N22 - Macroom to Ballyvourney (Macroom Bypass) [open to traffic]

SaltyJohn

marno21 wrote: »

Going to be a long few weeks while the Mill Road remains closed

In better news, here’s some pics from Twitter. First one is looking west from near Bealick Mill along the Mill Road. The rest are of the bridge which will carry the N22 over the R618.

Pictures not linked/attached

aisling86

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Not a hope of that I dont think. 9 months time, I really doubt it.


IIRC the fastest of all of them was the Mitchelstown bypass, which was extremely simple in engineering terms and took 14 months overall. Even the Macroom bypass part of this is far more complex.

I agree having walked it a few times its going to take alot longer. They are still blasting behind our house also & will be for another few weeks I think.

marno21

SaltyJohn wrote: »

Pictures not linked/attached

Whoops.

https://twitter.com/alizarn/status/1301966076297740291

marno21

aisling86 wrote: »

I agree having walked it a few times its going to take alot longer. They are still blasting behind our house also & will be for another few weeks I think.

Next summer looks extremely ambitious.

However at this stage, for those of us watching this project in slow motion on a daily basis, it is increasingly evident that Coolcower-Carrigaphoona (the Macroom section) will be open before the rest. There is very little done on the interurban section between Toonlane and Carrigaphooca (the Macroom-Ballymakeera section) and the Ballyvourney section has work underway but it's the most complex of the whole lot and will take time.

The advanced nature of the works in particular around Carrigaphooca, the Mill Road and the Millstreet Road are evident when compared to other sections of the route.

There was a lot of work done over a week period in early June around the link road from the existing N22 to the Ballyvourney East interchange. Was this a borrow pit?

steeler j

aisling86 wrote: »

I agree having walked it a few times its going to take alot longer. They are still blasting behind our house also & will be for another few weeks I think.

Are they blasting the rock and using it on the road

alaimacerc

marno21 wrote: »

However at this stage, for those of us watching this project in slow motion on a daily basis, it is increasingly evident that Coolcower-Carrigaphoona (the Macroom section) will be open before the rest.

What sort of junction is planned at Carraig an Phúca? The route map makes it look like it's either a bridge, or an at-grade merge, but I'd not want to assume which -- if either -- from a map that might just be indicative. Is this going to work with partial opening as-is, or would temporary works be needed?

There is very little done on the interurban section between Toonlane and Carrigaphooca (the Macroom-Ballymakeera section) and the Ballyvourney section has work underway but it's the most complex of the whole lot and will take time.

Complexity due to... number of bridges required?

There was a lot of work done over a week period in early June around the link road from the existing N22 to the Ballyvourney East interchange.

Is this to be a half-cloverlead between Baile Mhic Íre and Tonn Láin?

aisling86

steeler j wrote: »

Are they blasting the rock and using it on the road

No they are blasting through all the rock to build the road.

Water John

I would presume they would crush it and use it on site. Any alt would make no sense.

Quackster

Water John wrote: »

I would presume they would crush it and use it on site. Any alt would make no sense.

Yeah, any blasted rock is likely to be stockpiled and used for making blacktop if it's suitable. Otherwise, it'll be used for capping. It's not going to go to waste!

Pete_Cavan

Quackster wrote: »

Yeah, any blasted rock is likely to be stockpiled and used for making blacktop if it's suitable. Otherwise, it'll be used for capping. It's not going to go to waste!

Blasted rock wouldn't go into surfacing, there are specific requirements for such material and it needs lots of testing so is produced under a quality controlled regime at a plant. It could potentially be used in capping layers or for general fill to make up levels outside of the road itself.

Quackster

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Blasted rock wouldn't go into surfacing, there are specific requirements for such material and it needs lots of testing so is produced under a quality controlled regime at a plant. It could potentially be used in capping layers or for general fill to make up levels outside of the road itself.

If there are sufficient quantities of suitable material, they can set up a mobile plant on site to produce blacktop with it. This is a not an unusual occurrence.

Pete_Cavan

Quackster wrote: »

If there are sufficient quantities of suitable material, they can set up a mobile plant on site to produce blacktop with it. This is a not an unusual occurrence.

