So the balls-up has started since last night which makes Fairview from clontarf to Edges corner a single lane with bollards down the centre.
This will be a permanent feature and works will take 21 months.
I would love to see the back of these works by June but there is zero chance that happens. The inbound still isn't finished after a year of faffing about and the outbound is still many months away. That's before we even consider the fact they have to relay a rather long section of road with its final surface. My own take is that it will be more than likely late Q3, early Q4 before it's actually fully complete and that's if they don't slow down even more than they have recently.
What was the originally stated end point for the road works? There’s zero communication with residents and parts of the road fenced off and left that way for months. Will they be fined for over-runs? The whole process seems incredibly inept.
Considering the awful state they’ve been allowed leave the road in, I don’t think DCC will be too bothered about delays or fines.
I recall September 2023 as the original planned finish date, but not 100% on that.
The only thing I’ll say is that when they get the pipe work sorted, they can move fast to tidy the top street scape up. It’s the underground work that is so painfully slow.
No point in relaying the road until all the machinery is done working in the area. That could be done over a few nights.
Cycled inbound today around 10.30am, what a huge difference to when I use to commute to the city centre in the "bus lane". It is a fantastic resource, and will surely encourage more to cycle into the city.
Westwood was poor as expected, 2 cars blocking the bus lane that I had to manoeuvre around. The amount of signs on the Westwood walls outbound as you exit Fairview Park warning to beware vehicles is strange. Pity they can't put such effort into actually resolving the issue. Although there is a sign in front of the main Westwood car park informing motorists they can use the overflow car park only 150m away.
Outbound looks like a disaster, avoided it and used Ossory Road and Fairview Park instead, as I was with the missus who isn't confident on the roads. She loved the inbound spin though.
I don't think anyone is suggesting relaying it now but there have to be at least a minimum standard that they should have to keep it in. Remember, this isn't a short term issue. The road has been in an awful state for 12/18 months at this stage.
Such a terrible waste of Garda resources. REALLY grinds my gears. All down to bad planning.
Solution is to close Westwood I'd say. People's habits won't change. If they cannot drive there they just won't use it. I'd say most locals would be delighted to see the back of it to be honest. I know there's another car park around the corner, don't get why people wont use that.
I know there's another car park around the corner, don't get why people wont use that.
Because on the whole, we've turned into a nation of lazy entitled gits!
The lease for that carpark was up in 2020 apparently
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/dublin-city-council-to-grant-20-year-lease-for-clontarf-car-park-amid-calls-for-housing/42428968.html
It's not pay and display in that carpark is it?
I don't agree it is a waste of resources. The Gardai are rarely seen enforcing anything. At least when they are dealing with nonsense like this it reminds people that there are still laws in the country which is something that is getting forgotten the longer that nothing is enforced.
Hopefully it was cost neutral aswell and they issued a good few fines.
Council said there's nothing else they can do with the spot, so are going to give them another lease to use it.
Yes, some councillors wanted them to take back the site for housing, but the council looked at it and said that it was not an appropriate site. Having no other real option, they leased it back to Westwood. This Car Park was for members only, but the barrier has been up the last few weeks, so I think that they are trying to solve this issue.
They've even sent out a text to members with a survey about it, but it's one of the stupidest surveys going, almost as bad as the OPW one about parking in Phoenix Park. It's billed as improving parking and access to the club, but there's only three questions:
How often do you use West Wood Clontarf?
Which mode of transport do you primarily use to get to Clontarf?
Which West Wood Clontarf facilities have you used in the last 3 months?
If you can tell me how that survey could be used to improve parking and access, I'd be very impressed. No mention of better bike parking facilities, no mention of improved pedestrian access. Cynical me thinks that it's an attempt to get survey results that show that car usage is the predominate method of travel, and to use that as a shield. "You can't take away parking when XX% get here by car, etc"
Yeah, I thought it was a bit lazy on the part of DCC. Plenty of developers work with sites that are more constrained than that.
I got that Westwood survey. It's a joke alright.
Yeah, I think that they said it was too close to the railway tracks, which seems a bit mental. I would have thought that was a positive, and even across the road there's a house that'd be closer to it.
