N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [under construction]

AugustusMinimus · 06-06-2014 3:10pm

mydiscworld wrote: »

Cheers.

It's 'only' going to cost 100m. Not worth a PPP for that, unless bundled with another job, like the Cork to Ringaskiddy project.

Cork to Ringaskiddy would be considered quite a cheap project too. Prob no more than 150 to 200m.

AugustusMinimus · 14-10-2014 10:03am

Anyone hoping for funding to be announced today. It is by far the most needed project in Cork and I would think it also has the highest payoff/cost ratio of any project currently on the table. Its relatively low cost is also an attraction.

spacetweek · 14-10-2014 12:43pm

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Anyone hoping for funding to be announced today. It is by far the most needed project in Cork and I would think it also has the highest payoff/cost ratio of any project currently on the table. Its relatively low cost is also an attraction.

We're hoping for a lot of stuff to be funded today

hans aus dtschl · 28-10-2014 3:14pm

niloc1951 wrote: »

If a the commuter populations develop further in the Watergrasshill/Rathcormac/Fermoy area and the two roundabouts do cause issues during morning peak time then the residents of Sallybrook and Glanmire better get ready deal with their villages becoming part of a 'rat-run'

Just posting to update this thread to say that it appears that tailbacks on the M8 and N25 have caused people to use alternative routes. Over the past 2-4 months the "rat-run" through Glanmire (and though we didn't predict it on here, Glounthaune) now sees long tailbacks each morning.

The longest tailbacks at the interchange itself appear to be M8-Tunnel, N25-Tunnel (from East and West), Tunnel-N25 (Mostly Eastbound) and at the N25-Little Island interchange.

The N25-Little Island interchange has been backing up for a few km at peak hours. I really can't see how the current Little Island traffic and Dublin-Cork traffic can coexist at this junction, especially when the Tunnel traffic will free-flow to the junction.

On the face of it, it looks like the proposed design will just move the existing traffic jams to a few km East of their current location.

AugustusMinimus · 28-10-2014 6:29pm

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Just posting to update this thread to say that it appears that tailbacks on the M8 and N25 have caused people to use alternative routes. Over the past 2-4 months the "rat-run" through Glanmire (and though we didn't predict it on here, Glounthaune) now sees long tailbacks each morning.

The longest tailbacks at the interchange itself appear to be M8-Tunnel, N25-Tunnel (from East and West), Tunnel-N25 (Mostly Eastbound) and at the N25-Little Island interchange.

The N25-Little Island interchange has been backing up for a few km at peak hours. I really can't see how the current Little Island traffic and Dublin-Cork traffic can coexist at this junction, especially when the Tunnel traffic will free-flow to the junction.

On the face of it, it looks like the proposed design will just move the existing traffic jams to a few km East of their current location.

The scheme overall should improve access to Little Island as it will provide an easy avenue at the junction itself into the west most side of Little Island.

Should take a lot of pressure off the other junction hopefully.

cork_south · 28-10-2014 6:57pm

Any news on how far into the planning stage this project is?
I have not heard much in the media, but the traffic is steadily getting worse around this junction and particularly the South Ring eastbound.

rebs23 · 06-11-2014 3:38pm

The traffic around the Dunkettle Interchange is just getting worse and worse with each passing week. Any news of movement on this planned upgrade?

cork_south · 17-12-2014 10:01pm

This pic shows how badly the interchange needs to be upgraded.

http://imgur.com/YIqquBv

Hogzy · 18-12-2014 10:43am

cork_south wrote: »

This pic shows how badly the interchange needs to be upgraded.

http://imgur.com/YIqquBv

Oh my god, that looks as though its back as far as Ballincollig.

Middle Man · 18-12-2014 2:01pm

cork_south wrote: »

This pic shows how badly the interchange needs to be upgraded.

http://imgur.com/YIqquBv

...and we think the M50 is bad!

OMG!

macflea · 18-12-2014 5:12pm

apart from dunkettle upgrade ,is there any movement on the north ring road , surely this would take the pressure off the tunnel for anyone coming from the west of the city, they could easily divert around the north side of city and join the glanmire bypass onto fermoy and dublin etc .i dread to imagine what the traffic will be like through the tunnel once they start the upgrade.

Chris_5339762 · 19-12-2014 10:23pm

Looks awful, but that pic is on an exceptionally bad day.

blindsider · 21-12-2014 1:30am

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Looks awful, but that pic is on an exceptionally bad day.

Is it though?

I'm not sure it is. Traffic is beginning to return to 'pre-crash' levels, and another 6 - 12 months will see steady and increasing traffic.

NRA etc need to get moving!

zetalambda · 06-01-2015 9:18pm

macflea wrote: »

apart from dunkettle upgrade ,is there any movement on the north ring road , surely this would take the pressure off the tunnel for anyone coming from the west of the city, they could easily divert around the north side of city and join the glanmire bypass onto fermoy and dublin etc .i dread to imagine what the traffic will be like through the tunnel once they start the upgrade.

And if they build it to motorway standard, a toll could probably be justified. For a lot of motorists, it would come down to a choice of driving on the highly congested south ring or pay a couple of Euro to take the north ring which would be higher speed, less congested, shorter distance and fewer junctions.

Pablo Escobar · 07-01-2015 8:20am

zetalambda wrote: »

And if they build it to motorway standard, a toll could probably be justified. For a lot of motorists, it would come down to a choice of driving on the highly congested south ring or pay a couple of Euro to take the north ring which would be higher speed, less congested, shorter distance and fewer junctions.

