M18 - Gort to Crusheen

BluntGuy

...

KevR

mysterious wrote: »

Anymore pics?

I do plan on getting a few pictures at some stage from up around the Gort end of the scheme. I just haven't had the time. If I'm not going away this weekend I should be able to get some photos but it's likely that I won't be around Galway.

murphaph wrote: »

I'm convinced that the roundabout is only being used so they can get away with one MSA covering all three motorways. Any freeflow solution would have meant extra infrastructure to get away with one MSA or else build an MSA for the M6 mainline and another one for the M17/18 mainline. Still sucks though and the least they should have done was move the MSA away from the junction to allow an upgrade later (even though stacked roundabouts are awkward as it is to upgrade).

I'm convinced of this also.

invincibleirish

Surprised by some reactions here tbh. When the culture in place is to build the projects *won* as spoils by the local FF crew, why are you surprised when the projects are built to a standard below what you expect?

The key for the N/M 18/17 is that it can be presented to the local voters as evidence their local TD delivers, whats a roundabout between friends when the road has been built. Thats what matters.

Tech3

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Roundabout for now. It'll be replaced with a full GSJ when Oranmore - Gort is built. Dunno why they decided not to build a GSJ from day 1 though.

I can nearly almost confirm a grade seperated is going to be constructed outside gort. I took a drive down today to take a few pictures and there is a overhead bridge being constructed. Also the transport 21 signage outside the town says to be constructed: 2 grade seperated junctions Only thing is I emailed the NRA before an they said an at grade roundabout just like chris mentioned here

I will have photos for the scheme posted shortly.

Tech3

Transport 21 signage outside gort(2 GSJs)


Looking northbound taken from the crossover at the tubber to gort road


Looking southbound toward crusheen from crossover at tubber-gort road


The main one: Gort Grade Seperated Junction


Progress being made at Crusheen lately


Crossover near the north of gort at the R460


Another photo of the Gort grade seperated junction

BluntGuy

And they started this in November? :eek:

Truly amazing progress. Thanks for the pics!

Chris_533976

Jesus Christ they have bridges up.

This is putting the entire of the M7 to shame.

By the looks of it, this will be done, finished and opened before some of the M7 schemes, having started up to a year later.

Amtmann

Jesus! :eek: Ferocious progress. That's how it's done! Inspiring stuff.

mysterious

Yes but the Castletown scheme is far longer and they are far more bridges. Has anyone any pics of the Castletown schemes.

Why can't they just get the M7 going. fianna fail are screwed if they don't finish it by 2010. If they don't I'll make sure they will pay.

I'll just make sure I point it out often enough. I've already made sure fianna fail are going to lose in Tipp.

If you get your little finger out fianna fail, I might just relax;)

Amtmann

mysterious wrote: »

Yes but the Castletown scheme is far longer and they are far more bridges. Has anyone any pics of the Castletown schemes.

I posted five pictures of the Castletown scheme recently. Quite unadvanced I'm afraid.

Tech3

I added some extra photos to the original ones last night, progress at crusheen is not as advanced as the gort side. As you can see with the last pic the gort GSJ is indeed being constructed.

Also can someone get a better pic of the gort GSJ as I couldnt find any location to get near to the bridge?

Amtmann

mysterious wrote: »

But they have the entire route excavated. The earth works on Moneygall was huge, infact they were going very fast, what is the problem with it now.

I'm afraid they don't have the bit between Roscrea and Castletown excavated very much at all. They barely have a few feet of topsoil removed where it passes the N62 just south of Roscrea for example.

Chris_533976

Passed this last night, but was getting dark so no photos. Progress is ridiculously fast still.

SOME OF THE CONCRETE UNDERBRIDGE STRUCTURES ARE COMPLETE. Now they've got to build dirt on either side of them to use them as an underbridge, but the concrete structures are already there.

Also on the Ennis side two bridge pilings have appeared to take the future old N18 overbridge over the current tie-in. My guess is that for the tie-in, they'll shut the current N18 and direct all traffic through Barefield for a while and over this new bridge.

Chris_533976

This is picture from the M7 thread.



The Gort - Crusheen one has one of these and its more advanced than this, despite starting only 3 1/2 months ago.

Amtmann

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Passed this last night, but was getting dark so no photos. Progress is ridiculously fast still.

SOME OF THE CONCRETE UNDERBRIDGE STRUCTURES ARE COMPLETE.

