M18 - Gort to Crusheen

BluntGuy · 06-07-2009 8:51pm

While it is good to see progression on the N11 and N17/N18 PPP schemes, to see the M20 shafted like this is pretty dissappointing.

However, economic crisis yadda yadda... we have to make concessions, and in all honesty, we'd be very lucky if any of these schemes go ahead. Pity though, because it probably means, we won't be seeing any kind of work done on the N20 for at least another five or so years.

L1011 · 06-07-2009 8:57pm

Esat Telecom and Cable Management Ireland are mentioned in that PDF, are we sure its from 2009 and not 1999?

Scruff · 13-07-2009 1:56pm

When is the crusheen-gort section due for completion?
Whats the story with the gort to oranmore section, is it still going ahead? I cant find any info for it on nra.ie

glineli · 13-07-2009 2:30pm

I walked a good section of it yesterday, around Crusheen. Now i know nothing about laying roads so i dont know how much is left to do. There is a sand/mud base with about a foot of gravel on top of that. Is that the foundations for the tar?

A great walk though if anyone gets a chance

Chris_533976 · 13-07-2009 6:34pm

Scruff wrote: »

When is the crusheen-gort section due for completion?
Whats the story with the gort to oranmore section, is it still going ahead? I cant find any info for it on nra.ie

Its looking like Summer 2010 judging by how quickly its going.

Gort to Oranmore is being done as a PPP along with the M17 to Tuam and the Tuam bypass. The absolute earliest that that will start is late 2010.

That of course depends on funding.

Tech3 · 27-07-2009 11:52pm

Geogregor wrote: »

Are they going to repaint yellow line as a solid one?

Yeah it will be done sometime before the 28th of August. Thats the date this road will become motorway about 20km of it. When Gort-Crusheen is finished next year it will be just over 40km of M18.

glineli · 28-07-2009 10:56am

tech2 wrote: »

Yeah it will be done sometime before the 28th of August. Thats the date this road will become motorway about 20km of it. When Gort-Crusheen is finished next year it will be just over 40km of M18.

Are we just guessing when we say Gort-Crusheen will be finished next year based on the work that has been done? Would be fantastic if it happened

marmurr1916 · 28-07-2009 4:37pm

tech2 wrote: »

Yeah it will be done sometime before the 28th of August. Thats the date this road will become motorway about 20km of it. When Gort-Crusheen is finished next year it will be just over 40km of M18.

43 km to be exact, based on NRA figures.

Tech3 · 28-07-2009 5:28pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Most of the M18 junctions (eg: Barefield) are to little annexes of civilisation that really shouldnt exist anyway, let alone have a junction, so only a handful of cars would be using these daily.

"Lads whats the AADT for the Barefield junction??

4"

It would have been a better idea to block the junction off altogester and force local traffic to use the Crusheen GSJ when its completed next year. Also the advantages of less ADS signage=less money.

Are we just guessing when we say Gort-Crusheen will be finished next year based on the work that has been done? Would be fantastic if it happened

It should easily be finished for next year but its not the official line just my guesswork. NRA expected completion is 2011. A September 2010 opening would be my very conservative estimate.

Chris_533976 · 28-07-2009 6:09pm

tech2 wrote: »

It would have been a better idea to block the junction off altogester and force local traffic to use the Crusheen GSJ when its completed next year. Also the advantages of less ADS signage=less money.

It should easily be finished for next year but its not the official line just my guesswork. NRA expected completion is 2011. A September 2010 opening would be my very conservative estimate.

I think the only use of the Barefield junction will be the tie-in of Ennis bypass to Crus-Gort. My guess is they'll put up the Barefield Bridge (to connect Barefield to the current N18) first, then just redirect traffic through Barefield and over the bridge while they build the tie-in. Will be interesting to see if thats what they do.

Tech3 · 28-07-2009 6:11pm

I gathered some important information re the steel barrier.

In short H2 barriers are the European norm for central medians up to 7.5m in width. These are available in steel or concrete. It is up to the contractor which type of H2 barrier can be chosen for the scheme not the NRA. Therefore Gort-Crusheen could be a concrete H2 barrier if the contractor decides to do just that.

