M18 - Gort to Crusheen

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).

Tech3

Thanks Furet. The southern section looked well advanced by August. So we should be expecting to see parts of the G-C scheme looking like that around the end of the summer? The tubber-gort overbridge looks the most likely to open first to traffic.

Also I intend to check out the other overbridges and underpasses that have to be constructed. From websites I found theres 10 overbridges, 4 underpasses and 2 bridges. Trying to find some of these on the route will be difficult!!

I found that this bridge(march09,may09) is the gort-tubber overbridge and that road will be realigned to connect to the bridge as its slightly off the current road.

Tech3

Drove past Gort today and the Gort GSJ bridge is more or less complete. Also the tubber-gort overbridge looks to be the first bridge to open as the realignment of the road is now starting. This scheme is starting to take shape.

Gort GSJ 3 March


Gort GSJ today


Zoomed in version


As you can see the poles have been redone for the electricity getting in the way of the photos.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Any pics of the fairy trees?

Sorry Ill get my coat:(

glineli

There is another overpass started on the back road between Crusheen and Dromore.

I walked some of it the other day, the work done in 6 months is unreal.

Tech3

glineli wrote: »

There is another overpass started on the back road between Crusheen and Dromore.

I walked some of it the other day, the work done in 6 months is unreal.

When did this start glineli? Is it far off the main road or near ballyline? There is about 2 or 3 more structures to be started. The R460 overbridge north of gort hasnt started yet but they seem to be preparing to start on it now. I can see the gort-tubber overbridge opening to traffic first as its the most advanced of all the structures excluding the Gort grade seperated junction. The realignment of the current road has begun and is already well advanced.

glineli

tech2 wrote: »

When did this start glineli? Is it far off the main road or near ballyline? There is about 2 or 3 more structures to be started. The R460 overbridge north of gort hasnt started yet but they seem to be preparing to start on it now. I can see the gort-tubber overbridge opening to traffic first as its the most advanced of all the structures excluding the Gort grade seperated junction. The realignment of the current road has begun and is already well advanced.

It started about 10 days ago. If you go straight on going into crusheen instead of going under the railway bridge, about 1km up that road. i will try to take some pics and post it. i walked from that overpass down to the new access road to crusheen, great working taking place.

Tech3

glineli wrote: »

It started about 10 days ago. If you go straight on going into crusheen instead of going under the railway bridge, about 1km up that road. i will try to take some pics and post it. i walked from that overpass down to the new access road to crusheen, great working taking place.

Yes I went up that road before and have a few pictures of that stage earlier. The road was realigned slightly off lately to the left coming from Crusheen. I will have a look the next day I pass.

glineli

tech2 wrote: »

Yes I went up that road before and have a few pictures of that stage earlier. The road was realigned slightly off lately to the left coming from Crusheen. I will have a look the next day I pass.

Yes so you drive on the new part of the road now while the overpass is constructed on the old road. hopefully at the weekend i will get a chance to walk the road down to the ballyline, if i do i will take pictures

Tech3

glineli wrote: »

Yes so you drive on the new part of the road now while the overpass is constructed on the old road. hopefully at the weekend i will get a chance to walk the road down to the ballyline, if i do i will take pictures

Its called the lahardan overbridge. Its very close to the Crusheen grade seperated junction also. I passed it yesterday didnt get a chance for a photo as construction was going on and the men with their stop signs were around. I prefer to take these on a weekend or bank holiday. Good progress done already on it. Also other updates with pics I did manage:

- Shanaglish overbridge structure almost complete.










- R460 overbridge construction has begun







I will get the whole scheme covered again in a week or two for the month of June. The Gort half of the scheme is definitely a lot more advanced than the Crusheen half in terms of structures completed and mainline work.

KevR

Got a few photos of the Gort GSJ today. Would have liked to have had a long walk about the place but was in a rush so only had a few minutes there.

Click for full size images.

Looking South towards the bridge:


Danger sign:


Looking across the junction bridge structure:


Looking South from the bridge structure:


Another looking South towards the bridge:


My jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw how much more neat/clean/tidy this site is compared to the Galway-Ballinasloe M6 site. :eek: