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Motorists’ fury at M-way madness
Monday, 16 February 2009
The Department of Regional Development was today being asked to explain how a “planned” road closure resulted in thousands of motorists being stranded in their cars for several hours on the M2 yesterday.
Drivers found themselves trapped in long queues for up to three hours after the motorway was closed between Sandyknowes and Greencastle because of ongoing road works.
Signage was put in place advising motorists that the road was closed between junctions four and two and to take the next exit. But when they took the onslip they found themselves among the mayhem.
One driver said the information given to motorists was “shambolic”.
She took almost three hours to drive from Maghera to Belfast yesterday afternoon, a journey which normally takes less than an hour on a Sunday. She left Maghera at 11.45am and was in Belfast at 2.30pm.
“The only information I was given while driving along the M2 was that there was a 50mph limit and that one lane would be closed,” she said.
“It was only when I got right up to Sandyknowes roundabout that one sign appeared saying we were being put off the M2 altogether. All the traffic was being sent down a slipway and it was absolute mayhem. I sat for a long time without moving. It was extremely frustrating.
“If I had been told earlier that the M2 was being closed completely I’d have taken an alternative route. It was madness.
“When I was driving back home to Maghera at around 6pm, the queue of traffic sitting in the citybound lane was literally miles and miles long.”
Another woman travelling along the A6 through the Sandyknowes roundabout in the direction of Belfast said the lack of information was “dire”.
“There were no signs whatsoever telling us that the M2 had been shut. When we arrived at the roundabout at 3pm we found ourselves sitting in a very long and static queue of cars.
“Some drivers started driving down an outside lane and nipping in at the front which was causing tempers to fray. I saw two drivers having a shouting match through their windows.”
Some motorists reported seeing parents taking their children to the toilet on the side of the road while others witnessed dozens of angry drivers almost come to blows.
A DRD spokeswoman said Roads Service and the contractor apologised for delays but defended the decision to shut down the section, saying it was a “planned closure”.
“The planned closure to complete final surfacing of lanes two and three of the motorway did result in a disruption to traffic,” she said. “Roads Service and the contractor would like to apologise for any delays.
“The work was completed all within the allocated time and the road was reopened at 10.15pm last night. There are no further day time closures planned for this section of road.”
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Comments
32 Comments
Sunday evening on M2 was a nightmare. I left home at 7.30pm to make what should have been a half hour journey to Children's Hospice for a night duty shift. I made two appeals to the PSNI for help having explained that the day nurses could not leave until I got there. I was told there was nothing they could do but have since learned that a police escort was provided for a nurse travelling to a shift in A&E at Belfast City Hospital.
What does this say about the value put on the work we do or the well being of the life limited children we are privileged to care for?
I arrived at 10.15pm whereone of our staff had willingly stayed onto cover for me and several others had offered. No less than I knew would be the case!
Posted by Sandra Fulton | 18.02.09, 09:18 GMT
lets face it - we live in the wild west !!
Posted by jesse | 17.02.09, 13:45 GMT
I had booked tickets to see friday the 13th in the VIP of storm on sunday. left maghera with my girlfriend and 3 other friends at about 5pm, the show started at 6:40 not knowing that the M2 was closed and got stuck in the traffic four 2hours, subsequently missing the show which i had paid for on my credit card. there were absolutly no onther options pointed out anywhere on the miles of road leading up to the closure. would it have be difficult to open a single lane, or set up a system to go down the normally oncoming lane.
a complete farce and ridiculous.
Posted by Philip | 17.02.09, 11:13 GMT
I heard the head of DARD on the news last night (Monday) saying they "didn't expect the volume of traffic on the M2 on a Sunday".
If he doesn't know the volume of cars expected on any day of the year on our main motorway he should resign or be removed from his job. And join the imbecile who didn't order the light sequencing to be changed.
We are paying for this shambles, and paying these eejits' pensions for many years to come.
Posted by J Stanley | 17.02.09, 11:01 GMT
The situation on the M2 on Sunday was absolutely shambolic. Travelling back from a weekend in Bushmills with our 15 month old baby turned into a complete nightmare. It would be reasonably forseeable to anyone with an ounce of sense that there would be an even greater volume of traffic on the M2 over the course of a half term weekend. There was no forewarning, we literally arrived at a tailback which went on as far as the eye could see. My frustration was only compounded when I telephoned the Road Service to complain yesterday morning and discovered that this was a planned closure?! A completely nonsensical decision which resulted in a nightmare 3hour 15 minute journey, most of which was at a snail's pace.
