M8 motorway (general thread)

Zoney

I for one don't in fact believe that even in ordinary well-funded circumstances that the councils are in fact remotely equipped, trained or resourced for actual motorway maintanance. It's not like it's as simple as a Hi-ace and a couple of lads with bin bags and maybe a cone or two.

I'm pretty sure that no thought whatsoever has been given to the issue and it is yet another case of make it up as you go along. While we might expect the NRA to take the issue a bit more seriously, it's not in fact a reasonable act on the part of the government or indeed the public to expect the NRA to magically "take care of it all" without sensible actual official policy and clear delineation of funding for the issue.

As for the problem being so extensive in the first place... it's a shocking display of just how uncivilised many people in the country are. It's not a matter of just littering; the littering is merely a symptom of an appalling attitude that such people have. That attitude is of far greater consequence to our society than just making the place a pig-sty.

Enforcing serious penalties on people for littering, or "educating people" won't tackle the underlying problem, but the former especially would seem to be a priority. Maybe combined with similar enforcement in other areas, people would finally get the message that they cannot just act as they see fit.

damoz

In my view any tolled Motorway shoud be maintained by the people benefitting from that toll - . What else is that money for?

Chris_5339762

Yes, the toll companies are reponsible for their tolled bit.

veryangryman

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Yes, the toll companies are reponsible for their tolled bit.

I drove the Fermoy Section yesterday, doesnt look much littered

Indeed the vast majority of litter is in the Tipp section IMO

BluntGuy

veryangryman wrote: »

I drove the Fermoy Section yesterday, doesnt look much littered

Indeed the vast majority of litter is in the Tipp section IMO

From J14 - J10. Tis a disgrace. Just one big garbage dump. Oh and near J19 is particularly bad too.

Amtmann

Has any re-signing of the Mitchelstown Relief Road or R639 taken place yet?

Also: What about the private service area off the M8 at Cashel - any progress here to report?

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

Has any re-signing of the Mitchelstown Relief Road or R639 taken place yet?

Some on the R639 has taken place. The sign outside Cahir has been replaced. The "M8" uses Transport font rather than motorway, but they get it correct at least.

The little signs for local roads have been installed.

I'll grab photos when they're finished with it.

BluntGuy

As promised, a few photos of the revised signage. Unfortunately with a camera phone this time seeing as how I forgot to charge the ol' camera.

N8 no longer!



Proof that camera phone quality is crap (the ADS says Cork, Mallow, Mitchelstown, Kilbeheny).



Standard directional signage outside Cahir:


Some more directional signage:



I will try to get some clearer, better quality pictures next week if I can find the time, but this'll do ye for now.

I'm fairly happy with the replaced signage, but, it's not without problems.

There is one sign I didn't get a clear photo of unfortunately, but it's a pretty bad error. It has Mitchelstown and Cahir in the wrong direction, with mind you, the wrong distances. It's a complete mess of a sign. Also, there's one or two signs at J10 they haven't replaced, which I really don't understand at all, seeing as how they replaced most of them.

More minor errors include the route number missing from one ADS, and I guess, the wrong font for "M8" on the signs. But overall I'm satisfied.

Coming from Clonmel however absolutely nothing has been replaced, in fact it's gotten worse!

L1011

Anyone any idea what roadworks are being done between J11 and 12 southbound and why they require a complete posession of the carriageway for a full week?

This opened less than two years ago at this stage. Although I seem to remember that this is the section with the crumbliest, flakiest hard shoulder seen this side of Anaholty?

BluntGuy

MYOB wrote: »

Anyone any idea what roadworks are being done between J11 and 12 southbound and why they require a complete posession of the carriageway for a full week?

No idea.

This would be the second time they've had to perform works on a shoddily-built road. It really is the weak link in the M8.

Irish and Proud

BluntGuy wrote: »

No idea.

This would be the second time they've had to perform works on a shoddily-built road. It really is the weak link in the M8.

