How many new road openings before the next election

westtip

Can anyone predict when the next new road opening will be - with pat the cope or Martin e-voting Cullen cutting the ribbon and smiling smugly into the camera for the 6:1 news cameras telling us he personally built this stretch of road and what a wonderful job he is doing. I would imagine the pressure is on the NRA and its contractors to get as many ribbons cut as possible before next Spring.

When is the next one due, can anyone predict when and where and how many ribbon cuttings will we get before the election?

Traffic

Anyone notice the large number of national development plan 2000-2006 projects have been unveiled as transport 21 projects??

road_high

westtip wrote:

Can anyone predict when the next new road opening will be - with pat the cope or Martin e-voting Cullen cutting the ribbon and smiling smugly into the camera for the 6:1 news cameras telling us he personally built this stretch of road and what a wonderful job he is doing. I would imagine the pressure is on the NRA and its contractors to get as many ribbons cut as possible before next Spring.

When is the next one due, can anyone predict when and where and how many ribbon cuttings will we get before the election?

Fermoy bypass would be next big one I'd reckon. I don't think voters will see through the ribbon charade though.Ennis bypass must be soon too.

The reality is that this road projects are years behind schedule, no matter how much they may gloss it up and say they're ahead of schedule they're not.
We should have made infinitely more progress on the roads than we have- remember they actually cut road funding after the last election.

mysterious

It's Ironic that there were so many small road schemes getting started or finsihed this year.. The more candles on the cake the better! :rolleyes:

Its nearly 2007 and not much inter urban sections have kicked off, bar the N8 Mitchellstown.. It really is a shambles. Moreover, Coming up to the election, they will have to think of something else other than " A lot done more to do"..

Metro, didn't even start in this FF/government how many years now is this going on? M50 was meant to start in 2005? what about the motorway network, THEY PROMISED THAT ALL INTER URBAN ROADS will be finsihed in 2010 at the latest? You could easily write another paragraph of more lies.
There is very little positive I can say considering how much chances they had at it, since the phenomenol amount of money is coming into the country in the last decade. :mad:

mysterious

mfitzy wrote:

Fermoy bypass would be next big one I'd reckon. I don't think voters will see through the ribbon charade though.Ennis bypass must be soon too.

The reality is that this road projects are years behind schedule, no matter how much they may gloss it up and say they're ahead of schedule they're not.
We should have made infinitely more progress on the roads than we have- remember they actually cut road funding after the last election.

If you can remember back the ennis bypass was meant to start way back in 2001/2002.:rolleyes: Fermoy bypass is great but is'nt that tolled.

Chris_533976

Yeah Fermoy bypass is tolled, but they'll still make it huge fanfare.

Unless they hurry up on the Ennis bypass it'll be a close run election thing. Not supposed to be done fully till April/May, although they might open sections of it (the main bypass) before that.

Kinsale Road Interchange in Cork will proboboly have an official opening, even though its been pretty much open for a few weeks now.

road_high

mysterious wrote:

It's Ironic that there were so many small road schemes getting started or finsihed this year.. The more candles on the cake the better! :rolleyes:

Its nearly 2007 and not much inter urban sections have kicked off, bar the N8 Mitchellstown.. It really is a shambles. Moreover, Coming up to the election, they will have to think of something else other than " A lot done more to do"..

Metro, didn't even start in this FF/government how many years now is this going on? M50 was meant to start in 2005? what about the motorway network, THEY PROMISED THAT ALL INTER URBAN ROADS will be finsihed in 2010 at the latest? You could easily write another paragraph of more lies.
There is very little positive I can say considering how much chances they had at it, since the phenomenol amount of money is coming into the country in the last decade. :mad:

If I recall back to early 2000, 2006 was the year being bandied about the whole time as the date for the inter-urbans, with the N9 being the only later one at 2007/8 or something.

It's madness, and the big fuss they make over a crappy little two-lane bypass up in Edgeworthstown a while back. They've had over ten years in office, and all we have to show for it is a handful of major projects and seemingly endless delays and plans.

You could write a book on it in all fairness..

jd

I guess there might be pressure to open one carriageway of the Gorey by pass (similar to what they did with the Rathnew bypass) between Clogh and the north of Gorey

darkman2

The biggest one by far will be the DPT. Can you imagine the hype surrounding its opening. Ive been saying all along how 'coincidental' it is thats its opening has been put off and off and will now happen to open just before the GE. How convienient;)

jkgvfg

They probably don't want the port tunnel opened before the election - what would the press be if it opens and snarls up all the M50 traffic without improving anyplace else? Their best hope would be to open it on July 1st next year when the summer traffic kicks in and have the election over with by September.

