M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

Amtmann · 13-08-2009 10:51pm

L-N is looking great. N-C is taking its time in a big way. What have they accomplished in a year a half? The M8 M-F scheme was complete at that stage. Any reasons for the handy pace, Word is Bor?

The Word Is Bor · 13-08-2009 11:33pm

Furet wrote: »

L-N is looking great. N-C is taking its time in a big way. What have they accomplished in a year a half? The M8 M-F scheme was complete at that stage. Any reasons for the handy pace, Word is Bor?

M-F was what, 13km? Castletown-Nenagh is 36km. BSJV are not Roadbridge. Roadbridge would have been a lot more hands.

Amtmann · 13-08-2009 11:39pm

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

M-F was what, 13km? Castletown-Nenagh is 36km. BSJV are not Roadbridge. Roadbridge would have been a lot more hands.

Sixteen, but still. One would expect more progress based on almost all other schemes around the country. So it's a case of fewer hands and heavier work. Figures. Do you think it will be ready in time, or could it well slip to 2011?

The Word Is Bor · 13-08-2009 11:41pm

Furet wrote: »

Sixteen, but still. One would expect more progress based on almost all other schemes around the country. So it's a case of fewer hands and heavier work. Figures. Do you think it will be ready in time, or could it well slip to 2011?

If I gave my opinion hysterious would only attack me for "making rumours":cool:

It's down for Q4 2010 but I would think that it will push into 2011 late Q1.

Amtmann · 13-08-2009 11:43pm

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

If I gave my opinion hysterious would only attack me for "making rumours":cool:

It's down for Q4 2010 but I would think that it will push into 2011 late Q1.

Well I'm a man who appreciates a good 'rumour' every now and then, especially from someone with his ear to the ground. Cheers.

Tech3 · 13-08-2009 11:44pm

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

M-F was what, 13km? Castletown-Nenagh is 36km. BSJV are not Roadbridge. Roadbridge would have been a lot more hands.

Have your sources predicted a completion date for Castletown-Nenagh? It looks like it might well slip into 2011.

The beam are in place at Moneygall but it is far from complete. If it were complete then there would be 40/50T dumpers running across it many times a day and there would be no need for the temporary traffic management on the N7.

I agree it needs alot more work to be done to it.

The bridges are not all complete. Some haven't even started. There is one overbridge and one underbridge open between Nenagh and Moneygall. There are about three structures open between Moneygall and Borris-in-Ossary. Anything that is open is under roadworks control.

On which road is the overbridge open to traffic?

The Word Is Bor · 14-08-2009 12:09am

Head about 1km west from Moneygall. Take the second right turn past the 100kph speed limit sign. Head down there about 500m or so.

Tech3 · 14-08-2009 12:58am

I also went to the birdhill interchange yesterday via the link road. It is not far off completion the roundabouts and on ramps need more work done to them. Lights have been put in place.

Workers there pay no attention to other people driving in and having a look, there was a few people walking dogs and another car doing the same as me going through the two roundabouts and heading back out

Berty · 14-08-2009 7:44am

I have it on good authority that the pile munchers have arrived onto the bog at Dalys Cross area to peel away the rest of the piles.

I will drive in that direction later this morning for a look for myself. Its easy the see from the local traffic bridge just before dalys cross on leaving Limerick.

Berty · 14-08-2009 9:33am

As promised off I went this morning and accessed the site from the bridge just south of Dalys Cross and went for a gander at the bog section.

The piles have been munched down, rebar mesh has been placed down and some section have been filled in with concrete to provide the sub base for the aggregate sub base.

This picture is of a section awaiting shuttering and concrete

This is the most notherly section where the concrete meets the next section of rebars

This is a munched pile beneath the rebar

These are munched piles prior to rebar

These are the waste piles so its gives you an idea of how much piling the put down

Panaromic view of the most northerly section of concrete

Field of piles

I said I would throw in the concrete barrier

Berty · 14-08-2009 10:07am

I decided as I was heading to Ballina to drive onto the Birdhill interchange. The foreman looked at me but didnt seem to care. I think the shirt and tie frightened him off. I remember working on site, you AVOID shirt and tie guys.

This picture is the bend in the road as you approach the interchange from Birdhill.

There is actually a regional road structure flyover on the way up towards this section which is open.

This is a view northbounnd onto the interchange. The onramp on the left is the exit from Limerick to Birdhill.

This view is a 180 degree reverse of the previous looking towards Limerick.

