Cullen turns sod on Cullahill-Cashel N8 (Cork-Dublin)

road_high

[
http://www.transport21.ie/MEDIA/Press_Releases/Cullen_turns_sod_on_Cullahill_to_Cashel_40km_Road_Project.html

B]Cullen turns sod on Cullahill to Cashel 40km Road Project
Date: 05 October 2006[/B]

“The existing minor junctions where many of the most serious high speed collisions occur will be removed…”

Transport Minister, Martin Cullen, T.D. today (Thursday, 5th October 2006) turned the sod in Twomileborris, County Tipperary on the longest road project ever to be undertaken in the State. The development known as the M8/N8 Cullahill to Cashel Road Project, comprises 10.5 kms of motorway between Cullahill in County Laois and Urlingford in County Kilkenny and 29 kms of dual carriageway between Urlingford and Cashel in South Tipperary. It will also link the proposed Portlaoise to Cullahill motorway to the Cashel bypass. Roadbridge/Sisk Consortium and Malone O’Regan Scott Wilson Engineers will be managing the project. It is expected to be completed in autumn 2009.

At the sod turning ceremony, Minister Cullen said: “Events like today are clear evidence of the pace and momentum that Ireland’s national transport investment plan, Transport 21, has built up since its launch last November. At the core of this Government plan - which sees €9.4 million per day spent on transport for the next 10 years - is the continued development of our national road network. Transport 21 is for every region in the country. It provides for a total investment of over €18 billion specifically in roads over the period 2006-2015.”

This new road project includes the construction of overbridges and underbridges and bypasses the villages of Johnstown, Urlingford, Turnpike, Twomileborris, Littleton, Horse and Jockey and Moycarkey. It will remove 13,000 vehicles daily from these villages. It will improve traffic flow for the driver, reduce travel time by at least 15 minutes by bypassing these villages and improve access to the south and the southwest of Ireland.

“The Cullahill to Cashel project, I believe, will hand villages back to the local people of this area and allow them to thrive and expand in a better environment. Many other towns that have bypasses such as Nenagh, Naas, Kildare and others, have quickly capitalised on the reduction in traffic and the ease of doing business. I have no doubt that the residents of Johnstown, Urlingford, and Moycarkey (to name but a few), will be equally as quick to grasp the opportunity this road development will undoubtedly present to them”, added the Minister.

Minister Cullen spoke of the high quality standards of national road projects, which are resulting in safer routes that reduce the likelihood of future accidents. “The N8 has its share, regretfully, of serious and fatal accidents”, he said. “This new road will improve on the current situation by removing most of the traffic from the existing single carriageway road - with its numerous accesses and junctions - to a new, high quality dual carriageway / motorway standard road, which will have grade separated junctions at four locations. The existing minor junctions where many of the most serious high speed collisions occur will be removed.”
Earlier this week, Minister Cullen’s colleague, Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher, T.D. launched a new cross border TV road safety campaign specifically aimed at young people between the ages of 17 and 29 years and at parents carrying children in the back seats of cars. “All of us individually have a responsibility to drive carefully, within the speed limit, wearing a seat belt every day we get in to a car. I wish to acknowledge the efforts the Gardaí are making in enforcing the law, but it is up to each one of us to co-operate and act responsibly on our roads”, said Minister Cullen.
The Minister thanked the local authorities involved in the initiative - Kilkenny County Council, South Tipperary County Council, North Tipperary County Council, Laois County Council and the National Roads Authority. He wished the contractors and engineers involved in the project well in delivering another piece of national road infrastructure.

Mr Peter Malone, Chairman of the National Roads Authority said: “Seeing Transport 21 come to fruition is fantastic. The M8/N8 Cullahill Cashel project is another major step in connecting Dublin and Cork. This project not only advances regional economic growth, but also allows for local development in the areas of tourism and general business services. This project along with M7/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill, the N8 Cashel bypass and the N8 Cashel to Mitchelstown brings us ever closer to achieving our goal of connecting Dublin and Cork with motorway/dual carriageway by 2010.”

Chris_533976

Good to see another one being started, this is needed.

/cue the arguments about the whole N8/M8 DC/motorway labelling saga.

road_high

Chris_533976 wrote:

Good to see another one being started, this is needed.

