[Article] Roads authority to fix 50 worst bends

touts · 14-03-2014 7:46am

Update on the works on the N24 that started back in December. Nothing has happened. Over the course of a couple of days they stuck up a few temporary warning signs (which are mainly blown over in the ditch now). They lined the road with those temporary red and white plastic barriers you see at construction sites (a few appear to have already been damaged by cars sliding into them and through them into the ditch). And that's it. Nothing since. No doubt there is a report somewhere saying they erected new signs and barriers and that appears to be all they are doing.

Danno · 21-03-2014 1:14am

N77 work has pretty much stopped with nothing done since before Christmas.

I hope this is not another old N8 outside Abbeyleix (north) job.

road_high · 21-03-2014 1:21am

Danno wrote: »

N77 work has pretty much stopped with nothing done since before Christmas.

I hope this is not another old N8 outside Abbeyleix (north) job.

There was a snippet on the KK People a while back. Something along the lines of "100k has been allocated to this scheme for 2014. This will not allow the scheme progress to construction".
So they only had the money to do the site clearance but nothing to allow it be built. Which is infuriating as I've seen many small schemes around the country progress seamlessly. Pennywise, poundfoolish springs to mind...

cargo · 21-03-2014 8:17am

I've mentioned it a few times on here and the other thread mentioning this scheme that they only ever put the archaeology investigation out to tender. I linked to the documents somewhere iirc. If they dont get "extra" funding above their normal yearly budget they will probably not progress much further. This will be painfully slow if they keep the construction part in-house.

Danno · 26-03-2015 12:36am

The N77 works are back on quite a few weeks now with what looks like road foundations being laid. Quite a bit of activity at the southern end near Glanbia, and a lone digger coming up over the hill to the Durrow end also.

The grass verges have been removed south of the tie in for around 200 or 300m which is welcome, they should have continued these right out to Glanbia IMHO to make it a good wide road with hard margins from Ballyragget to the LS-KK border.

Meanwhile in Ballyragget, a long overdue scheme of works to revitalise the town centre is going on. A nice job in the square, however they tarred the footpaths out the Durrow road and it looks awful. I have a pet hate for tarred footpaths anyway.

munchkin_utd · 26-03-2015 9:24am

the works on the N77 are actually in 2 parts.

N77 Ballynaslee Road Realignment Scheme
The Ballynaslee Road Realignment scheme provides for a 2km realignment of the N77 national secondary route and includes an at-grade priority junction allowing access to and from the 'bypassed' section of the existing N77. <snip>
The contract awarding this project was signed on the 2nd of December 2014. Works are expected to commence before Christmas, with an anticipated opening date for the new section of road in autumn 2015.
The overall cost to deliver this project from planning and design stage through to construction completion is estimated at just over €5.8 million.

N77 Ballyragget Pavement Improvement Scheme
The scheme comprises of a structural improvement of the existing N77 National Secondary Road in Ballyragget Village, from Castle Street Bridge, for a distance of 900 metres, through the Square extending out to the River Nore bridge along Bridge Street. In addition, traffic calming measures will be introduced <snip>
An overall grant allocation of €550,000 has been secured from the National Roads Authority for the design construction, supervision and delivery of this project.
This project when complete will further compliment the enhancement works that were completed in the Square earlier this year.

http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/RSSLatestNewsAndAnnouncements/Good-News-for-Ballyragget.37850.shortcut.html

marno21 · 27-03-2015 4:50am

Anyone got the full list of schemes archived? Link is dead.

Any of them N86 or is that all part of the N86 improvement scheme?

munchkin_utd · 27-03-2015 2:25pm

marno21 wrote: »

Anyone got the full list of schemes archived? Link is dead.

Any of them N86 or is that all part of the N86 improvement scheme?

not sure what youre asking.
anyhow, here is the status : http://www.nra.ie/mapping/index.xml
which says :

SCHEME - N86 Tralee to An Daingean
STATUS - Planning

The proposed scheme runs from the eastern side of An Daingean to the junction of the N86 and R560 routes east of Camp. The scheme is proposed as a pilot scheme for the new Type 3 Single Carriageway road type with Cycle and Pedestrian facilities along its length. It is expected that the scheme will be primarily online widening with some isolated off line sections where the existing alignment is particularly poor. This project has been funded by the Irish Government under the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

marno21 · 28-03-2015 9:21pm

Sorry post was as clear as mud. First line was asking if the list of 50 bends had been archived by anyone as the link posted previously is dead. Second question was unrelated and asking if any of them were bends on the N86 to be fixed seeing as the current N86 improvement scheme is facing trouble

Deedsie · 30-07-2015 9:09am

http://connachttribune.ie/e8-5m-road-project-may-be-scuppered-on-principle908/

Would be an awful shame if the funding was pulled over a railway bridge that may not be used for 20 years if ever.

cgcsb · 30-07-2015 9:58am

What that article doesn't touch on is that, if the rail route is converted to green way, that green way will still need a bridge. Also what of the heritage value of the bridge?

