M7/M8 Portlaoise-Castletown-Cullahill Motorway (incl. Abbeyleix Bypass)

Danno

Ask and you shall recieve!!! - Just pure pot luck that I drove from Rathdowney to Borris-in-Ossory (R435?) and whilts passing the new overbridge I caught these snaps...

207 looks west towards the Castletown-Nenagh
208 looks east towards the Castletown-Portlaoise.
The others are of the completed overbridge.

These photos were taken on a Sony W595 mobile 3mp camera. I can put up the full-res files if you wish.

lukejr

Excellent, thanks for posting the photos.

A lot of progress being made on both sections.

G_R

Danno wrote: »

These photos were taken on a Sony W595 mobile 3mp camera. I can put up the full-res files if you wish.

we have the same phone:D

nice pics. I'd say that Spring 10 is being very optimisitc. More likely summer i'd say.

Danno

This is the last overbridge just up from the M8/N8 roundabout at the Laois - Kilkenny border.

I was talking to a local person who owns a business there that this bridge will open later this week or early next week. They also said that the motorway will open next April. So I guess the May Bank Holiday weekend should be the opening date if this is true...

Danno.

roosterman71

Danno wrote: »

Ask and you shall recieve!!! - Just pure pot luck that I drove from Rathdowney to Borris-in-Ossory (R435?) and whilts passing the new overbridge I caught these snaps...

207 looks west towards the Castletown-Nenagh
208 looks east towards the Castletown-Portlaoise.
The others are of the completed overbridge.

These photos were taken on a Sony W595 mobile 3mp camera. I can put up the full-res files if you wish.

The first picture (which I've edited) you posted here has resulted in my land getting flooded :mad: The river (under the bridge in the distance, marked in red) is taking alot more water due to the land on the left being prevented from draining across where the road used to be. As a result, the fields on the right of the road gets flooded at the bottom (in blue) as the river bursts its banks and the shores in the field have no where to dump their water.

I'm hoping that the excessive heavy rain on Friday/Saturday this weekend caused extra flooding. Fingers crossed that the normal weather in Ireland won't cause flooding as a result of this road building.

Colm R

roosterman71 wrote: »

The first picture (which I've edited) you posted here has resulted in my land getting flooded :mad: The river (under the bridge in the distance, marked in red) is taking alot more water due to the land on the left being prevented from draining across where the road used to be. As a result, the fields on the right of the road gets flooded at the bottom (in blue) as the river bursts its banks and the shores in the field have no where to dump their water.

I'm hoping that the excessive heavy rain on Friday/Saturday this weekend caused extra flooding. Fingers crossed that the normal weather in Ireland won't cause flooding as a result of this road building.

If I were you Roosterman, I would contact the council/contractors quickly.

I would imagine you are entitled that your land be unaffected by any road building nearby. But you want to do this quick. The longer you leave it, the more difficult you will be able to find assistance.

Rovi

The rain on Friday/Saturday gave us the fastest and highest flooding we've seen here, at this time of year, in living memory.
It went down again almost as quickly, but we strongly suspect that the sheer volume of water that fell onto now impervious asphalt that got immediately funnelled into the local watercourses gave rise to the phenomenon.
The land that now effectively has a 'roof' (asphalt/concrete/tarmac) used to be a fine 'sponge' that would hold and slow the flow of heavy rainfall into the watercourses, spreading the load out over days or even weeks. It appeared to all get into 'our' little river over a matter of a few hours this time.

Sponge Bob

Get all the agencies onto this pronto before they start laying the road bed , it will get a hell of a lot worse when the Concrete Base is poured and the entire roadway no longer absorbs any moisture but drains it off Roosterman .

Danno

I have noticed severe flooding north of Cullohill going towards Durrow is far worse this year also... driving northbound along the N8 past Cullohill just look left and it is around 1km off the road, but you can see it. Big fields totally under water.

The Word Is Bor

Rooster, get onto the land liaison officer for the scheme. The contractor is contractually obliged to carry out the works in such a manner that does not worsen existing flooding issues.

As regards the drainage of the road pavement, the attenuation ponds and flow restriction devices would probably not have been constructed yet. There would be temporary settlement ponds/measures to stem this flow of water but this is very hit or miss and really is a trial and error process.

roosterman71

I'm not overly worried. By Sunday the visible water had gone, but the field was pretty soggy. Thats to be expected though. Its a fairly low lying area and does get flooded after prolonged periods of rain. However, I was just surprised at how quickly it flooded this time.

I'll get onto the council and see what they have to say about it. Thanks for the replies

Rovi

^
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Same as that; by Sunday morning, our little river was back down to its normal height for this time of year.

cjmcork

As thread states, anyone got any idea????

Steviemak

cjmcork wrote: »

As thread states, anyone got any idea????

Its written 9 posts up.

Danno

This bridge has opened on wednesday, it is the final one before the m8 roundabout on the ls/kk border.

Amtmann

About bloody time! That overbridge has been under construction for well over a year. Now finally can someone drive up on it, take a picture, and explain why it's so wide?

