M6/4 Motorway Galway to Dublin (for discussing completed sections)

spacetweek · 30-01-2009 3:52pm

kaizersoze wrote: »

They're working on the deck atm but still alot to do. The section now in place just spans the island and half the river channel. It still has to be connected to the banks on both sides. That can't begin till after the 1st of April due to the work embargo by the regional fisheries board.
This is the most recent picture I have.

Lovely picture.

KevR · 01-02-2009 2:45pm

KevR wrote: »

There's a crane parked beside the bridge foundations. Maybe a sign that they will start work on putting the bridge in soon?

Can see the crane in this picture and you can see that the flood has almost been pumped dry. Click for full size image

I passed by J19 again today and they have a small bit of progress made on erecting the central pillars for the N18 overbridge. Didn't have my camera with me so wasn't able to get a photograph. Might be able to get one next weekend though.

Also, I travelled to Dublin by train on Thursday. Where the M6 (Galway-Ballinalsoe section) crosses the Galway-Dublin railway line West of Athenry the underbridge is not yet in place.

However, there were a couple of railway crossing points on the Ballinasloe-Athlone section of the M6 and the underbridges were in place at both of those locations. Possibly an indication that this section will open before the Galway-Ballinasloe section..

Carawaystick · 01-02-2009 10:59pm

KevR wrote: »

However, there were a couple of railway crossing points on the Ballinasloe-Athlone section of the M6 and the underbridges were in place at both of those locations. Possibly an indication that this section will open before the Galway-Ballinasloe section..

Yeah, the Announcement last week by the NRA said Athlone to Balinasloe would open this year.

Chris_533976 · 01-02-2009 11:01pm

Galway to Ballinasloe is scheduled on the contractors website for 4th Jan 2010 AFAIK. I read it here somewhere.

Translation: If the weather is ok and all goes well, it'll be open for Christmas.

All of Galway - Dublin as motorway by Christmas 2009? Possible.

01-02-2009 11:05pm

Athlone to Ballinasloe is looking good for opening late summer 2009, but I would imagine it'll open when the Ballinasloe bypass section is ready.

BluntGuy · 01-02-2009 11:07pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Galway to Ballinasloe is scheduled on the contractors website for 4th Jan 2010 AFAIK. I read it here somewhere.

Translation: If the weather is ok and all goes well, it'll be open for Christmas.

All of Galway - Dublin as motorway by Christmas 2009? Possible.

Yeah, methinks if they plough into it they'll have it done in December.

However, me also thinks the NRA will want to save as much stuff as possible for opening in 2010 so it looks like they're doing a good job that year. Especially considering the fact that I don't think anything (well perhaps PPP) will be going ahead that year.

Then in 2011... nada.

Gort-Crusheen was originally scheduled for a 2011 opening but they moved it forward into 2010.

Amtmann · 01-02-2009 11:55pm

The northward 'bump' in the M6's route around Athlone is very annoying to look at, and I'm sure it'll add an extra ten minutes to the journey between Galway and Dublin when it's done. Pity they didn't go straight from Moate to Ballinasloe and provide a simple link from Athlone to the new M6 rather than contorting the entire motorway.

L1011 · 02-02-2009 12:35am

Furet wrote: »

The northward 'bump' in the M6's route around Athlone is very annoying to look at, and I'm sure it'll add an extra ten minutes to the journey between Galway and Dublin when it's done. Pity they didn't go straight from Moate to Ballinasloe and provide a simple link from Athlone to the new M6 rather than contorting the entire motorway.

I'd guess it was a cost decision more than anything - why build another road when theres a 20 year old scheme they can piggyback....

My new AA mapbook (of Europe) has the routes for all the roads marked on it (and the C-M stretch of the M8, the current M6 and the Carlow Bypass on it as open but dualler) and ALL the routes look a bit contrived on it.

KevR · 02-02-2009 12:59am

Deleted User wrote: »

Athlone to Ballinasloe is looking good for opening late summer 2009, but I would imagine it'll open when the Ballinasloe bypass section is ready.

That's what I'm thinking aswell. The Ballinasloe-Athlone section does look like it will be ready for opening ahead of the Galway-Ballinasloe section. But if they open one before the other it might just result in complicated tie-in work when the other scheme opens. So will they delay opening the B-A section until the G-B is ready and open both together avoiding any messy tie-in work?

Either way I can see the full Galway-Dublin motorway being done by the end of the year.

