Construction starts on Limerick road

Fool 5000

www.ireland.com
Building of the longest single section of the Dublin to Limerick road was formally launched today.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen was in Co Tipperary where he turned the sod on the 38-kilometre N7 Nenagh/Limerick road project that is due for completion by summer 2009.

The project comprises 28 kilometres of dual carriageway built to motorway standard and the upgrading of 10 kilometres of the Nenagh bypass to dual carriageway standard.

There will be a new 10-kilometre road from the village of Birdhill to the new carriageway, and further interchanges at Newport, Carrigatogher and Thurles.

The new road will link the Limerick Southern Ring Road with the existing Nenagh bypass.

Mr Cullen described the road as a key link between the south west, mid west and Dublin.

"In addition to the road improvements making travelling much easier for thousands of drivers each day, the upgrade of the road will be of great benefit to the people of North Tipperary and Limerick reducing journey times and giving greater journey time certainty.

"The new improved road, when complete, will enhance the daily commute from towns like Nenagh and Roscrea to Limerick city for work and this in turn will attract more people to live in this region thus benefiting all the local communities," Mr Cullen said.

Traffic volume on the N7 approach to Limerick, is around 25,000 vehicles per day and around 13,000 vehicles a day around Nenagh.

Mr Cullen also said the contract was being prepared for 37 kilometres of dual carriageway on the N7, Nenagh to Castletown, Co Laois.

Another important one

mysterious

Great stuff! I've searched the web endlessly, for any details of the proposed new interchanges there! There is nothing visual on the www.midwestroads.ie. In fact that website is a joke compared to most other regional design sites IMO.

Does anyone know what'a going to be constructed at the Lisnargy/Southern ring road tie in? I'd imagine the new Motorway will fly straight over the existing roundabout onwards to Rossbrien? something like a la red cow?

Also from my observations of the periphery of the new road adjacent to the main road, seems to be just archaeological work, Not much road excavation yet.

corktina

is that report a bit garbled or what?

Zoney

mysterious:

As part of the NRA junction numbering plans for the N7, the only intermediate interchange numbered between Nenagh and Limerick is Birdhill. That said, the Nenagh Bypass is being upgraded to dual carriageway as part of the Nenagh-Limerick project, and the "missing" Thurles road interchange also gets a number on the NRA junction plans. Hopefully it will be constructed as part of the upgrade of the Nenagh bypass.

I sincerely hope the Annacotty junction will have at least some grade separation. There are some earthen embankments at the current roundabout; whether these are just landscaping, anti-traveller measurers, or preparation (even just landscaping) for the N7 dual carriageway to continue North-south across the roundabout; I don't know.

I presume that at least the existing junction southwest of Nenagh is to be seriously upgraded too.

Ice_Box

Will it be tolled?

Mushy

Very handy now. When its done, it'll take under two hours to get to Birdhill for me here in Wicklow. And the Castletown to Nenagh section is supposed to be starting soon enough aswell. Doubtful on whether it'll be tolled, havent heard anything on it being tolled anyway

dmeehan

the tunnel under the shannon (at the other end of the ring road) will be tolled, so i would imagine there would be uproar if there were 2 tolled sections around limerick

Fool 5000

Will it be tolled?

No but they were going to toll it a few year but they changed they minds mysteriously :eek:

nordydan

Zoney wrote:

mysterious:

As part of the NRA junction numbering plans for the N7, the only intermediate interchange numbered between Nenagh and Limerick is Birdhill. That said, the Nenagh Bypass is being upgraded to dual carriageway as part of the Nenagh-Limerick project, and the "missing" Thurles road interchange also gets a number on the NRA junction plans. Hopefully it will be constructed as part of the upgrade of the Nenagh bypass.

I sincerely hope the Annacotty junction will have at least some grade separation. There are some earthen embankments at the current roundabout; whether these are just landscaping, anti-traveller measurers, or preparation (even just landscaping) for the N7 dual carriageway to continue North-south across the roundabout; I don't know.

I presume that at least the existing junction southwest of Nenagh is to be seriously upgraded too.

mysterious I have also looked and asked for information regarding this tie-in. I literally got two blank email responses from the midwest roads office, as in a 0 byte response (header, subject, no message)!

would anyone who uses the current nenagh bypass know whether it would be possible to upgrade the road to full HQDC design characteristics, ie what the problem is regarding future possible reclassification as motorway. It would seem ludicrous if the only section of the road between west of the shannon and Naas is the 6 mile stretch near nenagh.

