Access to the Lefkoşa road from Lavinium housing estate?

[iancrumpy]

It’s a matter that many friends of ours feel strongly about … and we’re curious as to the thoughts of you guys.

It’s very likely that when driving to Lefkoşa, roughly midway between the mountains and the big Gönyeli roundabout, you have had to slow because of cars in the left-hand lane picking up residents from the housing estate, next to the road there.

When the Lavinium housing estate was first buılt, the owners were promised access to the main Girne-Lefkoşa road, but at present, even though they are only metres from the said road, the residents have to drive away from the road and through Dikmen. One presumes though, that the authorities are planning to connect the sizeable estate to the Metehan-Haspolat ringroad, currently being built … but the residents might have to wait some time for that connection.

So, the car drivers of the estate currently have no option but to take the time-consuming route through Dikmen. However, for those without cars or for those wanting a quicker way into Lefkoşa there is the option of coming out to the narrow hard-shoulder (see below) of the main road, either to catch lifts with friends coming from Girne or to try their luck at hitch-hiking. As one can appreciate, what with cars stopping there and others travelling at often 100km/h+ , there have been accidents.

So, to prevent pedestrians coming out to the road, the authorities put up a fence, which according to the haberkıbrıs report below, was originally 125 metres long. However, over the weekend, this was pulled down. And now, the authorities have put up another, which is now (apparently) 250 metres long. Also, the relevant minister says that there will be hefty fines for anyone seen damaging the fence.

So what do you think? My wife thinks they should build a lay-by on both sides with a footbridge connecting the two. What do you think?

Source : https://haberkibris.com/lavinium-sitesi ... 07-02.html

[waddo]

Went past that fence - or should I say those fences - this morning. A section in the middle has been removed which allows access to the road now.

I do not think that a lay-by on either side is the answer, it would just allow buses/cars to pull in and then straight out into 100KPH traffic, that is bad enough in 50KPH areas but there it would be lethal! A footbridge would in turn give people the chance to end their days quite quickly or find out how far a car can travel with a breeze block through the windscreen - don't laugh, it used to be a UK craze at one time, just has not reached here yet! Currently I always try to get in the outside lane when passing this area, too many times have I only just managed to miss dark skinned hitch hikers hiding in the shade then springing out to the edge of the road!

It is a sorry situation and one that the developers should have sorted before building/selling and of course buyers, buying. But I feel the only answer is to wait for the access road and in the meantime build a much more substantial and higher/longer fence system for now and the future.

[sophie]

Oh waddo, how I agree. I freely admit that last year I very nearly killed one of the students you refer to. It was pitch dark, my headlights were on but facing straight on (more or less) when suddenly this apparition appeared in front of me within 10 yards I would say. I let out a scream and pulled out, if anything had been in the over taking lane, I would not be alive today. I pulled in within 50 yards, put hazards on and just sat there in shock. Suddenly there was a knocking on passenger window (the daft b===er thought I had stopped to pick him up. Even I didn't know I knew the language I used to him!!

[Keithcaley]

I... the owners were promised access to the main Girne-Lefkoşa road...

Hi Crumpy!

If you know the answer...

Who made the promise?

The Developers or 'The Authorities'?

[iancrumpy]

Re : "Who made the promise?"

Hi Keith,

According to my TC father-in-law, the housing estate was originally built as a potential re-settlement for at least some of the Güzelyurt residents, should there be an agreement with the south, whereby that region was handed over as a bargaining chip for the north. However, no agreement was made with the south ... and so the government kind-of washed their hands of the housing estate. That said, if the estate is to be connected at some point in the distant future with the planned Metehan-Haspolat ringroad, then the "authorities" (as I believe you liked quoting me on ) will not actually be reneging on any verbal commitment (however vague) they might have made.

Of course, even with that connecting road, it is still likely that some residents will still want to catch a lift from the hard shoulder ... and asking the Kibkommers' thoughts on that matter was the purpose of my post.

[Keithcaley]

Thanks for the background on that - I think that cars stopping there is 'an accident waiting to happen' and that the hitchhikers are also taking their lives in their hands - not a good situation at all...

THere have been some earthworks at both sides of the carriageway, which I thought might be in preparation for a bridge to give access to and from the Northbound carriageway. Have you any info on that?

[iancrumpy]

Went past that fence - or should I say those fences - this morning. A section in the middle has been removed which allows access to the road now.

Sorry Waddo, but I think maybe you are confusing the barrier with the fence - I have just passed that stretch of road and, with my wife driving, I checked on the said fence - it is indeed right in front of the housing estate and does not have any section removed. Unfortunately though it is only (I estimate to be) 200 metres long and thus might not be enough to prevent pedestrians walking round it to get on to the hard shoulder.

Having gaps in the barrier further along the main road; gaps which regretably allow access for cars to enter the road, but of course at a slow speed, is another problem ... but it is one that can be more easily resolved with a trench being dug if necessary.

I do not think that a lay-by on either side is the answer, it would just allow buses/cars to pull in and then straight out into 100KPH traffic, that is bad enough in 50KPH areas but there it would be lethal!

