M11 - Arklow to Rathnew

jd · 16-10-2008 5:00pm

http://www.goreyguardian.ie/news/council-urges-nra-to-finish-dual-carriageway-1500666.html

WEXFORD County Council have called on the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Wicklow County Council to commence and finish the dual carriageway through south Wicklow as soon as possible.
The motion was put forward by Fine Gael members at Monday's meeting of Wexford County Council and Cllr. Michael Kinsella spoke on their behalf, pointing out that a large number of Wexford commuters travel that dangerous stretch of road each day to get to work and back home again.
'A lot of Gorey's so-called residents only sleep there,' said Cllr. Kinsella.'I've canvassed a lot of houses at 8 p.m. only to be answered by people in their nightwear.'
Cllr. Lorcan Allen advised him that maybe he shouldn't be canvassing at that time, before pointing out that the stretch of road in question was a matter for Wicklow County Council.
'My priorities are in the boundary of this county. I won't support this motion, it's interfering in another county where we have no jurisdiction,' said Cllr. Allen, adding that Wicklow County Council have started preparing for the project.
Cllr. Declan MacPartlin said 'it's the most dangerous stretch of road from Wexford to Dublin'.
'The situation has lasted way beyond the period it should have, we should put some pressure on, though it's not likely to make much difference,' said Cllr. MacPartlin.
'No-one should object to investing to save lives, people have been killed on those roads,' said Cllr. John Dwyer. Cllr. Padge Reck said the completed dual carriageway, linking with the Gorey bypass, would also substantially cut down on travel times to Dublin.
Cllr. Jimmy Curtis opposed the motion. 'We need to look after our own area and let Wicklow look after theirs,' he said.
Cllr. Kinsella said he was 'absolutely shocked' that Councillors Allen and Curtis had opposed his motion, particularly Cllr. Allen as he was a Gorey man, but it was carried after a vote.

tw0nk · 16-10-2008 5:05pm

Is that Councillors Allen fella the multi-millionaire fella? drives me cracked when people oppose progress, travel on that road everyday, there is one stretch where lorries actually just drive out onto road without stopping in the non-existant "margin", they just force themselves onto the road.

Im sick of this stretch of road.

thedarkroom · 17-10-2008 10:12am

The Allen you are thinking of is Bernard Allen, the owner (or co-owner?) of the Bewley's Hotel in Ballsbridge and Sandyford, Slaney Meats, and countless other successful ventures.
The Allen referred to in the above is actually Lorcan Allen from Gorey.
Lorcan Allen is a long serving outspoken member of Wexford County Council, with many vested interests. He's a local auctioneer and a few years ago he had a large track of 'his mother's land' rezoned in the Gorey Local Area Plan after the public consultation period had concluded. This happened despite advice by all the Council planners who said that it should not happen. Shortly after this, his (sorry, his mother's!) land was identified as one of the areas partly taken up as needed for the Gorey By-Pass. One would wonder how much extra the tax payer had to fork out because of the additional value the rezoning put on the land. He denied that he personally benefitted from this, it was, after all, his 96 year old mother's land. He currently is a member of the Planning Committee and the Housing Committee responsible for the Strategic Policy for Wexford, he is currently Vice Chairman of Wexford County Council, he has been Chairman, is on the Gorey Electoral Area Committee, Gorey Town Council and God knows what else. As an auctioneer and substantial landowner in the area, it has to be asked is it prudent that he should be serving committees that make local policy decisions about land use and rezoning.
What's this got to the N11 forum? Well if this is just one small stretch of this length stretch of major infrastructure, and you can see what is going on here, than you can be sure that it is most likely happening on other parts aswell. If this is inflating the cost of these projects then it makes funding more difficult and erratic and more prone to being put on hold during times of budgetary difficulties. Who knows what will happen to the stretch of road between the Arklow bypass and Rathnew/Ashford.
I travel this road every day so I will be very happy when it is done but I'm not optimistic about it evading the cuts of this budget.

L1011 · 19-10-2008 12:54pm

This deferral even got mentioned in Joe Behan's resignation letter; sounds like he may want it back on the table to get him back in to the party...

Down him and Seamus Brennan; FF+PD+Green is only the bare 83 seats; meaning they'll be relying on the Ceann Comhairle and the independents to support them to get the Finance Act passed. And one of those independents is threatening not to.

Badabing · 19-10-2008 6:02pm

MYOB wrote: »

This deferral even got mentioned in Joe Behan's resignation letter; sounds like he may want it back on the table to get him back in to the party...

