Monasterevin bypass opening

FinoBlad

I heard they are months ahead of schedule and could be open in June if they wanted?

Anybody with more defenite info?

Genghis

There are certainly large tracts of it paved, and I think most if not all of the bridges are in place. However, it is difficult to judge - Kildare appeared to be in a similar condition to me for months before it opened, it depends on what part of the road you can't see really.

I'd be optimistic that it opens before Spring 2005 (iirc its completion date), but June is maybe a little optimistic. Lets face it, with major elections in the offing for June, if it could be open by then, I'd say it would be open by then and we'd all know about it by now.

FinoBlad

I was since talking to a guy that works on it. He said it will be ready for opening by september.

Genghis

Out of curiosity I had a look at this project at a number of places along te route. As far as I can see the entire route is surfaced, the bridges and off-ramps are in place, and much of the work (resurfacing, etc) around the new bridges and the site access points is done. As far as I can see there is perhaps some spot work, then painting, signage and barriers to be done. September is a good prediction, methinks.

laoisfan

as far as i know the kildare bypass was more or less finished 3 months (apart from work that had to be done to facilitate the actual opening) before it opened.

i suspect mono is going to be the same..

Genghis

I don't know about that laoisfan. A lot of the road was certainly complete 3 months before opening, but crucially, the alignment of the existing M7 to the new M7, including the resurface of the N7 Curagh / Kildare dual carriageway took close to 3 months and was done last.

Also, I went for a run along the Kildare by-pass 1 week before it opened, and the signage was only going up then, along with various patch-jobs along the length of the road. I think they were actually flat-out to meet the 8th December deadline in the end.

Victor

http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/SchemeActivity-2004/ says quarter 4 of 2004

Link http://www.kildare.ie/countycouncil/Roads/RoadSchemes/index.asp#HeathMayfield

Map (581 KB) http://www.kildare.ie/countycouncil/Roads/RoadSchemes/map.asp

Genghis

Thats interesting Victor, an official confirmation that the road will open before it is scheduled to.

FinoBlad

great links victor thanks

jank

Heard this was open from a friend of mine!? is this true

Find it hard to believe that there wasnt a load of publicity about it with the forthcoming election!

Tommy Vercetti

false!

WezzyB

Please read previous thread on the same subject. Basically it is ahead of schedule and will be open by Q3 2004 Earliest or Q1 2005 Latest (These are my guesses)

sliabh

I have heard that the N7 Monasterevin bypass is to open on Monday November the 8th.

I am trying to find out if it will be open to traffic from the weekend before. This is likely if Monday will just be the offiicial politician-cuts-the-ribbon opening. Or will the Monday be the first time cars are allowed down the road?

I have a trip to make to Limerick and I would put it off by a week if I thought the new road was ready.

loyatemu

going through Monasterevin will delay you by 20 mins maybe
waiting a week will delay you by a week!

sliabh

loyatemu wrote:

going through Monasterevin will delay you by 20 mins maybe
waiting a week will delay you by a week!

Have you tried it on a Friday evening recently? Make the wrong lane choice going south (i.e. don't make it to the slip road to the bridge and the back roads around the village) and you can be stuck for up to an hour!

And my business in Limerick is not that urgent. However I really, really hate traffic jams. It's almost irrational how much they annoy me.

enterprise

sliabh wrote:

And my business in Limerick is not that urgent. However I really, really hate traffic jams. It's almost irrational how much they annoy me.

Then "its time to take to train" to use an old Iarnrod Eireann slogan!

sliabh

enterprise wrote:

Then "its time to take to train" to use an old Iarnrod Eireann slogan!

With surfboard and mountain bike? No thanks!

narommy

Hope it opens up asap. I'm going down that weekend too.

Going up the slip and down the back roads before the town is good alrite.

