Traffic Congestion Drogheda

duffman3833 · 02-08-2017 10:34am #1

I just read in the Drogheda Leader a piece where a taxi man was putting forward solutions to traffic in Drogheda.
One was to remove traffic lights at bull ring and replace with a roundabout
also same at Georges street
His ideas in theory would improve the flow as roundabouts have been proven to increase traffic flow, but i think if these were implemented it still wouldn't work as the whole traffic light system would need a overhaul. There will still be traffic jams at the other set of lights.
Unless every junction had a roundabout it may work but a complete overhaul is necessary

ssmith6287 · 02-08-2017 2:07pm

easiest and cheapest way is to give local access to the toll bridges. huge amounts of traffic from people travelling from 1 side to the other in the town

duffman3833 · 02-08-2017 2:10pm

that would be the better solution and cheapest but been trying to get it closed for years and still no sign of it closing

ssmith6287 · 02-08-2017 3:58pm

Don't see it ever closing but giving people with Drogheda addresses a toll card would be a massive difference

borderlinemeath · 03-08-2017 9:27am

duffman3833 wrote: »

that would be the better solution and cheapest but been trying to get it closed for years and still no sign of it closing

The last time this debate was discussed on here one of the main arguments for keeping the toll was because it created local employment for the people who man the toll. From next month the mini tolls at Donore junctions will be fully automated so the people that man those will either lose their jobs, or if they are retained for the main toll will surely have their hours cut as they'll have to be merged with the existing employees.

duffman3833 · 03-08-2017 11:03am

if the tolls were gone and less traffic flowing through Drogheda, i might actually go into town more. Last night about 6 ish, i went from one side of drogheda to the other and took nearly half hour and that's because traffic is turning off at Julianstown exit and driving through drogheda to avoid tolls. If tolls were gone, they would go to the next exit and i would think it would make huge difference on traffic, especially in evenings

delly · 03-08-2017 11:30am

Roundabouts at the Bullring and the Donore Road would work well I think, but I agree a complete overall is needed. Any talk of the toll clouds what is essentially an issue of bad lights and flows in the centre of the town.

I dropped someone off on West Street last week, about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I was hoping to try and find an on-street space, but in doing that did the West St -> Dyer St -> Dominic St loop. It took me 13 minutes to get to the same spot on West St I had dropped off on, complete lockups based on the lights mentioned at the start.

It appears to me that there is no one with the clear focus on the good of the town to take it on. Looking at the amount of derelict looking shop fronts around the place shows this.

duffman3833 · 03-08-2017 12:12pm

thing is with the roundabouts is that the traffic ma flow through those junctions better but once they hit a red light, traffic will start to tail back and then the roundabouts will become a standstill

PGE1970 · 03-08-2017 12:20pm

A roundabout at the Bullring would lead to more delays down the Marsh Road, the North Quay, Shop Street etc as the greater flow of traffic would come down the Dublin Road towards the north of the town (and vice versa).

Just like those ridiculous pedestrian crossings at the junction of Peter Street/West Street/Laurences Street/Shop Street, it would cause further delays.

borderlinemeath · 03-08-2017 12:58pm

At one point there was talk of another bridge close enough to the railway bridge or else down at Colpe to bring traffic off the Dublin Road over to Greenhills. This would take all the traffic going to North Drogheda/Baltray/Termonfeckin/Clogherhead out of the centre of town. As it stands all traffic has to go over either the Bull Ring or the Bridge of Peace. It would take Port traffic out too.

andrew1977 · 04-08-2017 12:37pm

PGE1970 wrote: »

A roundabout at the Bullring would lead to more delays down the Marsh Road, the North Quay, Shop Street etc as the greater flow of traffic would come down the Dublin Road towards the north of the town (and vice versa).

Just like those ridiculous pedestrian crossings at the junction of Peter Street/West Street/Laurences Street/Shop Street, it would cause further delays.

They make my blood boil, hold up the town constantly .
Too many of them at one junction, I believe the council looked it in some months back and they are there to stay.

Scotty # · 04-08-2017 2:49pm

When did a roundabout ever replace traffic lights successfully? yet we keep trying it and then a year later put TRAFFIC LIGHTS BACK ON THE ROUNDABOUT! It never works. For the volume of traffic that goes through those junctions you would need far bigger roundabouts than there is space there for. West St and several other streets should be pedestrianised altogether. It would solve some of the problems and bring more tourism into the town. Drogheda could be a great weekend tourist spot like Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, if it just had the right planning/investment in place.

