N6 Dual Carriageway to Athlone opening dates?

I don't think that there will be any major increases in traffic through the town because ther single carriageway section between Athlone & ballinaslow will restrict the flow a bit.

Another thing to consider is the new junction at the west of Athlone will cause a huge bottleneck for a while as the local traffic around the area will be mixed with the through traffic, the main N6 will be closed at Doyles bridge while it's route is diverted north to tie in with the new road.

corktina

how will the traffic arrive altogether? the only difference I can see is that they will arrive in a different order...some having overtaken others...the amont of vehicles per hour east and west of Moate before today would be roughly equal would they not.? and therefore the flow arriving at Ballinasloe in futre will be equal to that that used to arrive at Moate minus any that turn off... it still means you have one hold up now instead of two...

kaizersoze

corktina wrote: »

how will the traffic arrive altogether? the only difference I can see is that they will arrive in a different order...some having overtaken others...the amont of vehicles per hour east and west of Moate before today would be roughly equal would they not.? and therefore the flow arriving at Ballinasloe in futre will be equal to that that used to arrive at Moate minus any that turn off... it still means you have one hold up now instead of two...

Grand so. I'll tell all not to worry.:pac:

Tableman

On Fridays, it could easily take btween 1 & 1.5 hours to get through Moate (coming into Moate around 4, 4.30) and even when you come out of it, yuo probably wont get over 50 miles per hour until after athlone. So it will defitely save more than 45 minutes at that time.

serfboard

kaizersoze wrote: »

It'll really get bad when the Athlone to Ballinasloe leg is finished a year before the rest of it.

I'm just looking at the map for the two projects. Anyone know why Athlone-Ballinasloe finished on the eastern side of the town instead of the western side - which surely would have made more sense? If that had been the case, Athlone-Ballinasloe would have taken all traffic out of the town.

Or did they think Galway-Ballinasloe would be finished before Athlone-Ballinasloe?

D.L.R.

serfboard wrote: »

I'm just looking at the map for the two projects. Anyone know why Athlone-Ballinasloe finished on the eastern side of the town instead of the western side - which surely would have made more sense? If that had been the case, Athlone-Ballinasloe would have taken all traffic out of the town.

Or did they think Galway-Ballinasloe would be finished before Athlone-Ballinasloe?

Athlone-Ballinasloe is scheduled to come in a few months ahead of B'sloe-Galway. So it'll be a few months of bad traffic for the town in all probability. Who knows why they designed it this way, really makes you wonder. Not ideal, but a few months ain't the worst. Moate was stuck in traffic hell for years.

Keedowah

Anyone else baffled by why a lot of this road is classified as a National Road and not a motorway - hence the 100kmph speed limit?

Also - the signs in Moate - "Thanks for the business - come again" - personally i'd rather eat my own face then visit Moate again. I think the new signs should be "Honk if you hate Moate"

ardmacha

Anyone else baffled by why a lot of this road is classified as a National Road and not a motorway - hence the 100kmph speed limit?

If you read this forum you'll hardly be baffled, the motorway order hasn't been completed yet.

kaizersoze

serfboard wrote: »

I'm just looking at the map for the two projects. Anyone know why Athlone-Ballinasloe finished on the eastern side of the town instead of the western side - which surely would have made more sense? If that had been the case, Athlone-Ballinasloe would have taken all traffic out of the town.

Or did they think Galway-Ballinasloe would be finished before Athlone-Ballinasloe?

Twas something to do with the Ballinasloe - Galway section being done as a PPP iirc. The bridging of the river Suck would have added a considerable cost to the Athlone - Ballinasloe leg which is totally funded by the Gov.

kaizersoze

D.L.R. wrote: »

Athlone-Ballinasloe is scheduled to come in a few months ahead of B'sloe-Galway. So it'll be a few months of bad traffic for the town in all probability. Who knows why they designed it this way, really makes you wonder. Not ideal, but a few months ain't the worst. Moate was stuck in traffic hell for years.

I've a feeling it'll be more than a few months.
Both were started around the same time. One is 20Km and the other is 56Km.
Lots more engineering challenges on the western leg aswell.

Carawaystick

The galway B'Sloe section was to have started first and been completed faster as PPPs always allow cheaper faster better road construction.... ymmv

I don't think Balinasloe will be as bad as Moate because there'll be no Athlone Dublin or Tullamore -Athlone Traffic, and then there's Tuam, Roscommon, N55, Birr traffic which connect to the N6 at Athlone.

OK! NOw that then new road has opened, has there been any change to the traffic flow through Ballinaslow?

Gillie

Was on it today twice. Went from Sligo to Laois (and Kilkenny and Clonmel and back:() and the big difference was going as far as the exit for Killbeggan to go to Tullamore. After I took that exit I was in Tullamore in less than ten minutes (i think).

In the past I would have turned of for the N80 in Moate.

Defo made a big difference to me.

Sponge Bob

kaizersoze wrote: »

Lots more engineering challenges on the western leg aswell.

Crossing the Suck in Ballinasloe for one

kaizersoze

Deleted User wrote: »

OK! NOw that then new road has opened, has there been any change to the traffic flow through Ballinaslow?

Haven't been out that side during peak so can't say. No difference at 9pm anyway.

Sponge Bob wrote:

Crossing the Suck in Ballinasloe for one

Aye. I've been keeping an eye on it.:)

Victor

http://www.nra.ie/News/PressReleases/htmltext,15349,en.html

N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone Scheme Open to Traffic

The N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone national road scheme was officially opened today (Wednesday 16th July 2008) by Mr. Noel Dempsey, T.D, Minister for Transport.

The new high quality dual carriageway commences close to Kilbeggan at the western end of the completed N6 Kinnegad to Kilbeggan scheme and connects to the eastern end of the existing Athlone Bypass.