Posted by Judith T | 17.02.09, 09:53 GMT
It angers me to hear that a DRD spokeswoman defended the decision. I'm sure she didn't sit for 2 1/2 hours in traffic. It's fine saying there was essential maintenance and there had to be a road closure, but the management of this was an absolute disgrace!
1. Choosing the Sunday, a day after valentines, when traffic would obviously be increased, was stupid!
2. Road signage was abismal. I drove straight onto the M2 at the Ballyclare junction with absolutely no warning and hit static traffic. A few more signs, advanced warnings and even broadcasts on local radio to warn motorists would have made sense.
3. The layout of the roadworks was crazy...2 lanes of motorway into one lane, back into 2 lanes when we hit the sliproad at sandyknowles and then into one lane again within 100m. Absolutely madness...whoever designed that needs to have their qualifications stripped from them!
4. The response to the queues of several miles was non existant! Why did the police not become involved?
Posted by Brian | 17.02.09, 09:29 GMT
You should try driving in Dubai. 2 hours to travel 25km daily. Then the same home again. Spent 5 years in Dubai, one of the reasons I left the place, the traffic. The place was full of mad muppets. Check out the web site. www.gulfnews.com
Posted by Laurence C | 17.02.09, 03:38 GMT
Well done DRD.probably no lessons learned whatsoever.I had the pleasure of sitting for almost two hours to get from Templepatrick to Sandyknowes.Would re setting the traffic lights to allow more than five cars off the slip road at a time been too much to ask??It obviously was........as was re surfacing the road overnight.There you go,two ideas,wheres my fat pay cheque.........?
Posted by Craig | 17.02.09, 00:16 GMT
These so called "planners" in the roads service should be sacked for criminal stupidity. There is absolutly no good reason why a contra-flow could not have been set up on the outbound carriageway. Blocking off the end of one of the lanes with cones on the Sandyknowles offslip (for no apparent reason) and failing to adjust timing on the traffic lights made a farcical situation even worse. At the very least warnings of the delays could have been displayed on the electronic signs before the Templepatrick exit giving motorists the chance to take alternative routes (or turn back home). The police (bar the usual revenue raising exercise on the B95 overpass) were nowhere to be seen but their spokesperson who blamed the situation on mororists "ignoring" non-existant diversion signs should be charged with defamation.
Posted by Mike | 16.02.09, 23:12 GMT
I missed a flight because of this and ended up having to pay for a new one the next day. When I was stuck in the jam I tried to look up the road service website to find out what was happening. All that was on there was a message to say the traffic tracking people don't work at the weekend! Does that mean that no traffic management occurs on NIre's roads at weekends? If this wasn't the case I wonder if the timings of traffic lights on the roundabout could have been altered to ease the situation.
Posted by Andrew Dunlop | 16.02.09, 22:50 GMT
Having been also stuck in the M2 car park yesterday afternoon for 2 hours I could not believe my eyes when I eventually crawled to the Sandyknowles roundabout...the off slip filtered into a single lane and traffic lights were functioning as normal. This meant that half a dozen cars were able to access the roundabout from the M2 each time the lights turned green. Traffic then ground to a halt when the lights turned red and the odd car passed by on the roundabout! Where on earth were the police and why the heck were the police not directing traffic at this junction. The tailbacks on the M2 could have been eased considerably with the DRD, contractors and police putting their heads together to take this simple step!
Posted by DavidR | 16.02.09, 22:14 GMT
Whilst I have every sympathy for those caught up in yesterday's mayhem I feel that it is about time the motorway lanes were resurfaced. I commute to work daily along this stretch of the M2 and for the past couple of months the state of the surface has been atrocious and dangerous. Large potholes every few metres, humps and bumps and very uneven surface. I recently had to get two coils replaced on my car at the cost of £180 and I am of the firm belief that the damage was caused by the state of this road.