BluntGuy · 02-02-2009 1:03am

I'd like to see it all opening at once. But if Athlone-Ballinasloe is ready before G-B, then of course I'd like to see it open. Not point letting a superior road just sit there.

Of course, if G-B is finished beforehand it's a different issue because the tie-in becomes quite messy as you said.

serfboard · 02-02-2009 5:11pm

KevR wrote: »

So will they delay opening the B-A section until the G-B is ready and open both together avoiding any messy tie-in work?

I don't see why they would need to, depending on how cleverly it is being done. For instance, the tie-in at Kilbeggan was well done with the contractor building the junction and just routing the traffic off it. All the A->K contractor had to do was tie-in their part. If somebody was thinking, then A->B could easily open before G->B.

02-02-2009 5:34pm

serfboard wrote: »

I don't see why they would need to, depending on how cleverly it is being done. For instance, the tie-in at Kilbeggan was well done with the contractor building the junction and just routing the traffic off it. All the A->K contractor had to do was tie-in their part. If somebody was thinking, then A->B could easily open before G->B.

Agreed, the tie in would not be a problem, it's the fact that bypassing Ballinasloe would be considered a priority.
Unless the temporary "zig-zag" at the Tuam rd exit west of Athlone (not yet in use) proves to be a real PITA, in which case it'll just be opened asap and traffic continue through Ballinasloe as it does now and hop onto the motorway just east of the town.

Chris_533976 · 02-02-2009 6:58pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Athlone to Ballinasloe is looking good for opening late summer 2009, but I would imagine it'll open when the Ballinasloe bypass section is ready.

AFAIK no, as the Ballinasloe bypass needs the Suck bridge done before it can be bypassed. So as far as I know, the motorway will end a mile short of Ballinasloe for a few months. Should be horrifying for a while, but it'll only be temporary.

GerardKeating · 02-02-2009 8:06pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

AFAIK no, as the Ballinasloe bypass needs the Suck bridge done before it can be bypassed. So as far as I know, the motorway will end a mile short of Ballinasloe for a few months. Should be horrifying for a while, but it'll only be temporary.

No worse than when it ended at Kilcock/Kinnegead/Kilbeggan ???

L1011 · 02-02-2009 8:54pm

GerardKeating wrote: »

No worse than when it ended at Kilcock/Kinnegead/Kilbeggan ???

The longer the motorway before you suddenly hit a town the more pissed off you are to be going through the town, I guess.

GerardKeating · 02-02-2009 9:04pm

MYOB wrote: »

The longer the motorway before you suddenly hit a town the more pissed off you are to be going through the town, I guess.

Depends, when it endeds at Kilcock, they was sometimes a bit of a tailback, but when the end moved to kinnegead, it was less, and little or nothing at killbeggan.

KevR · 03-02-2009 1:51am

serfboard wrote: »

I don't see why they would need to, depending on how cleverly it is being done. For instance, the tie-in at Kilbeggan was well done with the contractor building the junction and just routing the traffic off it. All the A->K contractor had to do was tie-in their part. If somebody was thinking, then A->B could easily open before G->B.

Very true! I had forgotten about the way the 2 schemes which ended in Killbeggan were joined together. Would make so much sense to do the same for Athlone-Ballinasloe and Galway-Ballinasloe.

I was having nightmares of the A-B scheme being somehow fully tied in with the 'old' N6 at Ballinasloe and then the G-B contractors having an annoying job joining their section to the Athlone-Ballinasloe section.

KevR · 06-02-2009 3:20pm

Protests in Athenry about the poor condition of the regional roads around the town because of the M6 construction.

Having driven on them myself recently, I agree completely - the roads around Athenry are in a shocking state. Surfaces are so bad they could definitely be described as dangerous. I'm sure many people have had their cars damaged also from driving on those roads.

N6 Construction Ltd aren't doing a good enough job filling potholes IMO. I know, in April/May, they plan on resurfacing many regional roads (all affected and not just around Athenry) which have been damaged during construction but they need to step up their efforts of filling potholes and patching roads in the meantime.