Down him and Seamus Brennan; FF+PD+Green is only the bare 83 seats; meaning they'll be relying on the Ceann Comhairle and the independents to support them to get the Finance Act passed. And one of those independents is threatening not to.

FF as it stands have= 76 greens= 6 pds= 2 = 84

L1011 · 19-10-2008 6:51pm

FF have 75. 76 on election + O'Hanlon (previously ceann comhairle) - O'Donogue (ceann comhairle) + Bev (rejoined) - Brennan (died) - Behan (left).

Badabing · 19-10-2008 7:36pm

MYOB wrote: »

FF have 75. 76 on election + O'Hanlon (previously ceann comhairle) - O'Donogue (ceann comhairle) + Bev (rejoined) - Brennan (died) - Behan (left).

They had 77 on election, its all on electionsireland.org

tw0nk · 31-10-2008 6:13pm

Any updates on the stretch between jack whites and beehive?

iwo · 10-12-2008 6:35am

Hi,

Any update on this? I heard that money meant for this road will be spent on metro in Dublin... Traffic is getting bigger and bigger, people are moving to Gorey etc. I hate this part between Arklow and Rathnew!!
Fingers crossed...

Quadra · 10-12-2008 12:22pm

I'm with you on this iwo - I travel the stretch at least 4 times a week (roundtrip) and it's the complete inaction of the authorities that does my head in the most, aside from the queueing & crawling on the stretch itself. I'd wear the hassle if they'd only give us a firm date when the scheme would start.

This from the Wicklow People last week:

"NEWS THAT vital upgrades on the N11 from Arklow to Rathnew will not go ahead despite the fact that funding has previously been allocated by the NRA and Department of Transport has been met with disgust at Wicklow County Council.

In a letter to Council management, the NRA stated that the tendering process must immediately cease and that works cannot proceed due to commitments to other projects which have already commenced.

'This is the second time that this has happened and now it will be 2020 before anything is done with the N11. Huge money has been spent by somebody on advertising and on consultants. Now this work has been deferred again and how much did that cost us? If it was another area it would have gone through already,' fumed Cllr. Jimmy O'Shaughnessy."

Feck's sake......

jd · 10-12-2008 1:00pm

iwo wrote: »

Hi,

Any update on this? I heard that money meant for this road will be spent on metro in Dublin... Traffic is getting bigger and bigger, people are moving to Gorey etc. I hate this part between Arklow and Rathnew!!
Fingers crossed...

This project has been indefinitely postponed. Money was not diverted from this project to the metro.

thedarkroom · 10-12-2008 1:11pm

ARS*H*LES!!!
ARS*H*LES!!!
ARS*H*LES!!!
I've been driving the N11 from Gorey to Dublin every day (almost) for fourteen years now and have seen several accidents and fatalities on this stretch of road.
This incompetence is totally unacceptable. It's not as if it will be an exorbitant amount of money to finish the project. The compulsory purchase of the land required is already done and the surveying is finished. It's ready for the contractor and surely, in the current climate, now is the time to get this type of thing done as quotes will come in way below what it would normally cost when the builders, etc are busy.
Get it done now and save money....SAVE LIVES!!!!

Irish and Proud · 10-12-2008 1:56pm

Quadra wrote: »

I'm with you on this iwo - I travel the stretch at least 4 times a week (roundtrip) and it's the complete inaction of the authorities that does my head in the most, aside from the queueing & crawling on the stretch itself. I'd wear the hassle if they'd only give us a firm date when the scheme would start.

This from the Wicklow People last week:

"NEWS THAT vital upgrades on the N11 from Arklow to Rathnew will not go ahead despite the fact that funding has previously been allocated by the NRA and Department of Transport has been met with disgust at Wicklow County Council.

In a letter to Council management, the NRA stated that the tendering process must immediately cease and that works cannot proceed due to commitments to other projects which have already commenced.

'This is the second time that this has happened and now it will be 2020 before anything is done with the N11. Huge money has been spent by somebody on advertising and on consultants. Now this work has been deferred again and how much did that cost us? If it was another area it would have gone through already,' fumed Cllr. Jimmy O'Shaughnessy."

Feck's sake......

No money eh???

Here's an idea -

Let's cut back (I mean by at least 50%) on the salaries of all 166 TDs, Senior Civil Servants in the Government Departments, and especially, cancel all their excess pensions - noboby should be entitled to more than one pension! :mad:

Now, over the N11's design life of 20 years, how much money would the taxpayer save with the above measures!