The excavated material would need to be tested to see if it has a high enough Polished Stone Value as well as other properties, its not impossible that it would but not very likely. Also, the quality control measures for batching on site would be expensive and a lot of hassle, the spec would likely call for NSAI certification or similar. Surfacing is one of the last tasks to be done so using excavated material would require stockpiling and doublehandling late in the project as the amount of plant on site is reducing, easier to deal with it at the time and use it for fill with less onerous requirements.

Quackster

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

The excavated material would need to be tested to see if it has a high enough Polished Stone Value as well as other properties, its not impossible that it would but not very likely. Also, the quality control measures for batching on site would be expensive and a lot of hassle, the spec would likely call for NSAI certification or similar. Surfacing is one of the last tasks to be done so using excavated material would require stockpiling and doublehandling late in the project as the amount of plant on site is reducing, easier to deal with it at the time and use it for fill with less onerous requirements.

And again, I beg to differ. I've seen it done on projects in this country where the quantities of suitable material available make economic sense for the contractor. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about asphalt wearing course, but rather roadbase and base course macadams.

Pete_Cavan

Quackster wrote: »

And again, I beg to differ. I've seen it done on projects in this country where the quantities of suitable material available make economic sense for the contractor. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about asphalt wearing course, but rather roadbase and base course macadams.

Do you have an example of a project where they batched macadam using stone on site? The quantity of aggregate needed for less than 100mm of base course is small in the scheme of things, it wouldn't take a lot of rock to produce enough for it. Far more stone is needed in the thicker base and sub-base layers, which also have less technical requirements and testing, so it generally makes sense to use any stone on site there.

Salvadoor

Less rock talk, more N22 progress talk

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marno21

alaimacerc wrote: »

What sort of junction is planned at Carraig an Phúca? The route map makes it look like it's either a bridge, or an at-grade merge, but I'd not want to assume which -- if either -- from a map that might just be indicative. Is this going to work with partial opening as-is, or would temporary works be needed?

There's no junction planned in the final scheme at Carrigaphooca. The existing N22 will be realigned and there will be a roundabout with the local road there, where they will go under the existing N22 together.

I have no idea how they'd go about a partial opening there with a temporary junction with the existing N22.

There is heavy amounts of work ongoing in this area at the minute. Quite a lot of rock needs shifting to fit all this in.

alaimacerc wrote: »

Complexity due to... number of bridges required?

There's a lengthy bridge over the River Bohill, some fairly deep cuts along there plus tricky land conditions

alaimacerc wrote: »

Is this to be a half-cloverlead between Baile Mhic Íre and Tonn Láin?

There's a full (4 movement) compact grade seperated junction onto the new link road between the existing N22 (to be R608) and the L3409 to Clondrohid. The old L3409 will not be bridging the N22 and all movements will be routed onto this new road which will have a roundabout at its intersection with the existing N22. There's visible works where this roundabout will be on the existing N22 atm.

alaimacerc

marno21 wrote: »

There's no junction planned in the final scheme at Carrigaphooca. The existing N22 will be realigned and there will be a roundabout with the local road there, where they will go under the existing N22 together.

I have no idea how they'd go about a partial opening there with a temporary junction with the existing N22.

Interesting dilemma. Sounds like there's the potential for the 8km actual Macroom bypass to be finished long before the 14km Baile Bhuirne bypass... and no way to make use of it.

marno21

alaimacerc wrote: »

Interesting dilemma. Sounds like there's the potential for the 8km actual Macroom bypass to be finished long before the 14km Baile Bhuirne bypass... and no way to make use of it.

I would imagine though that they’ll find a way to do so .. a temporary and low speed access route should be doable

The way they are doing things at the minute would suggest as such. Apart from some heavy work near the River Bohill and rock removal at the Ballyvourney East interchange, almost all work is ongoing on the 8km Macroom section. Big work sites visible from the existing route at Carrigaphooca, Millstreet Road, Masseytown and by Bealick Mill. West of Carrigaphooca, most of the route is untouched which is easy to monitor from the existing N22 as they run alongside each other for a large swathe.

yerwanthere123

Salvadoor wrote: »

Less rock talk, more N22 progress talk

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I actually like the rock talk tbh, find it interesting learning new things. So there

alaimacerc

marno21 wrote: »

I would imagine though that they’ll find a way to do so .. a temporary and low speed access route should be doable

The way they are doing things at the minute would suggest as such. Apart from some heavy work near the River Bohill and rock removal at the Ballyvourney East interchange, almost all work is ongoing on the 8km Macroom section. Big work sites visible from the existing route at Carrigaphooca, Millstreet Road, Masseytown and by Bealick Mill. West of Carrigaphooca, most of the route is untouched which is easy to monitor from the existing N22 as they run alongside each other for a large swathe.