It was mentioned that the lamposts are up but only mildly. The bases are up and the wiring is exposed. There is no sign of the actually lamp sections yet.

A lot of kerbing is missing on all sections around here. I cannot see, from what I have seen today, that this road will be open anytime prior to Feb/March.

The Word Is Bor · 14-08-2009 10:39am

Kwalitee pics. The bog at Drominboy is a real pig. The piling didn't work at all there. Hysterious will be after you with his pitchfork though. I was in the bog in Drominboy about 4 years ago it was lethal. A mini-digger was in danger of getting bogged down. There was an old abandoned excavator that was half buried there. Rumour was that it was on HP and the bank wanted it back so the guy stripped it of anything he could and then sunk it. It scared the drivers senseless when they saw it.

Tech3 · 14-08-2009 10:41am

Berty wrote: »

I cannot see, from what I have seen today, that this road will be open anytime prior to Feb/March.

Thanks for the fantastic updates Berty I would never have tried what you did and go access the mainline and bog unless it was a Sunday! I have seen the kerbs done on other parts of the route though. The lampposts were around the roundabout probably should have mentioned that. I didn't get much of a chance to access the mainline near the interchange.

So were going to be waiting another while before Nenagh-Limerick is completed it seems.

Tech3 · 14-08-2009 10:47am

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

Kwalitee pics. The bog at Drominboy is a real pig. The piling didn't work at all there. Hysterious will be after you with his pitchfork though. I was in the bog in Drominboy about 4 years ago it was leathal. A mini-digger was in danger of getting bogged down. There was an old abandoned excavator that was half buried there. Rumour was that it was on HP and the bank wanted it back so the guy stripped it of anything he could and then sunk it. It scared the drivers senseless when they saw it.

Friends of mine have been telling me that bog is a disaster as well as they used to drive down near it a bit before. I don't mind the deadline once they get that section done properly so that we don't see a depressed section of M7 in the coming years. .

Berty · 14-08-2009 10:48am

tech2 wrote: »

So were going to be waiting another while before Nenagh-Limerick is completed it seems.

Dont quote me on that. It just seemed very slow for their expected finish dates as far as I could see.

The bog has another 3-4 months in it in my opinion unless they throw trucks of guys at it.

The mainline is not looking too bad with a lot of tidying up to do. The blacktop is down but not the final layer. I saw some blacktop cores on the barrier so obviously the test consultants are well into their testing on the layers.

Kerbing needs doing, backfilling, landscaping, lighting, signage, barriers, wearing course of blactop, some structures are still not complete and possibly other things I could not see from being unable to access the site completely.

Berty · 14-08-2009 10:49am

tech2 wrote: »

Friends of mine have been telling me that bog is a disaster as well as they used to drive down near it a bit before. I don't mind the deadline once they get that section done properly so that we don't see a depressed section of M7 in the coming years. .

The conrete section over the piles they are laying down WILL NOT sink. The piles are spread out the entire width of the motorway and the depth of the piles along with the depth of the sub layer of concrete is deep enough already let alone the extra 600-800mm of blacktop they will lay on top of that.

Fear not.

Amtmann · 14-08-2009 10:56am

How far down do the piles go, Berty?

Berty · 14-08-2009 11:16am

Furet wrote: »

How far down do the piles go, Berty?

I have no idea how deep the bog is but one of the things to remember when driving piles is that it compresses the soil/bog beneath and to either side of the pile creating a tougher soil/bog.

If you grab a pile of peat from the ground it will fall apart but if you squeeze it in your hand it will create a stronger substance.

The same applies when driving the force of the piles. It displaces the soil around the pile/pier and by the amount of them on site it has compresses quite a lot of bog.

Drainage will also be used on this section, which I did not see but I did see a lot of dikes in the area so the moisture is being directed somewhere.

The depth of the piles will obviously be needed to reach the next layer beneath the bog however low that may be.

clon · 14-08-2009 3:51pm

this is taken from the summer 2009 transport21 newsletter, they spell out what schemes are going to open by end of 2009

By the end of 2009 Kilcullen to Carlow on the N9 will
open as well as the Waterford bypass on the N25, N7 Nenagh to Limerick, N9 Waterford to

Knocktopher and N6 Galway to Ballinasloe.

http://www.transport21.ie/Publications/upload/File/T21_Newsletter_Summer_2009.pdf

mysterious · 14-08-2009 4:58pm

The word of bor?

So your going to admit rumour mongering.

Anyway I've reported your constant digging and childhish behaviour, and I would aslo ask once again to stop changing my profile name as a way to redicule me.

We are adults not children.

Chris_533976 · 14-08-2009 6:04pm

Still cant tell if the carriageways will bulge at bridges like Cash-Mitch. Could you tell from driving bits of it?

The Word Is Bor · 14-08-2009 6:06pm

mysterious wrote: »

The word of bor?

So your going to admit rumour mongering.

In the quiet words of the virgin Mary "come again"?

Wild Bill · 15-08-2009 12:52am

SC-Nenagh will not open by year end. I bet my bippy on it. :cool:

Amtmann · 15-08-2009 1:24am

What about a sectional opening? The bog section has miles to go, but much of the rest of it could be tidied, lined and signed by late November surely.

Berty · 15-08-2009 11:05am

Furet wrote: »

What about a sectional opening? The bog section has miles to go, but much of the rest of it could be tidied, lined and signed by late November surely.

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

Tech3 · 15-08-2009 3:36pm

Berty wrote: »

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

I wish they would get on with the rest of the scheme and get it on its wearing course, lined, studded, and side barriers installed. Then they could focus hard on the boggy section and the Nenagh bypass upgrade which I have a video of but some reason I cant upload to youtube??

mysterious · 15-08-2009 11:04pm

Berty wrote: »

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

There is a point, It means not having to drive the old road. DUH..:rolleyes:

The Nenagh bypass to Birdhill can be opened easily first.

Amtmann · 16-08-2009 1:22am

tech2 wrote: »

Then they could focus hard on the boggy section and the Nenagh bypass upgrade which I have a video of but some reason I cant upload to youtube??

The smaller the size the better. If the file is very large, you might need to compress it using windows movie maker for instance. Also make sure it's under ten minutes.

Tech3 · 16-08-2009 4:45am

Furet wrote: »

The smaller the size the better. If the file is very large, you might need to compress it using windows movie maker for instance. Also make sure it's under ten minutes.

I will check that out. I have uploaded videos to youtube before but this one just keep getting errors though. I was going to upload it to photobucket but it takes way too long and drains my 3G broadband usage!

mysterious · 17-08-2009 4:43am

it will open in December ffs:rolleyes:

Sometimes I really do ask am I Irish? Cus we just hear so much hor****e and make so much holy commotion about anything. A bog holding up a national motorway. I think the biggest problem we talk to bloody much and less of the actual getting things done. We make mountains out of no hills. I think we should all just roll over and die....

Try building motorways through the Pyrenees.
A You will eat your hand.
B won't be able to type drag of how impossible it would be(cus you ate your hand)
C. You will probably not be able to even comprehend that it would be possible.
D You'd have a nervous breakdown

It's hell to be when we face a bog. Will we see light of day?

We are dooooooooooooomed. etc.

Carawaystick · 17-08-2009 8:11pm

mysterious wrote: »

Try building motorways through the Pyrenees.

There aren't motorways through the Pyrenees. There is only one, the A9/AP7.
This is probably because it's difficult to built motorways in mountainous areas.
It costs 95 cents to do it by car (including VAT) and the maximum altitude is only about 300m. Which is considerably better value than say any toll road here.

mysterious · 17-08-2009 9:29pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

There aren't motorways through the Pyrenees. There is only one, the A9/AP7.
This is probably because it's difficult to built motorways in mountainous areas.
It costs 95 cents to do it by car (including VAT) and the maximum altitude is only about 300m. Which is considerably better value than say any toll road here.

But they built them. There are many roads going through the Pyrenees doesn't have to be motorway. For one I drove through them.

Try Northern Italy, Eastern France all of Switzerland.

If us Irish were over there, We would die upon looking at their their road maps. A bog is a like a pothole to them. But we would spend months moaning about how unnecessary it is and then after months of that, we spend long periods of time building a road over it.

A bog to us is the end of civilization as we know it.We are doomed everything is held up. etc.

Carawaystick · 17-08-2009 9:42pm

IT. they built IT, the single motorway across the Pyrenees, at a fairly low col, possibly the lowest col in the western Pyrenees, because that's where the romans built their pass, the Via Domitia.

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Are you going to change the point of the argument again now or accept you picked a poor example at twenty to five this morning?

mysterious · 17-08-2009 10:22pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

IT. they built IT, the single motorway across the Pyrenees, at a fairly low col, possibly the lowest col in the western Pyrenees, because that's where the romans built their pass, the Via Domitia.

