M6 - Ballinasloe to Galway

veryangryman

KevR wrote: »

Wasn't it the central median which they had broken through for the diversion that caused the delay in opening? They had to re-instate the median before it could open.

Both ends of the Galway-Ballinasloe scheme will just involve removing cones, there's no messy little tie-in work to do on the opening day. Fingers crossed it will open earlier than 4pm..

48 hours till the first inter-urban opens.

Amtmann

Someone youtube the route when they drive it, please! Or at least take lots of photos...

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Wasn't it the central median which they had broken through for the diversion that caused the delay in opening? They had to re-instate the median before it could open.

Both ends of the Galway-Ballinasloe scheme will just involve removing cones, there's no messy little tie-in work to do on the opening day. Fingers crossed it will open earlier than 4pm..

That's correct, but istr that they didn't even start that work until about 3pm, all they did was to cone off the crossover, they refitted the barrier the following day.

As it was there was a fault with a section of the new barriers under the bridge that made for nearly a month of single lane working there.

cgc5483

Offical opening is 2pm according to this:

http://www.galwayindependent.com/local-news/local-news/motorway-to-open-on-friday/

Altreab

cgc5483 wrote: »

Offical opening is 2pm according to this:

http://www.galwayindependent.com/local-news/local-news/motorway-to-open-on-friday/

Less than 48 hours to go im so excited

ManFromAtlantis

emfifty wrote: »

11am by min. for transport. (aa website)

bludy typical. min times should be thrown away in the wind.
they're not teh ones waitin in the cold and rain.

i remember the opening of knock airport, now that was one hell of a delay in teh rain. charlie boy came about 3 hours later in comfort.

CrowdedHouse

The one weekend in ages I'm not going to Galway:mad: although I drove it during the floods.

I'll be on it in the early hours of Christmas morning...wonder will any speed cops be around at that time.....

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

Someone youtube the route when they drive it, please! Or at least take lots of photos...

I miss kaizer

kaizersoze

tech2 wrote: »

I miss kaizer

Thanks.:o:)

I miss the action myself but with the house and work I haven't been able to do much except throw the odd eye on it in passing.:(

I might be able to have a poke around tomorrow.

nairb356

Folks,
sorry to burst your bubble but they have taken down the Blue motorway signs at the Galway termination of the M6 and replaced them with Green N6 signs. this happened yesterday. This means that it will open at 100Kph
I dont know how much orf the new road is affected or for how long.

cjpm

AFAIK the road is a 100kph Dual from Coolagh to Gleanascaul and Motorway from then onwards to Ballinasloe. The blue signs at Coolagh RBT were a mistake.

Minister is arriving for the opening at 11:00 tomorrow.

Nath

nairb356 wrote: »

Folks,
sorry to burst your bubble but they have taken down the Blue motorway signs at the Galway termination of the M6 and replaced them with Green N6 signs. this happened yesterday. This means that it will open at 100Kph
I dont know how much orf the new road is affected or for how long.

They are most likely fixing the error that they made putting motorway signs up, it is 100km/h to J19 Carnmore/Glenascaul. Have a look at some earlier posts in this thread on this particular issue.

http://ww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62524155&postcount=407

nairb356

Thanks folks, thats a relief!!!
I had visions of N6 all the way to Ballinasloe for some indeterminate period!

Another Question, any idea when the Agric. College side Athenry Junction access will be completed?

KevR

Galway City Council and Galway County Council should have already applied to have the N6 section as a 120kmh limit but no doubt they have been sleeping on this issue.

They have no problem lowering limits elsewhere but it will probably be like pulling teeth to get them to raise the limit on this section.

Nath

I think it is reasonably sensible to have a lowered speed limit on the westbound carraigeway approaching the terminating Coolagh RAB.

But they could have made the stretch shorter, I suspect for practical reasons (signage etc) it was easier to implement at J19, and it would also be impractical to have asymmetrical speed limits on the eastbound/westbound carraigeways.
This will most likely be revised when the Galway Outer Bypass arrives.

I actually think it is a mute point anyways because with the volume of traffic leaving and especially approaching Galway that will be using this road, it will be difficult to get up to/maintain 120km/h for this stretch anyways.

Even if the roads were empty, the time difference between J19 and Doughiska for 100Km/h and 120km/h for the 4km stretch is about 24 seconds by my calculations, hardly worth worrying about IMO.

