Article: Ring road will ease congestion - Limerick

thejollyrodger

Ring road will ease congestion

TRAFFIC gridlock in Limerick will be eased significantly from today with the long-awaited opening of the first phase of the city's Southern Ring Road.

The €106m road includes 9.5km of dual carriageway and 3.5km of national primary single carriageway, as well as 4.8km of side roads, three junctions and 13 bridges.

It connects four of the six national roads converging on Limerick - the N20 to Cork, N21 to Killarney/Tralee, N24 to Waterford and N7 to Dublin.

The first phase of the two-phase ring road will ease gridlock in the city by removing some 10,000 vehicles per day. Motorists will save up to 30 minutes at peak time, while the environmental impact on the city will be significant.


At the opening, the chairman of the National Roads Authority, Peter Malone, said the ring road will remove a major bottleneck along one of the country's main arteries.

Eugene HoganThe Irish independent

thejollyrodger

has anyone got a picture of what this looks like and how it ties in with (any) future developments.

Mr E

Its just a regular dual carriageway, with offramps to each of the roads off Childers Road. It starts with the roundabout near the swimming pool in Roxboro, and it will end at Finnegans on the Dublin Road.

I think phase 2 is to connect it to a road which will go underneath the River Shannon and connect to the main road to Shannon.

It'll shave 10 or 15 minutes off my route into work, so I'm looking forward to using it. I think the roundabout in Roxboro will be a huge bottleneck, though. Hopefully, its just temporary and that they will put in a proper feeder road.

WezzyB

I think that they REALLY should have bypassed the Roxboro roundabout its pretty silly with all the flyovers that are on the new dual carriageway and the existing one.

Maybe (hopefully) it won't cause any gridlock on the ring road but it will be a big inconvenience, why do we love roundabouts so much in this country!!!

Was in Limerick this weekend, was driving through from Dublin to Cork saturday and the traffic was really bad all the way from Castletroy to Roxboro and I was in there yesterday for the Hurling match and it was pretty busy again (not surprisingly), At least the new road is going to give the streets of Limerick back to local traffic.

Mr E

I hear that its now OPEN (since 12 or 12:30). Post your opinion here

WezzyB

http://www.limerick-leader.ie/issues/20040529/index.html

thejollyrodger

New ring road to cut Limerick congestion
31/05/2004 - 14:31:34 Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said phase one of the Limerick Southern Ring Road would save motorists almost half-an-hour on the journey from Dublin to Cork and Kerry and boost development in the east and south of the country.

More than 10,000 vehicles will be removed from the streets of Limerick each day after the opening of part of a new ring road around the city today.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said phase one of the Limerick Southern Ring Road would save motorists almost half-an-hour on the journey from Dublin to Cork and Kerry and boost development in the east and south of the country.

The €106m scheme was funded by the Government under the National Development Plan and was partly funded by the European Union.

In addition to the 9.5km dual carriageway, a further 8km of national primary single carriageway and local roads was also opened.

“This road scheme will boost economic development and expand regional development in the west and south,” Mr Brennan said.

“More and improved infrastructure is a cornerstone of future growth.

“Limerick is a vibrant and expanding city and by filtering a large volume of traffic away from the centre of the city, the Southern Ring Road Phase One will have a big impact on alleviating congestion and improving safety in the city.”

Peter Malone, the chairman of the National Roads Authority, said the completion of the road formed an important part of the plan to provide over 190km of motorway or high quality dual carriageway from Dublin to Limerick.

“This year the Authority has allocated over €150m to the N7 in order to advance schemes on this important national primary corridor,” he added.

John Clifford, the chairman of Limerick County Council, said the new road would increase safety in the city.

“The 10,000 vehicles diverting from the city to use the new bypass will include up to 1,000 heavy goods vehicles (trucks) daily, so we’ll immediately have a safer environment for people in the city,” he said.

“The reduction of 10,000 vehicles from city streets means there will also be time savings for local journeys within Limerick and for traffic travelling through Limerick, on to Clare and Galway (N18).”

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/3300427?view=Eircomnet

Brennan to open €106m bypass in Limerick today
From:ireland.com
Monday, 31st May, 2004

Two major new road schemes which will ease traffic congestion in Limerick city are to be opened by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, today.

The new Southern Bypass will link four of the six national roads converging on Limerick - the N20 from Cork; the N21 bringing traffic from Killarney and Tralee; the N24 from Waterford; and the N7 from Dublin.

Built at a cost of €106 million, the bypass is expected to take more than 24,000 vehicles a day from existing national roads - at least 10,000 of which currently travel through the city centre.

When open the new road is expected to reduce a peak hour journey from Annacotty on the N7 Dublin road to Rosbrien on the N20 Cork road, from the current 30 minutes to slightly more than six minutes. The road from Rosbrien to Annacotty includes 9.5 km of dual carriageway, 3.5 km of national primary single carriageway as well as 4.8 km of side roads, three junctions and 13 bridges.

The second road scheme, the upgrading of the N7 Parkway to four lanes between the Parkway roundabout and the Plassey road junction, is expected to end one of the city's most notorious bottlenecks. Some 35,000 vehicles a day use this 1 km stretch of road and the extra lanes, working in tandem with the opening of the bypass, are expected to reduce drive times and ease congestion considerably.

