Phase 2 of Ashbourne Bypass open 24 May 2006

Victor

http://www.n2finglasashbourne.ie/

It may not be the prettiest of websites, but it is informative.

NavanJunction1

Cool. No more Dunshaughlin for me..

Just looking at the map, pity they wouldn't extend it to Navan, without any tolls as well..

nordydan

NavanJunction1 wrote:

Cool. No more Dunshaughlin for me..

Just looking at the map, pity they wouldn't extend it to Navan, without any tolls as well..

Why would the extend the N2 to Navan?? Thats the N3. I think you have been sitting in traffic for too long!

europerson

That's great: it will take all that back-tracking out of it!

NavanJunction1

nordydan wrote:

Why would the extend the N2 to Navan?? Thats the N3.

Exactly - the M3 will have 2 tolls, the N2 none.

I jest but tolling arrangements are really inconsistant in Meath. The N2 was in line for tolling as well..

So Ashbourne has none, but Kells has 2... There's using your head for you..

nordydan

How much are the two along the M3 though? I have heard that the N4 to Kilbegggan will still be a more expensive road.

NavanJunction1

nordydan wrote:

How much are the two along the M3 though? I have heard that the N4 to Kilbegggan will still be a more expensive road.

At 2001 prices the NRA site said €1.06 per passage. Not unreasonable to put that on a par with the M50's €1.80 now, which would be more expensive than Kilcock. Must check it out to see if they have updated it. They were talking about extending the lifetime of the tolls so it may have been reduced recently..

Victor

nordydan wrote:

Why would the extend the N2 to Navan?? Thats the N3. I think you have been sitting in traffic for too long!

Why does Meath need 4 motorway quality roads (M1, N2, N/M3, M4) into Dublin?

And they won't build a railway. :rolleyes:

nordydan

Victor wrote:

Why does Meath need 4 motorway quality roads (M1, N2, N/M3, M4) into Dublin?

And they won't build a railway. :rolleyes:

You sit around for decades waiting for a motorway then four come along at once. After the railways are shut of course..

bazzer06

Victor wrote:

Why does Meath need 4 motorway quality roads (M1, N2, N/M3, M4) into Dublin?

And they won't build a railway. :rolleyes:

I think with the road situation in Meath, you have to look at the bigger picture.
The M1 is after all the main route to Belfast, the M3 will hopefully eventually form a decent direct route to Derry, and the M4/N6 to Sligo and Galway, and the west in general. Not sure if the same case could be made for the N2 though.

The fact is, these important routes just happen to run through Meath!

Navan Junction

bazzer06 wrote:

the M3 will hopefully eventually form a decent direct route to Derry.. Not sure if the same case could be made for the N2 though.

Yes but if you look at the map, the N2 could combine with N3 from Navan onwards.

In fairness, they are really close and the tolling arrangements are obscene.

What could you do with the savings??

Upgrade Navan Drogheda of course and reopen Navan Clonsilla.:)

And you'd still have enough to extend the railway to Kells (which will need it soon)

europerson

Navan Junction wrote:

Yes but if you look at the map, the N2 could combine with N3 from Navan onwards.

How would you link Cavan and Monaghan then? How would places like Kells be served? I don't think that plan makes sense.

nordydan

Have to agree with you here, a motorway running down the middle of the N2 and N3 with proper junctioning would have been more cost effective and the best way to ease any traffic congestion is an adequate public transport system. Money could have been used upgrading access roads to these motorways instead

Hobart

nordydan wrote:

Have to agree with you here, a motorway running down the middle of the N2 and N3 with proper junctioning would have been more cost effective and the best way to ease any traffic congestion is an adequate public transport system. Money could have been used upgrading access roads to these motorways instead

Since when did common sense play a part when it comes to designing motorways?

Navan Junction

europerson wrote:

How would you link Cavan and Monaghan then? How would places like Kells be served? I don't think that plan makes sense.

I meant Dublin - Ashbourne - Navan - Kells.

You could then use the saving per Kilometre to extend it to Cavan. Maybe.

BTW, the N2 only only runs to Ashbourne so there is no cost to Monaghan etc..

nordydan

Navan Junction wrote:

I meant Dublin - Ashbourne - Navan - Kells.