Three towns and villages are bypassed by the new road - Kilbeggan, Horseleap and Moate. As a result, there will be a reduction in travel time due, in particular, to the bypassing of Moate where delays of up to 45 minutes have been experienced on a regular basis at peak times.

Officiating at the opening ceremony Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D., Minister for Transport, said:

“The opening of the N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone scheme is fantastic news for local people and other road users. This new road, which was delivered on time and on budget, will remove 10,000 vehicles per day from the bypassed towns and villages of Kilbeggan, Horseleap and Moate. It will improve the quality of life for those living in these areas and make their local roads safer while at the same time cutting driving times on the Dublin to Galway route. I look forward to watching the boost that this new road will deliver for the local commercial and tourism industries.”

Peter Malone, Chairman of the National Roads Authority, said:

“The opening this scheme is hugely significant in the development of the key east-west axis from Galway to Dublin, one of Ireland’s premier business and tourism arteries. The completion of this 29km project means that motorists will now be able to travel all the way from Dublin to west of Athlone on 114 km of continuous motorway or dual carriageway."

The completion of this scheme sees 60% of the entire 189km major inter-urban route from the Capital to the City of the Tribes open to traffic. The remainder of the route is under construction and is on schedule for completion in 2010. New roads of this high standard will deliver fast and reliable transportation of goods and services and will help address the challenges presented as a result of economic and demographic development.”

The entire major inter-urban route from Galway to Dublin will be complete by 2010. The schemes currently under construction are the N6 Athlone to Ballinasloe scheme which is due for completion next year, the 56km N6 Ballinasloe East to Galway project will be completed in 2010 and the N4 Lucan Bypass Upgrade scheme will be finished in 2009.

The N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone project was funded by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013 and part financed by the European Union.

Please click here for a map of the scheme – please note that the green line denotes the new route, the orange line the old route.

Tableman

Have used the new road, tis feckin great. Never have to see Moate again

kaizersoze

Well in fairness I haven't seen any tail backs on the main N6 but the problem is showing itself in a way I and the council didn't think off. It now takes ages to get out of the streets/side roads onto or across/onto the N6. The town is now getting very badly congested. There's just a constant stream of traffic passing now with no breaks.

At 4pm today it took me nearly 10 minutes to get across the N6 at the Creagh junction on the eastern side of the town. Both side roads had at least 30-40 cars held.:(

I'm not looking foward to race week.

Victor

Which town? Ballinasloe?

Well in fairness I haven't seen any tail backs on the main N6 but the problem is showing itself in a way I and the council didn't think off. It now takes ages to get out of the streets/side roads onto or across/onto the N6. The town is now getting very badly congested. There's just a constant stream of traffic passing now with no breaks.

At 4pm today it took me nearly 10 minutes to get across the N6 at the Creagh junction on the eastern side of the town. Both side roads had at least 30-40 cars held.

I'm not looking foward to race week.

The continous length of dual carriageway has reduced the "glugging" (vehicles bunching up behind one slower vehicle) effect of traffic that used to be caused by the long single carriageway* between Ballinaslow and Kilbeggan. The relativly short single carriageway between west Athlone and Ballinaslow doesn't appear to allow much (westbound) bunching.


*I excluded the Athlone bypass as this just rearranges the vehicles & they bunch up behind the next slow vehicle

kaizersoze

Victor wrote: »

Which town? Ballinasloe?

Aye

Sponge Bob

The vast pent up demand to visit Galway now that Moate is bypassed would explain 73.2% of the traffic

The rest of it is probably 50% L Plate drivers in mufti.

Tarabuses

Travelled down from Dublin to Galway on Saturday and had no problems in Ballinasloe. Coming back it was heaven to sit back and cruise from Athlone to the M50 without being held up by traffic once.

dubhthach

I went down to Galway on Saturday, all was grand apart from the usual slow driver on Athlone to Ballinasloe doing 75km/h pfff (there's always one of them). I did noticed that traffic was fairly heavy going after Loughrea heading into the city but I chalk that down to the Arts festival.

Reckon I saved about 20minutes on the trip from Ballsbridge to Salthill.

Tarabuses

But isn't the Loughrea bypass a pain in the back side? No opportunity to overtake at all on a new stretch of road:mad:

Moanin

dubhthach wrote: »

I went down to Galway on Saturday, all was grand apart from the usual slow driver on Athlone to Ballinasloe doing 75km/h pfff (there's always one of them). I did noticed that traffic was fairly heavy going after Loughrea heading into the city but I chalk that down to the Arts festival.

Reckon I saved about 20minutes on the trip from Ballsbridge to Salthill.

+1

No delays in Ballinasloe straight through. I thought it would be very heavy with the Galway Races starting today.Great stretch of road!

steyr fan

Isn't it typically Irish - the M6 with 100kmh limit. (The N2 bypassing Ashbourne has 120kmh).

Still, throughly enjoyable drive from Athlone to Dublin.

Stark

It's still the N6 until September 24th. They just have the M6 signs up now to save replacing them later.

Chris_533976

lol characterisially un-Irish if anything

DWCommuter

Yesterday evening I drove from Mervue in Galway city to Naas in 2 hours 20 mins, obeying the speed limits. Considering my detour to Naas at Kilcock, I'd put the journey time to Kilmainham around the same figure. Once the last 2 stretches between Galway and Athlone open, it could be closer to 2 hours. That makes Ireland a really small country. The railways are bunched in 2 years time.

Even in rush hour yesterday I got down to Galway from the M50/N4 interchange in 2 hours 35 mins. Hit the N6 at 4.20, arrived in Mervue at 6.55pm. These inter urban routes will change Ireland. Pity their tolled.