/cue the arguments about the whole N8/M8 DC/motorway labelling saga.

But least we're getting decent roads regardless of the stupid naming scheme, and the NRA's fear of the letter M!
Much is being made of the journey time reductions between Cork and Dublin, as important are the time savings between the towns in between and between the cities too.

Seth Brundle

no mention of tolls!

mfitzy wrote:

...on the longest road project ever to be undertaken in the State.

How long will it take then?

bryanw

Yep, aren't supposed to be any tolls on this project - unless you read the Indo propaganda.

It is silly about the M/N numbering scheme - but essentially what we're getting is all motorway.

icdg

bryanw wrote:

Yep, aren't supposed to be any tolls on this project - unless you read the Indo propaganda.

It is silly about the M/N numbering scheme - but essentially what we're getting is all motorway.

This one is the silliest of them all! At least other projects are either motorway or HQDC. This one is motorway in Kilkenny and spontaniously becomes all purpose in Tipperary!

Danno

Will this section be completed before Portlaoise-Cullohill???

jank

Dont Know about this. That section was supposed to start last year. I have no idea of the holdups with this.
Anybody know the completion dates for this section and the Cashel -Mitchelstown sections?

spacetweek

jank wrote:

Dont Know about this. That section was supposed to start last year. I have no idea of the holdups with this.
Anybody know the completion dates for this section and the Cashel -Mitchelstown sections?

You can assume 2.5 to 3 years so early/mid 2009.

road_high

Danno wrote:

Will this section be completed before Portlaoise-Cullohill???

I think it will, Cullahill-Portlaoise hasn't even begun yet, must follow soon surely though,. Think there is info on the Laois coco website. Imagine- we're going to have to contend with Abbeyleix and Durrow, right 'til the very end, as we wait for the M8 spur to join with the N8 at Cullahill- this doesn't make any sense to me as they are much worse bottleknecks than Johnstown or Urlingford .

Chris_533976

TBH I think this time they're gonna stick to their promise. All of Cork-Dublin will be DC/Motorway by (the end of, probobly) 2010.

Victor

Chris_533976 wrote:

TBH I think this time they're gonna stick to their promise. All of Cork-Dublin will be DC/Motorway by (the end of, probobly) 2010.

You will still have Fermoy-Tipperary border.

And the promise was for the end of 2006. :rolleyes:

corktina

mfitzy wrote:

I think it will, Cullahill-Portlaoise hasn't even begun yet, must follow soon surely though,. Think there is info on the Laois coco website. Imagine- we're going to have to contend with Abbeyleix and Durrow, right 'til the very end, as we wait for the M8 spur to join with the N8 at Cullahill- this doesn't make any sense to me as they are much worse bottleknecks than Johnstown or Urlingford .

to avoid Durrow and Abbeyleix, travel on to Roscrea and take the Thurles road (an empty N road) and back on to the N8 further south....

spacetweek

corktina wrote:

to avoid Durrow and Abbeyleix, travel on to Roscrea and take the Thurles road (an empty N road) and back on to the N8 further south....

Once the N9 is complete, it would be somewhat advantageous to go Dublin->Cork via Waterford. This would allow you to avoid the tolls at Fermoy and Athgoe SW of Portlaoise, assuming you avoided the Waterford city bypass. According to the NRA's traffic counters traffic is less on the N25 from Waterford-Midleton than on the N8, and it's dualler from then on anyway.

corktina

the origianl and historic Cork to Dublin route is via Mitchelstown, Clomel and Kilkenny.....back to the Future eh?

the N8 as is was the road to the Midlands and ran ( i believe) via cashel, thurles and Roscrea.....

Chris_533976

spacetweek wrote:

Once the N9 is complete, it would be somewhat advantageous to go Dublin->Cork via Waterford. This would allow you to avoid the tolls at Fermoy and Athgoe SW of Portlaoise, assuming you avoided the Waterford city bypass. According to the NRA's traffic counters traffic is less on the N25 from Waterford-Midleton than on the N8, and it's dualler from then on anyway.

Waterford - Midleton isnt really the quickest section ever though. The bit before the Youghal bypass is dodgy, and Castlemartyr is getting worse.

Victor

They should have built Dublin-Limerick-Cork and Dublin-South East-Cork, but not, we need one for everyone in the audience