Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

M8 motorway (general thread)

Options
1…457910…38

Comments

  • Options
    #182
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    I agree that there should be an official site. Of course, the unofficial site is here on boards.ie -- where you can get plenty of photos of many schemes and updates as they happen. Indeed, if you google M8 construction/update, this thread shows up first.

    RE the M7/M8 PPP Scheme, I have directed my ire at both the NRA and Laois Co Co. To be fair I did get a reply that was cc'ed to numerous offices, and the contractor has been told to remedy the situation. A new newsletter is to be released imminently too.


  • Options
    #183
    Irish and Proud
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,735 ✭✭✭Irish and Proud


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    Well I've tried my best to inform as much as possible.

    Myself and Furet have created Wikipedia pages for the M6, M8 and M9 and tidied up the M1 and M7 pages. And I try and keep the other road pages up-to-date.

    But I don't have the time to drive up and down the country just to take pictures of roads and find out how fast they're progressing. And I shouldn't have to drive to a road to find out how it's progressing.

    Your wiki pages are great I must say - have viewed them a few times myself. Again, Furet, keep up the good work - nice pics mate! :)

    What is a disgrace is the official side of things. For example, did you see all the great arial shots of the N4/M50 and N7/M50 interchanges on m50.ie??? :rolleyes:...

    ...and did you see how regularly websites such as limericktunnel.com and n7nenaghtolimerick.com are updated - oh, and the fantastic THRDO site which is right up to the minute!!! :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
    BluntGuy wrote: »
    There is no proper website for M7/M8 upgrade despite the fact it's possibly the most critical upgrade on both of the M7 and M8. There is no website for Cullahill to Cashel. None of the online road maps/direction-finders have included the recent motorway redesignations. The M9 website is uninformative. The Cork Roads website still claims that "It is proposed to construct a new national primary route to motorway standards, separate from the existing N8, between Watergrasshill and Moorepark in County Cork" - i.e the M8 Fermoy Bypass which opened 2 years ago. The M50 upgrade website is awful, and is actually LESS informative than it was when it was launched.

    Basically it's a disgrace.

    I couldn't agree more mate!!! :mad::mad::mad:
    BluntGuy wrote: »
    I think there needs to be a single cohesive site outlining each major road scheme, with photographs, updates and at least monthly progress reports. (not the NRA's website which just lists all schemes but doesn't give updates etc.)

    ...and shouldn't cost the earth to implement since IT resources would be shared! ;)
    BluntGuy wrote: »
    The collection of poor, uninformative sites we have at the moment is ridiculous...

    Sure with the likes of Furet, Wiki pages and SABRE, why do they even bother - rarely do any of the official sites tell me anything I didn't know already!!! :(

    Mind you, the M1 Airport to Balbriggan and N2 Finglas to Ashbourne got reasonable web coverage - those were the good old days!!! :pac:

    Regards!


  • Options
    #184
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    M50.ie is embarassing by anyone's standards...

    I don't know what's worse, the fact that they have hardly any information or the fact that the few meagre scraps of information they do have are so poorly presented.

    As for Direct Route's N7 site, it started off quite well, but they've given up on it. The New Ross bypass site... like the project itself, is in complete limbo.

    as for m50concession.ie - it was under construction for about two years and now it's God knows where...

    But the M8/M7 Cullahill-Portlaoise-Castletown is what really annoys me. It's difficult to guage progress on that scheme and with no feedback from the construction company/local authority, we're having to guess how that's going.

    At least with the Cashel-Mitchelstown section, locals were kept informed with a regular newsletter (same with the N25 Waterford bypass).

    The AA, not wanting to be left out of this, have forgotten to update their (otherwise great) route planner with the 125 km of new motorway redesignations that occured last month. Utterly unacceptable for such a large change in the road network. It renders their 'avoid motorways' option completely invalid with such a large inaccuracy. I've e-mailed them about this so hopefully they'll sort it out soon.

    But it's not just them, the other route-planners do that too. Some don't even have the Fermoy bypass on them which is ridiculous.


