M6 - Athlone to Ballinasloe

veryangryman

Kidna stole the thread from the old one.

Right, to get tha ball rolling with this one, i must ask...

Are there plans to open this sooner than the Ballinasloe-Galway section? Surely they would because its a shorter road?

dubhthach

veryangryman wrote: »

Kidna stole the thread from the old one.

Right, to get tha ball rolling with this one, i must ask...

Are there plans to open this sooner than the Ballinasloe-Galway section? Surely they would because its a shorter road?

According to the NRA site this road is scheduled for Q4 2009. The Galway-Ballinasloe section is scheduled for Q2 2010. Of course given that it's a toll road, they might get it opened ahead of schedule so as to collect extra toll revenue. The 30year contract includes contrustion, so faster they can get it built the more money they'll make over the period.

kaizersoze

Without a doubt it'll open first. At least a year earlier i'd say.

Some of the bridges are already in place and others are well advanced, I think that we are still a few months away from the disruptive phase when the N6 at the Elan junction gets diverted onto the slip roads while the road is re-aligned.

edit: cough :P

Carawaystick

There's 2 schemes building the M6 to Balinasloe. one from Athlone and one from Ballybrit. which one do ye mean?

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

There's 2 schemes building the M6 to Balinasloe. one from Athlone and one from Ballybrit. which one do ye mean?

It's the Athlone - Ballinasloe section.

Carawaystick

There's one overbridge completed, with traffic using it, has been so since before race week. It's west of where the new road crosses the existing road.

at the crossover itself, there was scaffolding to put up the steel for the pilars/columns for the overbridge last weekend.


There was graded hardcore both sides of the N18, can't remember if there was any structure work being done,
and at Aughrim the shape of the carriageways was looking obvious, but a lot of work to be done there.
was it at Aughrim that some crusties tried to stop building through the battlefield and is that why the western scheme is behind?

There is a clear outline of the new N65/N66 from Loughrea at the New Inn roundabout, though I dunno how many people would go that way compared to the existing N6 routes to Galway or Bsloe if there's a turnpike both ways.

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

There is a clear outline of the new N65/N66 from Loughrea at the New Inn roundabout, though I dunno how many people would go that way compared to the existing N6 routes to Galway or Bsloe if there's a turnpike both ways.

I would imagine the reduced speed limits would "encourage" many to use the new road, also those going to Loughrea from Dublin will already be on the M6 and unless they know the area will be "signed" to stay on the M6.

Carawaystick

Be interesting to see how it's signed alright. It would be different to Kilcock/Kinegad as Loughrea is a long way off the route from Attymon.
Dunno about the speed limits though, the Rwhatever into and out of Loughrea( previous N6) is 100kmh from the roundabouts to the 60kmh limits. and the N65 will be 100kmh from Loughrea to the Portumna junction. 'twould be a hard sell for the N65/N66 to have a higher speed limit than the existing N6. the Old N8 got the limits raised from Fermoy to Watergrasshill recently.

rekrow

dubhthach wrote: »

According to the NRA site this road is scheduled for Q4 2009. The Galway-Ballinasloe section is scheduled for Q2 2010.

You are correct about the date advertised by the NRA. However if you look at the contractors newsletter section of the NRA website http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,15351,en.pdf it gives a completion/operation date of the 4th of Jan 2010, and unless they plan to work through Christmas/New Year really means open for pre Christmas traffic 09. The NRA must think people are stupid. It makes my skin crawl everytime the open a new piece of road and announce it is ahead of schedule. Very easy to be ahead of schedule when you add 6 months to a 30 month project. They should try delivering in the real world where 30 month projects have to be delivered in 24.

dubhthach

rekrow wrote: »

You are correct about the date advertised by the NRA. However if you look at the contractors newsletter section of the NRA website http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,15351,en.pdf it gives a completion/operation date of the 4th of Jan 2010, and unless they plan to work through Christmas/New Year really means open for pre Christmas traffic 09. The NRA must think people are stupid. It makes my skin crawl everytime the open a new piece of road and announce it is ahead of schedule. Very easy to be ahead of schedule when you add 6 months to a 30 month project. They should try delivering in the real world where 30 month projects have to be delivered in 24.

