N25 - Carrigtwohill to Midleton [route options published]

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121168022#Comment_121168022

Whether a new junction at Milebrush is included or not, the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Midleton needs upgrading. It is needed now, nevermind if the population of the area increases significantly.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121169307#Comment_121169307

Yep. I'd fully agree. But it's nowhere near as urgent as the lakeview roundabout junction and East of Midleton though.

The problem is that the local councillors are saying that the N25 needs to be upgraded by TII, for the express purposes of allowing the council to pursue unsustainable development dreams around a newly created junction at milebush...and in doing so, undermining the N25 a little bit.

In short, they want to turn a piece of national infrastructure into their pet distributor. It's not reasonable. They messed up Oatencake, so someone else must fix it, is the attitude. I wouldn't even have minded if they had put in a local distributor plan around milebush, but they didn't bother: their plan was for retail and warehouse sprawl, like they did in Little Island, Cobh Cross, Kinsale Road, Togher, Frankfield, Airport Business Park etc etc etc. That's been their business plan for decades.

They pick a junction on a national road near the city and try and coax businesses to set up near the city, with no supporting infrastructure, hollowing out the city and creating unsustainable developments in the process. Now they want a new junction to built (by TII!) just to facilitate it!

JeffKenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121169307#Comment_121169307

Can't see why that is needed, that stretch of the N25 is grand. Lakeview and Castlemaryter is where the issues are.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173090#Comment_121173090

Houses directly on it and short merge lanes. Needs to be resolved. But I fully agree with you, they're not urgent issues whatsoever. In East Cork, this is literally one of the best and safest roads by a long way. The "urgency" to get it done is all to facilitate unsustainable development.

KrisW1001

The short merge lanes westbound at Oatencake are actually fixable - there's space at the roadside to at least double the length of the merge lane, but for safety reasons, doing the work would probably mean closing the junction temporarily, which would cause the mother of all public outcries.

marno21

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41675582.html

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666075#Comment_123666075

They're mentioning many different things simultaneously: "Safety", "Housing", "Gridlock", "a solution before schools start". There's several different genuine competing requirements here.

I'm not against an N25 upgrade, but I am against simply adding a new milebush interchange.

I'd prefer to see a full new distributor network (and that does not mean one-new-wavy-road from milebush to ballyrichard beg ) and I'd also prefer to prioritise sustainable development plans, rather than lumping 5000 houses into Waterrock and Milebush and hoping for the best, as is the current plan.

This is the roads forum, so ignoring all other infrastructure and using my "crayons" how about:

Remove Lakeview and Oatencake

New junction at Milebush, with associated distributor (realistically development to the North only).

New junction at Carrigshane with associated distributor (North and South)

TBH I think a big problem here is that the council's LADP for the are is a bit too old fashioned and needs to be modernised. The plan to lump a load of housing estates in will just cause chaos for the N25 and also for Dunkettle etc.

omicron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666075#Comment_123666075

The gridlock referred to currently is being caused by a new set of traffic lights in Ballinacurra which allows a minor road (the "dark road" ) access to the main Ballinacurra road but as a result caused this massive tailback every evening on the n25. It could be fixed in 5 minutes by changing the light sequence.

Jayuu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123668640#Comment_123668640

One wonders what sort of traffic modelling (if any) is done when new traffic lights are introduced like this. Reminds me of the chaos that existed in Oilgate for a while when the new section of the M11 was opened because of the sequencing of the lights in Oilgate village.

spacetweek

It’s most likely the traffic light sequence is determined by trying to give everybody approaching the junction an equal chance to get through, but everyone on the main road cries foul and says that you’re holding them up. So then the traffic light sequence is changed to give all the priority to the main road and people on the minor road are stuck for ages waiting. It’s not fixing the problem, it’s applying might is right thinking to it.

omicron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123672736#Comment_123672736

Well it's causing 20 minutes delays on an N road for thousands of people heading east in the evening so that a handful cars on an L road looking to access a nearby R road can have wait times of under a minute.

Traffic light sequences should be designed to reduce congestion AND give minor roads access, not give minor roads access at all costs.

Jayuu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123672888#Comment_123672888

Have to say that I would agree with this - the modelling should ensure that the route with the most traffic gets a longer priority. Yes that might be frustrating for those on the minor road but volume should determine the sequence. Indeed that's what was done with Oilgate eventually and resolved the issue almost completely.