Roads Programme for 2007 Announced

Zoney

Press Release here on Dept. Transport website.

No surprises (unfortunately) on the projects to commence in 2007:
M3/N3 Clonee-North of Tara
N4 Leixlip-M50 upgrade
N6 Galway-Ballinasloe
M7/M8 Portlaoise/Cullahill/Castletown
M50 Upgrade Phase 2+3
N9/M9 Waterford-Knocktopher

However, a list is provided this time round of CPO/EIS for 2007, more hopeful:

N4: Carrick-on-Shannon bypass 6km S2+1
N5: Longford bypass 2.6km S2
N7: Newlands Cross grade separation
N11: Enniscorthy bypass 20km DC
N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC
N17: Galway-Tuam 22km DC
N22: Tralee Bypass 11km S2
N22: Ballyvourney-Macroom 42km S2
N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC
N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC
N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 2, 18km S2
N56 4.9km S2, N87 1.2km S2

Flukey

Hopefully all without a single toll.

Gonzo

the M3 will be tolled twice i think

1huge1

are you serious
twice whats up with that?
how will it work

Mushy

Is the M7/M8 - Portlaoise, Cullahill, Castletown, dwhat exactly is happening here? Is it the start of the motorway that will eventually connect up with the eastern end of the Nenagh bypass?

Chris_533976

Nah thats the one that will replace the current N8 interchange on the M7. It'll be near portlaoise and the M7 and M8 will have a junction there. M8 will continue to Cullahill, M7 will continue a little further too.

Will remove Abbeyleix as a bottleneck.

Chris_533976

Zoney wrote:

Press Release here on Dept. Transport website.

However, a list is provided this time round of CPO/EIS for 2007, more hopeful:

N4: Carrick-on-Shannon bypass 6km S2+1
N5: Longford bypass 2.6km S2
N7: Newlands Cross grade separation - good, needed
N11: Enniscorthy bypass 20km DC
N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC
N17: Galway-Tuam 22km DC - ****, remaining 2 N18 projects more needed.
N22: Tralee Bypass 11km S2
N22: Ballyvourney-Macroom 42km S2 - About time
N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC
N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC - kinda ****, has median crossings, but a layer of tar would do for a while. Other projects more important.
N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 2, 18km S2
N56 4.9km S2, N87 1.2km S2

My 2c

SeanW

Zoney wrote:

Press Release here on Dept. Transport website.

...

However, a list is provided this time round of CPO/EIS for 2007, more hopeful:

...

N5: Longford bypass 2.6km S2

About feckin' time the amount of Mayo traffic that goes through Longford town centre is ridiculous.

Zoney

Mushy wrote:

Is the M7/M8 - Portlaoise, Cullahill, Castletown, dwhat exactly is happening here? Is it the start of the motorway that will eventually connect up with the eastern end of the Nenagh bypass?

Chris_533976 wrote:

Nah thats the one that will replace the current N8 interchange on the M7. It'll be near portlaoise and the M7 and M8 will have a junction there. M8 will continue to Cullahill, M7 will continue a little further too.

Will remove Abbeyleix as a bottleneck.

The project will extend the M7 further southwest of Portlaoise, with the existing N8 from M7 to Cullahill being bypassed by a new route as M8, splitting further along the M7. The complete project is fork-shaped, with the trunk and western branch being M7, and the southern branch M8.

The M7 will bypass Mountrath and Castletown, terminating on an R road south of Borris-on-Ossory (and the existing N7). N7 Castletown-Nenagh dual carriageway, is in planning to connect between this point, and the Nenagh bypass (being upgraded to DC as part of Limerick-Nenagh project).

Chris_533976

hehe thanks

A correction to your correction Its gonna be tolled

fricatus

Zoney wrote:

However, a list is provided this time round of CPO/EIS for 2007, more hopeful:

...
N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC
...

It says dual carriageway for the New Ross bypass in the press release, but two-lane road on the NRA site: http://nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/MajorRoadSchemesinPlanning/#d.en.543

Dare we celebrate?

If this were the case, it would make a lot of sense to upgrade to dual carriageway the stretch of N25 between the Slieverue end of the Waterford bypass and the start of the New Ross bypass.

I seem to recall that that particular stretch had a very high accident rate. On the positive side, it's good and wide, and I don't think there are all that many private entrances on it, so it could possibly be upgraded to 2x2 with a concrete barrier without causing too much disruption.

nordydan

N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC
This was originally supposed to be 2+1, should be a good vote winner up in the north west. I wonder will this link into a DC to strabane and a potential dublin-letterkenny/derry motorway?

N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC
I always thought this might happen, given the length of the bridge it would make more sense to have it 2+2. I believe from the end of this scheme to past Dungarvan will be DC within a few years, mostly offline with some parts online.

N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km
I would have thought the road east of midleton was in more serious need of work done.

N22: Ballyvourney-Macroom 42km S2
Surprised up to Macroom wasnt made D2

Zoney

nordydan wrote:

N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC
This was originally supposed to be 2+1, should be a good vote winner up in the north west. I wonder will this link into a DC to strabane and a potential dublin-letterkenny/derry motorway?

I was surprised myself at that popping up as DC. Ballybofey-Lifford is only planned as standard two lane at present!! Certainly one wonders what will happen between the end of this DC and Lifford - surely not just standard two lane?

Dual carriageway is planned on the N15 north of Sligo as well.