Personally, I think that the council didn't want to deprive themselves of a fair chunk of easy, steady income. I was somewhat surprised that the councillors let it go as easy as they did.
Bit of a joke really.
That is a bit crap.
Best thing to do would be to either:
1: Force parking in the overflow by not allowing people to park in the main carpark, but I feel you might just be moving the issue somewhere else.
2: Create new carpark around the corner with the entrance on the Alfie Byrne Road (Between Clasac and the Pitches). Carpark being to far away means Westwood might lose customers
3: Demolish part of the Club to make way for a car park (Barcode, Some of the Tennis Courts)
4: Move the entire Westwood club to somewhere more appropriate
5: Take over some of Fairview Park, to increase car park size. 😂
Regarding point 2, is that not where the new fire station is going to be built?
I was down there Monday when the Gardai were enforcing it, spoke to them and said the only rule/law being broken is crossing the white line in the middle of the road, so they stopped people turning into Westwood traelling outbound, and people exiting Westwood and turning right. No issue stopping in a bus lane to turn into WW.
I think it would resolve the issue a ittle, as people coming from Clontarf area would be more likely to use the overflow carpark, so should relieve strain on the main. Also, people coming from Marino direction wouldn't stop traffic turning right.
That is not a good road to build a fire station on, AB road is very busy, at least on North Strand they have a Bus Lane on either side of the road to allow fire trucks to get past traffic. There's nothing like that on AB Road (Unless they're building bus lanes)
It would be great if they could work with Irish Rail to use the access road along the rail line to create a one way flow through the main car park.
It would also encourage people to use the overflow, as that access road is 50m closer to the overflow entrance. If you see cars queuing up ahead you're likely to just use the overflow.
There's a fair height distance between the two, the IR access road is a ramp.
The Westwood problem is down to bad driving and lack of enforcement, pure and simple. People calling for more car parks are forgetting that the whole city is a car park. It’s just a question of entitlement- people feeling they have a right to park within 30m of the door and to hell with parking on footpaths and bus lanes and cycle lanes while waiting. I ran past there at 8:30 tonight and it was worse than ever - actually had to squeeze between two cars and one driver gave me the finger when I told him he is parked on a footpath (it’s not a driveway). There’s a similar problem down at the astroturf pitches entrance, but at least that doesn’t manifest all day, like the gym. Park the f*ck somewhere else, gym people!
/rant
I passed at 3pm, and there was already cars blocking the path and cycle lane, as wells as six more on the road.
Dublin should be a parking wardens paradise and it would be extra money for the council if they ticketed all the illegal parking.
Why doesnt it happen?
Who knows? Parking wardens and cameras. Easy solutions to get motorists be behave better.
There's a parking enforcement officer in Toronto that I follow on twitter. She works on a bike, and gets so much done. Even when they try and speed away before the ticket goes on the windshield, it gets sent by post. We need something like that here.
It seems that a lot of laws just aren't taken seriously in this country.
Yep. It does feel like laws are optional in Ireland.
Not just traffic laws either.
They should simply remove that car park, save for a few accessible spaces to the left.
Then make a cool outdoor area for some training, even have seats and make it a pleasant area beside the park. That car park is doing nothing but cause hassle.
ps nearly got mowed over by a cyclist (I was walking) coming outbound while I was walking in towards town after Westwood.
I also flow her and I moved to Toronto about 6 months ago. I've seen her colleagues but not her. One of these days I'll see her 😂
While I don't think it is a waste of resources, the issue I'd have is that we all know that the Gardai will only be around for a few days. Then they will disappear and people will go back to doing it again.
The exact same happened on Griffith Avenue, DCC parking enforcement were around for two weeks or so and people behaved and I haven't seen the parking enforcement in months now and of course some people are back to parking in the cycle lane!
Unfortunately I do think we need to build infrastructure so that it physically can't be abused (e.g. waste high solid dividers protecting cycle lane, etc). Perhaps automated cameras issuing fines too.
The bus lane also needs protecting - however, like the Santry N1 junction with Collins Ave, it needs garda enforcement or drivers will just use it without fear
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