Well it allows the NRA to get a pat on the head from the goverment and some minister type to prattle on bout how "fast infrastructure is been delivered". I wouldn't mind but the Road was supposed to be delivered by 2006, awh well. Still if it's open pre-Christmas 2009 that it be great. Especially for going down home over Christmas.

marmurr1916

In fairness to the NRA, they weren't given the money to allow for the completion of the major inter-urban routes by end 2006 as was the original completion date announced by the government.

Judging by rates of construction being reported here all these roads should be completed by the end of 2009 - only three years late! :rolleyes:

rekrow

Just getting back to the original question as I understand it the question was which will open first Athlone-Ballinasloe. If I am correct it won't make any difference if the Athlone - Ballinasloe section finishes any sooner as there are no exits on this road other than the one at the Athlone end and the one that ties into the Ballinasloe - Galway road. Unless they do some sort of a partial opening the Galway side if the Athlone side finishes first it will just end up as a very long cul de sac.

veryangryman

Will Ballinasloe be bypassed on the free road? If so, im gonna get onto the old road after Ballinasloe. Loughrea is as good as bypassed and there be so much less traffic on the old road anyway. No way would i pay a toll to goto Galway! Ok city but just no..

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

Will Ballinasloe be bypassed on the free road? If so, im gonna get onto the old road after Ballinasloe. Loughrea is as good as bypassed and there be so much less traffic on the old road anyway. No way would i pay a toll to goto Galway! Ok city but just no..

Yes, the toll plaza is being built west of the western link junction of the bypass.

kaizersoze

rekrow wrote: »

Just getting back to the original question as I understand it the question was which will open first Athlone-Ballinasloe. If I am correct it won't make any difference if the Athlone - Ballinasloe section finishes any sooner as there are no exits on this road other than the one at the Athlone end and the one that ties into the Ballinasloe - Galway road. Unless they do some sort of a partial opening the Galway side if the Athlone side finishes first it will just end up as a very long cul de sac.

There will be a partial opening of the Ballinasloe-Galway section to allow the Athlone-Ballinasloe stretch to open first.

This is the Eastern Interchange where the Athlone stretch terminates but it's part of the Galway contract along with the slip roads. You can see the link road going off in the distance to the existing N6. Both are well advanced and will/should be finished in time for the Athlone opening.

Carawaystick

kaizersoze wrote: »

There will be a partial opening of the Ballinasloe-Galway section to allow the Athlone-Ballinasloe stretch to open first.

This is the Eastern Interchange where the Athlone stretch terminates but it's part of the Galway contract along with the slip roads. You can see the link road going off in the distance to the existing N6. Both are well advanced and will/should be finished in time for the Athlone opening.

Do you mean the link to the existing N6 from the end of the Athlone Balinasloww or the balinasloe bypass section of the B/sloe Galway section?
Or both?

kaizersoze

Carawaystick wrote: »

Do you mean the link to the existing N6 from the end of the Athlone Balinasloww or the balinasloe bypass section of the B/sloe Galway section?
Or both?

No, just the link from the end of the Athlone section to the existing N6 east of Ballinasloe.
About a KM past the junction in the pic is where they're bridging the river Suck. That'll take a while.

veryangryman

Hey whats the story with the roundabouts going up on the Monksland Exit. When is it due to happen? Seems to be nothing going on these days. Very little activity. They seem to have some bits of road laid out on the Westbound Exit, but doing this very slowly...

The current exit gets all the more dangerous because of teh mounds of gravel blocking ones view of traffic coming from the left of the stop sign.

There appears to be a lot of work in progress i.e. drainage, final layer of aggregate the bridge over the railway line etc.
I suspect that they will do as much as possible, including the monksland roundabout and the westbound slips then wait until the remainder of the road system is nearly complete before switching traffic over to the new link.

The shorter the time ALL traffic uses the monksland junction the better, it'll be a real choker!

I have just noticed an increase in activity at this junction, extra VMS and barriers have appeared.

Looks like they are preparing to start work on improving the eastbound slips and the new roundabout to the north of the N6.