Certainly one would think the recent Bundoran bypass will eventually be upgraded to 2+1 (I suspect it's one of the last wide two lane projects we will see).

spacetweek

Some thoughts:
N5: Longford bypass 2.6km S2 ... Good news
N7: Newlands Cross grade separation ... They seem to be fast-tracking this
N11: Enniscorthy bypass 20km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N22: Tralee Bypass 11km S2 ... Seems very long, I wonder what the route will be like, will it loop around the town or something?
N22: Ballyvourney-Macroom 42km S2 ... Surprising, I thought they'd do Ballincollig-Macroom first
N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC ... I have never even heard of this scheme before. Isn't this dual already? Are they going to upgrade the existing road or build a new one?
N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 2, 18km S2 ... Seems very long. I wonder what route it will take. Will they continue it south past the N5 to intersect with the N17 at Knock Airport - I've always thought this would be a good idea.
N56 4.9km S2, N87 1.2km S2 - Doesn't say where these schemes will be exactly

nordydan wrote:

N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC
This was originally supposed to be 2+1, should be a good vote winner up in the north west. I wonder will this link into a DC to strabane and a potential dublin-letterkenny/derry motorway?

According to this this there may in fact be a Derry-Dublin motorway in the works.

Also since when has there been a Phase 3 of the M50 upgrade

Chris_533976

spacetweek wrote:

Some thoughts:

N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC ... I have never even heard of this scheme before. Isn't this dual already? Are they going to upgrade the existing road or build a new one?

Yup. Dual already. Dual with median crossings and tonnes of private access. This is a complete waste of money IMO, would be far better putting some tar down and doing a different project.

I reckon it'll be a mainline upgrade and not a new road, a new road would be crazy. All the CPOs would be are a few houses here and there to fit GSJs in.

Midleton northern relief road is due soon (CPOs several months ago), maybe they're gonna hook it into that or something.

In any case I'm still against this. Just not needed now. PRIORITISE, LADS.

nordydan

spacetweek wrote:

Some thoughts:
N5: Longford bypass 2.6km S2 ... Good news
N7: Newlands Cross grade separation ... They seem to be fast-tracking this
N11: Enniscorthy bypass 20km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N15: Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass 16km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N22: Tralee Bypass 11km S2 ... Seems very long, I wonder what the route will be like, will it loop around the town or something?
N22: Ballyvourney-Macroom 42km S2 ... Surprising, I thought they'd do Ballincollig-Macroom first
N25 New Ross Bypass 16km DC ... Good to see that this is dualler now
N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC ... I have never even heard of this scheme before. Isn't this dual already? Are they going to upgrade the existing road or build a new one?
N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 2, 18km S2 ... Seems very long. I wonder what route it will take. Will they continue it south past the N5 to intersect with the N17 at Knock Airport - I've always thought this would be a good idea.
N56 4.9km S2, N87 1.2km S2 - Doesn't say where these schemes will be exactly


According to this this there may in fact be a Derry-Dublin motorway in the works.

Also since when has there been a Phase 3 of the M50 upgrade

That Dublin to Derry motorway is just Wes picking up on media speculation.

"N22: Tralee Bypass 11km S2 ... Seems very long, I wonder what the route will be like, will it loop around the town or something?"

Includes a link road and will indeed loop right around the town.

"N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 2, 18km S2 ... Seems very long. I wonder what route it will take. Will they continue it south past the N5 to intersect with the N17 at Knock Airport - I've always thought this would be a good idea.
N56 4.9km S2, N87 1.2km S2 - Doesn't say where these schemes will be exactly"

N26 runs from south of ballina to the N5. N56 scheme north of L'kenny, N87 somewhere in Cavan I think

spacetweek

nordydan wrote:

That Dublin to Derry motorway is just Wes picking up on media speculation.
N26 runs from south of ballina to the N5. N56 scheme north of L'kenny, N87 somewhere in Cavan I think

Yea, I reckoned so, I think the motorway was dreamt up by politicians as a cross border cooperation stunt thing. Not that that would be a bad thing, but unless it's being discussed by people like the NRA then it ain't gonna happen.

About the N26, the point I was making is that the scheme seems very long to be just designed to get from the end of the current upgrade (Phase 1) to the N5.

Not sure why they're so worried about the N87, it's not an important road, it just parallels the N3 in Cavan and presumably only exists so that the A509 has something to link to on the Irish side.

mike65

spacetweek wrote:

N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton 4.5km DC ... I have never even heard of this scheme before. Isn't this dual already? Are they going to upgrade the existing road or build a new one?

Its a ropey enough section of DC, very low grade in fact with some deadly junctions that cross the DC which has a "variable" median of high to low bushes/shrubbs. Visibility and lane marking are woeful in parts.

Mike.

mackerski

spacetweek wrote:

Not sure why they're so worried about the N87, it's not an important road, it just parallels the N3 in Cavan and presumably only exists so that the A509 has something to link to on the Irish side.

The A509 links directly to the N3, so that's not the reason. But prior to the reopening of the N3-A509 crossing, the N87 (which I was convinced wasn't a national road at the time) served the onward journey towards Enniskillen via Swanlinbar and the A32.

dowlingm

I agree about the Midleton DC but as pointed out the need is greater to bypass Castlemartyr and Killeagh. Oh well. If Midleton-Cork rail was already on-line traffic wouldn't be so bad on the existing DC :rolleyes:

Seth Brundle

1huge1 wrote:

are you serious
twice whats up with that?
how will it work

see www.m3motorway.ie
two tolls (one near Kells & one near Pace). Its designed to keep people from Cavan away from Dublin!