On monday on the way up the queue seemed to start at the Montague hotel just after the portlaoise bypass. I was just wondering if that was the queue cos I turned off for portarlington and then went to monasterevin that way. Great job!! From start on Portlaoise bypass to Naas in an hour by 7.30. I hate traffic too so I always opt for my own detours the minute I see traffic. Then i'm wondering if i would have been better to wait in the traffic.

The opening up of Bypasses also brings a tear to my eye. What happens to my detours once the road opens. The memories associated with them are great. the satisfaction

I found an excellent way around kildare town on the way up about two months before that bypass opens and then it became obsolete.

Another thng is that you are then talking to people about the new road and they're saying that it's so great etc cos they save half hour or more and you are disappointed cos it's only saving 10 minutes at on what it would normally take.(but you have alot less hassle and a smoother drive.

enterprise

sliabh wrote:

With surfboard and mountain bike? No thanks!

Simple: put those in the Guards van!

vinnyfitz

These days the official and actual opening seems to be the same - at least that's what happened with the Ashford/Rathnew bypass on the N11 a few weeks ago. Nobody else got to enjoy it before Seamie did.

Bogger77

sliabh wrote:

I have heard that the N7 Monasterevin bypass is to open on Monday November the 8th.

I am trying to find out if it will be open to traffic from the weekend before. This is likely if Monday will just be the offiicial politician-cuts-the-ribbon opening. Or will the Monday be the first time cars are allowed down the road?

I have a trip to make to Limerick and I would put it off by a week if I thought the new road was ready.

I suggest the following.
from Dublin,
M4 as far as Maynooth, head up the off-ramp, take 2nd exit (marked Nass/clane) from roundabout, Turn right at the Road junction at Barbarstown Castle/Straffan. Head through Clane take Road for Prosperous, keep on that road until you pass Derrinturn, Take road to Left for Edenderry. From Edenderry head to Tuallmore (straight tru town) take the N52 towards Birr and stay on N52 until you reach Nenagh. Back roads, but might be faster than stuck on M7.

Bogger77

enterprise wrote:

Simple: put those in the Guards van!

paying extra for cycle, and prob freight for the board

Genghis

I wouldn't expect the road to open before Monday.

Would you not head off at (say) 7am on Saturday. You would be in Limerick in well under 2 hours from Dublin that way.

sliabh

[outrage]There is no such time as 7am on a Saturday[/outrage]

Excepting that it is approched from being up real late on a Friday night

LFCFan

even with clear roads you'd be pushed to make it in 2 hours, never mind well under it, unless of course speed limits are a foreign concept

Pataman

Genghis wrote:

I wouldn't expect the road to open before Monday.

Would you not head off at (say) 7am on Saturday. You would be in Limerick in well under 2 hours from Dublin that way.

NOT a hope. I go to Tipperary once a week and it is 2.5 hours from the m50 at least. Roll on the bypass.

woody

sliabh wrote:

Have you tried it on a Friday evening recently? Make the wrong lane choice going south (i.e. don't make it to the slip road to the bridge and the back roads around the village) and you can be stuck for up to an hour!

And my business in Limerick is not that urgent. However I really, really hate traffic jams. It's almost irrational how much they annoy me.

That Happened to me and had to go down some real bad roads

enterprise

Bogger77 wrote:

paying extra for cycle, and prob freight for the board

Yeah pay a small extra fare for the bike. Surf board should be ok - seen plently on trains in my life time.

LFCFan

I'd rather pay €15 for Petrol and have some comfort in my own Car with my own music and get exactly where I want to go then pay €45 and not even be gauranteed a seat on an overcrowded train. It's hard to believe the prices they charge for what can only be described as a poxy service. I am all for rail travel, but not for the standard that exists today. Roll on the Bypass!

stiofanD

Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this, but I find a project finishing a year ahead of schedule almost as bad as one that finishes a year behind schedule. I mean what sort of estimating process are they using ? Or did they deliberately inflate their estimates in the hopes of a PR coup when the road was finished?

Surely the goal should be to have realistic estimates that produce a finish date that we can all have a reasonable amount of confidence in. I work in software development which can be notoriously difficult to estimate but serious questions would be asked if our estimation process was as poor as the construction firms.