Now now Chris. As we know from the M7/M8 thread, these structures take *a very long time* to complete. Especially in winter. Can't do much in winter.

Zoney

Well, one difference that I could suggest is that the terrain in that part of Clare is perhaps more rocky/less boggy than the M7/M8 which presumably goes through some very boggy land?

I'm not trying to be an apologist (I'm usually fairly cynical) but the difference is so stark that there surely is a concrete reason (excuse the pun) for the paces of construction differing.

Carawaystick

Zoney wrote: »

Well, one difference that I could suggest is that the terrain in that part of Clare is perhaps more rocky/less boggy than the M7/M8 which presumably goes through some very boggy land?

I'm not trying to be an apologist (I'm usually fairly cynical) but the difference is so stark that there surely is a concrete reason (excuse the pun) for the paces of construction differing.

is the terrain vastly different to the M8 Cullohil to Cashel section?

Chris_533976

Dont think its massively different, but I do definately think the finger is firmly out on this scheme.

Perhaps the consortium think they'll be more likely to get more work if they get it done nice and quickly?

mysterious

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Dont think its massively different, but I do definately think the finger is firmly out on this scheme.

Perhaps the consortium think they'll be more likely to get more work if they get it done nice and quickly?

There is very few bridges and structures going up in comparison to the M7 scheme...

They might be speedy on this so far. But the contractors seem to be going ok on the Castletown scheme. I'm worried about the Nenagh and Portaoise ends

Tech3

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Perhaps the consortium think they'll be more likely to get more work if they get it done nice and quickly?

Yeah maybe they have their eyes set on doing the gort-tuam scheme if it ever goes ahead. Reading an article in the sunday business post today suggest funding has ran out for any future ppp's until the credit crunch is over. Banks are not willing to finance any big projects like this for quiet some time. Lets hope thats not the case come april.

serfboard

In making comparisons to the M7 you have to take into account that, as well as possibly different terrain, this scheme is considerably shorter than M7 schemes.

That said, I passed it at the weekend, and progress is amazing.

larryone

I drove by it today, and I'm impressed with how much has been done considering the time since they began. The underpass Chris_533976 was referring to looks good, there are a few pillars and endpoints for some bidges nearing completion. Anything north of Crusheen is too far from the existing road to assess the progress of it, but the stretch between Crusheen and the Ennis by-bass is extremely close.

Chris_533976

Got some (bad) pics as a car passenger. Will post soon.

Chris_533976

Thanks

Heres the promised car-window pics of Crusheen - Gort. They're abysmal, but they're better than nothing.

All taken 23/03/2009.

Tie in at Ennis bypass end -



Two pylons up for the bridge that will connect Barefield to the current N18



Couple pics between Barefield and Crusheen









Some overbridge near Crusheen. Foundations in and done.





Two pics of the emerging junction at Crusheen





The only pic I could get of the Gort tie-in. Can just see the overbridge for the GSJ appearing



Yeah they're crap, but they're better than no pics.

mysterious

Progress is great, but it's not ahead of the M7 castletown scheme, Just some sections of the Castletown scheme are not that advanced it's more than twice the lenght of this route, with more interchanges.

There is only one GSJ been built on this scheme, the road is fairly straight and comes into contact with little to no major road. Also the Castletown scheme is a fair bit from the Main road, so this mean more machinary has to travel. I seen the Castletown scheme the other day, and it's not far behind and will complete on time if not early.

Chris_533976

Theres two GSJs

Crusheen and Gort. Crusheen was always on the plans as a GSJ but Gort was supposed to be a mere roundabout originally. They're building the GSJ there now (which will save another Fermoy bypass tie-in stupidity fest)

kaizersoze

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Some overbridge near Crusheen. Foundations in and done.

Thats an underbridge.:P

Virtually identical to the one in place at Mackney, Ballinasloe for local access on the M6.



Thanks for the pics.

Tech3

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Theres two GSJs

Crusheen and Gort. Crusheen was always on the plans as a GSJ but Gort was supposed to be a mere roundabout originally. They're building the GSJ there now (which will save another Fermoy bypass tie-in stupidity fest)

Yes strange. I emailed the NRA before and they said it was one and then had a look at the transport 21 signage outside Gort and it showed two. Would be nice to get a good photo of the GSJ up close but would have to enter the site though to take it. Btw thanks for the pics!