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

About bloody time! That overbridge has been under construction for well over a year. Now finally can someone drive up on it, take a picture, and explain why it's so wide?

Yes, what on Earth is up with that bridge? If memory serves me well, it's a mere boreen that links up to it.

Tech3

BluntGuy wrote: »

Yes, what on Earth is up with that bridge? If memory serves me well, it's a mere boreen that links up to it.

I take it this is the one near the Cullahill tie in? The is a few on the M7 Nenagh to Limerick that are like a regional rd then all of a sudden you get to know the tipp roads again with a winding boreen.

I saw the toll plaza from the N7 a few days ago still a lot to do on the mainline towards it.

Danno

It seems from driving over it that there is provision for livestock to cross in the soft margin. One thing to watch out for is the loose chippings they used to surface it, coming down the embankment from the bridge to join the N8 could result in one skidding out onto the main road!

Amtmann

Danno wrote: »

It seems from driving over it that there is provision for livestock to cross in the soft margin. One thing to watch out for is the loose chippings they used to surface it, coming down the embankment from the bridge to join the N8 could result in one skidding out onto the main road!

I was thinking about that as well. The steep descent onto a busy road has the potential to be quite hazardous. So, we have two lanes for traffic plus a walkway for livestock on that bridge, yes?

Danno

the road itself is quite narrow, even on top of the bridge.

ForiegnNational

Any updates on this?

Going up and down to Dublin every weekend from West Cork, I really could do with some good news about progress and completions dates.

larryone

So looks like this section needs to be updated on OSM. New bridges open, probably a fair bit of work done at the junctions too. I wont be heading down that way for a fair while tho. I'd imagine the bridge just south of the point where the railway and motorway cross is probably open by now too. They are fairly small roads that these bridges are for alright. Can anyone confirm if the R433 has been re-aligned to go through the roundabouts for the junction yet, or if it still looks like this:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.8581&lon=-7.4858&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF
?

Amtmann

BAM have created a page with some very limited information on the scheme here.

M7:
* Construction of approximately 26.7km of standard Motorway, including:
* Grade separated junction at Portlaoise (R445)
* Grade separated junction at Aghaboe (R434)
* Grade separated junction at Borris-in-Ossory (R435)
* A Motorway to Motorway Interchange
* 35 Number principal structures (5 for Irish Rail)
* Includes Bridge Crossings of Rivers Gully, Nore and Cappamacloghy
* Construction of approximately 2.2km of National Primary Road, providing a link from the existing N7 to the Proposed Motorway in * Borris-in-Ossory.
* A Toll Plaza and Maintenance Facility
* Realignment of approximately 7.8km of Regional and local roads.

M8:
* Construction of approximately 12.7km of standard Motorway, including:
* Grade separated junction at Grantstown (R433)
* 12 Number principal structures
* Includes Bridge Crossings of Rivers Goul, Mill and Erkina
* Construction of approximately 0.164km of National Primary Road, providing a link from the existing N8 to the Proposed Motorway in Cullahill.
* Realignment of approximately 6.5km of Regional and local roads.

Sounds to me like the proposed M8 junction 2 isn't going ahead (I think Rovi suspected this months ago).

mysterious

Furet wrote: »

BAM have created a page with some very limited information on the scheme here.





Sounds to me like the proposed M8 junction 2 isn't going ahead (I think Rovi suspected this months ago).

This is not good, could they not at least put North facing slips coming from Cork onto junction 2. If not that, put a full interchange on the M7Aghaboe interchange. This now means there is literally no access for traffic from the M8 to get onto the R434 or M7. Not only that Durrow and Ballocolla are now physically cut off from the M7/M8. This is bad ass, especially considering the local access to this motorway is pityfull to begin with.

Chris_533976

They wont put north facing slips coming from the Cork direction unless they put a sliproad toll booth on there.

emfifty

are there toll booths planned for exit 3 offramps NB?

spacetweek

mysterious wrote: »

This is not good, could they not at least put North facing slips coming from Cork onto junction 2. If not that, put a full interchange on the M7Aghaboe interchange. This now means there is literally no access for traffic from the M8 to get onto the R434 or M7. Not only that Durrow and Ballocolla are now physically cut off from the M7/M8. This is bad ass, especially considering the local access to this motorway is pityfull to begin with.

Quite honestly, local access be damned. Motorways are for long distance traffic. Local access isn't required. As for M8N->M7W traffic, they would be better off using R430 or 434.

Chris_533976

I agree that local traffic be damned (as long as they can get on the motorway at some point), but the M8N to M7W movement should be there, and really both the M7/8 and M7/9 junctions should of course be full access trumpet junctions. Its amazingly stupid that they arent.

Amtmann

The old road has been removed beneath the bridge that Danno photographed above and the concrete barrier appears to have been laid almost from the M8 terminus at the Cullahill sliproad all the way past Durrow and onwards to the interchange with the M7. I'm very keen to see lots of new pictures of this scheme along various points, including the junction with the M7. The next newsletter should be issued very soon.