M6 - Ballinasloe to Galway

kaizersoze

KevR wrote: »

Also, the abbutments for the railway underbridge South West of Athenry are in place now. Shouldn't be too long before we see the rest of the structure.

Any sign of the other 2 railway bridges to start I wonder?

KevR

kaizersoze wrote: »

Any sign of the other 2 railway bridges to start I wonder?

Not really sure, have never really passed the other crossings. I wonder are the other railway crossings easy to get to by road (i.e -are they near any road)?

Might head out for a look at the weekend if the weather is anyway decent; will bring my camera obviously.

kaizersoze

KevR wrote: »

Not really sure, have never really passed the other crossings. I wonder are the other railway crossings easy to get to by road (i.e -are they near any road)?

Might head out for a look at the weekend if the weather is anyway decent; will bring my camera obviously.

No 2 mightn't be correct as it's not marked on the map. There are definately 3 fairly close together and that's the only other place I could find where it might be.

KevR

2 & 3 could be quite difficult to get to, they're not really near any existing roads. Might be able to walk along the mainline from elsewhere though..

kaizersoze

Updated Suck March 09 album with some images I'd forgotten about.
http://gallery.m6.kaizersoze.net/index.php?album=suck-bridge-march-2009&page=2


New album for J15 Western Interchange Mackney.
http://gallery.m6.kaizersoze.net/index.php?album=western-internchange-mackney-j15


Updated Suck Bridge May 09 album.
http://gallery.m6.kaizersoze.net/index.php?album=suck-bridge-may-2009

veryangryman

Loughrea link road anyone?

Why bother. Most people going to Loughrea will surely get off at West Ballinasloe exit and avoid toll. Same way Enfield residents dont use the toll coming from Dublin on the N4

Also, why build this road at all anyway. Looking at the map, they could have had a junction with some other R road a mile or so west of the (under construction) link road

Just seems like a waste is all

Carawaystick

The R349 is pretty poor quality. The link road will become the N65, which will link Galway to the south eastern part of the country. There will also be some toll traffic generated from providing a quicker route to Galway from Loughrea than the existing N6 which will get a 80 kmh limit.

Actually looking at the maps on the Galway co.co website, It seems to be free to go from Loughrea to Galway. The only toll plaza listed is at Cappataggle.
Is this right?

There's been a fair few fatal traffic accidents on the N6 between Galway and Balinasloe, so from a road safety point of view, getting more traffci n motorway s safer.

Twas also designed back in the happy days.....

Sponge Bob

Carawaystick wrote: »

The only toll plaza listed is at Cappataggle.

Correct . I am wondering when they will finish that Loughrea Bypass

flazio

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Correct . I am wondering when they will finish that Loughrea Bypass

OK but lets not forget that there is also toll booths on the Enfield slip roads as well as the big one after the Kilcock turn off. What's to say they won't put booths on the Loughrea turn off.

Sponge Bob

flazio wrote: »

What's to say they won't put booths on the Loughrea turn off.

I doubt it but then again I don't actually trust Noel Dempsey not to shaft the whole of Loughrea and points to the South East .

Carawaystick

OK, found a link from the NRA stating there is only one toll collection location.

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/TollingDocumentation/file,2856,en.pdf ; section 2.4; page 6of12

Section 3 has a description of the toll plaza.

Was worried as this says the toll road runs from the GLenascaul junction just outside Galway to B'sloe west



The tie in to the Loughrea bypass seems to be taking forever and there's a ludicrous speed limit on the bypass because of it. I mean it's not like you won't have to slow down to yield at the roundabout anyway....

KevR

Carawaystick wrote: »

The tie in to the Loughrea bypass seems to be taking forever and there's a ludicrous speed limit on the bypass because of it. I mean it's not like you won't have to slow down to yield at the roundabout anyway....

Drive that stretch 10 times every week and have yet to see someone obeying the speedlimit there for the "roadworks"! The roadworks there don't interfere with the Loughrea Bypass traffic at all, they're not a hazard and, as you said, people have to slow down for the roundabout anyhow - the reduced speed limit isn't necessary at all.

Have noticed a bit of progress being made on the link road in the last couple of weeks after not having seen any in ages.

serfboard

flazio wrote: »

OK but lets not forget that there is also toll booths on the Enfield slip roads as well as the big one after the Kilcock turn off. What's to say they won't put booths on the Loughrea turn off.