According to the NRA though "The contractors just got on with it. They had good weather all last summer and they got the job done,"... so they compressed 52 weeks work into nothing because of 3 months reasonable weather? hmmm..... :rolleyes:

Bogger77

stiofanD wrote:

Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this, but I find a project finishing a year ahead of schedule almost as bad as one that finishes a year behind schedule. I mean what sort of estimating process are they using ?

I've almost got sympathy for the NRA, damned when they're late, Damned when they're early I know, just to keep the cranks happy, we'll close the road until next year. Happy??


Estimates are just that, a educated guess. Good dry weather when building roads through the terrain round that area meant they weren't using pumps to stop the cuttings from flooding

stiofanD

Hey, I'm as happy as the next guy that I'll never see Monasterevin again, I'd just like to see the NRA getting their estimated finish date within 20% of the actual date. I'm sure the construction company that did the actual work had a pretty good idea when they'd finish, otherwise it'd be fairly difficult to manage their resources effectively.

LFCFan

was it really a year early though? Is it not just a year earlier than the second estimate (after the delays to the Kildare Bypass because of Snails)?

Flukey

One question: now that the Monastarevin bypass has opened, as always happens in these situations, where will the bottleneck be pushed on to?

stiofanD

Mountrath for Limerick traffic. Probably Abbeyleix for Cork Traffic

narommy

It splits on the portlaoise bypass so traffic shouldn't be bad

Also i heard that the contractors will save money in insurance for the site if finished early.

Also the design built allows them to get on with it rather than going back to the NRA for every little detail.

Also both conttractors have a good track record. Roadbridge brought in the kildare bypass early. Sisk brought in Celbridge early. Granted the weather does help matters.


Did any body see the article in indo over weekend where spanish guys on M4 motor way saying that Ireland is paying way over the odds for asthetic details. Fancy bridges and same colour concrete???????

jlang

The year ahead of schedule is a bit misleading in terms of the work - basically some of the work could only be done (easily) in the summer. They made excellent progress this summer and got it all done meaning the motorway could be finished and opened a few months later. If they hadn't, they would have had to leave that work till next summer, with the opening probably a couple of months after. The fact that the last couple of openings Ashford/Rathnew, Cashel etc all said pretty much the same leads me to believe them rather than think of a conspiracy.

Now if they start saying things will take 5 years and then opening them 3 years early, I'd be a lot more suspicious.

narommy

Yeah. I think that most of the road was laid nearly a year ago. Which helped them to build the bridges sooner/faster

narommy

From saturday's indo.

Minute details adding millions to construction costs, expert warns


IRELAND's obsession with the visual detail of major infrastructural works is increasing the building cost, a conference was told yesterday.

The concrete along miles of a new motorway, for example, must be a uniform colour - and the country is prepared to pay for it.

Ireland's tendering process is cumbersome, drawn-out and expensive, with the time between publication of tender documents and work beginning four times that of Spain.

Antonio De Santiago Perals, chief executive of Eurolink Motorway Operation, which is building the M4 Kilcock to Kinnegad motorway, told the Society of Chartered Surveyors that construction costs in Ireland were up to 40pc more expensive than in Spain.

Eurolink, he said, had built a 108km motorway in Canada at a cost of €378m, and a 98km carriageway in Madrid costing €220m, but the cost of the 37.2km M4 here in Ireland would be €300m by the project's end.

It was important to remember, he said, that on the Canadian motorway, which cost just €78m more than the M4, construction was forced to stop for four months a year because of snow. Construction costs were also more expensive here.

"In Ireland people think about the colour of the concrete so your supplier needs to get the concrete from the same quarry. Is it worth it?" he asked. "I'm saying it's a fact that the construction is much more expensive in Ireland than in Spain."

