M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

-Corkie-

mox54 wrote: »

They are seriously dragging the living daylights out of this supposed motorway opening and I'm getting pretty fed up of the whole thing like a lot of us here, I travel to limerick each day and opening the motorway will make my life so easy, it looks like nearly ready to open so assume it's now only a matter of weeks.....although that was the case a few weeks ago but hope it's the case right now.....!:eek:

God my sentiments are with you i only travel it every 2 months and i hate the dam thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

slinky2000

SARASON wrote: »

God my sentiments are with you i only travel it every 2 months and i hate the dam thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea I do it twice a week and I can't remember the last time there wasn;t roadworks on it!

lukejr

I won't get out onto the bog sections this weekend, hopefully next weekend I'll walk it.

chalky2005

nenagh birdhill opening next thursday. mate who is working on this section says that everything is done. They have been told it opening next thursday the 25th mar

d1980

Cheers for that...Thats good to hear...Does your mate have any info on Birdhill/Limk?

Sponge Bob

Updates on The Mire of Gloom over on Archiseek.

First of all THAT January article about the collapse in the Nenagh Guardian. They point out that the edges have been consawed.



Now to some bogwalking pictures from Tuborg on Archiseek. These were taken a week back. Link to Tuborgs post and thread.

Tuborg on Archiseek wrote:

Unfortunately though, the problems have now shifted a couple of km's up the motorway to Annaholty Bog (near Birdhill) where a section of roadway subsided back in January. As a result, the foundation of the road has had to be beefed up with yet more re-inforced concrete piles and slabs!

The remedial works in the Mire of Gloom stretch in Annaholty are indeed extensive but Tuborg seems confident that the Bog of Doom has been sorted and is nearing completion.

The good news ( I suppose) is that the stretch that collapsed was in relatively shallow bog judging from the size of that piledriver and not out where they piled and could find no bottom at 45m according to Jacek The Blogging Shutterer as posted back in January in this thread.

Tuborg Photos 15/03/10





And

Amtmann

In years to come, one of the great What Ifs of history will be "What if Roadbridge had won the contract on Day One?" If I were superstitious I'd say this road project was cursed; seen as how I'm not, I'll just blame monumental incompetence instead.

Chris_5339762

I'd say in five years we'll still be dealing with occasional closures due to this section still sinking. Its a 45m bog with a road on top, its going to shift and move.

Sponge Bob

The Mire of Gloom has previous for shifting and moving as I posted back in January:rolleyes:

lukejr

Does anyone know the best access to the M7 near Annaholty Bog so I can go look at this area on next walk. I don't want to miss remedial works on next walk with my camera.

Sponge Bob

Is that crumbly stretch not near enough Birdhill junction ??

lukejr

When I walked last month I did just off what Google Maps calls the Bog Road, still in Co. Limerick.

Next time, should do this weekend if nothing comes up. I will drive to what Google Maps calls Annaholty, and then onto Cooleen. I assume this is where the collapse happened.

slinky2000

Looking forward to Thursday and seeing what the travel times will be like compares to now! Where is the access from? The roundabout on the nenagh side of birdhill?

Deedsie

When this is announced I hope they give a reason for the delay. I hate when contractors and politicians pat themselves on the back for a job atrociously done!
I would hope there will be an anouncement about the Birdhill/Limerick section and it's viability in the future!

MYSTICA1

From AA Roadwatch today ...
Tipperary - A new road layout is in place for Dublin bound traffic on the N7 Dublin/Limerick Rd at Carrigatogher, Nenagh

Dublin bound traffic are being routed across the flyover at Carrigatogher Interchange and onto the newly constructed eastbound merge.

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

roosterman71

jacksie66 wrote: »

went for a walk up to that section near the bog road on saturday. the whole side of the road is cracked and caving in. im no roadbuilder but it looks like they just have big sandbags propping up the road.:D

Pictures?

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

mossym

lukejr wrote: »

When I walked last month I did just off what Google Maps calls the Bog Road, still in Co. Limerick.

Next time, should do this weekend if nothing comes up. I will drive to what Google Maps calls Annaholty, and then onto Cooleen. I assume this is where the collapse happened.

nope, if it is near the bog then cooleen isn't the right spot, you want closer down to castleconnell

The Word Is Bor

The Annaholty Bog stretches for some 3-4Km's. The nearest most accessible (eastern)part is an underbridge just up the road from McHale's (Komatsu dealership near the Gooig Roadstone plant). Directly across from Roadstone there is a bog track that brings you down to the mainline but it might not be the most accessible due to the bog. The next access point (west) would be off a road to the east of Daly's Cross (on the Dublin side).

Sponge Bob

There are 120 Linear KILOMETERS of Piles under that stretch of road ALREADY :eek:

Furthermore all that Piling ( not the capping that Jacek and the lads were doing in 2009) should have been completed by the end of 2007.

http://www.nce.co.uk/fully-instrumented-rigs-are-installing-piles-over-two-bogs-as-part-of-a-major-road-scheme-in-ireland/169699.article

31/10/2007

Annaholty is a peat bog down to a maximum 12m, overlying sand. Piles are being driven to an average depth of 30m, with pile loads of between 49t and 80t, and pile spacings of 2.5m on a herringbone grid pattern.