Very one sided article there.

Deedsie · 30-07-2015 10:50am

cgcsb wrote: »

What that article doesn't touch on is that, if the rail route is converted to green way, that green way will still need a bridge. Also what of the heritage value of the bridge?

Very one sided article there.

It did state that many councillors objected to a greenway as they still hoped for a rail service from Tuam to Athenry.

It's an absolute mess. 7km of road upgrade for €8.5 million.

I don't know anything of the heritage value of the rail bridge but I'd hope the safety of the roadway would supersede it.

Cookiemunster · 30-07-2015 11:39am

cgcsb wrote: »

What that article doesn't touch on is that, if the rail route is converted to green way, that green way will still need a bridge. Also what of the heritage value of the bridge?

Very one sided article there.

Looking at the photo in the article it's the standard metal railway bridge that can be found all over the country. I seriously doubt there's any heritage value in it.

road_high · 30-07-2015 12:56pm

The N77 scheme must be on course for completion this autumn?

spacetweek · 30-07-2015 1:20pm

cgcsb wrote: »

What that article doesn't touch on is that, if the rail route is converted to green way, that green way will still need a bridge. Also what of the heritage value of the bridge?

Very one sided article there.

General rule: Any newspaper article containing exclamation marks is not high-quality.
Also - they do realise that if the railway was reopened the bridge would probably need to be replaced anyway?

marno21 · 31-07-2015 1:35am

Am I the only that thinks:

This railway is non-operational at present, meaning that that bridge serves no purpose. At present, this road has a height restriction of 4.14m along this stretch (0.51m lower than the national height limit of 4.65m) to facilitate a bridge that is non-operational. Why isn't this bridge removed if there's no plans to re-open the railway? Especially seeing as replacing the 'crossbeam' (wrong word?) of the bridge wouldn't cost that much if the rest of the frame is in place.

31-07-2015 6:53am

Raising the bridge deck would require the complete reconstruction of the entire structure, nothing to stop the removal of the deck and replacing it with an elevated footbridge until such time that the bridge can (possibly) be rebuilt to the correct height if the railway is reinstated.

cgcsb · 31-07-2015 2:33pm

Deedsie wrote: »

I don't know anything of the heritage value of the rail bridge but I'd hope the safety of the roadway would supersede it.

The safety of the road can be improved without demolishing the bridge

cgcsb · 31-07-2015 2:34pm

spacetweek wrote: »

General rule: Any newspaper article containing exclamation marks is not high-quality.
Also - they do realise that if the railway was reopened the bridge would probably need to be replaced anyway?

The bridge deck would likely be replaced but the abutments would likely be kept as Iarnród Éireann has done with many bridge replacement schemes.

cgcsb · 31-07-2015 2:36pm

marno21 wrote: »

Am I the only that thinks:

This railway is non-operational at present, meaning that that bridge serves no purpose. At present, this road has a height restriction of 4.14m along this stretch (0.51m lower than the national height limit of 4.65m) to facilitate a bridge that is non-operational. Why isn't this bridge removed if there's no plans to re-open the railway? Especially seeing as replacing the 'crossbeam' (wrong word?) of the bridge wouldn't cost that much if the rest of the frame is in place.

I think the reason being that it was planned to re-open the railway until recently and the alternative greenway will still require a bridge.

road_high · 11-08-2015 2:53pm

Drove the N77 stretch they are re-aligning at Ballynaslee and it's partially opened (still all cones down and no markings/signage). It's a vast vast improvement and impressively wide and straight, which will give more overtaking opportunities on the N77 which have been sadly lacking.

munchkin_utd · 17-09-2015 10:20am

Theres a small scheme in Sligo to get rid of a bad narrow bend in 2015

N17 Thornhill Bridge Bend Improvement €672,000.

This scheme is located 1km north of Ballynacarrow village on the N17 at the site of several serious accidents in recent years. 2013 works involved the provision of advanced warning and flashing light signs. Sligo County Council is developing a minor scheme to improve the existing bend at Thornhill Bridge. We expect to complete the planning process for this scheme in early 2015 with construction to be carried out later in the year.

streetview of the location is here :
https://goo.gl/qI8oG1

EDIT: seems like it is a well overdue scheme :

21 year old IT Sligo student JJ McHugh was killed in a two-vehicle crash beside the bridge in November 2012. An eastern European man died there in 2005 and a woman driver lost her life on the lethal stretch in May 2006.

Since 2000, that stretch of road from Thornhill Bridge to Curry has claimed 12 lives.

[Article] Roads authority to fix 50 worst bends

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