Why Irish can't build straight roads

Pretzeluck

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

barneygumble99

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

Is this meant for after hours forum??

bazz26

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Is this meant for after hours forum??

We can only wish.

Iandempsey

don't start me on the roundabouts

ryanch09

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

If we were to tunnel through every mountain for the sake of avoiding a few curves the roads would end up costing a lot more

Wibbs

We're not Romans?


And you clearly haven't ventured too widely in mountains regions of the states. In any event I prefer twisty roads. Long straight roads bore the shite outa me TBH.

banie01

I saw a post somewhere the other day regarding a road closure after a rockfall in Colorado, that necessitated a 238mile detour for a journey that is usually 20miles!!!

Whilst the roads in Ireland may not always be the straightest, we do have a very dense road network compared to the states albeit the majority of it are of R standard rather than anything better.

begbysback

Fundamental difference- in Ireland we have buildings first, then roads structured around those buildings.

In the US they build buildings and roads together.

hgfj

Nothing more boring and tiring than driving a straight road for miles and miles. I drove from galway to dublin a few months back on that new motorway. Straight the whole way, very fast and yet I was shattered by the time i got to dublin. I felt like i'd been driving for twelve hours.

pleas advice

A few backhanders to avoid a few farms being cut in half,

L1011

Dead straight roads usually suggest they're very old, as it's not seen as safe anymore

bear1

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

So you're comparing a country which apart from its immense resources and sheer size and 100 times our population to a small island?
Can you see a flaw in that?
All things considered we have a very well developed road system.
20 years ago and you'd have laughed at the notion of motorways across the country.

Twenty Grand

The only straight roads in Ireland are the ones through bogland.

AllForIt

It's all down to this pc nonsense. We have to have a certain quota of straight roads and gay roads.

TeaBagMania

too many rocks

EdgeCase

Well if you want to spend hundreds of billions building tunnels through mountains to save a few mins, we'd have blown all the money on totally unnecessary infrastructure.

Normally you build a tunnel if other alternatives are impractical eg you have to get through the Alps and getting around them would mean huge diversions.

Ireland doesn't have any impenetrable mountain ranges or major natural obsticals.

So motorways are generally following more or less the path of least cost and least resistance.

Pretzeluck

Wibbs wrote: »

We're not Romans?


And you clearly haven't ventured too widely in mountains regions of the states. In any event I prefer twisty roads. Long straight roads bore the shite outa me TBH.

It's more about efficiency than boredom. Do you think roads should be curved so you won't be bored?

Alun

Pretzeluck wrote: »

Do you think roads should be curved so you won't be bored?

Yes.

Clareman

Because roads were built on old tracks which used to have loads of bends because horses used to go faster round bends cause they are nosey and can't wait to see what is around the bend, same reason race courses are round so the horses will go faster

V8 Interceptor

hgfj wrote: »

I drove from galway to dublin a few months back on that new motorway. Straight the whole way, very fast and yet I was shattered by the time i got to dublin. I felt like i'd been driving for twelve hours.

Hmm. Sounds to me you should probably go for a check up.

cml387

Clareman wrote: »

Because roads were built on old tracks which used to have loads of bends because horses used to go faster round bends cause they are nosey and can't wait to see what is around the bend, same reason race courses are round so the horses will go faster

Really? I thought it was to do with avoiding fairy bushes.

V8 Interceptor

EdgeCase wrote: »

Well if you want to spend hundreds of billions building tunnels through mountains to save a few mins, we'd have blown all the money on totally unnecessary infrastructure. Normally you build a tunnel if other alternatives are impractical eg you have to get through the Alps and getting around them would mean huge diversions. Ireland doesn't have any impenetrable mountain ranges or major natural obsticals. So motorways are generally following more or less the path of least cost and least resistance.

Doesn't that add weight to the OP's claim?

Dravokivich

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

What exactly is the problem though? Can you show roads that you feel have been routed in a manner to push costs over functionality?

Pinch Flat

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

The contractors get paid per curve. More curves, more money, happy contractors.