  • Options
    #185
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    The only online maps that have the motorways is Openstreetmap. And thats because some very sad people stayed up on reclassification night to change colours :D


  • Options
    #186
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    Chris_533976 wrote: »
    The only online maps that have the motorways is Openstreetmap. And thats because some very sad people stayed up on reclassification night to change colours :D

    How nice of them! :D

    I once tried using OpenStreetMap and it went... badly. Never again anyway... I'll leave it to the people who actually know what they're doing!;)

    However, if any of you know how to use OpenStreetMap you may want to check M8 junction 11. I've just checked it now and according to that the motorway slip roads dump you into the middle of a field. :cool:


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #187
    larryone
    Registered Users Posts: 1,105 ✭✭✭larryone


    They're starting to finish off the exit at cullahill. Most of the earth between the existing road and the new roundabout has been removed...
    What bothers me is that I always get cheap fuel in Urlingford or Johnstown (paid 111.8 per litre for diesel yesterday!) and the new motorway will make it unreasonable for me to keep going into Urlingford or Johnstown for fuel. That and if those filling stations lose the amount of traffic passing through them their prices probably wont be able to remain as low. I just hope another station will latch on to the idea and offer cheaper fuel. The places in Cullahill, Durrow, etc. never have it as low as the next towns down the road. =0(


  • Options
    #188
    clon
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭clon


    Furet there is now a new newsletter for M7/M8 road project on crg.ie website.

    http://www.crg.ie/M7M8_Newsletter.pdf


  • Options
    #189
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Thanks for that Clon. I note that that issue is for July 08, which means another one is now due for November.

    But I have to say, that was the worst newsletter I've seen yet. What 'news', exactly, did it give us? None. If I want to know what cutting and filling is, or how bridges are built, I can turn to google. No, this CRG newsletter is pathetic. Compare it to the M4 newsletters, the M8 Fermoy to Watergrasshill Newsletters or to the current M3 newsletters.

    CRG has told us nothing about how they're doing, nor about what their autumn/winter plans are.


  • Options
    #190
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    I totally agree with Furet. One of the most pathetic newsletters I've ever seen. It had virtually no information about the current status of the project, rather it simply gave a bland table of diversions and then proceeded to waffle on about how roads are constructed.

    Where does it tell you what stage the scheme is at? Where does it tell you what works are planned for the coming months? Why is there no specific information in it?
    Many of the bridges are well advanced
    - are they? Which ones?
    We have put an environmental monitoring regime in place to monitor how the construction of the new Motorway is affecting our local environment.
    - that's great. Where's the evidence of this? What and where are the findings? How do I find out more?

    It may sound like I'm being nitpicky, but compared to the N25 Bypass newsletter, this is a disgrace. That, combined with the fact there is no update website for the project also makes this incredibly unacceptable.

    I hope their November newsletter is a big improvement on this, because this was dissappointingly uninformative.


  • Options
    #191
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    How nice of them! :D

    Oi! I did the redesignation. Be nice.
    BluntGuy wrote: »
    I once tried using OpenStreetMap and it went... badly. Never again anyway... I'll leave it to the people who actually know what they're doing!;)

    This is cryptic - and IMHO unreasonably negative comment on a great project. To "use" OpenStreetMap involves pretty much the same skillset as to use Google Maps. What went wrong for you?
    BluntGuy wrote: »
    However, if any of you know how to use OpenStreetMap you may want to check M8 junction 11. I've just checked it now and according to that the motorway slip roads dump you into the middle of a field. :cool:

    In case anybody is unaware of how roads get onto OSM, it's by people like us surveying them and putting them there. So M8 J11 has exit stubs, and some day some civic-minded person will survey the surface roads those ramps connect to. I happen to know the person who probably surveyed the ramps, and he would have done so by photographing the exits as he was driven by them. Map coverage has to start somewhere. Have a look at Dublin, Drogheda, Wesport, Clonmel (or anywhere in NL or Germany, come to that) to see the level of coverage OSM will attain.

    BTW, the key to filling in the gaps is, as I said, community contribution of data. The ideal contributor of data is the sort of person prepared to drive along roads out of sheer interest (recognise yourself, anybody?). Even if you can't or won't map yourself, if you have a GPS device capable of logging, contribute your tracks and plenty of eager volunteers will put those roads on the map.

    So let's have less of the "no online maps have the redesignated roads on". OSM is the only map of any sort I'm aware of with all of the new built roads and up-to-date redesignations on. We know it's not complete, but it will be, and you can all help.

    Edit: As of a few hours ago, OSM is also the only online map with the days-old ramp from M50N-R110 citybound.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #192
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    mackerski wrote: »
    Oi! I did the redesignation. Be nice.

    It was genuinely nice of you to do that. Sorry about the sarcasm. :D

    If only the people paid to maintain the AA website were as nice as you.
    mackerski wrote: »
    This is cryptic - and IMHO unreasonably negative comment on a great project. To "use" OpenStreetMap involves pretty much the same skillset as to use Google Maps. What went wrong for you?

    Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great project too... I'm just cruddy at using it! ;)

    mackerski wrote: »
    In case anybody is unaware of how roads get onto OSM, it's by people like us surveying them and putting them there. So M8 J11 has exit stubs, and some day some civic-minded person will survey the surface roads those ramps connect to. I happen to know the person who probably surveyed the ramps, and he would have done so by photographing the exits as he was driven by them. Map coverage has to start somewhere. Have a look at Dublin, Drogheda, Wesport, Clonmel (or anywhere in NL or Germany, come to that) to see the level of coverage OSM will attain.

    BTW, the key to filling in the gaps is, as I said, community contribution of data. The ideal contributor of data is the sort of person prepared to drive along roads out of sheer interest (recognise yourself, anybody?). Even if you can't or won't map yourself, if you have a GPS device capable of logging, contribute your tracks and plenty of eager volunteers will put those roads on the map.

    So let's have less of the "no online maps have the redesignated roads on". OSM is the only map of any sort I'm aware of with all of the new built roads and up-to-date redesignations on. We know it's not complete, but it will be, and you can all help.

    Edit: As of a few hours ago, OSM is also the only online map with the days-old ramp from M50N-R110 citybound.

    I would, but I don't have a GPS... and I can't use OpenStreetMap. I update the Wikipedia pages and try to post new information here whenever I can...


  • Options
    #193
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    I would, but I don't have a GPS... and I can't use OpenStreetMap. I update the Wikipedia pages and try to post new information here whenever I can...

    OK folks, here's my challenge for you all: Go to http://www.openstreetmap.org/ and pretend it's Google Maps. Now try to pan around and zoom in on stuff as you might with any other mapping site.

    If you, like BluntGuy, find there's some important part of the experience that won't work for you, let me know, because the project will want to address whatever deficiency that is.

    And those of you who do have GPS devices, please switch them on as you drive places - especially on roads not already on OpenStreetMaps. For reference, apart from a section of the N56 in Donegal, all national roads are on the map and up-to-date. I'll gratefully accept any resulting traces.


  • Options
    #194
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    The panning and zooming is easy...

    It's the editing I find difficult...

    It don't want to edit anything because I fear I'll mess up the good work of others. I know there's a sandbox mode, but still...


  • Options
    #195
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    The panning and zooming is easy...

    It's the editing I find difficult...

    It don't want to edit anything because I fear I'll mess up the good work of others. I know there's a sandbox mode, but still...

    Ah, well that's fair. By definition, editing is a bit harder, so there's some investment of time involved if you want to be happy you won't break stuff. Many people will (as I do) prefer the JOSM editor, which doesn't upload any changes until you decide it's safe to do so. It's also somewhat more powerful.


  • Options
    #196
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Quick question about Open Street Map: I've heard it said that you can see photographs of the roads on it. I can't. All I can see is a google maps style layout, albeit far more detailed. Am I doing something wrong?


  • Options
    #197
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    Furet wrote: »
    Quick question about Open Street Map: I've heard it said that you can see photographs of the roads on it. I can't. All I can see is a google maps style layout, albeit far more detailed. Am I doing something wrong?

    No, you're not missing anything in the main display. You may be mixing up your info, though. Many of us, as a mapping aid, take photographs of the places we map. So we might shoot a road sign to record street name or road number, a junction to help us lay it out later, a post box or other point of interest so we remember it was there. We then geocode those photographs against the GPS trace we've collected.

    What we then do is to load the images into the map editor, so we can see where on our traces the images were, as this allows for very quick entry of the information in the pics. The photos don't become part of the permanent map, rather they help us create it. For that reason, there's nothing in the slippy map that will allow you to see such photos.

    However, many of us do upload those shots elsewhere, either as a service to other mappers who may extract extra info or as proof of a primary source for our mapping. As an example, see this Flickr set of my images from some mapping in and around Armagh. Notice how each image will offer a "Map" link to allow you to see where it was taken. So far not with an OSM map underneath, but Flickr already use OSM data for Beijing, where Yahoo's coverage wasn't so great.


  • Options
    #198
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Cashel to Cullahill: Blue motorway signage is being erected along the route. Still some landscaping work to be done, and some surfacing between J 6 and 5.

    I've got to say, I am worried that the contractors will leave us with an under-landscaped finished product.

    This will open without a doubt a few weeks before Christmas.

    Mitchelstown to Fermoy: The penultimate layer of asphalt is being applied between Junctions 13 and 14.