You could then use the saving per Kilometre to extend it to Cavan. Maybe.

BTW, the N2 only only runs to Ashbourne so there is no cost to Monaghan etc..

I agree, the N2 road to Derry and Monaghan is served by the N33 these days. Better to dual the N33 and rename it the N2, and call the road between ardee and ashbourne the N33. Then a new M3 could be extended as per the above.

Victor

For a start, "the M1" was built too far east. It's Dublin end should have been west of the airport, which would have resulted in a route from Drogheda to the Westlink being several km shorter. However, many of the middle class voters (and developers) in Fingal live along the coast.

MT

That's not a bad idea, Dan. It might also allow them to fix all the incorrect gantries on N2 if it were changed to N33... and pigs will fly of course.:rolleyes:

I think there could also be resistance in that an N33 running into Dublin would break the numbering sequence of national primary routes radiating from the city.

MT

Ah now Victor, you're not becoming cynical?

Victor

MT wrote:

Ah now Victor, you're not becoming cynical?

Moi?

icdg

MT wrote:

That's not a bad idea, Dan. It might also allow them to fix all the incorrect gantries on N2 if it were changed to N33... and pigs will fly of course.:rolleyes:

I think there could also be resistance in that an N33 running into Dublin would break the numbering sequence of national primary routes radiating from the city.

Doesn't stop the N81, though that's of course a national secondary route. N2 traffic for north of Ashbourne is encouraged to use the current N33 anyway to avoid Slane, so making it the official route to Derry might be worthwile.

nordydan

MT wrote:

That's not a bad idea, Dan. It might also allow them to fix all the incorrect gantries on N2 if it were changed to N33... and pigs will fly of course.:rolleyes:

I think there could also be resistance in that an N33 running into Dublin would break the numbering sequence of national primary routes radiating from the city.

Does it?

The N5 and N6 branch off the N4/M4, the N8 and N9 (and N10) branch off the M7/N7, so why not the N2 branching off the N1/M1? Its a quicker road to Dublin, true people in Slane will still use the old road but the traffic volumes between the end of the ashbourne bypass and slane will be greatly reduced if the through traffic is removed. Upgrading the current N33 would not be difficult at all, there is acres of room on either side to do so.
The new N33 could be signposted for Slane/Ashbourne, similar to the N81. It would be demoted to a national secondary route by name but would be of higher quality of course.

mysterious

nordydan wrote:

Does it?

The N5 and N6 branch off the N4/M4, the N8 and N9 (and N10) branch off the M7/N7, so why not the N2 branching off the N1/M1? Its a quicker road to Dublin, true people in Slane will still use the old road but the traffic volumes between the end of the ashbourne bypass and slane will be greatly reduced if the through traffic is removed. Upgrading the current N33 would not be difficult at all, there is acres of room on either side to do so.
The new N33 could be signposted for Slane/Ashbourne, similar to the N81. It would be demoted to a national secondary route by name but would be of higher quality of course.

Well that is already the plan, I'm not to sure where i got the information from, I think It was on the NRA website. The fingal coco had being planning the bypass for years it will act as a relief road and not just removing the existing N2 traffic.When the M1 was being built the N33 was built purposly to allow the N2 to access the M1 (as it is a significant road) even though it's not officially seen as an alternate route. There is already a noticable impact on traffic around Ardee. The N2 traffic at Ardee has dropped from just under 9,000 A.A.D.T prior to the new N33, to now just 6,000 A.A.DT The Ashbourne bypass is another agenda and has been for years, due to the growing population living there, through traffic has dropped(n2 traffic) but the town has quadrupled in the last 10 years alone.

The bypass was part of a plan for the Fingal development plan. The NRA has no intention of upgrading the N3 from Slane to Ardee or well at least the forciable future.