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Are you going to change the point of the argument again now or accept you picked a poor example at twenty to five this morning?

No the point remains, still.

Wild Bill · 18-08-2009 12:02am

Carawaystick wrote: »

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Oi! The Wicklow roads cut through fairly shallow blanket peat; not the same as a real bog atall atall.:mad:

Tech3 · 19-08-2009 8:45pm

Here is a video I took of the Nenagh bypass upgrade from last week. Work is being carried out on the northbound carriageway.

M7 Nenagh Bypass upgrade

Chris_533976 · 19-08-2009 9:31pm

Thanks.

They seem to be making an awful meal of the Nenagh bypass upgrade. Its taking AGES.

mysterious · 19-08-2009 10:30pm

The road seems to be too narrow to have a HS, am I wrong on this. I thought they were adamant on making this as close as they can get to a full blown motorway. The reason been with the whole reclassification etc.

I would like to see the Arch bridge been disused and Replacing it with a design and build bridge just east of it where the Castletown and true old N7 alignement used to traverse across the onwards to Toomevara.

How on earth did they manage to come up with 3 rounadabouts for one ****ing road.

What is this, a fun fair park. NRA build the ****ing thing right.

Zoney · 19-08-2009 11:18pm

mysterious wrote: »

The road seems to be too narrow to have a HS, am I wrong on this. I thought they were adamant on making this as close as they can get to a full blown motorway. The reason been with the whole reclassification etc.

It's not too narrow - it will have hard shoulder all the way, although I still don't know for certain about under the last bridges (my guess is there'll be at least some bit of HS even there). I suspect the hard shoulder is slightly narrow, but considering one can't be sure, it's not likely to make much of a difference. It may be normal width including the flat concrete drain that seems to be along much of it.

There's nothing unusual about having slightly tighter bits of motorway due to circumstances around route upgrade or construction. In the case of the Nenagh bypass it's remarkable we are getting motorway at all, so I don't understand any complaint about it. Would you prefer they spent yours and everyone elses money rebuilding the bridges, excavating more cuttings and building more embankment?

mysterious · 19-08-2009 11:38pm

1. It is our money

2. They had the opportunity to make it motorway in the beginning with a fraction of the cost it is now.

What they did do, was built a motorway style S2. The S2 road was probably one of the highest spec S2 roads in the country at the time. I've driven this length. I didn't understand why didn't even leave wide verges if they ever needed to put an extra lane. They did this in the North years ago anywhere they built a S2 road with D2 in mind. The A1 was a example of that.

I'm not complaining,take note of that.

Carawaystick · 19-08-2009 11:40pm

mysterious wrote: »

No the point remains, still.

Your point that there were motorways was shown to be wrong.
After I told you this, you insisted there are more than one, before trying to bring other areas into the post.
Just admit you were wrong.

Bill, Blanket Bog is bog, just different to raised bog. I remember seeing lads saving turf about 2km west of the gap back in the day.

Wild Bill · 19-08-2009 11:51pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

Bill, Blanket Bog is bog, just different to raised bog. I remember seeing lads saving turf about 2km west of the gap back in the day.

Ah now! Blanket bog is a different class of bog. It forms on mountains and covers the underlying rock/mineral soil like a blanket. It is usually shallow and can be removed to expose the rock.

Raised bogs, like yer man in Limerick, form in lakes and grow upwards and outwards. The tend to be very deep; have varying depth over short distances and have extremely liquid sections. A heavy machine with high ground pressure will break through the "crust" of a raised bog and sink all the way to the bottom. Which could be 30m down! Them's the bogs you need to use piling on.

A blanket bog such as that the mountain roads in Wicklow were built through was merely scraped away and the road built on the mineral material below.

Trust me here. I know stuff. :cool:

mysterious · 20-08-2009 2:09am

Carawaystick wrote: »

Your point that there were motorways was shown to be wrong.
After I told you this, you insisted there are more than one, before trying to bring other areas into the post.
Just admit you were wrong.

Bill, Blanket Bog is bog, just different to raised bog. I remember seeing lads saving turf about 2km west of the gap back in the day.

No I wasn't

Chris_533976 · 20-08-2009 4:38pm

Lets hope when they rip up the Croom bypass to do the M20 they do it faster than the Nenagh bypass.

marmurr1916 · 20-08-2009 5:23pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Thanks.

They seem to be making an awful meal of the Nenagh bypass upgrade. Its taking AGES.

