Galway's traffic issues

LillySV

donvito99 wrote: »

Sure what would experts know about traffic flow, with their actual data, technology, experience, modelling and what not... cowboys

Shur clearly they know **** all... they haven’t solved anything and have spent years throwing money at it ...

I’ve drove all over the world, including places like LA and New York which deals with a hell of a lot more traffic than Galway!!! They don’t have a set of lights every 20 metres like Galway! And they have bypasses for their cities with numerous exits to enter and leave city....a lot on another thread on this site says bypass is a bad idea!!

zell12

McGiver wrote: »

Actually the test has been made more difficult. The issue is with lack of enforcement. I'm surprised actually that there's no anarchy on the road given there's no guards around. It's actually a miracle people keep any discipline at all...

It's all due to St Christopher figurines (patron saint of travellers) dangling from rear view mirrors

McGiver

zell12 wrote: »

McGiver wrote: »

Actually the test has been made more difficult. The issue is with lack of enforcement. I'm surprised actually that there's no anarchy on the road given there's no guards around. It's actually a miracle people keep any discipline at all...

It's all due to St Christopher figurines (patron saint of travellers) dangling from rear view mirrors

Bingo!

McGiver

LillySV wrote: »

donvito99 wrote: »

Sure what would experts know about traffic flow, with their actual data, technology, experience, modelling and what not... cowboys

Shur clearly they know **** all... they haven’t solved anything and have spent years throwing money at it ...

I’ve drove all over the world, including places like LA and New York which deals with a hell of a lot more traffic than Galway!!! They don’t have a set of lights every 20 metres like Galway! And they have bypasses for their cities with numerous exits to enter and leave city....a lot on another thread on this site says bypass is a bad idea!!

Comparing anything in the US with Galway is a bit rich. They amount of space they had when they built their cities from scratch was huge. Can't compare with Galway situation. And why would you build 4 lane dual carriage for such a small city anyway?
But

xckjoo

LillySV wrote: »

Shur clearly they know **** all... they haven’t solved anything and have spent years throwing money at it ...

I’ve drove all over the world, including places like LA and New York which deals with a hell of a lot more traffic than Galway!!! They don’t have a set of lights every 20 metres like Galway! And they have bypasses for their cities with numerous exits to enter and leave city....a lot on another thread on this site says bypass is a bad idea!!

A lot of the research that found that building new roads causes an increase in traffic jams came from LA. They're learning from their mistakes. What seems obvious is often wrong.

Ashleigh1986

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

Id rather go by the evidence of my own eyes ..... Than some pen pusher in an office .... Thank you

Best evidence of all is the evidence of realtime.

mc25

I'm all for getting rid of the roundabouts since no one seems to be able to use them, but sometimes the traffic lights can be just as bad given the amount of people who break red lights. The lights at the old Bodkin roundabout are an absolute disgrace, especially the right turn onto the bridge.

ratracer

mc25 wrote: »

I'm all for getting rid of the roundabouts since no one seems to be able to use them, but sometimes the traffic lights can be just as bad given the amount of people who break red lights. The lights at the old Bodkin roundabout are an absolute disgrace, especially the right turn onto the bridge.

If the council were really serious about getting the city moving, and improving road safety, they would put red light cameras at all traffic lights and ring fence the fines money for further road safety/ flow/ enhancement measures.

But they won’t, why? Because there would be uproar from it, even though if people didn’t run red lights they would have no fine. Politicians would never back it, for fear of not getting re-elected next time!

Ashleigh1986

mc25 wrote: »

I'm all for getting rid of the roundabouts since no one seems to be able to use them, but sometimes the traffic lights can be just as bad given the amount of people who break red lights. The lights at the old Bodkin roundabout are an absolute disgrace, especially the right turn onto the bridge.

All traffic lights in galway are incorrectly timed .
That's why motorists are breaking lights .
I was driving behind a bus on eglinton street heading towards cathedral .
We got stopped at red light .
He was first vecihcle , I was second , light turned green .
He got tru . Light turned red by the time he turned corner .
It must have been green for less than 5 seconds .
All lights , especially when all roundabouts are taken out need to CCTV manned during rush hours .

ratracer

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

All traffic lights in galway are incorrectly timed .
That's why motorists are breaking lights .
I was driving behind a bus on eglinton street heading towards cathedral .
We got stopped at red light .
He was first vecihcle , I was second , light turned green .
He got tru . Light turned red by the time he turned corner .
It must have been green for less than 5 seconds .
All lights , especially when all roundabouts are taken out need to CCTV manned during rush hours .