PixelTrawler

veryangryman wrote: »

Will Ballinasloe be bypassed on the free road? If so, im gonna get onto the old road after Ballinasloe. Loughrea is as good as bypassed and there be so much less traffic on the old road anyway. No way would i pay a toll to goto Galway! Ok city but just no..

Course the old road will probably become an R road and have an 80 km limit...

ohnoigotsick

Solyad wrote: »

Course the old road will probably become an R road and have an 80 km limit...

and the road from balinasloe to loughrea is brutal and is 80 in parts anyway

I was a bit quick off the mark the other week, but now work has started on the new roundabouts that will connect the new link road to the Tuam Rd & the old N6 at the western end of the Athlone bypass.

Expect peak time delays here in the coming weeks.

Work is progressing at the eastern end of thei road, they have started to dig up the old central reservation where it goes to single lane to make way for the new roundabout.

Need to slow down here now! Everyone has learned to ignore the warning signs, but now they are actually useful.

whyulittle

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but piece in the local paper today saying the Athlone bypass is to be designated as a motorway, but may remain at 100 km/h.

veryangryman

Cant see it happening barring an upgrade of Roscommon exit. That can be a deathtrap at rush hour for merging/exiting traffic with not enough room to speed up/slow down

Being so close to the bridge, it would need a complete rebuild about 300m to the west to make it safe.

ohnoigotsick

Deleted User wrote: »

Being so close to the bridge, it would need a complete rebuild about 300m to the west to make it safe.

I think a few miles at 100km/h is ok . the M1 , goes from 120km/h to 100km/h from the airport to M50 junction 1 and that does no one any harm

It could just be classed as an "urban motorway" like the M50.

Chris_533976

100kmh motorway would be ideal for the Athlone bypass. It'd be daft to have two M6s with a Cumberland gap style DC in between. Slap on the restrictions, keep the speed limit at 100kmh. Same situation as you have now, but no **** like tractors floating around on there.

There is now a new road layout at doyles bridge for the construction of the roundabout.
Drivers going westbound need to be particurly careful as the change is just after the bend and traffic is being diverted onto the eastbound side of the road.

?Cee?view

I know this question gets done to death, but I haven't seen it asked recently so here goes................:rolleyes:

Has anyone an update on progress with this road and with expected "real" opening time. By real, I mean the actual time it's expected to open based on current progress, rather than the published schedule which is invariably beaten, and which is then claimed by our politicians as a great success...and god knows these days, they need some success!

So, when will Athlone to Ballinasloe open? And how long later will Ballinasloe to Galway be?

Thanks all

Simple answer, "I don't know". What I do know is, it that there is still a huge amount of work to be done.

Realistically six months at least.

veryangryman

Deleted User wrote: »

There is now a new road layout at doyles bridge for the construction of the roundabout.
Drivers going westbound need to be particurly careful as the change is just after the bend and traffic is being diverted onto the eastbound side of the road.

I see the Tuam Exit is going to be closed on Westbound end. Am i to believe that to get onto Tuam road, well now have to go onward to end of DC before taking a U-Turn and then the Eastbound Tuam exit?

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

I see the Tuam Exit is going to be closed on Westbound end. Am i to believe that to get onto Tuam road, well now have to go onward to end of DC before taking a U-Turn and then the Eastbound Tuam exit?

When is that going to happen, it doesn't make sense to close it before the roundabout is completed?

veryangryman

Deleted User wrote: »

When is that going to happen, it doesn't make sense to close it before the roundabout is completed?

According to signs westbound, it closing on 31st October (Friday week)

Dunno if its just for the day - the sign says "Tuam Exit will close 31 October"

Can only guess it's temporary while they link up to the new roundabout, as for access to Tuam road, it would be better to get off at the Roscommon turning and go that way.
There's no where to safely "U" turn just after the end of the DC (plenty of unsafe places).

?Cee?view

Deleted User wrote: »

Simple answer, "I don't know". What I do know is, it that there is still a huge amount of work to be done.

Realistically six months at least.

Thanks Dolanbaker. As I recollect you were pretty much on the ball when it came to the opening to Athlone, so let's hope you're on the ball with this one as well!

