Western Distributor Road

22-03-2021 10:04am

What road works are starting now on the inner relief road near summer hill roundabout? It was like pre COVID days this morning with traffic backed up almost to caltragh bridge!

shanec1928 · 22-03-2021 4:09pm

zorro2566 wrote: »

What road works are starting now on the inner relief road near summer hill roundabout, it was like ore COVID days this morning with traffic backed up almost to caltragh bridge!

https://twitter.com/sligococo/status/1374013343325954052

BronsonTB · 22-03-2021 4:20pm

Monday 22nd - Fri 26th

Essential roadworks beside the Knightsbridge Hospital entrance

So expect disruption for the week

26-03-2021 10:22am

Works finished early,clear run through this morning! Can't see what they were doing there,looks the same as before!

BronsonTB · 26-03-2021 5:39pm

Bebo stunnah wrote: »

The light sequence may well change to prioritise traffic coming from Finisklin onto the R869, rather than that on the Strandhill Road, but they'll need to carry out a survey to determine that.

I see they were doing the traffic survey on the Strandhill junction to Finisklin today.

dingding · 05-04-2021 12:16am

Was over and back a couple of times later and there were cyclists both times cycling on the road, rather than the cycle lanes.

Leaves it very hard to overtake and you have to either go into the hashed area, or else wait behind them.

Arnold54321 · 05-04-2021 2:06pm

Apologies to post here but just to say the work on the N4-N15 improvement scheme is nowhere near finished. I doubt it will be completed in Q.2 and again very doubtful in Q.3.

It’s a mess to get out of the town going northbound.

BronsonTB · 14-06-2021 11:48am

As much as I dislike the WDR road, it does make a big difference for going down the inner relief road...traffic is lighter even when Summerhill was back. Fingers crossed it stays that way in the full return to offices from Sept.

BronsonTB · 28-06-2021 2:05pm

Why are all cyclists not using the provided cycle lane on this new road?
The road carriageway for vehicular traffic is already narrow enough without having to give way further to cyclists that don't use the provided cycle lane.
I would hope if an accident occurs this would be taken into account & more blame on the cyclist if they are not using the provided cycle lane.
This road was partly promoted as having added safety with a dedicated cycle lane.
(Not if they don't use it!) :mad:

Should the council be looking into this after spending all that money on this road??

marvin80 · 29-06-2021 9:04am

BronsonTB wrote: »

Why are all cyclists not using the provided cycle lane on this new road?
The road carriageway for vehicular traffic is already narrow enough without having to give way further to cyclists that don't use the provided cycle lane.
I would hope if an accident occurs this would be taken into account & more blame on the cyclist if they are not using the provided cycle lane.
This road was partly promoted as having added safety with a dedicated cycle lane.
(Not if they don't use it!) :mad:

Should the council be looking into this after spending all that money on this road??

Cycle lanes are not legally compulsory:
https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/cyclists-obliged-cycle-lanes-ireland/

Cyclists are vulnerable road users so only fair they decide where there more comfortable cycling.
I've used the cycle lanes on the Western Distributor a few times and not a big fan of it - there's a ridge between the footpath and cycle lane - I've heard of a few cyclists taking falls as a result of it.

BronsonTB · 29-06-2021 9:54am

marvin80 wrote: »

Cycle lanes are not legally compulsory:
https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/cyclists-obliged-cycle-lanes-ireland/

Cyclists are vulnerable road users so only fair they decide where there more comfortable cycling.
I've used the cycle lanes on the Western Distributor a few times and not a big fan of it - there's a ridge between the footpath and cycle lane - I've heard of a few cyclists taking falls as a result of it.

Cheers, sounds like poor design & not fit for it's purpose if it's causing falls.

Thanks for explaining why they might use the road instead.

Shame the council didn't have that sorted in the planning stages rather than after spending all that money. (Wider road incorporating the cycle lane might have been more safer & practical than putting the pedestrian walkway & cycle lane together, esp if the cyclist is now left feeling safer on the narrow roadway)

Barangutan · 30-06-2021 9:08am

It's funny you bring it up, I was driving down it with my nephew a couple of weeks ago and there were a few cyclists in front of us. He asked why they weren't using the cycle path and I explained (as a keen cyclist) some of the reasons why they might have chosen to ride on the road instead.

One thing I said is that they might have simply missed the merge up onto the cycle path. When you cycle in a county with (until recently) virtually zero segregated cycling infrastructure, you just sort of forget to expect it. You're so used to just cycling left of a painted line or on the hard shoulder.

And as it happens, that exact thing happened me a week later when I was cycling out of Oakfield. Found myself cycling on the road alongside the cycle path.

gazebothing · 30-06-2021 9:43am

marvin80 wrote: »

Cycle lanes are not legally compulsory:

Cyclists are vulnerable road users so only fair they decide where there more comfortable cycling.
I've used the cycle lanes on the Western Distributor a few times and not a big fan of it - there's a ridge between the footpath and cycle lane - I've heard of a few cyclists taking falls as a result of it.

The ridge between the footpath and the cycle lane is a design requirement, it is there to segregate the cyclists from the pedestrians.
I would say that the proper TDF wannabes cycle on the road, as there is a lot of people are walking/jogging along this route and are often on the cycle lane and they dont want to slow down to effect their strava times. Most of the average commuter/leisure cyclists Ive seen use the cycle lane.

Western Distributor Road

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