M8 motorway (general thread)

KevR

Furet wrote: »

In addition, are you aware that you can pay the M4 toll, exit the motorway and then re-enter within three hours pro bono? That's not the case with the Fermoy Bypass though.

BluntGuy wrote: »

I am aware, and while I doubt the majority of traffic (heading to Galway) would avail of this, it's still a nice gesture. Or it would be, were the M4 Toll not so enormous - €2.90!

Sorry for going a bit off-topic with this but how does the M4 thing work? I never knew anything about it.

So if like last week when I drove to Lucan and pretty much turned straight around after I had collected what I needed to collect I could have got away without paying the €2.90 on the way home as I passed back through the toll plaza within 3 hours?

Do you have to go to one of the manned barriers and get a receipt on the way up and then go to a manned barrier again on the way back and show the receipt or something? I went to the exact change bucket barriers in both directions..

Amtmann

KevR wrote: »

Sorry for going a bit off-topic with this but how does the M4 thing work? I never knew anything about it.

So if like last week when I drove to Lucan and pretty much turned straight around after I had collected what I needed to collect I could have got away without paying the €2.90 on the way home as I passed back through the toll plaza within 3 hours?

Do you have to go to one of the manned barriers and get a receipt on the way up and then go to a manned barrier again on the way back and show the receipt or something? I went to the exact change bucket barriers in both directions..

Look at this Kev: http://www.eurolink-m4.ie/index.aspx?menu=2&context=4
Seems decent.

Stark

Had to use that before when stopping off to get petrol in Enfield. Quite handy.

Same system also exists on the M1 if you stop off in Drodegha.

Carawaystick

KevR wrote: »

Sorry for going a bit off-topic with this but how does the M4 thing work? I never knew anything about it.

So if like last week when I drove to Lucan and pretty much turned straight around after I had collected what I needed to collect I could have got away without paying the €2.90 on the way home as I passed back through the toll plaza within 3 hours?

Do you have to go to one of the manned barriers and get a receipt on the way up and then go to a manned barrier again on the way back and show the receipt or something? I went to the exact change bucket barriers in both directions..

only works going the same direction.....

mysterious

A little off topic,

Just as you posted the route from Durrow to Abbeyleix section up. I seen a 1970 map of Ireland. I wish I could find it. It was in the libarary in college a few years ago at the back of an Irish atlas. It shown the traffic numbers on all the T roads.

The The road from Porlaoise to Cahir was only beginning to be officially the main Cork road at the time. The traffic counts were highest from
Over 10,000 a day.
Dublin to Naas
Dublin to Drogheda
Limerick to south of Castleconnel.
Cork to Carrigtoohil
Bray to Greystones

Traffic between 5,000 and 10,000
Galway Oranmore
Naas to Kilcullen (where T6 branches off)
Naas to Portlaoise
Limerick to Bunratty
Dublin to Kinnegad.

There were no other T inter city trunk route over 5,000 a day.
The only section that reached 5,000 a day was Portlaoise to Mountrath.
And Cork to Fermoy I think.

I'm not a hundred percent on all these figures. It's about 90% accurate:o
Can I ask all the N8 travellers, going back to the 70s did you always use the N8 are did you use the old T6 way. The map did suggest that Cork traffic used both N8 and T6, according to the map I seen. At Portlaoise traffic is generally higher for the N7 all the way to Castletown was just at 5,000 a day. From Castletown onwards it was around 3,500 a day I think. The N8 at Abbeleix was about 3,500 a day. I'm just trying to figure out, which route was most popular for Cork Dublin at that time.

dmeehan

BluntGuy wrote: »

Have they erected the new ADS signage as well?

Anyway, it's simply great to see this finishing up so soon. Hopefully by end May we'll know the outcome of the redesignations, and perhaps even have the M8 all the way to Dunkettle. That would be doubly fantastic.

In bad news however, I've seen no movement on the Kilworth MSA.

there are too many TLA's in that post

Whats ADS? Is MSA Motorway Service Area??

Amtmann

dmeehan wrote: »

there are too many TLA's in that post

Whats ADS? Is MSA Motorway Service Area??

ADS is Advance Directional Signage: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/J11_Chevron.jpg

An MSA is indeed a service area.

Amtmann

I filmed the M8 from junction 11 to Carrigane the other day (southbound). I wanted to record what the terminus of C-M was like before the M-F tie-in is completed. I think it's an okay video; you can see how things are starting to green up a bit!

BluntGuy

Things are starting to green up, maybe it'll look presentable in the summer.

Amtmann

Good for asphalt. Rollers and paver are parked up under the overbridge waiting to go on Tuesday.