Spook_ie

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjki9j60argAhUTsHEKHcdDADkQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fscience%2Fengineers-are-working-hard-to-drive-you-round-the-bend-1.1764069&psig=AOvVaw0_QzkCGB3u-en-canMOBIR&ust=1549663881495386

Dartz

hgfj wrote: »

Nothing more boring and tiring than driving a straight road for miles and miles. I drove from galway to dublin a few months back on that new motorway. Straight the whole way, very fast and yet I was shattered by the time i got to dublin. I felt like i'd been driving for twelve hours.

Dozed off driving home froim a con in Galway a few weeks back after a long day...


Also managed to miss the M6 turnoff on the way there in the morning through sheer monotony.


Only upshot of a straight road is the view distance. Yoiu can see far enough to know there isn't a hairdryer looking for a high-score for the garda traffic's twitter feed.

GMSA

Dartz wrote: »

Dozed off driving home froim a con in Galway a few weeks back after a long day...


Also managed to miss the M6 turnoff on the way there in the morning through sheer monotony.


Only upshot of a straight road is the view distance. Yoiu can see far enough to know there isn't a hairdryer looking for a high-score for the garda traffic's twitter feed.

The only problem on the road there is you.
Take a nap and a coffee, pay attention, and don't be speeding.

Wildly Boaring

Pretzeluck wrote: »

It's more about efficiency than boredom. Do you think roads should be curved so you won't be bored?

It is a safety thing.

In road design you do not allow drivers constantly see the horizon.

Proven encourages speeding and also sleeping

Dakotabigone

Easier to drive bendy roads after a few pints. Try walking straight and it’s impossible.

Dartz

GMSA wrote: »

The only problem on the road there is you.
Take a nap and a coffee, pay attention, and don't be speeding.

Therein lies the other problem


****ing where.



Services are well spaced.

Those long straight roads on maps actually need occasional kinks or curves to correct for the curve of the earth.

Our roads are not straight because as was said above there have been people living here for so long that there is a lot of stuff to avoid.

9935452

Wibbs wrote: »

In any event I prefer twisty roads. Long straight roads bore the shite outa me TBH.

An interesting fact .

The americans built long straight roads and people were bored, fell asleep and had accidents as a result.


When the germans were building the autobahns the took in this information and built their roads with slight bends to help keep the drivers alert and awake.

AFAIK they have a lower accident /death rate on their roads

MarcusP12

9935452 wrote: »

An interesting fact .

The americans built long straight roads and people were bored, fell asleep and had accidents as a result.


When the germans were building the autobahns the took in this information and built their roads with slight bends to help keep the drivers alert and awake.

AFAIK they have a lower accident /death rate on their roads

I don't think its an urban myth but was there not a deliberate requirement in the US during WWII to building highways with certain straights so that they could be used as emergency landing runways for planes during times of war? Anyone else come across this?

Re the reason why we don't build perfectly straight roads there are conservation reasons why you can't just build roads where ever you like. Safety as well is an issue as already mentioned by a few....nothing to do with lining the pockets of contractors.....

joujoujou

MarcusP12 wrote: »

I don't think its an urban myth but was there not a deliberate requirement in the US during WWII to building highways with certain straights so that they could be used as emergency landing runways for planes during times of war? Anyone else come across this?

[...]

Not only in the US. I know the place in my home country, where one stretch of the road is built for that very purpose. Additionally, it had entire necessary infrastructure hidden in nearby forest, all of above frequently used for training, now this one is no longer in use (apart from being just a DC).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXojKUhCZOo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPom15sXtSw

Obviously there are more than one like that, and most of them are no officially known for "top secret" reasons.

However, it only needs approx 3 km of straight road, not really much.

4068ac1elhodqr

Hopefully in 20yrs it won't matter. You'll get where you going in the time it takes a fill a kettle and boil it.



Elevated over towns, fields or snow thanks to the aul hyperloops. Curves won't matter to the autopilot.

The J Stands for Jay

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

I've driven a fair bit in the States. Their interstates have curves going through mountains.