It's an online upgrade. Always a lot more painful than offline new-build.

Somebody on this forum (can't remember who) suggested that we'd have been better off doing online upgrades to our major routes rather than building new motorways.

Imagine if the entire N7 was being given the Nenagh Bypass treatment? :eek:

Tech3 · 20-08-2009 6:00pm

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

The beam are in place at Moneygall but it is far from complete. If it were complete then there would be 40/50T dumpers running across it many times a day and there would be no need for the temporary traffic management on the N7.

Indeed a lot more to be done to it:

Elegant Chaos · 21-08-2009 5:11pm

I'm new to this thread, but I don't think anyone's mentioned this before. The bridge over the railway line at the southern end of the old Nenagh by-pass hasn't been touched yet, and it needs to be widened. I heard from someone working on the project several months ago that there was some dispute with Iarnrod Eireann over this. This would not bode well for a Dec opening. Anyone heard anything about this?

Chris_533976 · 21-08-2009 8:58pm

Heres an interesting way of getting information.

The tender for artwork on the Tunnel and the Nenagh - Limerick schemes has been published.

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG125584

The interesting bit is the description -

The Roads

N7 Limerick Southern Ring Road incorporating Limerick Tunnel

The Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase II project, which will incorporate a fourth crossing of the River Shannon, involves a tunnel crossing of approximately 900 m in length, linking the townland of Coonagh on the northern bank, with the townland of Bunlicky on the southern bank of the Shannon. The scheme involves the construction of 9.75 km of new dual carriageway, along with associated link roads and side roads, linking the N7 Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase 1 and N20 Cork Road in the area of Rossbrien with the N18 Ennis Road near the Radisson and Two Mile Inn hotels.

The Tunnel is scheduled to open to traffic in Summer 2010.

M7 Limerick to Nenagh

The project comprises 28 km of high quality dual carriageway built to motorway standard, with a single carriageway link to the main road at Birdhill and the upgrading of 10 km of the Nenagh bypass to dual carriageway standard. The new road will link the Limerick Southern Ring Road with the existing Nenagh bypass. There will be interchanges on the route at four locations, namely, Newport Road, Birdhill, Carrigatogher and Thurles Road. The road will be opened as Motorway standard.

The road is expected to open to traffic in December (2009).

(ET Ref:94022)

Limerick Tunnel Summer 2010 (not September 2010 so)
Nenagh - Limerick December 2009

Tech3 · 21-08-2009 9:03pm

December deadline for Limerick-Nenagh motorway

Great news for motorists is that the €174 million Limerick to Nenagh motorway is expected to open in December.

Schedule date for completion of the project was May, but because of delays in the project, the deadline had to be rescheduled.

The works are being undertaken by construction company Bother Hibernian and the project is being monitored by engineers RPS Scetaroute JV.

They revealed that they are now confident that the new road will open will be ready by the December deadline, as the works are nearly finished.

It was also revealed that the road was originally planned to proceed as a high quality dual carriageway, was redesignated as a motorway.

The scheme was understood to be held up because of funding difficulties and the problems over payments owed to subcontractors.

It is also understood that Bothar Hibernian incurred a penalty for not meeting the May deadline.

The contractors also experienced difficulties as construction of part of the road had to run through deep and wet bog land close to Annaholty, and this was a contributory factor to the delay.

Limerick County Council is the lead local authority in the project, and a spokesman pointed out that most of the road surfacing works are complete and there is still some works to be done in the bog land. Crash barriers will then be erected.

The 28 km Limerick-Nenagh motorway will travel over bog land between Lisnagry and Birdhill and it will run close to Birdhill school and Ballinahinch village, with a viaduct crossing the Kilmastulla river and Limerick to Ballybrophy railway line at Killalane, Ballinahinch, before crossing the existing Limerick to Nenagh road at Ballywilliam.

The road will link the Limerick Southern Ring Road with the existing Nenagh bypass. There will be interchanges at Annacotty, Birdhill, Carrigatoher and linking the Nenagh to Thurles road to the motorway.

When the Nenagh to Castetown section opens next year, motorists will be able to drive from Limerick to Naas by motorway.

That puts all the rumors to bed. I put a nice font size to make sure it gets done this year.

Chris_533976 · 21-08-2009 9:41pm

It was also revealed that the road was originally planned to proceed as a high quality dual carriageway, was redesignated as a motorway.

What an absolute revelation and a major reveal for the newspaper

M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

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