‘Rush hours worse than ever’... Echo column prompts big debate on Dunkettle traffic

Here on Facebook Feedback, we have found that our readers are not averse to a rant about Cork traffic.

An opinion piece penned by our regular columnist, Trevor Laffan, this week, brought the topic back to life once more.

His article, headlined ‘ Major flaw in €215m Dunkettle project that means jams today’, prompted a flurry of comments from more than 130 of our readers, who shared their views on our EchoLive.ie Facebook page of what they thought of the new road infrastructure at the traditional bottle-neck site.

Teresa Coughlan said: “It should never have been a tunnel, but a bridge with five lanes and the middle lane changing direction during rush hours.

“This is the way rush hours are handled in other countries.”

Salman Talpur replied to Ms Coughlan’s proposal: “It would be too steep for lorries, as you’d have to add loops to decrease the gradient, and it would cost a few children’s hospitals.”

Teresa Coughlan replied: “The longest bridge in Spain is in Cádiz, it is five kilometre long and three kilometres over the bay, and cruise ships can easily go under and it’s also a beautiful bridge.

“I don’t believe there would have been a massive price difference.”

Salman Talpur stated: “Building longer bridges higher is different to building shorter bridges higher. It would be like the Brooklyn Bridge, where the bridge over ground is longer than the bridge over the water.

“It would be a lot cheaper to build a new, deeper and wider tunnel.”

Teresa Coughlan furthered her argument: “Of course it’s different, but as I said, the one in Cádiz has 1km on each side over land and 3km over the bay. The land under it can be landscaped and it’s a beautiful bridge.

“There are many high bridges all over Europe and they add to the landscape. There is nothing attractive about the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

“I believed then, and still believe, it was the wrong choice the council made for a tunnel instead of a bridge, and the amount of times that it has closed for maintenance is shocking.”

Mick McSweeney remarked: “A suspension bridge nowadays would break the bank. €215 million of road construction would seem like pennies compared to the huge cost of a bridge.

“They would be better off sinking a new tunnel, or better still spending the money on decent transportation infrastructure.”

Luke O Brien replied to Trevor Laffan’s article with his own point of view: “It’s a pretty simple interchange now, the problem really is poor driving, and people lane jumping in a mad dash to grab three feet. Anyone who can’t use it, shouldn’t be using it. Simple.

“Yes, a bridge would have been much handier and an extra lane each way through the tunnel would be great, but this is what we have.

“Patience and leaving plenty of time for your journey are all it takes. Driving here is very stressful. I’d rather drive across Europe than a few hours here.”

David O’Sullivan responded: “The concept of ‘zipper merging’ is completely alien to some people. Go to the end of the merging lane. It’s not difficult. The amount of times I see people stop with their indicator on and the lane clear ahead of them is mental.”

‘Zipper merging’ occurs when motorists use both lanes of traffic until reaching the defined merge area, and then alternate in ‘zipper’ fashion into the open lane.

Ger Duhig commented: “We never build anything for the future here. Same with the M50. Dublin to Naas and vice versa is another massive bottleneck.”

John Middleton was another reader full of suggestions: “Great article. Trevor’s point about three lanes merging into one on the N25 entrance to the tunnel is well made.

“This could have been alleviated by looping the Little Island exit slip road over the existing N25 to join the M8 on the northern side of the old Dunkettle interchange, and then you’d have had two lanes into one for the N25 and two lanes into one for the M8 and Little Island exit.

“It would have alleviated, to some extent, the ridiculous tailbacks that exist every morning and evening on the N25 entrance slip to the tunnel.”

JM Fitzpatrick stated: “I agree, coming from the city towards the tunnel and around onto the road from Dublin, the lead-in lane is too short if there’s any bit of traffic from Dublin. Should the curve have been wider to give a longer lead-in lane?”

Brendan Clifford said: “I saw it the moment the plans were released. Another bottleneck with three roads coming into 1 with very little space. Absolute madness.”

Kevin Mac Gabhann said: “It does flow a little better but that’s the only improvement, but you still have huge tailbacks. Very disappointing.”

Cochise Rahametan added to the conversation: “Yup, not surprised. As with everything, short-term solution thinking.

“You will see in a few years there will be a need for a second Jack Lynch Tunnel, and everything will be back to square one. The same with the Ballincollig bypass, it will have to connect the Macroom bypass.”

Richie LeFaux remarked of the Dunkettle works: “Absolute madness. Before, when the lane on the right was for Dublin, you’d have every chancer heading down that lane, skipping the huge backlog of traffic queuing, pulling into the middle lane at the last moment to get into the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

“Throw a few million at it and remove the Dublin lane and instead mark it with converging lines so all the chancers drive over the lines to once again skip the backlog to merge into the middle lane!”

He continued: “Then give them another way to skip by heading through Little Island like they used to years before and once again merging into [the] middle lane. No improvements and the queue-skippers rewarded as before, and the honest motorists penalised by longer delays for trusting the design.”

Alan Corcoran was another critical of lane-hoppers: “A complete cluster heading west at the best of times. It works perfectly going east except for the turn for the M8 as people cross lanes when they realise they are in the wrong lane.”

Sean O’Sullivan replied to the article: “So true. Morning and evening rush hours are worse than ever.”

Mark Kelleher joked: “The whole thing is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.”

Andrew Foley shared his views, saying: “It was never going to work for southbound traffic. Four of the busiest lanes in the country into two and then throw in a fifth lane out of Little Island.

“All the design in the world wasn’t going to improve that.

“The location of the interchange on top of the tunnel is the crux of the problem, if the major intersection of N25 and M8 was further north it would work fine.”

Annette de Paor said: “What Trevor Laffan might not have realised is that a lot of traffic takes the Little Island exit from the Dublin road with no intentions of actually going into Little Island.

“They use the flyover to join in with the traffic coming from East Cork, which causes excess traffic exiting Little Island, and creating the stop-start flow that he experienced.”

Todd O Sullivan laughed:“It’s like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube, that mess down there.”