M7 - Castletown to Nenagh

NedNew2

Hmmm, thats mysterious...

L1011

You can't be "the source" unless you are, in fact, the head of traffic management for this project.

lukejr

I drove Kildare to Limerick yesterday during day light. The road lines are being painted at the tie-in with the M7/M8 PPP at Borris-in-Ossory.

I drove out to the over bridge on the N62 near Roscrea, no lines painted on the motorway here but work progressing. Unsure at what stage the surface is at, the junctions looked to be surfaced. I didn't get to stop to take any snaps, just drove slowly and looked out the window.

The LILO at Moneygall both appear to be surfaced, and ready to be lined and studded.

The tie-in with the Nenagh motorway is progressing, on the sliproad all the concrete barriers are in the process of being moved, and now only cones are used on the west carriageway (couldn't see east side) on the sliproad. The final surface does appear to be done here, only line painting needed.

That's the update from what I saw at the weekend.

Mc Love

Going to be coming back from Dub on Friday afternoon - any idea if works will be in place??

macjohn

Hi lads,

When this is all open how realisitic/unrealistic will it be to head from thurles to junction 23 to head to limerick??
100km road thurles to templemore, not sure of road from there to junction 23 then on the motorway

Presumably thurles to limerick via rearcross/newport is shortest mile wise but is a brutal road in winter, thurles to nenagh and pop on the m-way there is grand but 80km road from Thurles to Nenagh.
Just wondering - is it driving round the world for the sake of it?

chalky2005

macjohn wrote: »

Hi lads,

When this is all open how realisitic/unrealistic will it be to head from thurles to junction 23 to head to limerick??
100km road thurles to templemore, not sure of road from there to junction 23 then on the motorway

Presumably thurles to limerick via rearcross/newport is shortest mile wise but is a brutal road in winter, thurles to nenagh and pop on the m-way there is grand but 80km road from Thurles to Nenagh.
Just wondering - is it driving round the world for the sake of it?

Most people that I know off, coming from either Thurles or Templemore go by the Silvermines village but now with the Motorway open it would make more sense to head for nenagh and get on to the Motorway at Thurles Junction outside nenagh. If you go by the Mines you will have to drive to birdhill to get onto the Motorway. I have driven the Rearcross-Newport road and it takes about an hour to go from Thurles to Limerick that way. It's a dangerious road to travel.

andykells

Mc Love wrote: »

Going to be coming back from Dub on Friday afternoon - any idea if works will be in place??

You should be ok. Same cant be said for the following week though

Deedsie

Are road works to be diverted through Nenagh tomorrow?

kiwipower

Drove from Limerick to Nenagh this morning, took the Thurles junction I didnt see any advanced warning signs about traffic diverts through Nenagh. I will take a spin out and around the tie-in on the way home this evening and see if there are any warning signs closer to the junction.

I would question if the source of this information has got their tie-ins confused. As there are traffic diverts for the M18 construction begining next Tuesday. (advanced warning signs are in place for southbound traffic here since earlier in the week.) This traffic will be diverting through Barefield at the point of the Tie-in with the present M18.

andykells

Deedsie wrote: »

Are road works to be diverted through Nenagh tomorrow?

Monday or Tuesday

Deedsie

andykells wrote: »

Monday or Tuesday

I wonder did common sense prevail or were they not ready to divert the traffic for the bank holiday weekend?

kiwipower

kiwipower wrote: »

Drove from Limerick to Nenagh this morning, took the Thurles junction I didnt see any advanced warning signs about traffic diverts through Nenagh. I will take a spin out and around the tie-in on the way home this evening and see if there are any warning signs closer to the junction.

I would question if the source of this information has got their tie-ins confused. As there are traffic diverts for the M18 construction begining next Tuesday. (advanced warning signs are in place for southbound traffic here since earlier in the week.) This traffic will be diverting through Barefield at the point of the Tie-in with the present M18.

andykells wrote: »

Monday or Tuesday

I take back what I said above earlier, appologies andykells. I just came across the below story on the AA roadwatch website posted about an hour ago.

AA Traffic Update

On Tues 26th Oct, the M7 Limerick/Dublin Rd will be closed northbound from J26 Nenagh (West) to J24 Toomevara from 7pm-8am

Updated: 21/10/2010 12:45:00
This is to facilitate works. All M7 northbound traffic will be diverted via the N52 through Nenagh and onto the R445. Traffic from J25 Nenagh (Centre) will be diverted onto the R498 to Nenagh town then to onto the R445 back onto the M7 at J24 Toomevara.