Taken together the improvements will greatly speed access of traffic into the city from the Dublin road, while at the same time allowing traffic headed for the mid- and south-west to skirt the city cutting at least 30 minutes off journey times.

The schemes were significant enough for the National Roads Authority (NRA) to comment that driving in the mid-west will "never be the same again".

The Southern Bypass represents phase one of a complete ring road around Limerick city. Phase two is a new 10 km dual carriageway including a 900-metre tunnel under the Shannon, linking up with the N18 and the Ennis to Galway road through Co Clare. A contract for phase two is expected to be awarded in 2005.

The completion of the scheme is part of the NRA's strategic plan to complete more than 190 km of motorway/dual carriageway be- tween Dublin and Limerick. Some €150 million is to be spent on schemes on the N7 this year.

The N7 is one of the busiest national primary routes in the country carrying up to 60,000 vehicles per day, one-fifth of which are commercial, further highlighting the route's strategic importance to the economy of the mid-west.

When the Monasterevin bypass opens later this year a continuous motorway/dual carriageway will stretch from Dundalk, Co Louth, to south of Portlaoise on the M7, a distance of 159 km.

Work will also begin this year on the construction of new interchanges and a new lane in each direction on the N7 between Rathcoole and the Naas bypass motorway.

According to the chairman of the NRA, Mr Peter Malone, today's opening of new roads in Limerick will provide "efficient, uninterrupted travel past what was a major bottleneck on the network, reducing journey times.

"At a local level the city will benefit socially, commercially and environmentally from the elimination of through traffic of about 10,000 vehicles daily."

There is still doubt, however, about the overall completion date for the motorway programme between Dublin and Limerick. The Minister, Mr Brennan, has asked the NRA to prioritise the building of the motorways to Cork and Galway, a move which could see the Limerick motorway waiting until after 2008 to be completed.

Andrew Duffy

From the EIS:

A grade-separated interchange will be provided in the townland of Rossbrien. This will be constructed where the Limerick Southern Ring Road Phases I and II join with the N20 Adare to Limerick scheme. All traffic movements are provided with the exception of (i) N20/N21 Cork and Kerry to Childers Road and (ii) LSRR Phase I to Childers Road. Public lighting will be provided along the length of the slip roads and loops associated with this interchange.

Is that the roundabout mentioned above?

Mr E

Took the road into work this morning (started journey at 8:35). 13 minutes instead of the usual 25. I only had to stop the car in one place (the finnegans roundabout). No bottlenecks that I could see (there was only one car ahead of me at finnegans). There is only one exit between Finnegans and Roxboro, and thats at Morrissons (Tipp/Waterford road).

A friend of mine told me that Childers Road was still backed up this morning (including lorries). Should ease over the next few days when they realise that the new road is open.

thejollyrodger

can anyone provide a map/drawing of the new road and the next phase of construction?

WezzyB

This is the proposed route for the Second Phase:

http://www.midwestroads.ie/LSSR2/Route.htm

I think they have decided to go under the Shannon.

I don't have any idea where you could get a map of the new road, maybe it'll be released on the NRA website soon....

thejollyrodger

thanks WezzyB, I think that they are going under the Shannon,


NRA have published the following gif of the newly constructed phase one.


if you cant view it, click on
http://www.angelfire.com/freak2/jollyrodger/index.html

Phase two Project Schedule:
Sceideal an Tionscnaimh:


The Project Team must submit the EIS, CPO to An Bord Pleanála for approval, prepare contract documents and invite tenders for design & build.

Schedule Date
Oral Hearing / Decision (An Bord Pleanála) 2004 Design & Build tender process 2004/2005



Construction Phase
Schedule Date
Construction start 2006
Construction finish 2009

I hope no one is in any particular hurry:rolleyes:

trap4

I travelled the new bypass yesterday at about 7pm.

Firstly I drove from Limerick city centre out to Annacotty via the Parkway and though traffic was noticeably lighter at that time.

Then the trip from the Annacotty roundabout to the Rosbrien roundabout took me 6 minutes and I measured it at 5.6 miles.

I can't remember ever doing that journey in less than 26 minutes on the old road and I think it will save 30-40 minutes most times.

Makes a day trip to Killaloe all the more attractive for those of us in west Limerick.

[The photo's pretty pointless but might as well throw it in anyway. NOTE: I have both hands firmly on the wheel while snapping! ]


~~~~~~~~~~
-Jim.
http://eirepreneur.blogs.com

Victor

Press release and map

http://www.nra.ie/News/DownloadableDocumentation/d1230.PDF

Andrew Duffy

Originally posted by WezzyB
This is the proposed route for the Second Phase:

http://www.midwestroads.ie/LSSR2/Route.htm

Just for the record, that map shows Phase I and another existing road; phase II is here:

http://www.midwestroads.ie/LSSR2/Route%20Selection.htm

mike65

I was on the new section yesterday - I'm sure they hav'nt installed signs for the slip road at the N24 exit when going West to East. Also when I exited onto the N24 from the East (yes on the way back!) you reach the top of the exit road and have to come to a halt as its a bog-standard T-junction with poor visibility. :mad:

Whats wrong with a roundabount if they can be arsed to fund a swept exit lane going left and flyover turn going right (towards Limerick).?

Mike.