I agree the timing sequence is absolutely dire and completely crap at most junctions in the city, but that’s not a legal or valid reason to run a red light.The knock on effect of this is that the traffic coming from the other side of the junction now doesn’t have a clear road to pass through the junction on its green sequence.
I don’t think anyone in city hall, from McGrath down has any understanding of how junctions should work ( I’m not an expert on it either), and worse still, I don’t think give a toss if it gets better or not.

I'm sure all the junctions would be grand - it's just the volume of traffic going through them - not everyone can be satisfied.

Sitting in my car in the city on my own yesterday evening on my way back to my urban generated rural one off house I was asking myself what it would take to move me onto a bus - a bus lane all the way in the tuam road with a park and ride somewhere like Loughgeorge would probably do it.

We need a bus connects plan for Galway. A single tram wouldn't be enough. A new road won't solve everything.
Quality bus corridors with regular reliable and faster travel might be enough to tip the balance towards public transport, freeing up road space for others who can't or won't use it.
Sitting in traffic is such a waste of life.

DuckSlice

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sure all the junctions would be grand - it's just the volume of traffic going through them - not everyone can be satisfied.

Sitting in my car in the city on my own yesterday evening on my way back to my urban generated rural one off house I was asking myself what it would take to move me onto a bus - a bus lane all the way in the tuam road with a park and ride somewhere like Loughgeorge would probably do it.

We need a bus connects plan for Galway. A single tram wouldn't be enough. A new road won't solve everything.
Quality bus corridors with regular reliable and faster travel might be enough to tip the balance towards public transport, freeing up road space for others who can't or won't use it.
Sitting in traffic is such a waste of life.

City buses are a disaster also. If I want to get to Parkmore from Lisbaun ind. I need to get two buses (looking at the route map, ive never tried it). This will probably take me the guts of 30/40 minutes to get to work. MY car gets me there in 12/15 minutes. Until stuff like this is sorted, people will continue to use their car and the traffic isn't going to get any better. Cycling isn't an option as I'm too lazy.

biko

etxp wrote: »

City buses are a disaster also.

When "disaster" means "inconvenient"

ChewyLouie

McGiver wrote: »

It's not a rocket science. The English invented it so that even simpletons can do it. Yet a large percentage in Galway can't or won't.

Left lane - exiting before 12 o'clock
Right lane - exiting after 12 o'clock

I think there's less people who can't (ignorant) than who won't (lazy). I often see idiots using 2nd lane to exit before 12 o'clock and they use it, because 1st lane has a queue but 2nd not. So they break law out of convenience, laziness and impatience.

I think the biggest misuse of roundabouts in Galway is from drivers that know well how to use them, but just want to jump around fellow motorists.

Every day I see motorists moving from the correct lane into the wrong lane to progress through the roundabout quicker (to the detriment of other roundabout users).

The standard daily ****-moves through Terryland are.... :mad:

West-East: Right lane over the bridge, then cut in to the the left slip road... use the left lane and take the outer lane around Kirwan to Bothar na dTreabh, jump into the right lane and fly up Bothar na dTreabh.

East-West: Right lane down Bothar na dTreabh onto the inner lane on Kirwan and ~9pm exit onto Terryland/Dunnes and jump across into the left lane. Continue on the left lane beyond the Dunnes/Gort-na-Coiribe junction and jump into the right lane to get over the bridge.

Also for all the above moves ensure you change lanes quickly and only indicate for the last second of the lane change. Erghaghh. :mad:

Mrs OBumble

etxp wrote: »

City buses are a disaster also. If I want to get to Parkmore from Lisbaun ind. I need to get two buses (looking at the route map, ive never tried it).

Or you could use your legs for an extra five minutes and walk thru Mervue industrial estate to Monivea Rd, where you could catch the 401.

DuckSlice

biko wrote: »

When "disaster" means "inconvenient"

Getting up 30 minutes earlier is not an option :P

xckjoo

etxp wrote: »

City buses are a disaster also. If I want to get to Parkmore from Lisbaun ind. I need to get two buses (looking at the route map, ive never tried it). This will probably take me the guts of 30/40 minutes to get to work. MY car gets me there in 12/15 minutes. Until stuff like this is sorted, people will continue to use their car and the traffic isn't going to get any better. Cycling isn't an option as I'm too lazy.

Bus takes me about 30mins to and from work, if I walk from Eyre Square home and time getting to the bus stop right. Car is about 10-15 in morning and 40+ in the evening. Bike is a flat 15mins. I take the bus a lot because I can switch off and it's surprisingly quick to get into town. But it wouldn't work if I infirmed in any way as it takes forever to get through the centre of the city and out the other side. I'm on a few bus routes so one of the lucky ones, but the bus is a nice way to commute when it suits.

I'd put bus lanes everywhere, run them often and widespread and give them priority over everything except people walking. Stress levels would plummet and the city would move again.