  • Options
    #199
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    The 40km Cashel to Cullahill stretch will open to traffic on Monday, 8 December, according to the RoadbridgeSisk offices.

    That's 87 km of motorway from just south of Cullahill to just north of Mitchelstown open this December.


  • Options
    #200
    ipodrocker
    Registered Users Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭ipodrocker


    thats great news and i hear the fermoy sections is going on really fast and we should have it open mid 2009?


  • Options
    #201
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    ipodrocker wrote: »
    thats great news and i hear the fermoy sections is going on really fast and we should have it open mid 2009?

    Yes... judging from the progress I've seen, my estimate is August next year.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #202
    ipodrocker
    Registered Users Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭ipodrocker


    opening august 09 that would be class, has anyone taken any recent pics of the sections?

    I know 8th dec is fast approaching will we see an early opening or is 8th dec the confirmed date?


  • Options
    #203
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Hi ipodrocker,

    I haven't taken any photos lately. I won't be taking anymore of Cashel to Cullahill. I've watched it gestate slowly over the past few months, and I know that all that remains to be done along the route at this stage is some signing and planting, pretty much. I will drive it on the day it opens; I'm sure other will snap some photos then!

    Regarding Mitchelstown to Fermoy, the majority of work seems to be going on between junctions 12 and 13 now. There have been massive bulk earthworks recently there, and they started to apply the first pavement layer early this week. So far, November has been a favourable month and they've done a lot. There is no sign yet of them merging the scheme with the Fermoy Bypass; however, the sliproads at this junction (14) are being built quite quickly.


  • Options
    #204
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    Furet wrote:
    Regarding Mitchelstown to Fermoy, the majority of work seems to be going on between junctions 12 and 13 now. There have been massive bulk earthworks recently there, and they started to apply the first pavement layer early this week.

    This seems to suggest the early-opening theory may not be as accurate. I'm still hoping they'll open the 13-14 section early, but for such a (relatively) short stretch of road, I doubt they'll do that.

    Is work still going on between junctions 13 and 14?
    Furet wrote:
    So far, November has been a favourable month and they've done a lot. There is no sign yet of them merging the scheme with the Fermoy Bypass; however, the sliproads at this junction (14) are being built quite quickly.

    I think they're saving that until last...

    It'll be interesting to see how that comes together. It's part of the scheme, I feel, is quite interesting from an engineering standpoint...

    In any case, the Fermoy bypass will certainly feel very different when this section opens next year!


  • Options
    #205
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Some updates on the Cashel to Cullahill scheme, including photos, here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055311975&page=13


  • Options
    #206
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    M8 service area details should be announced during the first quarter of 2009.


  • Options
    #207
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Mitchelstown to Fermoy update here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=57943128&postcount=57


  • Options
    #208
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Just in case people aren't following the Cashel to Cullahill thread over on the Commuting and Transport forum, many new photos were added last week of the northern end of the scheme, including some pictures of signage. The 40km motorway will open to traffic on 8 December, 2008.


  • Options
    #209
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Some updates.

    The 40km Cashel to Cullahill scheme opens officially at 11am next Monday. Traffic may use the road from 1.30pm. The scheme will open replete with 56 emergency telephones from junction 7 (Cashel North) to Cullahill.

    The concrete barrier median is being erected this week along the southern half of the Mitchelstown to Fermoy scheme. Blacktop is being laid along the southbound carriageway of the northern section.

    The speed limit has been raised from 100 to 120 km/h along the N8 from Watergrasshill to Glanmire. This means the speed limit no longer drops suddenly as you leave the M8 toll road for Cork. From Glanmire to Dunkettle, a speed limit of 100km/h remains in force.


  • Options
    #210
    childoforpheus
    Registered Users Posts: 120 ✭✭childoforpheus


    Thanks again for the updates and pictures. I'm delighted to hear that the emergency phones have been installed from day one.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #211
    BluntGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    Furet wrote: »
    The speed limit has been raised from 100 to 120 km/h along the N8 from Watergrasshill to Glanmire. This means the speed limit no longer drops suddenly as you leave the M8 toll road for Cork. From Glanmire to Dunkettle, a speed limit of 100km/h remains in force.

    I knew I wasn't hallucinating when I saw those signs. :D

    I can give a second confirmation that that has indeed happened as when I was driving a few weeks ago, I saw the 120 km/h signs covered in plastic. I presume that they have been removed. About time...

    Now all that's left to do... is bring in the blue... :D


Advertisement