BluntGuy

So Furet, would you say by the end of next week it'll be done?

Amtmann

Two layers of asphalt plus the concrete barrier plus the wearing course - I doubt it. But we should have the first two asphalt layers at least, and possibly the barrier. It is effectively done at this stage; I mean, the "tie-in" itself is actually complete. Got to say, they did a good job from the looks of things.

BluntGuy

Well, they did as good a job as possible considering the scale of the task. I wonder if there's a picture of what it looked like beforehand from the same position?

Amtmann

Last August:

Amtmann

Have to say, I don't like what's going on at junction 8 (Cashel Bypass) one bit. They are making it a full junction, and as a consequence it will be right on top of junction 9. As soon as the new junction 8 southbound on-slip merging lane ends, the junction 9 exit slip will begin.

larryone

They are fairly close together alright, and it is worrying. We could end up with the situation where they'll have to reduce the speed limit between these junctions, if the traffic volumes are high enough. Would it have been too difficult to build an aditional road between the R688 and N74?

Amtmann

The new slip roads are being built to satisfy the gombeen council and the Topaz/McDonalds partnership who are in the process of building a "service area" there.

Stark

Exactly the sort of thing the motorway order was meant to protect against. How depressing.

BluntGuy

Stark wrote: »

Exactly the sort of thing the motorway order was meant to protect against. How depressing.

Well, it's the NRA's fault for spending so long deciding whether we needed MSAs or not.

I think Topaz already had a deal set up before the motorway order came into effect in September.

It doesn't mean they should've gotten planning permission, but this is South Tipp Co. Council we're talking about, who've demonstrated remarkably well over the past year or so, that they don't know what a motorway actually is.

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

It doesn't mean they should've gotten planning permission, but this is South Tipp Co. Council we're talking about, who've demonstrated remarkably well over the past year or so, that they don't know what a motorway actually is.

Imagine, when I rang the South Tipp planning authority last December to question their decision, they were like: "The M8? Where are you talking about exactly?" Bear in mind I had just told them that I was referring to junction 8 of the M8 motorway, and they were still clueless. Sean O'Neill of the NRA eventually gave me some information about the development; apparently, it was agreed as early as 2006 that this would be built.

larryone

Driving south past it this morning I saw alot of surfacing work being done.
This is the result of that work as of this evening.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vUMOjM4oGO4/SefLQ4YmJSI/AAAAAAAAAYg/S-QfRvD1NfQ/s912/IMGP0245.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_vUMOjM4oGO4/SefLO7-BmWI/AAAAAAAAAYY/JAtnaYmgzi4/s912/IMGP0244.JPG

Edit: links not working now... grrr.
This will work tho: http://picasaweb.google.com/larryoneill/102_1604

Amtmann

Cheers larry. I actually went for a walk on that section at about 7.30 yesterday (Thursday) evening. Very smooth job. All that needs doing now is the concrete barrier and wearing course.

BluntGuy

And I saw at J12 earlier today that a lot of lining progress has been made this week...

Amtmann

What have they lined at junction 12? Just the white in the centre, or have they added the solid yellow line too?

BluntGuy

Everything from what I saw. Lined and studded.

Amtmann

Brilliant. Southbound carriageway only I presume? The asphalt contractors are the only ones working this week from what I've seen. All the earthmovers have been parked up since Good Friday.

BluntGuy

I think it was both actually.

Surprised not to see any signage put up apart from the 500m ADS.

Also, it must be said that the entry slip-road lighting is terrible, you cannot see where you are going when trying to enter the motorway. There are no catseyes, so you feel like you're plunging into darkness. I've done it so many times and I still hate it. I took a good look at the lighting for the F-M side of the junction and it didn't seem any better.

larryone

Yea, it was only on the southbound. What I saw was the central white dashed line on the northern tie-in, I wasn't able to see much else, and didn't have the oppertunity to stop and examine. At the junction just south of Mitchelstown the southbound carriageway appears to be fully lined as far as the eye can see, central and side lines. No lines yet looking north from the Fermoy junction.

larryone

BluntGuy wrote: »

I think it was both actually.

I saw nothing on the northbound lanes when I was going through, but I may be mistaken. I was in a hurry when I was heading south, and it was getting dark when I was heading north, and was talking on the phone while heading north too so my mind wasn't on the line painting. Maybe it was on both lanes.

I might not be driving it again for a while, so will have to leave it to you guys to lash up the next update =0P

BluntGuy

larryone wrote: »

I might not be driving it again for a while, so will have to leave it to you guys to lash up the next update =0P

Well I may be mistaken as well.

I'll check it out when I drive past there next time.