DuckSlice

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Or you could use your legs for an extra five minutes and walk thru Mervue industrial estate to Monivea Rd, where you could catch the 401.

must look into that, the route map only shows the 403 and 409 going to Parkmore. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

https://www.buseireann.ie/img/pictures/1512146521_content_main.jpg

The 403 and 401 were merged recently - I think the map is out of date.

xckjoo

etxp wrote: »

must look into that, the route map only shows the 403 and 409 going to Parkmore. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

Try the TFI Journey Planner app. It's pretty good for showing your what routes will work for you. Don't think the times on it are Real Time though so don't rely on it for that.

Ruhanna

zell12 wrote: »

Admiring the pandemonium, zoomable image

Wow. That's a great Tribune pic, but what report is it from? Was there some newsworthy event?

Ashleigh1986

Ruhanna wrote: »

Wow. That's a great Tribune pic, but what report is it from? Was there some newsworthy event?

They may as well be down in currys tv store looking at screens .
Ain't going to work until ALL ROUNDABOUTS are out and a properly manned CCTV traffic light system put in place .

8 sets of lights going from huntsman to galway clinic , one set sequence not changed in over 20 years , 3 of the 8 hooked up to a so called system and the other 5 not .

That's what's running this shambolic show .
Book intelligence and street stupid at its best example .

DuckSlice

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

They may as well be down in currys tv store looking at screens .
Ain't going to work until ALL ROUNDABOUTS are out and a properly manned CCTV traffic light system put in place .

8 sets of lights going from huntsman to galway clinic , one set sequence not changed in over 20 years , 3 of the 8 hooked up to a so called system and the other 5 not .

That's what's running this shambolic show .
Book intelligence and street stupid at its best example .

8 sets if you include the huntsman lights? 2 of these are pedestrian crossings though that only go red if pressed are they not?

grbear

ChewyLouie wrote: »

I think the biggest misuse of roundabouts in Galway is from drivers that know well how to use them, but just want to jump around fellow motorists.

Every day I see motorists moving from the correct lane into the wrong lane to progress through the roundabout quicker (to the detriment of other roundabout users).

I'm delighted to see someone say this. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've been cut off by a mistaken N/L driver on roundabouts this year and still have fingers free. The amount of times I've been cut off by someone plainly acting the b******ks and just joining whatever lane of traffic was shortest on the approach regardless of the exit they are taking is dramatically higher.

https://connachttribune.ie/city-council-outlines-plan-to-tackle-traffic-chaos-700/

City Council outlines plan to tackle traffic chaos

Galway City Council – People will start to see the fruits of Galway City Council’s labour over the coming months, as the local authority puts into action its long-planned strategy to tackle the city’s traffic woes.

Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said this week that their vision was for a “modern, robust and climate-friendly” transport system for a city that was set to have a population increase of 45,000 residents in the next 20 years.

He said engineers and consultants had been working tirelessly since the Galway Transport Strategy was adopted by councillors in 2016 to ready the ground and there would be several projects on which they would be breaking ground in the not-too-distant future.

While the €650 million Galway City Ring Road was a huge part of that, several other projects would be just as significant in a process Mr McGrath said would give the streets back to the city’s citizens.

A raft of projects are due to commence and be completed within the next five years, including: upgrading the Menlo Park (work begins next month), Galway Clinic and GMIT Roundabouts; a bus corridor from east to west; an improved cycling network; and a pedestrian bridge at Salmon Weir.

ratracer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

https://connachttribune.ie/city-council-outlines-plan-to-tackle-traffic-chaos-700/

City Council outlines plan to tackle traffic chaos

Galway City Council – People will start to see the fruits of Galway City Council’s labour over the coming months, as the local authority puts into action its long-planned strategy to tackle the city’s traffic woes.

Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said this week that their vision was for a “modern, robust and climate-friendly” transport system for a city that was set to have a population increase of 45,000 residents in the next 20 years.
.

I wonder if he was able to say that with a straight face......

Geuze

Deleted User wrote: »

https://connachttribune.ie/city-council-outlines-plan-to-tackle-traffic-chaos-700/

City Council outlines plan to tackle traffic chaos

A raft of projects are due to commence and be completed within the next five years, including: upgrading the Menlo Park (work begins next month), Galway Clinic and GMIT Roundabouts; a bus corridor from east to west; an improved cycling network; and a pedestrian bridge at Salmon Weir.

Any chance of doubling the railway line to Athenry?

Fitz*

Any chance of having a bus service that actually runs, apart from the 409.

jk23

All these roundabout works will be in progress all through Christmas most likely, the city will be worse then ever at the busiest time of the year

ben.schlomo

jk23 wrote: »

All these roundabout works will be in progress all through Christmas most likely, the city will be worse then ever at the busiest time of the year

They're not going to be done together and the Menlo one is six months away I think it said in the article above.