Posted by joolyc | 16.02.09, 21:23 GMT
Travelling back from Donegal we confronted this shambles at 7.05pm which according to comments from other road users who encountered the problem during early afternoon means that no attempt was made to improve the situation in the intervening period - some 5-6 hours elapsed. The closure at Sandyknowes was left with traffic filtering down into one lane - why did the contractor, DRD or police not remove the lane closures to allow traffic to flow. Why was the motorway not closed at junction 5, as on previous occasions, and all traffic directed on to the adjoining road network. Why were the overhead signs not re-programmed to direct traffic well in advance of junction 5.
Total incompetence and no surprise given the Monday to Friday civil servants we have running the place at an exorbitant cost
Posted by Peter | 16.02.09, 20:50 GMT
Try getting on the M2 at Fortwilliam every night. Its like the wacky races with cars, vans and lorries going crossing all lanes. The worst offenders are the 'Bellaghy Bentleys' (builders vans) who seem to actually work to a different highway code to everyone else
Posted by William | 16.02.09, 19:39 GMT
And the ACTUAL cause of the problem?
This would have been obvious to those who have to use that road daily.
The traffic lights at the Sandyknowes Rounablout only allow about 4 cars through on the green light. So thats about 8 cars through on a green light as theres 2 lanes...but wait there was only one lane open instead of 2, so a total of about 4 cars got onto the actual roundabout every minute or so. The motorway being closed shouldn't have caused all that much of a delay, it's happened before with much less delay.
If the Roads Service had the foresight to revise the signal timings at Sandyknowes or try to balance out the traffic onto the adjacent A6/B56/B52 roads it might have been a much less stressful journey.
Posted by Stephen | 16.02.09, 19:33 GMT
I have just listened to a Road Service spokesman on TV regarding last nights motorway farce. Sir, you are a disgrace if you think you had done all you could to prevent my two hour delay on your road. Where were your warning signs?Why were there no police, to direct traffic at 9pm, if the trouble had lasted all day. Why was the slip road at Mallusk reduced to a single lane? Perhaps the biggest joke was sitting looking at your 50 mph speed signs flashing in my face.
Posted by Chris | 16.02.09, 18:44 GMT
Every time we go into the cities shepherding an ungainly 63T 25m combined vehicle drivers 'make life interesting'. 3 weeks ago a car jumped in front from a lane stopped for an accident when we were in the middle of 3 lanes on a divided 6 laner- at dusk when everything was also obscured by road salt.
Yep. It was punted because it was so close and to the side the driver couldn't see it over the hood ( bonnet to you ). Lack of 'road smarts' vehicles playing change lanes in front of a scarcely controllable behemoth that only starts and stops begrudgingly and with ponderous reaction is chronic.
I'll bet you lorry drivers could tell some hair-raising tales of what happened in the situation you describe - not to mention all to many like it.
Posted by opit | 16.02.09, 17:58 GMT
I was coming back from Donegal on Sunday lunch time, saw the overhead sign before Templepatick saying M2 closed at Glengormley, so came off at Templepatick took the back roads to Horse Shoe Bend, absolutely no problems. But was annoyed as i had check the Roads Service web site to see if the motorway was due to be closed on Sunday and it was saying closed overnight only.
Posted by Jack McClinton | 16.02.09, 16:58 GMT
Department of Regional Development responsible for roads - you may as well appoint a team of donkey's - this department is as dysfunctional and inexperienced as all the others !!
unfortunately NI is at least 20 years behind the rest of europe in terms of overall effectiveness and streamlined efficiency - which is causing its residents severe frustration !
Roll on 2030 - new innovative and efficient young blood !!!
Posted by robert | 16.02.09, 16:56 GMT
I hear you Andy D. I commute to Belfast every day along the M2. People fly up the M5 and then bottleneck the slip road onto the hill section trying to get onto the M2 lanes at the last possible second. And those who change lanes every three seconds because they think the lane next to them is going marginally faster. It makes me crazy!!! If these awful drivers want to risk their own lives, fine by me. However do not take my life into your hands too! And for crying out loud put your kids in a car seat. My two year old knows he has to go in his - pulls the straps over himself and waits to be clipped in. If he can do it at aged 2, anyone can do it!!
Posted by No1 Fan | 16.02.09, 16:47 GMT
32 Comments