New Motorways - Surfacing

D.L.R.

How are the various new schemes in terms of smoothness of drive? I find the reopened M50 Western Parkway extremely undulating/bumpy for such an important new road.

Compared to the supposedly inferior Gorey Bypass for example, which imo supports faster speeds purely because the final surface was laid better.

With the pressure to reopen the M50 asap, maybe that extra finishing touch suffered. I'm hoping the same isn't happening across the country.

Amtmann

D.L.R. wrote: »

How are the various new schemes in terms of smoothness of drive? I find the reopened M50 Western Parkway extremely undulating/bumpy for such an important new road.

Compared to the supposedly inferior Gorey Bypass for example, which imo supports faster speeds purely because the final surface was laid better.

With the pressure to reopen the M50 asap, maybe that extra finishing touch suffered. I'm hoping the same isn't happening across the country.

I found the Cashel to Mitchelstown M8 quite bumpy when it first opened, but it seems to have smoothed itself a lot since July. Perhaps Quirke might be able to correct me, but I think new roads take a while to 'settle' a bit after they open.

I am concerned about the quality of the pavement itself at the very end of the Cashel to Cullahill section (see attached photo). There seemed to be an extremely thin film of water lying on the road after a shower, and I am worried about the potential for black ice to form.

In my photo, the left hand side is of poorer quality than the right hand side. For the final few hundred meters of the scheme, the blacktop is almost all of the consistency depicted on the left hand side of the image.

Irjudge1

Furet wrote: »

I found the Cashel to Mitchelstown M8 quite bumpy when it first opened, but it seems to have smoothed itself a lot since July. Perhaps Quirke might be able to correct me, but I think new roads take a while to 'settle' a bit after they open.

I am concerned about the quality of the pavement itself at the very end of the Cashel to Cullahill section (see attached photo). There seemed to be an extremely thin film of water lying on the road after a shower, and I am worried about the potential for black ice to form.

In my photo, the left hand side is of poorer quality than the right hand side. For the final few hundred meters of the scheme, the blacktop is almost all of the consistency depicted on the left hand side of the image.

Photo looks like weathered DBM (Dense Bitumen Macadam) on left tied in to SMA (Stone Mastic Asphalt) on the right? Are you sure the surfacing on the left is new?

Amtmann

Irjudge1 wrote: »

Photo looks like weathered DBM (Dense Bitumen Macadam) on left tied in to SMA (Stone Mastic Asphalt) on the right? Are you sure the surfacing on the left is new?

Yes, newly laid (within past few months), and lined now too.

Amtmann

In fact this photo (attached) demonstrates what I'm talking about on the macro level. Note how the water gives a notable sheen to the carriageway. Again, this was quite noticable when I was walking it. The film of water is visible on the first photo I attached in the post above. I'm waiting for someone more knowledgable than I to come on here and tell me not to worry.

Irjudge1

Don't worry.:D

So the interface between the surfaces is at the joint between the slip road and the main carriageway?

I have to say I've noticed a similar effect on a lot of the newer motorways the section of the M1 between the the Dunleer bypass and the Dundalk Western Bypass springs to mind. I'm not aware of any concerns with regard to the performance of this road in cold weather doen't mean it won't come to light though.

I agree with the OP's opinion of the widened Western Parkway. Some of the surfacing particularly at the junctions in atrocious.

Irish and Proud

Irjudge1 wrote: »

Don't worry.:D

So the interface between the surfaces is at the joint between the slip road and the main carriageway?

I have to say I've noticed a similar effect on a lot of the newer motorways the section of the M1 between the the Dunleer bypass and the Dundalk Western Bypass springs to mind. I'm not aware of any concerns with regard to the performance of this road in cold weather doen't mean it won't come to light though.

I agree with the OP's opinion of the widened Western Parkway. Some of the surfacing particularly at the junctions in atrocious.

Was on the Western Parkway NB recently and lanes 3 and 4 don't seem too bad. However, Lanes 1 (aux) and 2 seemed very bumpy (on a previous trip), so I suspect that the inner lanes (being new build) were done to a reasonable (though not brilliant) standard, while the contractors must have simply overlaid the original two lanes. IMO, the outer lanes on both sides will have to be resurfaced in the nearer future!

Regards!

murphaph

The aux lanes are in general awful on the M50. I use J10->J9 in the evenings and it's woefully undulating and almost bumpy. I can sort of understand an upgrade scheme having such faults but no new build motorway should ever be like this.