Will take a few more photos in a month or two when there is futher progress. I passed the gort GSJ yesterday and its looking even more impressive.

Chris_533976

Yeah I'm really glad they made the decision to GSJ it from day 1. A roundabout would have been a crappy tie-in. I think they came to their senses that with the N17/18 scheme next on the list (take from that what you will given the current debacle in the finances) it would be a good idea to make the tie-in as different from the crap at Fermoy as possible.

KevR

Drove past today and I noted that the construction site up at the Gort end (where the GSJ is) is fenced off. As it's right beside a residential area this is obviously to stop kids going on the construction site playing or teens hanging around on the site when workers aren't around. Makes sense but makes getting a good picture of the GSJ and general work around that area sort of tricky..


PS - anyone who lives in the vicinity of the N18 between Oranmore and Crusheen who may have lost a cat recently. Take a drive on the N18 and I'm sure you'll find it in the form of roadkill! I must have passed at least 10 poor unfortunate cats today on that stretch - RIP!

Amtmann

KevR wrote: »

PS - anyone who lives in the vicinity of the N18 between Oranmore and Crusheen who may have lost a cat recently. Take a drive on the N18 and I'm sure you'll find it in the form of roadkill! I must have passed at least 10 poor unfortunate cats today on that stretch - RIP!

Whatever about cats, has anyone else noticed the amount of dead badgers on the roads lately? Time was you'd rarely see one. Three on the N8 between Watergrasshill and Kilworth this week, and two dead in the same spot close to New Inn off the R639. Last January at least 4 were killed all within a few hundred metres of each other on the Cashel to Cullahill scheme. That last figure probably means that the population of an entire sett was wiped out.

PS - sorry for taking the thread off topic. *The badger is my favourite Irish mammal*

The Word Is Bor

Mating season for them at the moment, hence a lot more activity.

Tech3

KevR wrote: »

Drove past today and I noted that the construction site up at the Gort end (where the GSJ is) is fenced off. As it's right beside a residential area this is obviously to stop kids going on the construction site playing or teens hanging around on the site when workers aren't around. Makes sense but makes getting a good picture of the GSJ and general work around that area sort of tricky..

I think there might be access to the site via a small road marked in red here:



I'll try and get a good photo of this next month or the month after(crazy at work in April). Maybe asking the contactor to allow access for a quick photo might be allowed hopefully.

Chris_533976

Was on the bus from Galway to Cork the other day (thank **** Citylink are back ) so took some pics.

Again, some of them were utter crap but heres the lot anyway so you can make what you want of them. Got some awful pics of Rossbrien on the N7 too so I'll pop them in the Tunnel thread.

Gort GSJ -









Crusheen junction -





Various between Crusheen and Barefield. No work that day due to Easter. Diggers all parked in a neat row

Chris_533976

Barefield bridge -



Just an interesting aside which you can see from the bus (as you're higher). At the Gort end of the scheme, they've dug out probably the first 500m of the Gort - Tuam scheme. Now obviously they're not starting that yet but its interesting to see. I guess for storage and site offices?

BluntGuy

Thanks for the pics Chris, and it seems phenomenal progress continues to be made. It's looking like this'll be done as quick as the Fermoy-Mitchelstown scheme.

kaizersoze

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Crusheen junction -

Looks like a house was sacraficed for the rab.

Great pics.

Chris_533976

Yeah, a very nice house with a nice garden, unfortunately

KevR

Cheers for the pictures Chris!

I can't wait for this section to open and for the Crusheen-Shannon section to be redesignated.

Chris_533976

Got the bus back up to Galway today

Most of the pics I took today were a carbon copy of last time, but it was a nicer day so lower camera ISO = less graininess and lower exposure time = less blurring.

This is where the tie-in to the Ennis bypass will be ->



Barefield bridge from another angle ->



Propoganda



Bridge taking shape between Barefield and Crusheen ->



Another one ->





Crusheen junction ->



No progress since the last batch obviously as there was no work over Easter.


Still no good pic of the Gort GSJ. Got one really well focussed, perfect exposure, and look what happened.




Edit: Wow Photoshop did some funky things with the colours

Tech3

Thanks for the pics Chris, construction seems to be still going at an incredible speed.

glineli

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Yeah, a very nice house with a nice garden, unfortunately

Yeah but he got a lovely house out of it!! And he didnt live in the other one.