Tech3 · 28-07-2009 6:16pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

I think the only use of the Barefield junction will be the tie-in of Ennis bypass to Crus-Gort. My guess is they'll put up the Barefield Bridge (to connect Barefield to the current N18) first, then just redirect traffic through Barefield and over the bridge while they build the tie-in. Will be interesting to see if thats what they do.

When I took the photos of the new ADS signage on the current DC I had a look at the first few bridges on Gort-Crusheen again. That Barefield bridge is getting very advanced now actually. I'm not familar with that whole area, will it be a long divert when the traffic is taken over that bridge?

Chris_533976 · 28-07-2009 8:21pm

tech2 wrote: »

When I took the photos of the new ADS signage on the current DC I had a look at the first few bridges on Gort-Crusheen again. That Barefield bridge is getting very advanced now actually. I'm not familar with that whole area, will it be a long divert when the traffic is taken over that bridge?

Not really, probably a kilometre max through Barefield. There might be small jams in Barefield while its done, but nothing terrible.

Tech3 · 28-07-2009 9:23pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Not really, probably a kilometre max through Barefield. There might be small jams in Barefield while its done, but nothing terrible.

That isint so bad I've never been in Barefield but I can imagine traffic will jam up very fast. Just out of curiosity was the Ennis bypass constructed with wider lanes than the typical new inter urbans?

Chris_533976 · 28-07-2009 9:39pm

Nope. If anything the Ennis bypass is of slightly lower quality. It was built in the old style of "Standard Dual Carriageway" rather than "HQDC" and uses mostly compact GSJs. Still perfectly reasonable for a motorway though.

Barefield is a typical Irish village, Pub, House + petrol station I think, with maybe an estate tacked on the side owned by a now-rich farmer. Shouldnt be too bad for jamming up, it was never a problem in the pre-Ennis bypass days. Might be a slight hold up coming from the south but coming from the north it'll be fine. Still wont be as bad as Gort can get!

Chris_533976 · 01-08-2009 12:23pm

Heres a thought... with Athlone - Ballinasloe open for the races this year, what do ye reckon about an unofficial target of Races 2010 for Crusheen - Gort opening? Would be a reasonable guess IMO and attainable judging by the speed they're going.

(Also since Gort was jammed up for 20 - 30 minutes both ways most of the week)

Tech3 · 01-08-2009 6:48pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Heres a thought... with Athlone - Ballinasloe open for the races this year, what do ye reckon about an unofficial target of Races 2010 for Crusheen - Gort opening? Would be a reasonable guess IMO and attainable judging by the speed they're going.

(Also since Gort was jammed up for 20 - 30 minutes both ways most of the week)

I would go along with that. The scheme should finish around July if progress keeps going the pace it is at the moment. I went for September solely on being a safe date in case the pace of construction does slow down.

I will check out the scheme in a few weeks time as it will be 2 months since my last batch of updates. Hopefully the Tubber-Gort overbridge will be open to traffic by then.

sdanseo · 02-08-2009 11:52pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Heres a thought... with Athlone - Ballinasloe open for the races this year, what do ye reckon about an unofficial target of Races 2010 for Crusheen - Gort opening? Would be a reasonable guess IMO and attainable judging by the speed they're going.

(Also since Gort was jammed up for 20 - 30 minutes both ways most of the week)

Ballinasloe yesterday was unbelieveable, took 40mins to get through the town. Why in the name of God could they not do the M6 to the other side of the town? Pure and utter pointless opening what they did.

mysterious · 03-08-2009 12:01am

sdonn wrote: »

Ballinasloe yesterday was unbelieveable, took 40mins to get through the town. Why in the name of God could they not do the M6 to the other side of the town? Pure and utter pointless opening what they did.

It doesn't make a difference this scheme was going to be finished before the other scheme either way.

When is the other scheme opening? early 2010?

sdanseo · 03-08-2009 9:54am

mysterious wrote: »

It doesn't make a difference this scheme was going to be finished before the other scheme either way.

When is the other scheme opening? early 2010?

Yeah, but I meant why couldn't they push the extra 2km through NOW rather than in a year's time. What idiot thought that up?

Chris_533976 · 03-08-2009 10:57am

Because theres the most difficult part of the scheme engineering wise in the way, the Suck Bridge.