And he said that seeking planning permission was time consuming and complicated, with frequent requests for additional information. Meanwhile, the conference was also told that the compulsory purchase order process needed to be changed to make it more "user-friendly". It was recommended an agency with responsibility for CPOs be set up to streamline the process.

Paul Melia

parsi

"In Ireland people think about the colour of the concrete so your supplier needs to get the concrete from the same quarry. Is it worth it?" he asked. "I'm saying it's a fact that the construction is much more expensive in Ireland than in Spain."


A lot of it is to do with public perception - someone sees a flyover thats cast with differing coloured batches and they think "hmm... that looks patchy, must be dangerous" Same story in the Lee Tunnel - every drop of water is perceived as being the forebearer of a disatrous catastrophic flood...

Greenman

I saw the opening of the Monasterevin Bypass on the TV and maybe I've got it wrong but the central barrier looks like metal giders stuck into the ground and the metal wire strung between the upright girders!!!
Could someone clear this up as I feel if you ploughed into this barrier you'd be dioomed in comparsion to the continuous metal barrier rail that you would either bounce or skim against it!!!
Tell me I wrong about their central barrier effort.
I look forward to a reply or two!!!

sliabh

I am going down the road tomorrow, so I will be sure then, but from the publicity pictures I have seen the barrier design is pretty much the same as has been introduced on all the other motorways in the state in the last year. And as the nice man from the NRA was saying during the week, these meet the EU standards for such things.

From an Engineers standpoint (and as far as I know I am one :-) they will have comporable strength to the older heavier ones. This is because the impact force can be distributed along the length of the cable (tens of metres) and the vertical posts along that length. The older design barriers were bolted/riveted together so their lateral strength would be limited to the length of that section of barrier (a few metres). You were/are dependent primarily on the strength of the vertical posts right where the impact would occur.

Now I am not involved in their design so I am open to correction on this.

pclive

Bikers refer to these new barriers as "cheese graters" for obvious reasons

sliabh

pclive wrote:

Bikers refer to these new barriers as "cheese graters" for obvious reasons

Personally I can't see what the big problem is for bikers (not being smart/sarcastic or anything). What exactly is the gripe?

Crossley

I believe there are two issues for motorcyclists. Firstly, unlike traditional ARMCO barrier the stanchions which support the wire rope are completely exposed and there is ample opportunity for a wayward rider to become impaled. Secondly if he misses the stanchion there's the already mentioned human cheesecutter analogy.

For picture of post installation :-
http://www.brifen.co.uk/pictures/pages/204_jpg.htm

For more info see http://www.fema.nl/vangrail/ and http://www.brifen.co.uk

sliabh

So, essentially the concern is that these offer a change of concentrating the impact energy at a point vs over a surface?

Crossley wrote:

Secondly if he misses the stanchion there's the already mentioned human cheesecutter analogy.

The wires seem pretty close together for this to happen. Is this something that has been observed in the past?

narommy

http://www.brifen.co.uk/pictures/pages/223_jpg.htm

Start at this pic and then click next. It's interesting.

There is some amount of different types of barriers.


Edit- www.brifen.co.uk also has vidoes of the tests and the history of the system

sliabh

I liked this one for the camel crossing
Though considering the road location did they need a barrier?

On the cheese cutter thing, I can see how there can be a signifcant cut in by the ropes in a vehicle. But that is largely going to be due to the much larger inertia of a car/van/truck. That said the injuries to a biker will be nasty as the impact has to be distributed over a smaller area than with a "traditional" barrier. But I doubt they will be penatrating "cheesecutter" ones.

narommy

http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/moto/wire-rope/

Another interestin link form down under.

loyatemu

armco barriers are designed for the vertical posts to collapse and absorb the energy of the crash while redirecting you back onto the road

not sure about these cable barriers.

narommy

loyatemu wrote:

armco barriers are designed for the vertical posts to collapse and absorb the energy of the crash while redirecting you back onto the road

not sure about these cable barriers.

Lookinng at the Briffen site above it looks like that's exactly what the wire rope version do.