Cionád

Nath wrote: »

Even if the roads were empty, the time difference between J19 and Doughiska for 100Km/h and 120km/h for the 4km stretch is about 24 seconds by my calculations, hardly worth worrying about IMO.

Until you inevitably get a Garda with a camera shooting fish in a barrel.

antoobrien

Nath wrote: »

But they could have made the stretch shorter, I suspect for practical reasons (signage etc) it was easier to implement at J19, and it would also be impractical to have asymmetrical speed limits on the eastbound/westbound carraigeways.
This will most likely be revised when the Galway Outer Bypass arrives.

Looking at the scheme documentation for the bypass and the map of the n/m6 project this seems to be the case. The Bypass is (according to this documentation) described as HQDC, which gives some leeway as to motorway status. Assuming that it would be DCand not M'way then the changing of the speed limits from Glennascaul makes sense.

Besides the motorway speed limits would have to end a kilometer or two before the junction in Doughiska, simply to (hopefully) allow an orderly slowdown of traffic into the junction

Nath

Cionád wrote: »

Until you inevitably get a Garda with a camera shooting fish in a barrel.

My point was that it is not worth worrying about the time cost of the 100km/h speed limit for such a short stretch, rather than not worrying about the speed limit itself.

Chris_533976

No the Galway bypass will NOT be motorway and will always have a 100kmh speed limit.

I think the reason (this is guessing) that its not motorway between Glennascaul and Doughiska is that otherwise, certain sliproads and parts of the Galway bypass would have to be motorway, and since it hasnt been started yet, a motorway order would be needed. Can you imagine the fuss.

Carawaystick

Nath wrote: »

and it would also be impractical to have asymmetrical speed limits on the eastbound/westbound carraigeways.

There are already two sections of N11 dual carriageway with different speed limits Nb and Sb, at Kilmacanogue 80N/60S and at the northern end of the Glen of the Downs 80N/100N
There is no practicality issue.

Why is there the fuss about the M6 being completed ( by the NRA I mean) the M1/N1/A1 from Dublin to Newry city was the first interurban route finished.

O/T
I'll be heading down on the 23rd, does anyone know if the house in Moate oposite the carmalite still do the big lights and decorations so I can show little miss Carrawaystick en route. If they weren't there's no way I'd ever be in Moate ever again....

Amtmann

The M6 Galway to Ballinasloe motorway project was officially opened today (18/12/2009) by Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, TD. The 56kms motorway opened 4 months ahead of schedule and is on budget. The opening of this section of the M6 completes the Dublin to Galway inter-urban route as outlined in Transport21.
The scheme runs from the outskirts of Galway city to Athenry where it crosses the Galway/Dublin rail line, the Graigabbey River and the Athenry/Limerick rail line. The route then continues southeast to Carrowkeel junction from where the Loughrea link road proceeds south to the Loughrea Bypass. From Carrowkeel junction, the route continues northeast to the proposed Toll Plaza located near Cappataggle. The route then passes north of Aughrim village, continuing east again over the River Suck where ties into the existing M6 east of Ballinasloe. The town that will be bypassed are Ballinasloe, Aughrim, Killreekill, Loughea, Craughwell, and Oranmore
The scheme will:

• Complete the Dublin to Galway inter-urban route
• Reduce travel times from Galway to Ballinasloe by 25minutes
• Increase road safety for drivers
• Improve traffic flow and reduce traffic congestion
• Act as a stimulus for commercial and tourist activity
• Improve internal road infrastructure between and with the regions

Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, TD said

"A major milestone has been reached today, not only for the residents and business throughout the Galway and Ballinasloe region, but for the entire country. You can now travel safely from Dublin to Galway on motorway standard road. It is the delivery of this key commitment, outlined under Transport21, which allows for a motorway to connect the east (Dublin) to the west (Galway). Today's opening represents the culmination of years of hard work and dedication, it will offer significant benefits for the entire Western region.''