Sponge Bob · 03-08-2009 11:41am

That bridge has been built for some time Chris,

http://gallery.m6.kaizersoze.net/index.php?album=suck-bridge-june-2009&image=DSC00216.JPG

some overbridges and road realignments south of Ballinasloe town need completion and the large junction east of Aughrim of course . Maybe the Kaizer will kindly drive and video it again for us like he did 2 months back

Chris_533976 · 03-08-2009 12:02pm

Thx, hadnt seen that pic, most recent I've seen had a load of steel rebar sticking out of the surface of it.

The contractor should be forced to do a sectional opening, its absolutely daft not to. Ballinasloe is the last major M6 bottleneck (we wont mention the roundabout terminus in Galway), and it would be very easy to bypass it.

kaizersoze · 03-08-2009 12:43pm

sdonn wrote: »

Yeah, but I meant why couldn't they push the extra 2km through NOW rather than in a year's time. What idiot thought that up?

Closer to 4km and a pricey 4km at that. The idiot that signs the cheques thought it up.

Sponge Bob wrote:

That bridge has been built for some time Chris,

http://gallery.m6.kaizersoze.net/ind...e=DSC00216.JPG

some overbridges and road realignments south of Ballinasloe town need completion and the large junction east of Aughrim of course . Maybe the Kaizer will kindly drive and video it again for us like he did 2 months back

Guard rail on bridge almost complete. Bridge deck being sand blasted and sealed atm.
J15 at Mackney progressing. Fancy columns poured, abutments done and load beams in place. Work on the deck not started yet. Ground work advanced on the 4 RABs and links to Portumna road and N6.
Pedestrian footbridge at Moher has load beams in place and work on the deck has started.
Local overbridge at Pollboy has beams in place and deck is being worked on.

No vids possible now sponge. Site well locked up and security patrols.
Most recent one from June 21st.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nmfyg6VOmE

Chris_533976 wrote:

The contractor should be forced to do a sectional opening,

Why? Thats not the contract signed. Why would he unless there was some financial incentive which is unlikely. I've said it before but I'll say it again. If there wasn't delays starting the Bal to Gal section (not the contractors fault or problem) then both sections would have been completed at the same time or close to it.

Chris_533976 · 03-08-2009 12:58pm

Oh btw if people want G-C pics the whole site is wide open and almost empty (although theres a bit of work being done even in the builders holidays). Might be worth having a snoop if anyones bored

serfboard · 03-08-2009 1:28pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Heres a thought... with Athlone - Ballinasloe open for the races this year, what do ye reckon about an unofficial target of Races 2010 for Crusheen - Gort opening? Would be a reasonable guess IMO and attainable judging by the speed they're going.

I'd agree with this. I passed it at the weekend (sorry, no pictures) and the pace of construction is phenomenal.

murphaph wrote: »

I noticed you ignored the other scenarios (cyclists and peds using this fast interurban road for recreational purposes).

I was on the Ennis Bypass at the weekend and there was some gobsh1te cycling along it, while cars were whizzing past him. I've also seen cyclists on the Newmarket-On-Fergus bypass. :mad:

Chris_533976 · 03-08-2009 11:14pm

AFAIK Gort - Oranmore has one at Kiltiernan and then the Stack at Rathmorrisey.

AugustusMaximus · 03-08-2009 11:15pm

tech2 wrote: »

Yeah just those two. I'm sure about Gort-Oranmore would need to check the map

Updated. I've take it that the R458 is conecting both Crusheen and Gort to the M18.

I'd do the Gort to Oranmore section although the NRA website seems quite dodgy tonight.

Junction 1 to 8 are going to be problematic. Does anyone know for definate what the NRA is planning with this stretch of road ? 8 junction is prob too many.

AugustusMaximus · 03-08-2009 11:22pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

AFAIK Gort - Oranmore has one at Kiltiernan and then the Stack at Rathmorrisey.

Whats happening at that junction.

Is it basically the M6 running accross the M18 with the M18 becoming the M17 once past the M6 ?

Zoney · 04-08-2009 11:48am

You could email NRA to ask about the junction numbers - I received ones for N7 and N4 previously. They probably have included the existing N18 junctions (i.e. Bunratty - Limerick) in the numbering scheme. It would be interesting to know what numbers have been allocated as there seem to be too few junctions (presuming the N7 junction will be J1).

M18 - Gort to Crusheen

Comments