Re: The Tolls... Running local 60-80KPH traffic onto a 120KPH motorway is an awful idea and would lead to people being killed. Drogheda needs a local ring road not a rat run along the motorway.

road_high · 04-08-2017 3:46pm

Scotty # wrote: »

When did a roundabout ever replace traffic lights successfully? yet we keep trying it and then a year later put TRAFFIC LIGHTS BACK ON THE ROUNDABOUT! It never works. For the volume of traffic that goes through those junctions you would need far bigger roundabouts than there is space there for. West St and several other streets should be pedestrianised altogether. It would solve some of the problems and bring more tourism into the town. Drogheda could be a great weekend tourist spot like Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, if it just had the right planning/investment in place.

Re: The Tolls... Running local 60-80KPH traffic onto a 120KPH motorway is an awful idea and would lead to people being killed. Drogheda needs a local ring road not a rat run along the motorway.

It does. Drogheda is bigger than Kilkenny and we have a fairly decent ring road in addition to the full motorway bypass. Towns and cities of this size generate a lot of their own local traffic so therefore need a local ring road/relief road system. The toll makes the Drogheda situation even worse.

enricoh · 05-08-2017 1:26pm

I cant understand people living in Drogheda coming off at julianstown on they're way home from work to save e1.90. It can take 10minutes alone to get through julianstown.
To save 1.90 you spend a euro extra on fuel and an extra twenty minutes to get home!

borderlinemeath · 05-08-2017 2:17pm

enricoh wrote: »

I cant understand people living in Drogheda coming off at julianstown on they're way home from work to save e1.90. It can take 10minutes alone to get through julianstown.
To save 1.90 you spend a euro extra on fuel and an extra twenty minutes to get home!

€1.90 twice a day is €3.80
€3.80 five times a week is €19
€19.00 48 weeks of the year is €912

That's a lot of money to a lot of people. Maybe not to you, but it's a hell of a lot when you're trying to feed and raise a family. If there's an alternative that takes longer I'm surprised more people don't use it.

I only have to use the toll on the odd occasion. I don't mind it if I'm using a lot of the road, but I sure as hell wouldn't pay it to get from one side of Drogheda to the other.

Scotty # · 06-08-2017 3:47pm

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I only have to use the toll on the odd occasion. I don't mind it if I'm using a lot of the road, but I sure as hell wouldn't pay it to get from one side of Drogheda to the other.

The toll system in Ireland is grossly unfair. People passing 1-2 junctions can end up paying a toll every time and other people can pass 30-40 junctions and never pay a toll. It should be like Spain etc, where everyone pay's for what they use. It would take in a lot more money while bringing the charge way down for those making short trips. That said, I'm still not in favour of putting local traffic on a motorway.

kbell · 06-08-2017 10:30pm

enricoh wrote: »

I cant understand people living in Drogheda coming off at julianstown on they're way home from work to save e1.90. It can take 10minutes alone to get through julianstown.
To save 1.90 you spend a euro extra on fuel and an extra twenty minutes to get home!

Try driving a small commercial vehicle @ €3.40 a go, or a hgv and your costs soon add up.

Psychologeeee · 08-08-2017 11:24pm

Getting rid of the toll would be ideal! If they could sort out the Julianstown/Dublin Road bottlenecks that would be great!

13-08-2017 2:23am

Scotty # wrote: »

The toll system in Ireland is grossly unfair. People passing 1-2 junctions can end up paying a toll every time and other people can pass 30-40 junctions and never pay a toll. It should be like Spain etc, where everyone pay's for what they use. It would take in a lot more money while bringing the charge way down for those making short trips. That said, I'm still not in favour of putting local traffic on a motorway.

I don't think people are proposing that we should get rid of the toll so that local traffic can be forced onto the motorway.

People are suggesting that by removing the toll, you remove a lot of traffic from Drogheda (users that won't pay the toll) as a lot of traffic that comes through the town to avoid the toll will stay on the motorway instead (essentially clearing the roads, making in-town journeys a bit easier/quicker).

I only started driving about 4-5 years ago myself, but even I have to say, i have noticed a massive increase in the amount of traffic on the roads in Drogheda. I used to just go out driving for the sake of it, but the traffic always had a relative 'free flow' to it. It seems (to me anyway) that it's only really over the last 12 months or so that it seems to be constantly jammed up about the place.

I actively avoid west st. now, but in the past I never minded crossing it.

Maybe it's just me though?

Lord TSC · 13-08-2017 10:26am

I hate crossing West Street, but I don't think its the toll causing the issues there. It's the system they've put in, coupled with the fact people walk out in front of cars constantly, causing everyone to have to creep through, stop/starting constantly. I also wish that people would learn that the cars coming up the hill at the Abbey Shopping Center have right of way, and that goes for people running through the stop sign AND people driving up the hill....