Was on the M8 a couple of times - the Cashel to Mitchelstown section is mostly good but is IMO inferior to other sections of the M8 - the finish is not as good. However, just over a week ago, I was on the bus southbound when a noticed a relatively small depression (coned off) in the hard-shoulder of the M8 near where it crosses back over the old N8 before the tie-in with the Mitchelstown to Fermoy Scheme. This also happens to be one of 2 short poor sections of the scheme in terms of surface - the other section is the Cashel Bypass tie-in where the surface is very uneven. Hopefully, these will be sorted out on what is otherwise a very good motorway!

Regards!

larryone

Another pipe collapse?

L1011

Its only affecting southbound so if its a pipe, its collapsed very cleanly under one side.

Amtmann

Drove the M8 yesterday. Emergency phones installed from junctions 7 to 14, and reflectors have been installed on the concrete barrier between junctions 11 and 12, which makes a big improvement. There was practically no litter along the route, so it seems it's all been picked up.

L1011

Has anyone else noticeed the typo'ed county boundary signs? "southippcoco.ie"...

popebenny16

drove from Cashel to the northern end yesterday and noticed something a bit odd. How come at the Two Mile Borris/Thurles Junction there is only access coming to and going to Dublin/Portloaise and not Cork/Cashel? That was how I ended up going all the way instead of coming off at this wierd Half Junction.

MrDerp

popebenny16 wrote: »

drove from Cashel to the northern end yesterday and noticed something a bit odd. How come at the Two Mile Borris/Thurles Junction there is only access coming to and going to Dublin/Portloaise and not Cork/Cashel? That was how I ended up going all the way instead of coming off at this wierd Half Junction.

There's 2 junctions for Thurles:
- Thurles / Horse and Jockey
- Thurles / Two Mile Borris

This forms a triangle between each of these two junctions and Thurles, along the M8, N75 and N62

As such, it seems to have been deemed unnecessary to provide access from the N75 junction to Cork, as traffic from Thurles to Cork would naturally use the N62. The people of Two Mile Borris have obviously not been considered, so they need to use the N62 junction and travel along the old N8 for a few miles before taking the turn to TMB

popebenny16

thats fair enough just looking at a map, situation on the ground is that Thurles is a fairly big town and it is of ease to have two proper junctions not one and a half . Coming in from the TMB junction means having to go through the entire town (and dont mention the proposed Thurles bypass, as this isnt the fairly tale forum)

Amtmann

I took a Bus Eireann from Cork to Cahir yesterday. Still no re-signing on the old N8 between Mitchelstown and Kilbehenny. Also, annoyingly, the bus took the old road for most of the way with the driver half driving in the hard shoulder.

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

I took a Bus Eireann from Cork to Cahir yesterday. Still no re-signing on the old N8 between Mitchelstown and Kilbehenny. Also, annoyingly, the bus took the old road for most of the way with the driver half driving in the hard shoulder.

I think there's a stop in Kilbehenny.

In relation to the R639, between J11-J12, some new, horrible fingerpost signs have been erected at several minor junctions. This is really bad form, I thought we'd done away with that rubbish.

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

I think there's a stop in Kilbehenny.

In relation to the R639, between J11-J12, some new, horrible fingerpost signs have been erected at several minor junctions. This is really bad form, I thought we'd done away with that rubbish.

No, the service was express, stopping only at M-town, Cahir, Cashel and Urlingford (on the R639 anyway) so I don't know why he didn't take the motorway. I also noticed the fingerposts and the bizarre lack of an update where the R670 joins the N24/old Cahir bypass.

I got out for a spin today, and took the M8 up to Cullahill, looking at the new section along the way. The people of Durrow have signs up saying "Durrow Bypass Opening Soon: Thank you for 500 years of friendships", which I think is nice of them. I always liked Durrow!

Tomorrow I'm driving the N25 Waterford Bypass and the M9.

veryangryman

Furet wrote: »

No, the service was express, stopping only at M-town, Cahir, Cashel and Urlingford (on the R639 anyway) so I don't know why he didn't take the motorway. I also noticed the fingerposts and the bizarre lack of an update where the R670 joins the N24/old Cahir bypass.