Peter Malone, Chairman of the National Roads Authority, said

"The opening of the M6 Galway to Ballinalsoe motorway is an historic event because this is the first Major Inter-Urban corridor connecting city to city. From Galway to Dublin we now have motorway/dual carriageway for 194km. The benefits from a road safety standpoint and improved quality of life will be felt by all the residents of the cities, towns, and villages along the entire route. It is great to see first hand this Government’s plan to invest and improve road infrastructure, under Transport 21, come to fruition. Just think, you will now be able to travel from the M50 to Galway city in approximately two hours. It is fantastic for business, tourism and all road users."

http://www.nra.ie/News/PressReleases/htmltext,16960,en.html

A massive thanks to the Kaizer, KevR, Nath, dolanbaker, veryangryman, mackerski, Carawaystick and everyone else who made this an intensely informative thread this past year. Enjoy driving it, and don't forget to post videos and pictures when time allows!

Sponge Bob

Dempsey is lying as he so often does. The section through Athlone is not Motorway standard and nor is it motorway designation.

Noel Dempsey, TD said "A major milestone has been reached today, not only for the residents and business throughout the Galway and Ballinasloe region, but for the entire country. You can now travel safely from Dublin to Galway on motorway standard road.

roosterman71

Carawaystick wrote: »

O/T
I'll be heading down on the 23rd, does anyone know if the house in Moate oposite the carmalite still do the big lights and decorations so I can show little miss Carrawaystick en route. If they weren't there's no way I'd ever be in Moate ever again....

It sure is. Place is full of lights and other christmas related stuff. Little miss Carrawaystick will love it

veryangryman

roosterman71 wrote: »

It sure is. Place is full of lights and other christmas related stuff. Little miss Carrawaystick will love it

Puh, Moate.

And after today, i can add

"Puh, Ballinasloe"
"Puh Loughrea"

and

"Puh Craughwell"

to that list

antoobrien

Carawaystick wrote: »

Why is there the fuss about the M6 being completed ( by the NRA I mean) the M1/N1/A1 from Dublin to Newry city was the first interurban route finished.

A few reasons (tongue firmly in cheek):
1) Does Newry count as a major urban area (not sure and the retailers don't want it to)
2) NRA can't take credit for all of it (but that is a big deal, going across two jurisdictions)
3) Ireland have proved we can actually do something the romans figured out a couple of millenia ago (even if we had to hire outsiders to actually build them)
4) we're joining the 21st century about a decade late

But seriously, it (THE MIU network) is the biggest infrastructure project since Ardnacrusha (not a fair comparison), so completing the first leg is something to celebrate.

veryangryman

Dublin to Newry an inter-urban? Are you serious? Do you think that Motorway was built just for people to go to Newry? May want to look a few more miles north to get the proper picture there.

Also, its the republics first completed inter-urban that links 2 republic cities. And no i dont want to go there with the politics of that statement :pac:

Ballinasloe bypass will save lives. Other than the road itself, quicker access to the hospital can make a huge difference.

tomo75

Guys/Girls,
What would be the best/shortest route to go get to Ennis from the M6 road? I am coming from Dublin and I normally go thru Loughrea onto Gort. Would it be better to get off at the Loughrea interchange or drive all the way to Oranmore and then head South?

Any opinions?

veryangryman

Id get off at Ballinasloe. Makes the trip shorter distance wise and toll-less

Also there will be close to zero traffic on that road today as everyone is excited about the new road

By the bye, be careful on the new road. There are always morons who dont adapt to it that well for the first few weeks. Noticed many a gimp reversing back on the Athlone-Ballinasloe section. Maybe its just a problem with older people from Drum/Ballydangan etc, but i dont think its confined to these areas

antoobrien

tomo75 wrote: »

Guys/Girls,
What would be the best/shortest route to go get to Ennis from the M6 road? I am coming from Dublin and I normally go thru Loughrea onto Gort. Would it be better to get off at the Loughrea interchange or drive all the way to Oranmore and then head South?

Any opinions?

Depends on how long it takes to get to Gort from Loughrea (and then ask will the 10-15 minute saving getting to Galway be of any benefit to you). If you're travelling at peak times, i'd say stick with Loughrea to Gort

Fozzie Bear

tomo75 wrote: »

Guys/Girls,
What would be the best/shortest route to go get to Ennis from the M6 road? I am coming from Dublin and I normally go thru Loughrea onto Gort. Would it be better to get off at the Loughrea interchange or drive all the way to Oranmore and then head South?

Any opinions?

I'd keep using the Loughrea-Gort route to be honest. Taking the M6 to Galway city/Oranmore junction is just taking yourself several miles needlessly out of your way and will not speed up your journey time only increase it significantly.