We badly need a new political party!!! :mad:

Regards!

thedarkroom · 10-12-2008 2:06pm

"We badly need a new political party!!! :mad: Regards!

"[/QUOTE]

Yeh! But who could you replace them with?? At this rate Homer Simpson looks to be the most competent option.

Aquavid · 10-12-2008 2:10pm

thedarkroom wrote: »

"We badly need a new political party!!! :mad:

Regards!"

Yeh! But who could you replace them with?? At this rate Homer Simpson looks to be the most competent option.

Woo Hoo! - Rathnew to Arklow monorail!

Seriously though, the number of times this project has been long-fingered, I'm wondering if there is some other political motive involved - did the people of Rathnew vote in the "wrong" person and need to be punished or something?

Aquavid

thedarkroom · 10-12-2008 2:23pm

Aquavid wrote: »

Woo Hoo! - Rathnew to Arklow monorail!

Seriously though, the number of times this project has been long-fingered, I'm wondering if there is some other political motive involved - did the people of Rathnew vote in the "wrong" person and need to be punished or something?

Aquavid

The Council were probably lobbied to leave it on the long finger so that out of frustration, drivers might be encouraged to divert off the N11 when they see the tail back and just might happen upon Rathnew where they will spend some cash. I can't think of any other reason for delaying it.
I know, I know,... that sounds stupid.
But so does delaying this stretch of road for any longer. I don't get it!

Sponge Bob · 10-12-2008 2:44pm

thedarkroom wrote: »

But so does delaying this stretch of road for any longer. I don't get it!

There is no money for it is the reason. The other reason is that Noel Dempsey believes that FF will not lose a seat in Wicklow or in Wexford either way . Therefore it is politically safe to cancel this project .

It will quite possibly go ahead some time in the next decade How soon depends on how effective the people of Wexford and of Wicklow are in expressing their demands to the government and to their local FFers .

Tarabuses · 10-12-2008 3:05pm

thedarkroom wrote: »

"

Yeh! But who could you replace them with?? At this rate Homer Simpson looks to be the most competent option.

You must obviously support the current bunch of incompetents if you think no one else could do better.

thedarkroom · 10-12-2008 3:11pm

OK, here's a list to start on for Wexford: - Gorey and Wexford councillors. Anyone out there got the Wicklow list?
I think that anybody and everybody who is affected by this stretch of road, whether as a user or relative of user, a victim, etc. etc. should get in touch with their local councillor and push this.
Anyone out there any good at lobbying.

michael.darcy@finegael.ie
paul.kehoe@finegael.ie
lorcan.allen@wexfordcoco.ie
jimmy.fleming@wexfordcoco.ie
declan.macpartlin@wexfordcoco.ie
malcolm.byrne@hotmail.com
bernard.crosbie@wexfordcoco.ie
cllrrobertireton@vodafone.ie
inbox@colinwebb.com
kaygalway@hotmail.com (Kay O'Gorman)

thedarkroom · 10-12-2008 3:22pm

Tarabuses wrote: »

[/I][/COLOR]

You must obviously support the current bunch of incompetents if you think no one else could do better.

Certainly not. I would have respect for Malcolm Byrne in Gorey but his membership of Fianna Fáil lets him down. Only on this basis, would I question his power of judgement. He has done great work getting the train to Gorey and I'm sure he would be interested in this too.

Malcolm, if by some chance you are reading this, ditch the baggage and I would give you my No 1 in the next election. Otherwise, I could never vote for FF.

murphaph · 10-12-2008 8:06pm

Irish and Proud wrote: »

We badly need a new political party!!! :mad:

No, the irish people need to cop on and realise that every parish in the country can't have a hospital/university/jobs/etc. etc. and once that happens the political parties will realise they can make the brave decisions The problem is not so much the bloodsucking politicians who only exist (in the main, some exceptions) to feather their own nests. The irish public is basically totally stupid and ignorant of realities. The bloodsucking politicians won't tell them the truth for fear of the electorate turfing them out of their cushy numbers. Sorry for going OT.

loyatemu · 11-12-2008 1:08am

murphaph wrote: »

No, the irish people need to cop on and realise that every parish in the country can't have a hospital/university/jobs/etc. etc. and once that happens the political parties will realise they can make the brave decisions The problem is not so much the bloodsucking politicians who only exist (in the main, some exceptions) to feather their own nests. The irish public is basically totally stupid and ignorant of realities. The bloodsucking politicians won't tell them the truth for fear of the electorate turfing them out of their cushy numbers. Sorry for going OT.

this is going wildly off topic now, but what the hell, this road ain't gonna be built anytime soon so we might as well digress...

the multi-seat constituency system (along with over-representation at Dail level) positively encourages parish-pump politics. Most TDs are glorified county-councillors, looking over their shoulder because they might be stabbed in the back by their own party colleagues. They have no real participation in national politics, some have never even spoken in the Dail. If they do get elevated to ministerial level they frequently demonstrate staggering incompetence (though there are exceptions to this).