In the near future we will probably see The N33 officially for a better word the N2...

nordydan

They are planning a slane bypass and little else as Slane's traffic system is bollocks by any standard. To think the no. 2 (as in N2) road in any country has a one way bridge is embarrasing to be honest. There are a lot of bad bends in that road which would require an expensive redesign. It is clear that it is the plan, sure Derry is signposted from the M1 in brackets.
I would actually rename the 'old' Derry road the N82 and maybe use the N33 as a new outer ring. The N82 could have Derry in brackets signposted but would officially just be a central meath distributor road rather than a national through route.
I know that effectively that is the current arrangement but it would be nice for a formal renumbering. A free flow onto the M1 would also be nice and an eventual upgrade to DC from Ardee but the emyvale section would be a priority (I have no idea as to when it is starting though). When completed the road from Dublin to the border for derry/donegal commuters will be might fine! They are even getting rid of all the bottlenecks further north, aughnacloy and donemana bypasses being the exception. The derry strabane road might need some attention.
I don't ask for much!

Victor

nordydan wrote:

I would actually rename the 'old' Derry road the N82 and maybe use the N33 as a new outer ring.

We know what you mean but the N82 is already in use. I think the next available number is N88 (although there are a few lower numbers available now, but better left alone).

nordydan

Victor wrote:

We know what you mean but the N82 is already in use. I think the next available number is N88 (although there are a few lower numbers available now, but better left alone).

I know the N82 is already in use, but it is quite short it would provide symmetry with the N81 if necessary. The use of the N33 may be better for an extra outer ring road given that the N32 is in use as part of the M50 (sort of).

murphaph

If you were to declassify the N2 from the M50 to the N33 junction then it would have to be a national secondary or regional number you'd assign it as it would be silly to change a national primary number to another national primary number. If the N2 is upgraded from Ashbourne to Ardee with a Slane bypass and some realignments then I'd favour just leaving it as the N2. If nothing was planned then I'd favour a regional number detrunking with the N33 being renumbered to N2.

mysterious

murphaph wrote:

If you were to declassify the N2 from the M50 to the N33 junction then it would have to be a national secondary or regional number you'd assign it as it would be silly to change a national primary number to another national primary number. If the N2 is upgraded from Ashbourne to Ardee with a Slane bypass and some realignments then I'd favour just leaving it as the N2. If nothing was planned then I'd favour a regional number detrunking with the N33 being renumbered to N2.

I can garentee you the N2 will not be upgraded to the level you have stated, nor will the Slane bypass come anytime soon, plus it will probably be just a few mile stretch anyways purely to remove the bottleneck one way bridge which is third world standard... that's it, no more upgrades of the N2

In the T21 plan the route will be upgraded from Ardee to the Border, if you look at the T21 Map you will even see this the North west route Derry/Donegal) is routed from the M1>N33>N2 to the Border, and that is a better option and it will be a lot safer than using the sub standard route from Ashbourne to Ardee...

murphaph

It will be a shocking under use of the recent N2 to Ashbourne to fail to bypass Slane and provide modest upgrades of the road to allow vehicles to take advantage of what's just opened. Otherwise it's just an Ashbourne link which is outrageous IMO.

I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out what a dreadful waste this current N2 upgrade will be if it is only going to serve Ashbourne/Slane traffic.

mysterious

murphaph wrote:

It will be a shocking under use of the recent N2 to Ashbourne to fail to bypass Slane and provide modest upgrades of the road to allow vehicles to take advantage of what's just opened. Otherwise it's just an Ashbourne link which is outrageous IMO.

I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out what a dreadful waste this current N2 upgrade will be if it is only going to serve Ashbourne/Slane traffic.

yep it's awaste to a certain degree, But regards to Ashbourne, it does need every inch of new infastructure it can get...
let's face it the Fingal coco were adamant bout getting this road completed anyhow regardless of what the NRA planned to do with the title of the Derry N2 road. The Road from Ashbourne is in and around 20,000 it's slighty decreased since the new M1 link and twice the figure than Slane a third of the figure for north of Collon?. So there is some logic to this, that should explain your question somewhat.
The fugures show that the Ashbourrne Road does need a major upgrade, no harm in upgrading it to the M50 anyways especially since it being so close to the northen fringe. For the first time they actually built a road based on future predictions, ie having a 6 lane strech for a short spirt:rolleyes:

nordydan

Yeah this road will just serve ashbourne slane and other local towns. I reckon the N2 name change will happen, I believe they extended the N5 to Westport a number of years ago. Likewise the N52 replaced the old N1 south and east of Dundalk.