It’s total gridlock
28.02.08
A few weeks ago I happened
to be driving through Dublin on the way to the Ireland
game, or rather should that be I happened to be sitting
in traffic and inching my way through Dublin.
That’s because, as I’m sure many of you know the traffic
in Dublin these days is just crazy.
And it seems to be getting worse by the week to the
point that soon some commuters might just have enough
time when they get home to grab a quick snack before
they’d have to head out again.
Not surprisingly the powers that be have conducted all
sorts of costly (we’re talking millions of euro and
years here folks) surveys and stuff to determine the
cause of this traffic gridlock, and so far they have
come up with one major problem – a lot and lot of people
are using cars!
And then there are road works. Yep even in the middle of
the night all around Dublin there are crews of men whose
job it is to dig holes in the street and cordon off main
passage |
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routes before the
unsuspecting commuters start to hit the trail in the
morning.
In fact it would seem that road works are a major
problem pretty much everywhere around the country
leaving hundreds and thousands of motorists tearing
their hair in frustration.
Of course that’s the price of progress and when they’re
all finished motorists should be able to enjoy much
smoother drives to work than ever before.
The big question is of course for many of the frustrated
motorists out there – will they ever be finished?
Now personally I can see why they’d ask such a question
having been stuck in more than a few road works traffic
jams in my day, because the rate of progress on these
projects often seems so painfully slow.
The first step usually involves cones. Hundreds, if not
thousands of the things stretched out for miles
cluttering up the road and giving boy racers a target to
aim at. In fact sometimes there are so many cones out
you wonder if the budget for the project has been all
used up, which might explain some of the delays in
getting stuff finished.
Talking of delays, have you ever wondered about those
signs they put out.
You know when you’ve been sitting for the past hour and
have moved only ten feet and you suddenly see a sign –
‘expect delays.’
Anyway if the budget hasn’t been used up by the over
zealous cone department then the second phase usually
will involve the digging. Crews of men with diggers and
jack hammers will come along and dig craters into the
existing road, leaving the surface looking as if it has
just been cracked open in an earthquake.
The next phase is a real people pleaser, because in that
phase which can last anything from months to years
nothing happens at all!
Eventually though fearing a revolt from angry motorists
who have had enough, phase four will begin and all sorts
of impressive looking machinery will be brought on site.
Now I say impressive looking because I’ve noticed over
the years that some of this machinery doesn’t seem to
move a lot.
In fact in many cases there are large chunks of
machinery rusted over by the time the roads actually get
finished. Which, considering the length of time it takes
to finish some of the roads, probably isn’t all that
surprising. |
And finally we get the road
opened and some politician or other who may or may not
even have been elected when the work began in the first
place, will come along to cut the ribbon and take the
plaudits.
And funny enough once the motorists get on it after that
we usually change our attitudes - ‘ah sure isn’t that a
great road now, took a while but they did a great job on
it.’
However for the foreseeable future the problem of actual
traffic gridlock in the towns and cities is a reality,
which is why I won’t be in a hurry back to visit them
for quite a while… |
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A DROP OF
PORTER is
the weekly
column of
Inishowen
Independent
editor,
Liam Porter. |
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