Tech3

Took a few photos today and have now seen most of the route. Progress is still unbelievable. Some sections of mainline are well advanced from the Gort GSJ to the crossover section of the R460. However I have seen other section near the bridges where earthworks have yet to start.






Crusheen looking north(a lot of progress on earthworks since the last pic)







Crusheen looking south







shanaglish bridge







sideview of shanaglish bridge







mainline from shanaglish bridge







tubber road crossover north (no progress made from last pic)







gort-tubber bridge from tubber road crossover south(some progress made on the bridge)







ballysheedy underpass







this is the R460 crossover north and works well advanced(overbridge not constructed yet)







the best of the gort GSJ I could get in the following two pics:







looking at end of the scheme with the future hopefully tie on with the gort to tuam

Tech3

tech2 wrote: »

Crossover near the north of gort at the R460

Just though that I might compare the difference from what this stage was at 2 months ago. As you can see great progress has been made on it. Its like this from the R460 to the Gort GSJ. Im going to be brave and say G-C looks like its going to be completed before the Limerick tunnel next year. Would say Q3 or Q4.

Amtmann

There should be asphalt down before the end of the summer.

BluntGuy

If work continues at this pace, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that the scheme will open by mid-2010.

Phenomenal is the only word I can use to describe the progress.

Amtmann

I notice too from Tech2's pictures that they are dressing the embankments with topsoil. This means that it will be a tidy job, much like M9 Kilcullen to Carlow and M8 Mitchelstown to Fermoy, and it means that landscaping can be done while paving is carried out. Again, Mitchelstown to Fermoy provides a useful comparison here: it started in December 2007, while this N18 section started in November. So as BluntGuy says, we are probably looking at an opening in July 2010 (given that the N18 scheme is a bit longer than the aforementioned M8 stretch).

Are there any indications that the contractors have divided the scheme into two or more sections? That's to say, are works noticably more advanced between certain sections, or is progress uniform along the full length of the site?

Chris_533976

Not really looking at sectional, as the only place where sectional could be done is to Crusheen. Wouldnt be worth it coming from the Limerick side (2 - 3 miles), would be dangerous from the Galway side (as youd get a 2 - 3 mile gap).

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

I notice too from Tech2's pictures that they are dressing the embankments with topsoil. This means that it will be a tidy job, much like M9 Kilcullen to Carlow and M8 Mitchelstown to Fermoy, and it means that landscaping can be done while paving is carried out. Again, Mitchelstown to Fermoy provides a useful comparison here: it started in December 2007, while this N18 section started in November. So as BluntGuy says, we are probably looking at an opening in July 2010 (given that the N18 scheme is a bit longer than the aforementioned M8 stretch).

Funnily enough I was going to ask when the M-F scheme started as it looks similar in distance and amount of bridges to this. What was the progress of the M-F scheme at this stage at that time?

Are there any indications that the contractors have divided the scheme into two or more sections? That's to say, are works noticably more advanced between certain sections, or is progress uniform along the full length of the site

Didnt get to see work being done yesterday as it was a bank holiday but the work has been mainly done at the Gort end and the Crusheen tie in with the main N18. Lately though they have slowed down on the Crusheen side. Thats mainly the reason I didnt take many photos of that side of the scheme. Its basically the same there from the pics Chris posted a few weeks ago.

The scheme is probably too small for sectional openings

Amtmann

tech2 wrote: »

Funnily enough I was going to ask when the M-F scheme started as it looks similar in distance and amount of bridges to this. What was the progress of the M-F scheme at this stage at that time?

It was quite varied. The earliest pictures I have of M-F are from late June and July 2008. These are viewable on the first few pages of this thread.

By August 2008 much of the southern half of the scheme looked like this


...while much of the northern section was much less advanced - bulk earthworks were mainly done, but the surface was just mud. Have a look through the M-F thread from the start and you'll see how it all came together.
The N18 seems to be quite similar in terms of progress. The first M-F overbridge opened to traffic in July 2008, while two more opened in August and September. The final three opened in early to mid November 2008. Judging from your photos, the N18 bridges seem to be at a comparable state to those of the M-F (maybe even a little more advanced). For instance, if you look at the final attachment below, which was taken in July 2008, you can see an overbridge under construction in the distance. This eventually became the R665 overbridge which opened in mid-November 2008. Progress on this (northern) half of the M-F scheme went at a snail's pace last summer, because then almost all of the work was carried out on the southern half of the scheme, which is shown in the picture above (hence my question about sectionalisation).