PS Also would anyone know if there are any plans to build a future northern ring road around limerick city, I have never been there but from looking at maps the roads infrastructure doesnt look the George Best.

corktina

work seesm to be going on over the whole length of road from the Limerick bypass to the Nenagh bypass and beyond...new junction starting to emerge south of Nenagh....there seesm plenty of room to widen the existing stretch

nordydan

corktina wrote:

work seesm to be going on over the whole length of road from the Limerick bypass to the Nenagh bypass and beyond...new junction starting to emerge south of Nenagh....there seesm plenty of room to widen the existing stretch

Its a pity in this regard that uniformity of cross-section is not applied. I believe readnig somehwre that capacity levels on HQDC and standard DC vary substantially. The last thing we need is a future bottleneck at some point in the future.

Happy Bertie

nordydan wrote:

Its a pity in this regard that uniformity of cross-section is not applied. I believe readnig somehwre that capacity levels on HQDC and standard DC vary substantially. The last thing we need is a future bottleneck at some point in the future.

On a risk adjusted basis I doubt the bottleneck on the N7 will occur anywhere within the upgraded Nenage bypass especially seeing as it will be fully grade separated and 2 lanes in each direction with good sightlines. It may well be one of the quietest stretches on the N7 with the lowest AADT count.
Yeah from an aesthetics point of view it would be nice to have a consistent median and shoulder width, but in terms of overall priorities it's a way down the list.
From my understanding the only difference will be a narrower median with a Jersey barrier, just like the N8 Cashel bypass dual carriageway that opened in 2005 I believe.

I'm just happy this project eventually started after 5 years of waiting. I'm still waiting for word on the Portlaoise to Cullahil M7/M8 scheme. I'm guessing a 2007 start for this along with the N7 Nenagh to Cullahil scheme. It'll be fully complete before the Cork and Galway interurbans at this rate. Although I think the Adare bypass scheme, for example, is more badly needed.
I wonder will traffic from Dublin to Limerick increase when the trip will be consistently less than 2 hours.

Also the feckers needs to get crackin' on updating the www.midwestroads.ie website. I think they're still discussing route options for the Limerick to Patrickswell dual carriageway scheme eventhough the scheme was open in 2001

Chris_533976

M7/M8 will start Summer 2007

jank

Chris_533976 wrote:

M7/M8 will start Summer 2007

Where di you hear that?

nordydan

Happy Bertie wrote:

On a risk adjusted basis I doubt the bottleneck on the N7 will occur anywhere within the upgraded Nenage bypass especially seeing as it will be fully grade separated and 2 lanes in each direction with good sightlines. It may well be one of the quietest stretches on the N7 with the lowest AADT count.
Yeah from an aesthetics point of view it would be nice to have a consistent median and shoulder width, but in terms of overall priorities it's a way down the list.
From my understanding the only difference will be a narrower median with a Jersey barrier, just like the N8 Cashel bypass dual carriageway that opened in 2005 I believe.

I'm just happy this project eventually started after 5 years of waiting. I'm still waiting for word on the Portlaoise to Cullahil M7/M8 scheme. I'm guessing a 2007 start for this along with the N7 Nenagh to Cullahil scheme. It'll be fully complete before the Cork and Galway interurbans at this rate. Although I think the Adare bypass scheme, for example, is more badly needed.
I wonder will traffic from Dublin to Limerick increase when the trip will be consistently less than 2 hours.

Also the feckers needs to get crackin' on updating the www.midwestroads.ie website. I think they're still discussing route options for the Limerick to Patrickswell dual carriageway scheme eventhough the scheme was open in 2001

I agree, not just the website but the ability to get even simple information out of the company is pretty awful. They are using public money to build and design these raods, and we should be entitled to better service.

Regarding all the interurbans, are they not still pretty much all on track (including the Tara Kells and Dublin-Gorey roads) to be finished by 2010. I also include the N6 Galway Ring Road, N25 Waterford Bypass and the Limerick SRR Phase 2? I got the impression they could still all be completed by the end of 2010. I agree with you in relation to the Adare bypass. Another scheme which should be fast tracked is the N5 Longford bypass - badly needed and just 3km in length. It seems strange that this was demoted in preference to other schemes further along the N4. I can understand that Oranmore-Gort and Tuam-Oranmore must await the completion of the Galway Ballinasloe scheme in order to tie in correctly, but Longford can be a massive bottleneck

Chris_533976

jank wrote:

Where di you hear that?

I emailed the NRA about it, they said thats when its planned to start now

jank

Nine one. That imo is the last piece of the m7/m8 jigsaw.