The Oireachtas in general is stuffed with overpaid, complacent, career-politicians who have no concept of what life is like for their constituents. I genuinely believe a new party advocating radical political reform could do very well.

(sorry... this should probably be in the politics forum)

Irish and Proud · 11-12-2008 12:25pm

thedarkroom wrote: »

Yeh! But who could you replace them with?? At this rate Homer Simpson looks to be the most competent option.

What we need is a party funded by ordinary people, not developers, speculators and other such vested interests...

...unless we do this, things will never change in this country. We, the people, need to stamp our authority on politicians and remind them who's boss!!!

Regards!

Quadra · 15-12-2008 9:45am

Credit to Cllr. Conal Kavanagh who ever he is - at least he seems to be representing the views of many on this board.

Still, will it make a blindest bit of difference..

Bray People last week:

"THE National Roads Authority and Department of Transport have been told they need to both seriously re-examine their road safety priorities after announcing that vital upgrades from the Beehive past Jack Whites on the N11 won't be going ahead.

Cllr. Conal Kavanagh feels that neither the NRA or the Department fully understand the safety concerns and issues which plague regular users of the road on a daily basis.

The tendering process was due to start either at the end of the year or beginning of next year but Wicklow County Council was told to halt the process due to commitments to other projects which had already commenced.

The single lane section from the Beehive just past Jack Whites remains the only uncompleted section of the N11.

'It's disappointing to say the least, but not surprising,' says Cllr. Kavanagh.

'There is a huge risk factor on that section of the road and now it isn't going to be remedied. People who use the road regularly, or who live adjacent to it are exposed to a great risk but no-one at the department or the NRA seems to appreciate the seriousness of the situation.'

Funding had been made available for the works a number of years ago, but was withdrawn and transferred to another project in Waterford instead.

Now there could be another wait of three to four years before any funding becomes available, while the NRA continue to push to upgrade parts of the N11 to motorway status.

'That would send out such a bad signal to bad drivers, especially going through Barndarrig,' insists Cllr. Kavanagh.

'The Department of Transport is so disorganised regarding the N11 and yet can't seem to see that dangerous link, which is very scary.

'Some sort of external examination needs to take place so they can get to the bottom of where the main priorities are for road safety issues in Ireland.'"

...or just allocate the flippin' money and get on with scheme, like.

tomflynn · 01-05-2009 2:41pm

Also - news just out as of April 29th - an additional PPP bundle

N11 Rathnew-Arklow and N7 Newlands Cross

http://www.wicklowpeople.ie/news/nra...d-1725173.html
http://www.dickroche.com/article.php?sid=1127

A new round of PPPs represent the government/NRA priorities. In addition to this announcement there are four other previously announced PPP bundles:
N11 Enniscorthy-Gorey and N25 New Ross
M20 North (including N21 Adare bypass)
M20 South (including Cork Northern Ring Road)
N17/N18 Gort-Tuam

N25/M20/N17/N18 is the Atlantic Road Corridor - the main priority after the Inter Urban Motorways are completed.

thedarkroom · 01-05-2009 2:51pm

That's good news, at long last but as the other councillors said in the article, I'll believe it when I see it. Public Private Partnership??? Dubious, I would be sceptical about the statement re toll roads.

Chris_533976 · 01-05-2009 5:55pm

PPP #5 seems to be N7 Newlands and N11 Arklow - Rathnew. Interesting.

If so, this should be bumped ahead of M17/18 as it has become absolutely the most important roads project, and possibly the most important transport project, in the country.

PoolDude · 26-05-2009 7:03pm

Does anyone have any expected timelines for this process?

Chris_533976 · 26-05-2009 8:02pm

I read somewhere that they're planning construction to start in late 2010. Take whatever you want from that, knowing this country

Seems that this will be the first of the Five PPPs to go to construction though.

first timer · 29-05-2009 6:04pm

Well at least there moving on this project be a long time yet though

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY118733

M11 - Arklow to Rathnew

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