[/rant]

delly · 13-08-2017 11:25am

Get ready for even more madness when the gate closes next week.

https://www.louthcoco.ie/images_upload/en/Louth_County_Council/Latest-News/Map%20of%20St%20Laurence's%20Gate%20Closure.jpg

13-08-2017 11:32am

Lord TSC wrote: »

I hate crossing West Street, but I don't think its the toll causing the issues there. It's the system they've put in, coupled with the fact people walk out in front of cars constantly, causing everyone to have to creep through, stop/starting constantly. I also wish that people would learn that the cars coming up the hill at the Abbey Shopping Center have right of way, and that goes for people running through the stop sign AND people driving up the hill....

[/rant]

In fairness, most people crossing West St. will allow a car up from the abbey, but it'd be madness to not push in.

I generally approach like a merge at that junction (let a car in, then I bully in, so it's one car from each road at a time). Most people seem to take this approach from what I seen.

Otherwise everyone would just go down past the garda station and up to West St. that way. couple with traffic coming to West St from dyer st means that the traffic in line on narrow West St. would never move and would quickly block up the junction at the bridge of peace.

Lord TSC · 14-08-2017 1:18pm

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness, most people crossing West St. will allow a car up from the abbey, but it'd be madness to not push in.

I generally approach like a merge at that junction (let a car in, then I bully in, so it's one car from each road at a time). Most people seem to take this approach from what I seen.

I find a lot of people just go full speed and don't realize there's a stop sign. I agree you've got to merge, but the right of way is with those coming up the hill, so I wish people would at least be nice when merging in. A lot of the times, i find people get some aggressive when they feel you're moving up the hill

uli84 · 22-08-2017 10:22pm

That f*ckin toll is a joke but a miracle would need to happen to have it removed

kbell · 26-08-2017 12:37am

When the tolls are automated, it will be a disaster with people with no money/sterling/faulty tags all having to buzz the help button to speak to customer services.

positron · 16-08-2018 7:14pm

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but as someone living along Dublin road, I am kinda upset with the amount of traffic flowing thru there. It no longer feels safe to take small kids cyling along the footpath there (I appreciate footpath is not for cycles, but I am talking little kids, under 10 year olds). Also there is no way to get kids on bike safely from Dublin road to across the town to the playground or Boyne trail other than taking the car - which is not great when kids actually want to cycle the boyne trail.

I like the suggestion of free toll passes for drivers Drogheda / sorrounding addresses. That might direct a good bit of traffic from town out to M1 than across town. And perhaps turn the town into a larger oneway system anti-clockwise)?

Victor · 16-08-2018 7:29pm

duffman3833 wrote: »

His ideas in theory would improve the flow as roundabouts have been proven to increase traffic flow

Nope. When it's busy, traffic lights allow a higher flow than a roundabout. Off-peak, roundabouts may be better.

However, if the area is congested, facilitating traffic flow may just draw in more traffic.

whippet · 17-08-2018 12:04pm

positron wrote: »

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but as someone living along Dublin road, I am kinda upset with the amount of traffic flowing thru there. It no longer feels safe to take small kids cyling along the footpath there (I appreciate footpath is not for cycles, but I am talking little kids, under 10 year olds). Also there is no way to get kids on bike safely from Dublin road to across the town to the playground or Boyne trail other than taking the car - which is not great when kids actually want to cycle the boyne trail.

I like the suggestion of free toll passes for drivers Drogheda / sorrounding addresses. That might direct a good bit of traffic from town out to M1 than across town. And perhaps turn the town into a larger oneway system anti-clockwise)?

I cycle regularly with my 9 and 6 year old from baltray to Drogheda and out to oldbrige .. I do walk the bikes with them at the quays and where we meet junctions etc .. but other than that no problem

positron · 17-08-2018 1:45pm

Fair play whippet, that sounds like good distance to ride. Hows the road situation like on that side of the river?

Problem on the south side is that traffic is constant, loads of entrance / exit / turn offs and that the section near train station is really narrow, narrowest point is of course the railway over bridge, and then everything gets busier further down. It would also be really cool if there's some sort of an extension of the trail thru town to east side of the town, and some way to get to it from Dublin road without going into town.

borderlinemeath · 17-08-2018 2:10pm

positron wrote: »

Fair play whippet, that sounds like good distance to ride. Hows the road situation like on that side of the river?

Problem on the south side is that traffic is constant, loads of entrance / exit / turn offs and that the section near train station is really narrow, narrowest point is of course the railway over bridge, and then everything gets busier further down. It would also be really cool if there's some sort of an extension of the trail thru town to east side of the town, and some way to get to it from Dublin road without going into town.

Well the plan is to have the boyne boardwalk extend all the way to Mornington, although by the time they get around to it your kids might be driving:D.

positron · 17-08-2018 2:46pm

ah sure, it would be nice to zip around in my mobility scooter.

Traffic Congestion Drogheda

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