Each pile is finished with a 600mm deep reinforced cap either 1m2 or 1.2m2. Each pile is a stand alone element of the works because pile caps are independent of one another.

A geotextile layer spans the pile caps supporting the 3m to 8m high embankment to create a load transfer platform.

Such is the scale and programme of the works that the subcontractor has set up a pile casting yard on site, where 12 site workers are employed. This enables the team to fabricate much faster and more cost-effectively than transporting 120,000m of piles 354km from the contractor's yard at Lisburn, just outside Belfast.

Casting began at the end of May with an average 80 piles per day – about 800m per day and a total of 4000m per week. The maximum number it can produce on site is 960m per day, or 4800m per week.

The contractor began installing the first working piles at Annaholty in July using two Junttan PM20 hydraulic piling rigs, each driving up to 600m a day. The rigs are fully instrumented and produce a computerised read out for each individual pile installed, which can be analysed for quality control purposes.

"Although not in real time, the instruments provide a range of data including information on pile reference numbers, the total number of blows struck, the hammer drop height and the final set, as well as giving an indication of the ultimate load bearing capacity and the type of pile modules used," says FK Lowry managing director Mark Walsh. "They also provide important graphical information for rate of penetration, drop height, set, driving resistance and driving stresses."

Piling at Annaholty is expected to complete in December. Following this, piling work will begin at Drominboy Bog. Options for this second phase are still being discussed with the client due to different pile sizes and pile loads required. However, the contractor anticipates being on site in November to complete all works by February next year.

Sponge Bob

From

Feb 2010

http://www.lloydacoustics.com/lasite.nsf/3726ED87EB47AFA58025751B005D69BA/CC641EC7EFCFE77B802576C800480E97

Long Article and should be read in its entirety

The bog was so weak that after the initial blows to punch the pile through the temporary stone platform, the pile fell 12m in 2.5 seconds, which was an alarming experience for the rig drivers.

The piles were then jointed and although the estimated lengths were 18-21m, critical preliminary piles showed the drivability was much greater than had been predetermined in the engineers design. A commercial decision was made, that the test piles should be jointed again at 21m and driven until the 'set' criteria was reached, incredibly the piles reached depths of 36m in some areas of the bogs. The piles were now much deeper than the pre-determined contract dictated and the design engineers were adamant that pile capacity must be achieved to avoid a re-design of the piling layout.

and

Construction of the road through bog lands near Annaholty and Drominboy proved more difficult than anticipated and attributed to the delay but the problem has been successfully resolved through modern day engineering.’

mox54

i'm going to take my journey on thursday in anticipation of getting to limerick via the new motorway from nenagh to birdhill but seriously expect to be disappointed:mad: but shocked if it's open:eek:, the remainder must be a mattter of weeks, looking forward to it:D

limklad

MYSTICA1 wrote: »

From AA Roadwatch today ...
Tipperary - A new road layout is in place for Dublin bound traffic on the N7 Dublin/Limerick Rd at Carrigatogher, Nenagh

Dublin bound traffic are being routed across the flyover at Carrigatogher Interchange and onto the newly constructed eastbound merge.

They are over a week late on this news of the rerouting. I drove this route for Dublin for the last two weekends travelling up to Dublin.
It great that at Carrigatogher roundabout at Neagh side show up poor drivers as they keep getting off the roundabout on the wrong turn off even though it is properly signed post. They (poor drivers) then relies their mistake because they did not pay attention to the road signs and then stall after a few hundred yards on the road into Neagh. I saw one idiot trying to reverse back into the roundabout so she can travel on the motorway.
I should report her for dangerous driving.

lukejr

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Long Article and should be read in its entirety

That is an interesting read alright.

Deedsie

Sponge Bob wrote: »

From

Feb 2010

http://www.lloydacoustics.com/lasite.nsf/3726ED87EB47AFA58025751B005D69BA/CC641EC7EFCFE77B802576C800480E97

Long Article and should be read in its entirety



and

Based on that article, would it be fair to assume that the problem at the bog stretch of road has been resolved and that the finishing touches are all thats left between Birdhill and Limerick?

The Word Is Bor

The date of that LA blurb is February 2010 and states that all testing was (successfully) completed in August 2009. There would appear to be a significant gap between August 2009 and February-March 2010, which would appear not to take accout of the additional works that took place in that period. I would guess, that 'commercial issues' are still unresolved.;)

Deedsie

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

The date of that LA blurb is February 2010 and states that all testing was (successfully) completed in August 2009. There would appear to be a significant gap between August 2009 and February-March 2010, which would appear not to take accout of the additional works that took place in that period. I would guess, that 'commercial issues' are still unresolved.;)

Balls

Sponge Bob

If you look back at that rather pompous presentation to the Geological Society OVER TWO YEARS back ( the one where they sorted those Irish chappies out with their bog) you will see a difference between the piling plant used in Drominaboy and Annaholty.

Now read that last article I posted today..the feb 2010 one.

Mc Love

MYSTICA1 wrote: »

From AA Roadwatch today ...
Tipperary - A new road layout is in place for Dublin bound traffic on the N7 Dublin/Limerick Rd at Carrigatogher, Nenagh

Dublin bound traffic are being routed across the flyover at Carrigatogher Interchange and onto the newly constructed eastbound merge.

A bit late on that one!