The N7 widening opened without much fanfare last week but I did hear murmurs of ahead of schedule here and there. Funnily, the NRA had an estimated completion of Q2 2006 for the last year or soon their website which was missed by 6 weeks. It was an 18 month contract from Nov 2004 which was missed by 2 months. Not as bad as it could have been (though a lot of cosmetic work to be done around the edges if it is to impress the Ryder Cup yanks) and I admit it was a big undertaking to do it while keeping traffic moving but don't claim ahead of schedule.

The voters around Fermoy and Ennis can be impressed come election time if they want but the 80K users of the M50 road works shouldn't be!

mysterious

Even still with the late openings of the Ennis and Fermoy bypass. Those towns have being crying for a bypass for years now! It should of being done 10years ago... Ennis is bloody crazy on friday evenings. anything up to an hour at peak times. It's a joke.

Road deaths still haven't come down.
The Port tunnel is going on how many years now? In all other majors cities in comparison to Dublin, such as Madrid, Copenhagem and Prague all have new ring roads, Metros, first class airports and all within budget and time.

Here: it took 20years for the Port tunnel to become a possibilty, taken 5 years to build if not more and three times over budget:mad: what next a rat get stuck in one of those reported leaks in the tunnel with delays anything up to a year coming of to the election, doh..



Mfitzy, If they stay in power (more than likely) and come up with another Development plan after the relection >> I'm writing a book:D called "F**** Development plan number 3 has not a chance in hell or along those lines!!

I don't have anger issues...

jd

mysterious wrote:

and three times over budget:mad: ...

Is it? linkie please..

mysterious

jd wrote:

Is it? linkie please..

You mean link:) Well it started off at about 352 million? it was nearly double that about two years ago.. When it actually opens it may as well be THREE times... By NRA.com!!:D

With thanks.

jd

mysterious wrote:

You mean link:) Well it started off at about 352 million? it was nearly double that about two years ago.. When it actually opens it may as well be THREE times... By NRA.com!!:D

With thanks.

i dunno where you get the 352 million from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Tunnel

Cost overruns

While it is often claimed that the project is over-budget, this is not actually the case. The tender price at €450m is for construction only while the total project cost is approximately €752m.
In September 2005, it was reported that NMI was launching a claim for an additional €300 million[[3]. The Council has stated that this claim will not be met and that the total project cost remains at €752m.

mysterious

jd wrote:

i dunno where you get the 352 million from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Tunnel

So I'm wrong... BUT it's still crazy. Anyway the figure of 752million is more than likely gone up since the new leaks found in the tunnel a few weeks ago leading to more delays. When it first started or when it was proposed it was around 300million thereabouts. Nearly double then if it makes you "happy" still is redicolous and that's my point.

jd

mysterious wrote:

So I'm wrong... BUT it's still crazy. Anyway the figure of 752million is more than likely gone up since the new leaks found in the tunnel a few weeks ago leading to more delays. When it first started or when it was proposed it was around 300million thereabouts. Nearly double then if it makes you "happy" still is redicolous and that's my point.

The project is delayed, not over budget. And those much overhyped leaks have to be fixed by the sub contractors.
jd

Aidan1

Sorry, quick off topic question, what happened to the 500,000 cubic meters of material removed from the tunnel?

road_high

jd wrote:

The project is delayed, not over budget. And those much overhyped leaks have to be fixed by the sub contractors.
jd

They are not over hyped- why pray tell has the project been continually delayed, with numerous false opening dates that passed- and it's still not open yet?

I don't understand why you would even be bothered defending this project unless you were a FF fan or supporter. Any logical observer of that project would rightly criticise the delivery of the Tunnel too.

mysterious

jd wrote:

The project is delayed, not over budget. And those much overhyped leaks have to be fixed by the sub contractors.
jd

In other European cities they would "easily" have no problem in building a tunnell a equivalent to the Port tunnel with a fraction of the price.. It is over budjget... If it wasn't why is it delayed beyond belief.. It's Pathetic.

mysterious

Aidan1 wrote:

Sorry, quick off topic question, what happened to the 500,000 cubic meters of material removed from the tunnel?

