M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

Berty

I decided as I was heading to Ballina to drive onto the Birdhill interchange. The foreman looked at me but didnt seem to care. I think the shirt and tie frightened him off. I remember working on site, you AVOID shirt and tie guys.

This picture is the bend in the road as you approach the interchange from Birdhill.


There is actually a regional road structure flyover on the way up towards this section which is open.


This is a view northbounnd onto the interchange. The onramp on the left is the exit from Limerick to Birdhill.


This view is a 180 degree reverse of the previous looking towards Limerick.


It was mentioned that the lamposts are up but only mildly. The bases are up and the wiring is exposed. There is no sign of the actually lamp sections yet.

A lot of kerbing is missing on all sections around here. I cannot see, from what I have seen today, that this road will be open anytime prior to Feb/March.

The Word Is Bor

Kwalitee pics. The bog at Drominboy is a real pig. The piling didn't work at all there. Hysterious will be after you with his pitchfork though. I was in the bog in Drominboy about 4 years ago it was lethal. A mini-digger was in danger of getting bogged down. There was an old abandoned excavator that was half buried there. Rumour was that it was on HP and the bank wanted it back so the guy stripped it of anything he could and then sunk it. It scared the drivers senseless when they saw it.

Tech3

Berty wrote: »

I cannot see, from what I have seen today, that this road will be open anytime prior to Feb/March.

Thanks for the fantastic updates Berty I would never have tried what you did and go access the mainline and bog unless it was a Sunday! I have seen the kerbs done on other parts of the route though. The lampposts were around the roundabout probably should have mentioned that. I didn't get much of a chance to access the mainline near the interchange.

So were going to be waiting another while before Nenagh-Limerick is completed it seems.

Tech3

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

Kwalitee pics. The bog at Drominboy is a real pig. The piling didn't work at all there. Hysterious will be after you with his pitchfork though. I was in the bog in Drominboy about 4 years ago it was leathal. A mini-digger was in danger of getting bogged down. There was an old abandoned excavator that was half buried there. Rumour was that it was on HP and the bank wanted it back so the guy stripped it of anything he could and then sunk it. It scared the drivers senseless when they saw it.

Friends of mine have been telling me that bog is a disaster as well as they used to drive down near it a bit before. I don't mind the deadline once they get that section done properly so that we don't see a depressed section of M7 in the coming years. .

Berty

tech2 wrote: »

So were going to be waiting another while before Nenagh-Limerick is completed it seems.

Dont quote me on that. It just seemed very slow for their expected finish dates as far as I could see.

The bog has another 3-4 months in it in my opinion unless they throw trucks of guys at it.

The mainline is not looking too bad with a lot of tidying up to do. The blacktop is down but not the final layer. I saw some blacktop cores on the barrier so obviously the test consultants are well into their testing on the layers.

Kerbing needs doing, backfilling, landscaping, lighting, signage, barriers, wearing course of blactop, some structures are still not complete and possibly other things I could not see from being unable to access the site completely.

Berty

tech2 wrote: »

Friends of mine have been telling me that bog is a disaster as well as they used to drive down near it a bit before. I don't mind the deadline once they get that section done properly so that we don't see a depressed section of M7 in the coming years. .

The conrete section over the piles they are laying down WILL NOT sink. The piles are spread out the entire width of the motorway and the depth of the piles along with the depth of the sub layer of concrete is deep enough already let alone the extra 600-800mm of blacktop they will lay on top of that.

Fear not.

Amtmann

How far down do the piles go, Berty?

Berty

Furet wrote: »

How far down do the piles go, Berty?

I have no idea how deep the bog is but one of the things to remember when driving piles is that it compresses the soil/bog beneath and to either side of the pile creating a tougher soil/bog.

If you grab a pile of peat from the ground it will fall apart but if you squeeze it in your hand it will create a stronger substance.

The same applies when driving the force of the piles. It displaces the soil around the pile/pier and by the amount of them on site it has compresses quite a lot of bog.

Drainage will also be used on this section, which I did not see but I did see a lot of dikes in the area so the moisture is being directed somewhere.

The depth of the piles will obviously be needed to reach the next layer beneath the bog however low that may be.

clon

this is taken from the summer 2009 transport21 newsletter, they spell out what schemes are going to open by end of 2009

By the end of 2009 Kilcullen to Carlow on the N9 will
open as well as the Waterford bypass on the N25, N7 Nenagh to Limerick, N9 Waterford to

Knocktopher and N6 Galway to Ballinasloe.

http://www.transport21.ie/Publications/upload/File/T21_Newsletter_Summer_2009.pdf

mysterious

The word of bor?

So your going to admit rumour mongering.

Anyway I've reported your constant digging and childhish behaviour, and I would aslo ask once again to stop changing my profile name as a way to redicule me.

We are adults not children.

Chris_533976

Still cant tell if the carriageways will bulge at bridges like Cash-Mitch. Could you tell from driving bits of it?

The Word Is Bor

mysterious wrote: »

The word of bor?

So your going to admit rumour mongering.

In the quiet words of the virgin Mary "come again"?

Wild Bill

SC-Nenagh will not open by year end. I bet my bippy on it. :cool:

Amtmann

What about a sectional opening? The bog section has miles to go, but much of the rest of it could be tidied, lined and signed by late November surely.

Berty

Furet wrote: »

What about a sectional opening? The bog section has miles to go, but much of the rest of it could be tidied, lined and signed by late November surely.

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

Tech3

Berty wrote: »

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

I wish they would get on with the rest of the scheme and get it on its wearing course, lined, studded, and side barriers installed. Then they could focus hard on the boggy section and the Nenagh bypass upgrade which I have a video of but some reason I cant upload to youtube??

mysterious

Berty wrote: »

There is not much point.