SECOND ATHENRY ROADS PROTEST IN THREE DAYS ENDS
Fri 6th February 2009

Four roads in Athenry town were blocked for an hour this morning [6/2] as residents, angry over the state of local roads, carried out another protest.
Earlier this week, dozens of protesters gathered at the Ennis Bridge in Athenry to highlight the dangerous and poor conditions of roads as a result of building the new N6.
This morning blocked the road at Cemetery Cross causing diversions, however the protest has now ended and the road is clear again.
A meeting is due to take place at the N6 contruction site next Tuesday between public representatives and Fred Barry of the NRA, to show him the state of the local roads.
Organiser of the protest, Lester McNamara told Galway Bay fm News that the Council has given them nothing but broken promises.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/6452-second-athenry-roads-protest-three-days-ends

kaizersoze · 06-02-2009 6:13pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Athlone to Ballinasloe is looking good for opening late summer 2009, but I would imagine it'll open when the Ballinasloe bypass section is ready.

Thats not going to happen unfortunately. The contractor has been approached about this a few times by Galway CC and Ballinasloe TC. No section of the road (Ballinasloe - Galway) will be opened on it's own. The entire stretch will be opened in one go. That means no early bypass for Ballinasloe.
Looking at the work completed to date around Ballinasloe, there's about a years work remaining on the section from the Easten interchange to the western interchange. That includes the Suck bridge. The western interchange hasn't even been started and no more work will be done on the Suck bridge before April 1st.

The rough timetable atm is:
Athlone - Ballinasloe opening July/August '09
Ballinasloe - Galway opening 9 - 12 months later.

In the mean time traffic will have to leave the motorway at the eastern interchange and head to the existing N6 (via the link road) east of Ballinasloe.

?Cee?view · 06-02-2009 7:00pm

That's really disappointing about the Galway Ballinasloe section. I know nothing about this and I've no reason to dount your knowledge, but is there any way that you could be wrong? If it opens 9 - 12 months after the B to Athlone section wouldn't that be well past the scheduled opening time (Jan '10) which would trigger penalty clauses against the developer and I think would be a pretty unprecedented delay compared to completed Motorway projects of the last few years?

I'm pi**ed off about this. I was telling myself that Christmas 08 would be the last Christmas where the Dublin to Galway drive would only be partially Motorway.

mysterious · 06-02-2009 7:11pm

Well there has been protest on it. Plus this is the longest seciton of road to construct. The weather in galway doesn't help:P

Anyway it's only a few months ffs. Chillax

Limerick and Cork have to wait till dec 2010 till they get their motorway completed. Still going through Mountrath ugh

?Cee?view · 06-02-2009 7:13pm

mysterious wrote: »

Anyway it's only a few months ffs. Chillax

Limerick and Cork have to wait till dec 2010 till they get their motorway completed. Still going through Mountrath ugh

Are you my wife?

She's sick listening to me going on about this. She says the exact same to me regularly and has been for years! Someday (maybe) I'll listen

kaizersoze · 06-02-2009 7:33pm

churchview wrote: »

That's really disappointing about the Galway Ballinasloe section. I know nothing about this and I've no reason to dount your knowledge, but is there any way that you could be wrong? If it opens 9 - 12 months after the B to Athlone section wouldn't that be well past the scheduled opening time (Jan '10) which would trigger penalty clauses against the developer and I think would be a pretty unprecedented delay compared to completed Motorway projects of the last few years?

I'm pi**ed off about this. I was telling myself that Christmas 08 would be the last Christmas where the Dublin to Galway drive would only be partially Motorway.

Originally the Galway to Ballinasloe section was to start construction a year before the Athlone leg, meaning they would both be finished the same time. That didn't happen and both started the same time.
Maybe it will be finished by Jan 2010 but I really can't see it happening.

KevR · 06-02-2009 9:58pm

churchview wrote: »

If it opens 9 - 12 months after the B to Athlone section wouldn't that be well past the scheduled opening time (Jan '10) which would trigger penalty clauses against the developer and I think would be a pretty unprecedented delay compared to completed Motorway projects of the last few years?

On top of penalty clauses, they will be losing out on money from tolls if it opens late. I'm sure they will be doing everything they can to get it open at least on time, if not a bit early. I just don't know though - I'm a little bit disappointed with the progress they've made recently.

The thing about them not being allowed to do anymore work on the Suck Bridge until April is very annoying!

I think they are aiming to have all construction traffic off regional and local roads and instead using the mainline by April/May. Not sure if that's anything to go by for finishing dates.

Carawaystick · 09-02-2009 11:22am

It wouldn't make sense for the ppp people to open the free bypass of Balinasloe, before the tolled section is open really.

veryangryman · 09-02-2009 12:00pm

Unrelated but...

Has anyone ever actually used the tolled exit on the M4 for Enfield? What a waste of space that is? Who in their right mind pays a toll for ~10 miles of Motorway. Ive never seen anyone taking that road

Im sure its a logistics issue but still..