Elemonator

I know in the past roads were built around private estates and other private land. New roads however I have no idea. Any new road I've come across like the M6 have been pretty much straight!

Isambard

it's because Irish roads have a history from before long distance travel. Basically Market towns tend to be 14 miles apart or so because the furthest practical distance to walk or drive stock was 7 miles. Thus the roads are really a cobbling together of short more or less straight sections, which results on a lot of kinks over a long distance.

sligojoek

BnB

Twenty Grand wrote: »

The only straight roads in Ireland are the ones through bogland.

That's true. It is easier to make straight roads through land that no-one is using like bogs (in Ireland) or deserts (in the US) because of a lack of population.

If you look at the Motorway from Ennis to Galway there are a few fairly decent straight stretches as it is going through patches of fairly poor land that is sparsely populated. But on the other hand if you look at the M7 from Limerick to Dublin it goes through decent land and hence has to weave it's way through fairly densely populated areas avoiding villages and as much houses as possible to keep the original cost of land acquisition for the road down.

galwaytt

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

You do realise that earth isn't flat, right ?

Gregor Samsa

I was once in a minibus with an American colleague after a work night out, on back roads in Co. Clare. Fed up with being bounced around in her seat, she asked why they didn't just straighten the road, not thinking about the absolutely massive undertaking that would be for minimal gain, the huge disruption it would cause to all the that needed access to it, or the historic reasons as to why it was built on the route it took.

It kind of reminded me of a post I saw on here many years ago where someone (seemingly seriously) suggested that all roads in the country should be made into dual carriageways (for safety reasons).

I've also heard 2 seperate American colleagues question why Bunratty Castle was built so close to the dual carriageway. :eek:

con___manx1

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

In australia like america many roads are straight. There are many road deaths as a result of these straight roads. The main cause is fatigue. When driving long distance on a dead straight road its very easy to nod off and die. I think its better to have cuves in the road maybe not sharp bends like some secondary roads here. They are pretty dangerous.Ireland is obviously much older than the US.
The miltary road in wicklow is a good example of a dangerous road. It was built originally by the brittish in the late 17 hundreds to catch the rebels hiding out in the wicklow hills and country side. It surely must be one of the most dangerous roads in the country.

corks finest

We built newgrange etc thousands of years before the pyramids were built, problem with road building in Ireland is we've beautiful valleys,rivers,and mountains - so who needs straight roads?

alias no.9

Where the terrain and built environment dictate, the Americans build roads far more twisty and windey than anything in the Irish motorway network.

swarlb

[PHP][/PHP]

Pretzeluck wrote: »

There must be some money laundering going on. Is it really that hard to build a straight road. USA can build perfectly straight roads through mountains but we no, no, no, no. Build motorways with a millions of curves so we can charge more for the project.

I thought Paddy built EVERYTHING, roads, bridges, subways, railways...or was that the Chinese...then again, that wall they built is anything but straight !

Isambard

corks finest wrote: »

We built newgrange etc thousands of years before the pyramids were built, problem with road building in Ireland is we've beautiful valleys,rivers,and mountains - so who needs straight roads?

strictly speaking, WE didn't build them, a pre-Irish civilisation did.

corks finest

Isambard wrote: »

corks finest wrote: »

We built newgrange etc thousands of years before the pyramids were built, problem with road building in Ireland is we've beautiful valleys,rivers,and mountains - so who needs straight roads?

strictly speaking, WE didn't build them, a pre-Irish civilisation did.

Strictly speaking descendants of ours did,,,,or did they just leaveðŸ˜

corks finest

Isambard wrote: »

corks finest wrote: »

We built newgrange etc thousands of years before the pyramids were built, problem with road building in Ireland is we've beautiful valleys,rivers,and mountains - so who needs straight roads?

strictly speaking, WE didn't build them, a pre-Irish civilisation did.

Strictly speaking descendants of ours did,,,,or did they just leaveðŸ˜

swarlb

corks finest wrote: »

Strictly speaking descendants of ours did,,,,or did they just leaveðŸ˜

Strictly speaking our descendants haven't been born yet !