Re: Re: Irelands Ten Worst Roundabouts

@JPD wrote:

I read this very interseting thread and it needs to be said roundabouts on National roads are a disgrace, why couldn’t they get it right like every other country? How many roundabouts do you see in America?

Well I think we’re very very slowly coming around to the idea that they’re more trouble than they’re worth. The Kinsale Road Roundabout is a good example of that. Cork City Council have been forced to get a move on with it’s long overdue flyover. At peak times, tail-backs approaching the roundabout from Douglas can stretch almost 2km and about the same from the Bishopstown approach. I remember last summer being stuck in tail-backs (with all 3 lanes full) for the good part of an hour before I even got onto the roundabout. It’s a disaster, with lanes criss-crossing and disappearing halfway through. It’s a wonder anyone makes it out alive. It’s traffic lights seem to add to the crisis. The original flyover was scheduled to cost just over 25m euro, the new 42m euro price tag seems like bit of a rise doesn’t it? Work is due to start in June, with Ascon as main contractors and a completion date set for early 2007. The original start date was supposedly set for late Feb, early March.

2 other roundabouts along the same stretch of motorway are also getting flyovers at a cost of 70m euro – those at Sarsfield and Bandon Road Roundabout. The combined daily movements for these 3 roundabouts is approx. a quarter of a million movements per day (that’s a quiet day).

Nice to see the tax-payer getting value for money.