Opening it as far as Birdhill from Nenagh will not be helpful because you will only have to travel 2km+ to exit the motorway/enter the motorway.

There is a point, It means not having to drive the old road. DUH..:rolleyes:


The Nenagh bypass to Birdhill can be opened easily first.

Amtmann

tech2 wrote: »

Then they could focus hard on the boggy section and the Nenagh bypass upgrade which I have a video of but some reason I cant upload to youtube??

The smaller the size the better. If the file is very large, you might need to compress it using windows movie maker for instance. Also make sure it's under ten minutes.

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

The smaller the size the better. If the file is very large, you might need to compress it using windows movie maker for instance. Also make sure it's under ten minutes.

I will check that out. I have uploaded videos to youtube before but this one just keep getting errors though. I was going to upload it to photobucket but it takes way too long and drains my 3G broadband usage!

mysterious

it will open in December ffs:rolleyes:


Sometimes I really do ask am I Irish? Cus we just hear so much hor****e and make so much holy commotion about anything. A bog holding up a national motorway. I think the biggest problem we talk to bloody much and less of the actual getting things done. We make mountains out of no hills. I think we should all just roll over and die....


Try building motorways through the Pyrenees.
A You will eat your hand.
B won't be able to type drag of how impossible it would be(cus you ate your hand)
C. You will probably not be able to even comprehend that it would be possible.
D You'd have a nervous breakdown


It's hell to be when we face a bog. Will we see light of day?


We are dooooooooooooomed. etc.

Carawaystick

mysterious wrote: »

Try building motorways through the Pyrenees.

There aren't motorways through the Pyrenees. There is only one, the A9/AP7.
This is probably because it's difficult to built motorways in mountainous areas.
It costs 95 cents to do it by car (including VAT) and the maximum altitude is only about 300m. Which is considerably better value than say any toll road here.

mysterious

Carawaystick wrote: »

There aren't motorways through the Pyrenees. There is only one, the A9/AP7.
This is probably because it's difficult to built motorways in mountainous areas.
It costs 95 cents to do it by car (including VAT) and the maximum altitude is only about 300m. Which is considerably better value than say any toll road here.

But they built them. There are many roads going through the Pyrenees doesn't have to be motorway. For one I drove through them.

Try Northern Italy, Eastern France all of Switzerland.

If us Irish were over there, We would die upon looking at their their road maps. A bog is a like a pothole to them. But we would spend months moaning about how unnecessary it is and then after months of that, we spend long periods of time building a road over it.


A bog to us is the end of civilization as we know it.We are doomed everything is held up. etc.

Carawaystick

IT. they built IT, the single motorway across the Pyrenees, at a fairly low col, possibly the lowest col in the western Pyrenees, because that's where the romans built their pass, the Via Domitia.

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Are you going to change the point of the argument again now or accept you picked a poor example at twenty to five this morning?

mysterious

Carawaystick wrote: »

IT. they built IT, the single motorway across the Pyrenees, at a fairly low col, possibly the lowest col in the western Pyrenees, because that's where the romans built their pass, the Via Domitia.

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Are you going to change the point of the argument again now or accept you picked a poor example at twenty to five this morning?

No the point remains, still.

Wild Bill

Carawaystick wrote: »

If you're backtracking from motorway sandard road, then there are plenty of mountain roads here. from the Military road, Wicklow Gap roads, Conor & Healy pass etc.
Then there are plenty of decent roads through bogs: the N69, r357, r403, the Wicklow Gap between Tonlegee and Turlough Hill

Oi! The Wicklow roads cut through fairly shallow blanket peat; not the same as a real bog atall atall.:mad:

Tech3

Here is a video I took of the Nenagh bypass upgrade from last week. Work is being carried out on the northbound carriageway.

M7 Nenagh Bypass upgrade

Chris_533976

Thanks.

They seem to be making an awful meal of the Nenagh bypass upgrade. Its taking AGES.

mysterious

The road seems to be too narrow to have a HS, am I wrong on this. I thought they were adamant on making this as close as they can get to a full blown motorway. The reason been with the whole reclassification etc.


I would like to see the Arch bridge been disused and Replacing it with a design and build bridge just east of it where the Castletown and true old N7 alignement used to traverse across the onwards to Toomevara.


How on earth did they manage to come up with 3 rounadabouts for one ****ing road.

What is this, a fun fair park. NRA build the ****ing thing right.

Zoney

mysterious wrote: »

The road seems to be too narrow to have a HS, am I wrong on this. I thought they were adamant on making this as close as they can get to a full blown motorway. The reason been with the whole reclassification etc.

It's not too narrow - it will have hard shoulder all the way, although I still don't know for certain about under the last bridges (my guess is there'll be at least some bit of HS even there). I suspect the hard shoulder is slightly narrow, but considering one can't be sure, it's not likely to make much of a difference. It may be normal width including the flat concrete drain that seems to be along much of it.

There's nothing unusual about having slightly tighter bits of motorway due to circumstances around route upgrade or construction. In the case of the Nenagh bypass it's remarkable we are getting motorway at all, so I don't understand any complaint about it. Would you prefer they spent yours and everyone elses money rebuilding the bridges, excavating more cuttings and building more embankment?

mysterious

1. It is our money

2. They had the opportunity to make it motorway in the beginning with a fraction of the cost it is now.


What they did do, was built a motorway style S2. The S2 road was probably one of the highest spec S2 roads in the country at the time. I've driven this length. I didn't understand why didn't even leave wide verges if they ever needed to put an extra lane. They did this in the North years ago anywhere they built a S2 road with D2 in mind. The A1 was a example of that.

I'm not complaining,take note of that.