Surely Waddo, that depends on the quality of the lay-by and in particular the length of the slip-road leading back on to the main road. However, I appreciate your misgivings about such a lay-by being built there.

There have been some earthworks at both sides of the carriageway, which I thought might be in preparation for a bridge to give access to and from the Northbound carriageway. Have you any info on that?

That would be a bridge for the said Metehan-to-Haspolat ring-road. The section from the Metehan roundabout to the Güzelyurt road has already been completed.

Thanks for the background on that.

Thanks for thanking me Keith.

[Groucho]

There seems to be very little understanding here of the merits of how service roads can be factored into road planning or indeed how bypass usefulness is undermined by allowing access into major roads from unplanned business or housing access... the new Girne bypass is gradually going the way of of all such previous attempts at proper planning.

Woeful...

[Keithcaley]

...Thanks for thanking me Keith...

This is getting creepy, Crumpy. ..

[iancrumpy]

There seems to be very little understanding of .... how bypass usefulness is undermined by allowing access into major roads from unplanned business or housing access... the new Girne bypass is gradually going the way of of all such previous attempts at proper planning.

Hi Groucho,

The other day, when we were on the by-pass, I too noticed all the access roads. It seems though that the Ministry of "Bayındırlık ve Ulaştırma" (best translated as "Roads and Transport") is resigned to the fact that the by-pass can no longer be considered as a "major road" ... and to this effect they get the police to enforce the 80 km/h speed limit there.

[waddo]

Nope. The fence is attached to the armco (barrier) and when I drove past there was a section of it missing entirely - I could tell that because people were climbing over the armco as normal and walking straight out onto the side of the road through the gap in the fence! Probably it has been put back in again now but unless it is welded and not just bolted then it will soon disappear again. It is not the quality of the lay-by nor the length of any slip road that worries me, it is the blatant stupidity of the drivers that is the biggest danger, you can't go from a donkey/pushbike/scooter to a Mercedes Sports car in a little over 50 years and expect people to have common road sense! Even bigger worry is putting a lay-by on the Northbound carriageway, you can't even get people here to use a pedestrian crossing, what hope would you ever have of them using an elevated foot bridge when all they have to do is hop over the armco in the middle of the lanes?

[iancrumpy]

The fence is attached to the armco (barrier) and when I drove past there was a section of it missing entirely - I could tell that because people were climbing over the armco as normal and walking straight out onto the side of the road through the gap in the fence! Probably it has been put back in again now but unless it is welded and not just bolted then it will soon disappear again.

As I wrote in the initial post, the orginal fence was taken down by presumably Lavinium residents over the weekend. On Monday, the Ministry of "Roads and Transport" decided that a new longer one should be erected there. It is likely though that you traversed the road before the new fence was put up. As to the new fence being bolted or welded, I have no idea.

[iancrumpy]

Even bigger worry is putting a lay-by on the Northbound carriageway, you can't even get people here to use a pedestrian crossing, what hope would you ever have of them using an elevated foot bridge when all they have to do is hop over the armco in the middle of the lanes?

It's all extra cost but wouldn't another fence in the central reservation solve that problem.

[Groucho]

Even bigger worry is putting a lay-by on the Northbound carriageway, you can't even get people here to use a pedestrian crossing, what hope would you ever have of them using an elevated foot bridge when all they have to do is hop over the armco in the middle of the lanes?

It's all extra cost but wouldn't another fence in the central reservation solve that problem.

Only until some bright spark decides what that fences needs is some bolt-cutters taking to it...

[terry2366]

Well the fence is not working came towards Girne and nearly hit 3 black students crossing the road all wearing dark clothes crazy.idiots. I was traveling at the right speed a few seconds later two big range rovers and a bmw came by at a bout 100 mph . They would have had no chance.

[iancrumpy]

Well, the fence is not working - I came towards Girne and nearly hit three students crossing the road all wearing dark clothes.

Yep, although the minister (for Highways and Transport) reacted almost immediately by having a new fence put up, after part of the original fence was pulled down over the weekend, their efforts still seem to be half-hearted - The fence is clearly not long enough ... and consequently the residents are just walking around the 250-metre-long (according to haberkıbrıs) fence to access the road.

Sadly, there might need to be an accident there, with either the stopped cars or pedestrians on the road , before the authorities seriously dig into government coffers to erect a proper fence there.

I also read somewhere that the minister was proposing an improved bus service between the housing estate and Lefkoşa. But yet again, I sense that could take a while ... after all, so many of those potential passengers, who currently come out on to the road, are students without the right to vote ... and sadly their requirements are not taken as seriously.

All in all, I don't think the incidents experienced by Waddo, Sophie and Terry will finish any time soon

[waddo]

How right you are! This morning the rule of thumb people were at the ends of the fence. At lunch time as I was heading back North the people on the North bound side were risking death by running from their lifts across both roads to the ends of the fence. The police car with his reds/blues on going Southbound at the time just carried on as if there was nothing happening!

Nothing has changed apart from the normal crowd have to walk an extra 125 yards in either direction and still end up on the side of the road.

[terry2366]

No it seems the only action to be taken is by us drive as if you expect someone to cross, slow down and let the bmw and Mercedes drivers do the killing. No one exists on the planet except them and speed means nothing.