How dangerous are roadworks!

murphaph

Ok, the roads have to be improved and all that but I'm totally sick of sections of road which have had their top layers scraped off prior to resurfacing being left in this 'scraped down' state for weeks and months on end. It feels like the bike could easily topple over when you're riding along this type of surface, it's lethal in a straight line, nevermind when you need to veer off it.

There's a stretch near me in D15 where the new Ongar Distributor Road crosses the Shelerin Road. It's been like that for fcuking months now. There's a really bad bit of it at the start of the M1 near Santry and it's deadly for anyone on two wheels IMO. :mad:

This is the best image of this thing I could find, you can see the sraped/graded road on the lane nearest the camera while the new surfae is being laid on the far lane;

Kazujo

I know what you mean, feels like your driving on ice. The other proble is mud on the road from the trucks coming from/going to bulding sites in the wet weather.

Fabritzo

I was up on that bit near santry, it's grand other than the raised concrete manhole cover, it just feels weird to drive on because of the way it pulls the bike into a groove, the lighter the bike the more uneasy it's going to feel I suppose, I'm just not too happy about it eating the tyres.

daymobrew

Kazujo wrote:

I know what you mean, feels like your driving on ice.

Clamp your knees to the petrol tank and try and relax your grip on the handlebars to let the front wheel move as it wants. The gyroscopic effects of the back wheel will keep you upright.

Of course, this won't help those on a moped.

For the new Ongar road, get onto Fingal County Council Roads Department (890-5611 - Coolmine Depot) about the surface. I called into the new FCC offices to see the plans for the road but Tommie McManus was unavailable.
Apparently the junction with Blanchardstown Road South is going to be a roundabout with lights (though the people in the Coolmine Depot weren't sure :eek:

You could also inform the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG Ireland).

Idleater

Kazujo wrote:

I know what you mean, feels like your driving on ice. The other proble is mud on the road from the trucks coming from/going to bulding sites in the wet weather.

I thought there was some law that said (certainly in relation to farmers) that they had to clear up the roadway after them. They could leave it for something like a day if they were constantly using that stretch of road (eg harvesting) but after that they had to clear it up. Must look that up...

Anyhow, I agree with the unnerving feeling you get when driving across those sections of road that are scored for roadworks. However, the worst has to be the 'loose chippings' that they (sometimes) use to surface dress the road once the roadworks have (eventually) taken place.

One of the backroads that I sometimes take on my way to/from work was recently resurfaced and for a while I thought this was great with nice smooth black tarmacadam. However last week (after a weeks absense) I drove the road and found it had been transformed into a gravel pit. Personally I find the gravel more dangerous than the scored roadsurface - at least that doesn't move under your wheels!

L.

murphaph

I find that the scraped surface is unnerving but manageable so long as your wanting to ride in the direction of the grooves, but up at Santry if you're heading off the N1 into Santry Village the grooves aren't and you really feel like the bike is gonna go somewhere it shouldn't. My bike doesn't have big fat wheels and I'm convinced the narrower the tyres the worse the effects on stability.

As regards loos chippings, the surface they leave is pretty good and on steep hills and winding country lanes is most welcome but I wish they could roll the chippings into the tar and then vacuum up the excess instead of letting them gather into little mounds in the verges.

Fingal County Council Roads dept are not great at rectifying things. I wrote to them a while ago about signage irregularities (illegal signs) and they fixed one but the other 4 have been left.

I might write to them again wrt the Ongar Road. The road will definitely include a roundabout junction at Blanchardstown Road South/Grove Road (I walk past it everyday and the contractor doesn't care much for pedestrian safety either, not sure if it'll be signal controlled though but there will be enough traffic to warrant lights).

saobh_ie

Yeah I was on that stuff yesterday on pretty much my first time on the bike since May except for a day in June to pass the test, I was stopped in traffic, the lights changed and they all took off and I babied the bike along with a truck up my hole gradually picking up speed as confidence increased.

I came upon that stuff in three places on my trip, u-turned and found another route twice but was running late and didn't really have anywhere to go at the third one out by the port tunnel.

Heavy bike with wider tires does make things much easier though, as does releasing the grip on the bars and only giving gentle inputs. My first bike had impossibly skinny tires and used to get caught in groves in the road in visible to the naked eye.

Additionally if your tires have a thread running along the center line they whole way around the tire, in the same direction as travel, I’m convinced this makes the tires more likely to follow the road surface if let.