:DAt least it sounds like it is only over night fot the one night!:D

L1011

One overnight isn't that bad, as I said initially they may need to surface the join between the onramps and the mainline which would absolutely require a closure.

slinky2000

I still can;t believe they would need to close the road though, sure look at the Nenagh bypass, they managed to do the whole thing without closing any of it

andykells

15th November if all goes to plan will be the handover. That the date that we will have motorway to dublin.

Deedsie

andykells wrote: »

15th November if all goes to plan will be the handover. That the date that we will have motorway to dublin.

If true that's great news.

Amtmann

I walked for about 3km west of J22 today.







New style of signage pole:


Looking west:


Looking west:


Looking east towards J22:


ADS approaching J22:


Looking west to Limerick:


Nice vista looking east about 2km from J22:




Gap in barrier:


Looking to Limerick:

veryangryman

Nice one Furet.

I see that similar to N6 junction 12 Roscommon's recent upgrade, the exit sign highlights the 90 degree turn (and associated "slow down ya maniac") actions required by the drivers.

Big improvement from NRA - credit where due. In the absense of money to upgrade junctions, this is a very innovative idea.

Irish and Proud

Wwwwwooooowwwww!!!!! What a lovely looking road - looks as smooth as a runway!!!

Bet it will be far better than the M7/M8 section - glad that section seems the exception rather than the rule - I must say that when I travelled with a relative on the M7 leg in May (the day after it opened), I was very surprised with the low quality of pavement on certain sections (certainly by Irish standards) - mind you I've seen much worse in other countries, but that's not the point! It will probably look a right disgrace when the new M7 Borris to Nenagh section opens in November (or Movember ). The only aspect I don't like are the LILOs.

Regards!

lukejr

Progressing look great. November opening looks possible.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Excellent photos. Thanks Furet.

slinky2000

Nice one lads! Looks good.

NewHillel

andykells wrote: »

Its official as i am the source so no bar stools involved

Just drove westwards from Dublin, and was diverted via Nenagh. The diversion signs were very poor, particularly at Nenagh. Followed three other cars, all lost, into a housing estate. Signage really needs to be beefed up, if the diversion is to continue. (Not everyone is a local, or familiar with the old route through the town!)

Deedsie

NewHillel wrote: »

Just drove westwards from Dublin, and was diverted via Nenagh. The diversion signs were very poor, particularly at Nenagh. Followed three other cars, all lost, into a housing estate. Signage really needs to be beefed up, if the diversion is to continue. (Not everyone is a local, or familiar with the old route through the town!)

Its one night only i think? Road works are from 7pm to 8am tomorrow morning.

slinky2000

Diversion wasn't in place for Dublin bound traiific but was for limerick bound about 11pm tonight, Nenagh was quiet for it was straight through with almost no delay.

Yes, signs say it's open at 8am again.

Still surprised they have to close any of it to be honest

JupiterKid

Great shots, Furet. The new section of M7 looks good.

Two things strike me from the pics:

1) The hard shoulder looks very narrow, and

2) The LILO at J22 looks shockingly tight.:(:eek: This could well turn out to be an accident black spot if care isn't taken.

kiwipower

Came through last night round 7 heading from Dublin to Limerick. If you dont mind tight windy Boreens (excuse the spelling) there is a little poorly signed road you can take to avoid Nenagh and come out on the Thurles M7 junction.

Just as you see the petrol station appearing in the distance on the Right heading towards Nenagh you will see a yellow diamond sign showing two roads branching left and right. (There was even an orange traffic diversion sign placed here on top of the intersectionsigning traffic on into Nenagh, ignore this sign.)
Take the left hand turn.
Follow the road untill you come out on a small roundabout sign posted for Dublin & Nenagh, take the Nenagh branch at the next round about you are on the Thurles road, right next to the motorway, take the underpass and follow the signs for Limerick!

Worked great for me last night. Hopefully if you can get as far as the Thurles junctions heading towards Dublin it will also work (in reverse) when they close the other side.

NFD100

Excellent phots, Furet. That can't be a hard shoulder? Can it? If you broke down in that you are asking to be killed by a passing HGV???

phog

NFD100 wrote: »

Excellent phots, Furet. That can't be a hard shoulder? Can it? If you broke down in that you are asking to be killed by a passing HGV???

The hard shoulder is between the grass margin and the yellow line. The continuous white line is to mark the right hand side of the overtaking lane.

tippilot

Has anyone managed to get a definitive opening date from the NRA?