Thanks again.

ohnoigotsick

Deleted User wrote: »

Simple answer, "I don't know". What I do know is, it that there is still a huge amount of work to be done.

Realistically six months at least.

6 months is optimistic no ?

ohnoigotsick

ohnoigotsick wrote: »

6 months is optimistic no ?

Well I did say at least six months, best guess (sticks finger up in the air) is June 2009.

Zube

Deleted User wrote: »

Well I did say at least six months, best guess (sticks finger up in the air) is June 2009.

and then on to Galway middle of 2010.

dubhthach

Zube wrote: »

and then on to Galway middle of 2010.

Well according to latest newletter from firm building Galway to Ballinasloe they are saying "opening date" in early january 2010 (4th I think), so no doubt we'll have a politician out two days before Christmas claiming the credit for opening it "early"

dubhthach

dubhthach wrote: »

Well according to latest newletter from firm building Galway to Ballinasloe they are saying "opening date" in early january 2010 (4th I think), so no doubt we'll have a politician out two days before Christmas claiming the credit for opening it "early"

to make a promise like that, they must have one hell of a lot of "slack" in the project plan!

As for the Athlone - Ballinasloe section, it appears that (almost) all the major earthworks (the bit that can really delay any project) are complete.

The only earthworks still to do are the removal of the embankment west of the Tuam exit which can't start 'till the new link road is complete.

/must go and have a peek to see if the railway overbridge is in place yet!

?Cee?view

Deleted User wrote: »

to make a promise like that, they must have one hell of a lot of "slack" in the project plan!

As for the Athlone - Ballinasloe section, it appears that (almost) all the major earthworks (the bit that can really delay any project) are complete.

The only earthworks still to do are the removal of the embankment west of the Tuam exit which can't start 'till the new link road is complete.

/must go and have a peek to see if the railway overbridge is in place yet!

Is this the case, even with the delays apparently caused a few weeks ago by the farmers protesting because their lands were flooded, (or was it that something was dumped on their land)?

dubhthach

churchview wrote: »

Is this the case, even with the delays apparently caused a few weeks ago by the farmers protesting because their lands were flooded, (or was it that something was dumped on their land)?

That protest was in county Galway and was on the "Galway to Ballinasloe" section of the road, so it shouldn't have had any affects on the earthworks that dolan is talking bout (Athlone-ballinasloe)

?Cee?view

dubhthach wrote: »

That protest was in county Galway and was on the "Galway to Ballinasloe" section of the road, so it shouldn't have had any affects on the earthworks that dolan is talking bout (Athlone-ballinasloe)

Good to hear, thanks. Hopefully it hasn't put back the Galway Ballinasloe section though?

Just had a quick look at the railway bridges, neither are in place yet.

I suspect there will be a planned "closure window" on the Athlone - Sligo line to facilitate the placing of both bridges at the same time.

kaizersoze

The overbridge at Thomastown on the existing N6 is also a long way from complete as is the one on the R357 (Shannonbridge) road. A lot of the smaller overbridges are complete though.

Also, the link road I pictured earlier in this thread (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=57137712&postcount=16) is now tarred and the slip roads at the interchange are fully graded.

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

According to signs westbound, it closing on 31st October (Friday week)

Dunno if its just for the day - the sign says "Tuam Exit will close 31 October"

I was looking at that junction yesterday, the new roundabout is set at a level about 1 metre below the surface of the original road.

This obviously makes it very difficult to link it in while traffic is using it, as it is there are alternative routes to monksland & the Tuam road from the westbound N6.
Turn off at the Roscommon exit, go towards the town then turn right then right again onto the old Tuan road (which runs parallel to the closed road) then left for Monksland or right for Tuam.

Bogger77

Deleted User wrote: »

Just had a quick look at the railway bridges, neither are in place yet.

I suspect there will be a planned "closure window" on the Athlone - Sligo line to facilitate the placing of both bridges at the same time.

Athlone-Galway?

Shouldn't be a need to close the railway. They've build motorway bridges over the Dublin-Dundalk mainline without shutting down the line, and that's busier than the Galway line, only max of 8 services a day on that line.