend The Castle to people for lunch. The antiques shop is great as well. Think those are the things draw more than signage in this day and age of GPS on phones.

Plenty of houses going up over there at the moment I don't think it's doing too badly.

Clareman

As far as I know motorway signage is dictated by a central council and it is kept as minimal as possible, the thought being that a motorway is supposed to be for fast traffic so distractions should be kept to a minimum.

Clarecastle is in a dangerous position now, not only is it suffering from being by-passed which has happened to loads of other towns but also the main employer (Roche) is closing the doors, something will have to be done to make it somewhere you want to go, they have a great playground for kids, a great school and fantastic GAA grounds they just need something to bring it altogether.

ollaetta

Clareman wrote: »

As far as I know motorway signage is dictated by a central council and it is kept as minimal as possible, the thought being that a motorway is supposed to be for fast traffic so distractions should be kept to a minimum.

That makes sense but oddly they chose to put Ballygirreen on the signs for Junction 11. I'm driving that road all my life and until the signs went up had barely heard of the place. Can't think of any reason why it should be there.

Also think that the signs at Junction 13 are poor. No mention of Ennis but if you're going to that side of the town it's a much handier exit and wouldn't know it unless you're a local.

Clareman

ollaetta wrote: »

That makes sense but oddly they chose to put Ballygirreen on the signs for Junction 11. I'm driving that road all my life and until the signs went up had barely heard of the place. Can't think of any reason why it should be there.

Also think that the signs at Junction 13 are poor. No mention of Ennis but if you're going to that side of the town it's a much handier exit and wouldn't know it unless you're a local.

That's where the air traffic place is so I'd imagine it would have to be signposted. I think the "old" Clarecastle road was known to have issues so they made a decision not to signpost for Ennis at the Clare Inn, that didn't stop trucks taking that route (it's 1km shorter apparently) and now Latoon Bridge is in the state that it is.

Personally I think the roads around Ennis are brilliant and we don't realise how lucky we are, I get on a dual carriage way about a mile from my house and I'm on it the whole way to Dublin, not too long ago if you were going to Dublin you'd go through Kilaloe to skip all the bottlenecks.

finbarrk

Actually it’s excellent. If anyone needs to get to Clarecastle, they will find it. As already said above, we are lucky with the motorway structure.

Jhcx

I can't fault the handiness of the motorway it has 3 entrances and exits to Clarecastle which leave Clarecastle in a unique position I just feel it could be given more attention.