First of all, the South Ring is "to motorway standard" without the classification. If they did make the North ring a motorway, the speed limit would probably top out at 100kmh like the M50. The attraction would most likely be lower traffic volumes although this is pure speculation on my part. But the traffic couldn't be as heavy as the South Ring is currently.

Pablo Escobar · 07-01-2015 8:26am

cork_south wrote: »

This pic shows how badly the interchange needs to be upgraded.

http://imgur.com/YIqquBv

This junction in the pic is the Bloomfield Interchange which is 4/5 km from the Dunkettle Roundabout, the source of the problem. So that means another 4 km of traffic queuing that we can't see and the pic shows the traffic backed up over the Kinsale Road Roundabout flyover. This is not a rare occurance, I've often seen it despite not living in Cork anymore. What I do notice is that we're particularly quiet about our traffic problems.

zetalambda · 07-01-2015 3:25pm

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

First of all, the South Ring is "to motorway standard" without the classification. If they did make the North ring a motorway, the speed limit would probably top out at 100kmh like the M50. The attraction would most likely be lower traffic volumes although this is pure speculation on my part. But the traffic couldn't be as heavy as the South Ring is currently.

I can't see any reason why the north ring road if built to motorway standard could not have a 120 speed limit. There are only 3 junctions planned between the M8 and Ballincollig. South ring junctions are too close to each other. Intermittant sections are built to motorway standard.

Truckermal · 25-02-2015 9:05pm

Any update on this I see tree's being cut down on the Dublin side of the roundabout today. Realistically the Bloomfield, Mahon and little island interchanges need upgrading too.

Carawaystick · 26-02-2015 1:32am

This 120 not allowed with close junctions is ráiméis, look at the M1 J2-J3 : <0.5km between end of onmerge and offmerge start

Schadenfreudia · 05-03-2015 9:58pm

zetalambda wrote: »

I can't see any reason why the north ring road if built to motorway standard could not have a 120 speed limit. There are only 3 junctions planned between the M8 and Ballincollig. South ring junctions are too close to each other. Intermittant sections are built to motorway standard.

Agree. The M50 from J13/14 (in Sandyford) to the M11 at Shankill is 120kph.

hans aus dtschl · 12-03-2015 1:38pm

I agree the North Ring road would likely be 120kmh.
HOWEVER:
The critical local roads improvements are the tunnel interchange and Cork-Limerick road. Both of these come well ahead of the north ring road in terms of likelihood.

There's zero political interest in improving Cork infrastructure. The airport and port are both in very bad situations.

The south west is the only part of the country with increasing unemployment rates. Probably all just a coincidence.

spacetweek · 12-03-2015 2:12pm

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

I agree the North Ring road would likely be 120kmh.
HOWEVER:
The critical local roads improvements are the tunnel interchange and Cork-Limerick road. Both of these come well ahead of the north ring road in terms of likelihood.

There's zero political interest in improving Cork infrastructure. The airport and port are both in very bad situations.

The south west is the only part of the country with increasing unemployment rates. Probably all just a coincidence.

What? The airport is right next to the recently improved N40 and the port is going to have an N28 upgrade very soon. Airport passenger numbers and freight is up.

hans aus dtschl · 12-03-2015 2:26pm

Airport passenger numbers are drastically down.
The port upgrade "very soon" is actually scheduled for "no fixed date".

Edit:
Airport numbers
http://www.independent.ie/business/more-than-a-million-fliers-bypass-120m-cork-airport-30975357.html
Port not being upgraded until the N28 is upgraded
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/computer-simulations-of-port-of-cork-plan-unveiled-257658.html
And that's not going to be done until finding is approved: 2017 at the earliest
http://www.n28cork-ringaskiddy.com/

hans aus dtschl · 12-03-2015 2:28pm

Also, the N40 improvements don't really affect the airport.

It's nice that the main flow of traffic no longer uses the Kinsale road roundabout, but doesn't have a major effect on flights.
Your "recently improved" is actually 10 years ago now too.

Schadenfreudia · 12-03-2015 2:44pm

Occasionally I have to meet people at Cork Airport and the access isn't bad from the N40 - the problem is where the tunnel/M8/N25 intersect.

Any plans to fix that?

L1011 · 12-03-2015 2:45pm

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Any plans to fix that?

Yes. That's what this thread is about.

Schadenfreudia · 12-03-2015 3:07pm

Ah! So that's the Dunkettle interchange

hans aus dtschl · 12-03-2015 3:27pm

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Ah! So that's the Dunkettle interchange

Technically it's the tunnel interchange, with the Dunkettle interchange a few hundred metres west of it!
Sorry, I just had to complicate it more!

AugustusMinimus · 12-03-2015 8:57pm

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Technically it's the tunnel interchange, with the Dunkettle interchange a few hundred metres west of it!
Sorry, I just had to complicate it more!

Not correct. The west most roundabout is the Dunkettle Roundabout. The one at the tunnel is the Dunkettle Interchange.

hans aus dtschl · 13-03-2015 11:30am

You're spot on, Augustus.
The Dunkettle Roundabout is not the roundabout at the Dunkettle interchange.
The roundabout at the Dunkettle interchange is the tunnel roundabout.

Apologies!

It's almost as much of a mess in naming as it is in planning!

N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [under construction]

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