TBH I was surprised that they weren't putting toll booths on the Loughrea turnoff and couldn't believe that Loughrea->Galway commuters would be allowed to drive on the new road without having to pay (directly) for the privilege.

serfboard

serfboard wrote: »

TBH I was surprised that they weren't putting toll booths on the Loughrea turnoff and couldn't believe that Loughrea->Galway commuters would be allowed to drive on the new road without having to pay (directly) for the privilege.

Politics!

antoobrien

Deleted User wrote: »

Politics!

Might be, then again the same thing is done on the M50 (and possibly M1, tho not sure about that), and i'm not aware of any plans to change add the new tolls

antoobrien

antoobrien wrote: »

Might be, then again the same thing is done on the M50 (and possibly M1, tho not sure about that), and i'm not aware of any plans to change add the new tolls

Tolling the commuter route woult be a vote loser for politicians in the region, those travelling in from further away won't affect the votes of the west Galway politicians.

imho

Zube

Deleted User wrote: »

Tolling the commuter route woult be a vote loser for politicians in the region, those travelling in from further away won't affect the votes of the west Galway politicians.

True, but on the other hand, tolling the commuter route would drive a lot of commuters back to using the old road. 10 tolls a week really adds up.

serfboard

Zube wrote: »

10 tolls a week really adds up.

To what? Do we have any guesstimates at this stage as to what the toll will be?

KevR

Think it was mentioned somewhere before that it will be something like €2 or €2.10

I "heard" a figure of €3.50 being bounded about...

KevR

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/TollingDocumentation/file,2855,en.pdf
Last page of the document.

€1.30 in 2004. Someone was saying before that with inflation and considering toll increases on other roads since 2004 that it would be roughly €2 or €2.10 when it opens. I hope so anyway, €3.50 would be awefully steep.

csd

KevR wrote: »

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/TollingDocumentation/file,2855,en.pdf
Last page of the document.

€1.30 in 2004. Someone was saying before that with inflation and considering toll increases on other roads since 2004 that it would be roughly €2 or €2.10 when it opens. I hope so anyway, €3.50 would be awefully steep.

Don't forget VAT at 21.5% has to be added to the €1.30. But yes, if you could find an open road whose 2004 toll was €1.30 (ex-VAT), you'd know what the toll would be in 2009. This is roughly the same as what the M1 was, so a toll of €2 seems reasonable. Seems good value compared to the M4.

/csd

serfboard

KevR wrote: »

Someone was saying before that with inflation and considering toll increases on other roads since 2004 that it would be roughly €2 or €2.10 when it opens. I hope so anyway, €3.50 would be awefully steep.

For €2 I'd stay on the road - for €3.50 I'd go off at Loughrea and back on again at Ballinasloe.

kaizersoze

21/06/2009 - From River Suck bridge to accommodation underbridge at Mackney (~5KM).
Video at double speed.
Structures in order of appearance:
River Suck Bridge off camera.
Pollboy overbridge.
Pedestrian footbridge at Moher (2 support columns poured).
J15 Western Interchange at Mackney.
Accommodation underbridge at Mackney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nmfyg6VOmE

Sponge Bob

They could easily bypass Ballinasloe by christmas ( as far as Aughrim ) . If they did I would forgive them the delays further west .

kaizersoze

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They could easily bypass Ballinasloe by christmas ( as far as Aughrim ) . If they did I would forgive them the delays further west .

They could but unlikely. The contractor was approached about doing this before they started work but gave a polite FO.

What delays further west?

dubhthach

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They could easily bypass Ballinasloe by christmas ( as far as Aughrim ) . If they did I would forgive them the delays further west .

It be nicer if they got it in place for the October fair, last year I had to take some arse end detour north of Ballinasloe because the fair was on.

snowy2008

when is it going to be open for traffic?

KevR

The contractor has the opening date scheduled as 4th Jan 2010 but it's hard to know if they'll make that date.

I think it might be late Spring. They might give a revised opening date in their next newsletter so that's something to watch out for.

kaizersoze

I'd say it'll be the guts of a year after Athlone - Ballinasloe opens.

Both schemes started at the same time but A - B is only 19kms long and B - G is 56kms.