And yes i know the M50 is only 2-3 miles of tolled road. But different planet there to most Motorways....

09-02-2009 12:02pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

It wouldn't make sense for the ppp people to open the free bypass of Balinasloe, before the tolled section is open really.

Yes, showing motorists the "alternative route" in advance would be counter-productive, just like the M4 PPP section.

It just means that the take up will be a bit slower than if the whole road was opened at once.
But, eventually, time concious commuters will drift to using the new road.

GerardKeating · 09-02-2009 2:54pm

veryangryman wrote: »

Unrelated but...

Has anyone ever actually used the tolled exit on the M4 for Enfield? What a waste of space that is? Who in their right mind pays a toll for ~10 miles of Motorway. Ive never seen anyone taking that road

Im sure its a logistics issue but still..

And yes i know the M50 is only 2-3 miles of tolled road. But different planet there to most Motorways....

You and leave at enfield and rejoin within 90 minutes at no cost. I think the whole enfield this was local politics...

Chris_533976 · 09-02-2009 7:12pm

I've said this a few times before but I'll repeat it.

Ballinasloe bypass of the Galway - Ballinasloe scheme requires junction 15 (ballinasloe west) to be finished.

To get from junction 14 (where Ballinasloe - Athlone finishes) to junction 15 requires crossing the River Suck.

To cross the River Suck, one requires a road element called a 'bridge'.

This bridge is under construction, but is the most complicated engineering part of Galway - Ballinasloe and will probably be the last part of the scheme to finish. It also cant be continued until April 2009 due to some agreement with the Fisheries Board (I think).

In any case, it will NOT be ready when Ballinasloe - Athlone is finished.

Therefore no bridge, no junction 15, no Ballinasloe bypass.

So there will be NO bypasss of Ballinasloe until the Galway - Ballinasloe scheme is finished. NO chance, forget it, nada.

IF they get the Suck Bridge done early, which I DOUBT, then they might sectionally open junctions 14 - 15. But with the complexities of the bridge, they probably wont.

Edit: Map if you need MORE convincing.

http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/GalwayCountyCouncil/N6GalwaytoBallinasloe/Map,15488,en.pdf

?Cee?view · 09-02-2009 7:27pm

I've heard the April date mentioned in relation to the bridge as well, but I can't remember where. Apparently the dates when work can't take place are from 1st Oct 08 until 1st April 09.

But, then a google search found these notices on the Waterways Ireland site which seem to indicate that some construction work is going on where the bridge is going (Poolboy) between 29 Jan and 17 Feb 2009.

It doesn't make any sense or am I missing something?

MARINE NOTICE 05/09

RIVER SUCK TO BALLINASLOE

WATERWAYS IRELAND WISHES TO ADVISE ALL MASTERS AND USERS OF THE SHANNON NAVIGATION THAT AS PART OF THE ON-GOING CONSTRUCTION OF THE N6 ROAD INCLUDING THE BALLINASLOE BY-PASS, THE RIVER SUCK NAVIGATION WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO ALL CRAFT EAST OF POOLBOY LOCK, FROM THURS 29TH JAN UNTIL TUES 17TH FEB 2009.
WATERWAYS IRELAND THANKS ITS CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR ON-GOING CO-OPERATION IN THIS MATTER AND REGRETS ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.
MARINE NOTICE NO. 4 IS NOW WITHDRAWN
Charles Lawn
Lt. Cdr. (rtd)
Assistant Inspector of Navigation
23 JAN 2009

Marine Notice 04 /09

RIVER SUCK TO BALLINASLOE

WATERWAYS IRELAND WISHES TO ADVISE ALL MASTERS AND USERS OF THE SHANNON NAVIGATION THAT AS PART OF THE ON-GOING CONSTRUCTION OF THE N6 ROAD INCLUDING THE BALLINASLOE BY-PASS, THE RIVER SUCK NAVIGATION WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO ALL CRAFT EAST OF POOLBOY LOCK, FROM THURS 29TH JAN UNTIL SAT 7TH FEB 2009.
WATERWAYS IRELAND THANKS ITS CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR ON-GOING CO-OPERATION IN THIS MATTER AND REGRETS ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.
Charles Lawn
Lt. Cdr. (rtd)
Assistant Inspector of Navigation
20 JAN 2009

M6/4 Motorway Galway to Dublin (for discussing completed sections)

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