I got out for a spin today, and took the M8 up to Cullahill, looking at the new section along the way. The people of Durrow have signs up saying "Durrow Bypass Opening Soon: Thank you for 500 years of friendships", which I think is nice of them. I always liked Durrow!

Tomorrow I'm driving the N25 Waterford Bypass and the M9.

Moate had the same crack just before M6 opened.

Nice touch but... all i remember of that town is sighing, beeping and generally being annoyed. Durrow is probably not as bad - i cant imagine people missing Abbeyleix

Amtmann

veryangryman wrote: »

Moate had the same crack just before M6 opened.

Nice touch but... all i remember of that town is sighing, beeping and generally being annoyed. Durrow is probably not as bad - i cant imagine people missing Abbeyleix

No, you could always sail through Durrow without delays (at least I always could). Both it and Abbeyleix are lovely towns. The latter will be a gem once the traffic is gone on the 28th.

Chris_5339762

Durrow is really nice, it'll be a lovely place once the last bit is open.

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

No, the service was express, stopping only at M-town, Cahir, Cashel and Urlingford (on the R639 anyway) so I don't know why he didn't take the motorway. I also noticed the fingerposts and the bizarre lack of an update where the R670 joins the N24/old Cahir bypass.

Yeah, it's like they gave up there. The junction as a whole is poorly-signed, but the confusing multiplex doesn't help. When the N24 to Bansha scheme goes ahead (prob past our lifetimes ) then the junction will make more sense.

As for the bus, it really depends on the driver it seems. I've used that bus route a number of times and it's just luck-of-the-draw.

Stark

BluntGuy wrote: »

As for the bus, it really depends on the driver it seems. I've used that bus route a number of times and it's just luck-of-the-draw.

That's what I hate about taking buses from Dublin to Cork. Although the old roads are much faster now that a lot of the traffic has been removed, you still don't feel like you're getting there as quickly as you do when you're on a bus on the motorway. And the surfacing on the old roads can often be abysmal as well which is annoying if you've opted for the bus rather than car so you can get some work done on the journey down. (It's nearly impossible to type on a laptop for one thing when the bus is going over bumpy ground).

Amtmann

Some photos of the motorway between Cashel and Cahir today. This was the first section of the C-M scheme to open.










In other news, the first private "M8 service area" will go to construction within the next two weeks and open by late November. It will be located immediately off junction 8.

Amtmann

Some photos of the motorway between Cashel and Cahir today. This was the first section of the C-M scheme to open.










In other news, the first private "M8 service area" will go to construction within the next two weeks and open by late November. It will be located immediately off junction 8.

Amtmann

Must say, the landscaping and litter situations have really improved on the M8 this year. Not a spot of rubbish along the whole thing as of yesterday. Furthermore, the Cashel to Cullahill scheme is looking great. There are very few weeds along it, and the planting seems to be establishing very quickly indeed, with weeds and grass sprayed around the bases of all the young trees. There is a smashing wildflower section at the deep cutting south of Urlingford too, and the grass has not become seedy yet.

On the Mitchelstown to Fermoy section I noticed a large group of landscapers out last week spraying the noxious weeds along the northbound carriageway, while the contractors for the M7/M8 did the same a few days ago.

Even the Cashel-Mitchelstown scheme is looking better than usual, with whatever limited number of trees that were planted actually beginning to establish. There's still a big weed problem here though.

The Fermoy Bypass's planting is really establishing now - it will be quite heavily treed within another three years or so.

-Corkie-

Dont know if this has been discussed before but anyway i was driving the M8 on friday between mitchtown and Cahir and i noticed a broken down HGV on the hard shoulder. I was shocked because his wheels were about 2 feet over the yellow line. I know he had no choice on where to stop but isnt it bad on the nra/contractor to allow such a narrow hard shoulder... Trucks were having to change to lane 2 to go around the truck.

Im just thinking imagine if this happened at night possibly a foggy or rainy one. You could have a massive collision with trucks and cars involved. Imagine it being a petrol/gas tanker.

I just thought i would share this amoungst all the road making experts here:).