Hence my original question. I shouldn't have said 'no way' of course, but it sounds like a bit of a thorny trilemma. Leave it unused, vs spend significant extra money putting in an up-to-spec junction that'll get bulldozed in due course, vs put in a 'works junction' that might be worse than the problem you're trying to solve. (Well, Macroom is pretty bad, so maybe 'worse' is slightly over-claiming...)

marno21

alaimacerc wrote: »

Hence my original question. I shouldn't have said 'no way' of course, but it sounds like a bit of a thorny trilemma. Leave it unused, vs spend significant extra money putting in an up-to-spec junction that'll get bulldozed in due course, vs put in a 'works junction' that might be worse than the problem you're trying to solve. (Well, Macroom is pretty bad, so maybe 'worse' is slightly over-claiming...)

I have a fairly limited experience in driving half finished road projects, but this has precedent from what I read on here, and it certainly did happen on the N86 project near Dingle a few years back.

I know the Mill Road is closed at the minute but the traffic is absolutely scandalous in the town. There was a queue back to the graveyard when I went west today at 12pm. On my way back at school time I just turned right before the dump, down through Sleveen, past Nutricia and out onto the N22 past the Two Mile Bridge.

Water John

The start of that rat run is very narrow. No need to pass Nutricia, come out at Hartnett's Cross.

marno21

Water John wrote: »

The start of that rat run is very narrow. No need to pass Nutricia, come out at Hartnett's Cross.

Indeed. It’s chronic if you meet anything bigger than a small car along there.

Hartnetts Cross true - the Nutricia option was more to avoid traffic at that cross and along there as far as Kelleher’s. The junction with the N22 after Nutricia is hairy though - you would feel sorry for the truck drivers trying to get out there and then right - of which there are many.

Truckermal

marno21 wrote: »

Indeed. It’s chronic if you meet anything bigger than a small car along there.

Hartnetts Cross true - the Nutricia option was more to avoid traffic at that cross and along there as far as Kelleher’s. The junction with the N22 after Nutricia is hairy though - you would feel sorry for the truck drivers trying to get out there and then right - of which there are many.

Try driving it with a Artic!

alaimacerc

marno21 wrote: »

I have a fairly limited experience in driving half finished road projects, but this has precedent from what I read on here, and it certainly did happen on the N86 project near Dingle a few years back.

I guess it depends on several factors. What sort of 'completion gap' might be involved -- week, months, years? The complexity of the junction -- this doesn't look too bad, basically just a relatively shallow fork. And the cost of different degrees of finish, of course.

I know the Mill Road is closed at the minute but the traffic is absolutely scandalous in the town. There was a queue back to the graveyard when I went west today at 12pm. On my way back at school time I just turned right before the dump, down through Sleveen, past Nutricia and out onto the N22 past the Two Mile Bridge.

It got a 'shout out' on Drivetime, so must have been pretty bad if they're pricing in how terrible it is routinely.

alaimacerc

Water John wrote: »

The start of that rat run is very narrow. No need to pass Nutricia, come out at Hartnett's Cross.

Pretty 'scenic' just on a bike, both those roads!

Water John

Find somewhere not near Macroom to cycle for the next while. Mill Rd closed for 5 weeks, one down.

alaimacerc

Water John wrote: »

Find somewhere not near Macroom to cycle for the next while. Mill Rd closed for 5 weeks, one down.

No worries on that score, not nearly fit enough for Macroom day trips at the minute! Or likely even long weekend ones, likely... I'd be mordidly curious to come have a look around once there's a phase of it just-about finished, though...

Prospectors

Today I heard talk of the project being several months ahead on time? Not sure what timeline that is based on considering the covid delays earlier in the year.

Any photos of Mill Road progress? It will be a small blessing when that reopens in the next week or two hopefully.

aisling86

Urgent Road Closure - L3424 Cooleyhane Road, Macroom from Friday 9th to Friday 16th October 2020 to facilitate N22 Baile Bhuirne to Macroom Works on underbridge

Knew this would happen!