They spat it into Dublin Bay:D I'm not to sure, I think they disposed near the bay at Fairview. I could be terribly wrong on this, as I heard this thousands of years ago when they first proposed the Tunnel. Edit: I meant 5 years ago.:)

Flukey

As is always the case as we get near any kind of election, some projects are speeded up to be finished just before it and some are slowed down a bit to be finished just before it. I saw a very small section of road a few years back, that looked very close to being ready to open. Not looking much different by then, it was officially opened 8 months later, exactly a week before the local elections.

jd

mfitzy wrote:

They are not over hyped- why pray tell has the project been continually delayed, with numerous false opening dates that passed- and it's still not open yet?

I don't understand why you would even be bothered defending this project unless you were a FF fan or supporter. Any logical observer of that project would rightly criticise the delivery of the Tunnel too.

I'm neither-just like the facts to be right. I did say the the project was delayed, but it is not over budget, and those leaks were hyped up by the Indo.

jd

mysterious wrote:

In other European cities they would "easily" have no problem in building a tunnell a equivalent to the Port tunnel with a fraction of the price.. It is over budjget... If it wasn't why is it delayed beyond belief.. It's Pathetic.

What kind of "fraction" were you thinking of?
construction started in 2001, and it was meant to open in 2005, it is about 20 months behind schedule.

mysterious

jd wrote:

What kind of "fraction" were you thinking of?
construction started in 2001, and it was meant to open in 2005, it is about 20 months behind schedule.

I was thinking of "decimals":rolleyes: ...

I'm thinking should even argue this?

Aidan1

Thanks Mysterious

Kashkai

I work in the silly service and my staff of twenty (and me unfortunately), were told by the Minister to catalogue the number of projects completed since FF took office in 1997, the number of projects under construction, and the number of official openings between now and the next election. A bloody waste of a weeks work trawling through old files for figures just to boost FF's profile before the next election.

Maybe its just me, but shouldn't the taxpayer be reimbursed for the salaries of civil servants doing electioneering research for the double FFer's.:mad:

bryanw

mysterious wrote:

In other European cities they would "easily" have no problem in building a tunnell a equivalent to the Port tunnel with a fraction of the price...

Could you give some examples please?

mysterious wrote:

It is over budjget... If it wasn't why is it delayed beyond belief.. It's Pathetic.

The tunnel was originally going to be a single bore tunnel but is now a two bore motorway tunnel. I think somebody has been reading the Irish Independent a little too much... :eek:

westtip

Interesting views and posts on this one, I guess we will see a lot of ribbon cutting with the focus on the positive by the ministers - God knows what they will come up with as a slogan this time round after A lot done a lot more to do - or whatever the correct wording was how about:

Still a long way to go!

bryanw

How about: We're not there yet, but we might get there!

Chris_533976

"Ah sure give us another lash at it"

Kashkai

How about:

"Here's your SSIA, now turn around and bend over"

Never voted in my life and probably never will as they're all a shower of bankers (I always had trouble confusing my b's and w's)

darkman2

I just want to say one thing.......Bertie if your reading this.........


YOU HAD BETTER HAVE THAT TUNNEL FINISHED BEFORE THE NEXT ELECTION!!!!!


...............so we can start on the Eastern Bypass:D

Kashkai

And then we'll have the biggest most expensive man made underground river in the world (what with the leaks and all):D

darkman2

Prosperous Dave wrote:

And then we'll have the biggest most expensive man made underground river in the world (what with the leaks and all):D

Imagine then they could delay the opening of the Eastern Bypass till the next election. I wouldnt be supprised if Bertie has heavys going into the tunnel unpurposely drilling holes just to delay the project that little bit longer!;)

Victor

jkgvfg wrote:

Their best hope would be to open it on July 1st next year when the summer traffic kicks in and have the election over with by September.

Election has to be by June.

Aidan1 wrote:

Sorry, quick off topic question, what happened to the 500,000 cubic meters of material removed from the tunnel?

The rock was used in the manufacture of concrete, not sure about the clay.

darkflower

Originally Posted by Victor
The rock was used in the manufacture of concrete, not sure about the clay.

...used it to mold pots!:D

jkgvfg

Sorry, Victor, I usually accept your wisdom in other arguments but I'm never one to accept I'm wrong!

The dail has to be dissolved within 5 years of first assembly and then an election has to be called within 30 days.

So they could wait until the first week of July - the first assembly was 6th June 2002.

Victor

Sod off.

But its certainly not September as was suggested.