M6/4 Motorway Galway to Dublin (for discussing completed sections)

Tech3

M6 Athlone-Ballinasloe scheme:

Off the under spec Athlone bypass and back onto the M6




Would be a good scheme only for the metal barrier


This overbridge looks very tight and look at what follows


Stupid lorry parking under the bridge move a few meters forward ffs

Tech3

M6 Ballinasloe-Galway PPP scheme

Approaching the toll plaza








Nice cutting


Work being carried out on the hs, think it was the temp rest area


Hardshoulder closed off approaching J16


Gantry for J16


Distance marker


Gantry for J17


Off-ramp for J17


Off ramp for J19

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

tech2, if you crop your photos to cut out the sky a bit then the size of the files will be dramatically reduced and it'll speed up the upload process.

Great shots, keep 'em coming. I'm going to drive the M6 in July for sure.

I will definately do that just have a problem with my own pc at the minute. The M6 was a good drive probably a good idea to do the same drive as myself from Dublin to Galway as the last scheme on the route is well worth the wait and you will notice how much better it is than the rest of the entire road.

KevR

Great pictures tech2!

For anyone who might have missed these, I took some photos heading in the opposite direction last July when the Lucan Bypass upgrade was completed.

M4 and N4

M6 Athlone - Kinnegead


Just a thought but would it be good idea to rename this thread as "M6/M4 Motorways (for discussing completed sections)" and have just the one thread for discussing the Galway-Dublin route? I don't think there is any thread in Infrastructure for discussing completed sections of the M4. I wouldn't see the point in creating a new one, posting about the M4 in here makes sense IMO.

Tech3

KevR wrote: »

Just a thought but would it be good idea to rename this thread as "M6/M4 Motorways (for discussing completed sections)" and have just the one thread for discussing the Galway-Dublin route? I don't think there is any thread in Infrastructure for discussing completed sections of the M4. I wouldn't see the point in creating a new one, posting about the M4 in here makes sense IMO.

Good idea Kev. I will change the title as it makes more sense to discuss both the M4 and M6 on this thread.

alentejo

Good photos.
Drove from Dublin to Galway yesterday for the first time.
Took 1.40 mins from M50/M4 jct to Round-out at the end of M/N6 outside Galway. Average speed 75 miles an hour.

Its a nice road. It is much quicker to get west from Dublin. The country seems alot smaller now than it did a few years ago. Would be bored driving the motorway on a regualar basis but its much more preferable than been stuck in Moate for 30 mins.

veryangryman

tech2 wrote: »

Good idea Kev. I will change the title as it makes more sense to discuss both the M4 and M6 on this thread.

M4 continues almost as far as Mullingar (even beyond if you count the DC)

Maybe change it to "M4/6 to Galway?"

Zubeneschamali

Athlone bypass to receive facelift after €7m funding injection

KevR

Hi Zubeneschamali,

That link doesn't seem to be working. I'm getting a 'Page not found' error message when I click on it..

KevR

Here's a working link

Westmeath Independent wrote:

Athlone bypass to receive facelift after €7m funding injection
[EMAIL="?subject=Article%20you%20might%20like,%20seen%20on%20the%20Westmeath%20Independent%20website&body=http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2010/02/03/3994576-athlone-bypass-to-receive-facelift-after-83647m-funding-injection Athlone bypass to receive facelift after €7m funding injection"][/EMAIL]
Athlone's unkempt and increasingly down-at-heel relief road is to be revamped, following an unexected €7m windfall from the National Roads Authority.
It's part of a whopping €7.6m to be spent on roads in and around Athlone this year, a major improvement on the paltry €10,000 allocated last year.
The 2010 funding allocations were announced on Monday, revealing that some €7,650,000 will be spent on Athlone roads, with a total of €21.3m allocated for the entire county.
The majority of the money, or just over €20m is to be spent on improvement works, while the remainder will be spent on maintenance programmes.
The NRA has allocated €7m to be spent on the Athlone bypass this year, while a further €50,000 will be spent on the N55 Cornamaddy to N6 road and €300,000 allocated to fund pavement works on the N55 Cornamaddy to Cornamagh Road. The council will also receive €300,000 to be spent on traffic calming measures in Glasson. The €7m for Athlone bypass is to be spent on overlay and rehabilitation.
Director of Services Barry Kehoe briefly touched on the issue at Monday night's Athlone Town Council meeting, making the announcement to councillors.
Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran (FF) welcomed the allocation for the bypass works.
"This is something we've been looking for for a long time. I want to thank Barry for putting in the work, we've often sat here criticising you, Barry," he said. "I think a letter of acknowledgement should be sent to Minister of Transport Noel Dempsey."Fianna Fáil's Cllr Aengus O'Rourke has also welcomed the funding announcement, for the upgrade of the Athlone bypass.

Sounds like it's almost a rebuild! When will they make a decision as to it's status?

What does "rehabilitation" mean?

billbond4

I wonder what are they going to do with that money?? as they certainly wont be changing any of the slip roads on the bypass,going by the newly built slip road for the Monksland exit.
Westmeath Co Co will be doing the work but I dont see any plans on their webpage,so I assume it will just be a re-tarring job.

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

What does "rehabilitation" mean?

Was wondering the same. I wonder if they will put in a new central barrier (i.e. - a new style concrete one) to replace the combination of the old style concrete barrier and steel barrier which is there now. They might replace concrete sections with new concrete and steel sections with new steel - I'm just thinking of sightlines; why is there steel barrier there at all now, why not concrete?

I always thought that years ago the steel barrier was on the bends and the rest had no barrier (apart from the bushes); the barrierless sections were then retrofitted with concrete. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe steel was used on the bends instead of concrete because it provides better sightlines.

Will be interesting to see if they carry out any improvements to the likes of Junction 9 (i.e. - put in traffic signals or mini-roundabouts at the tops of the ramps).

billbond4

Here is what WCC said....

The scope of the work has not been finalised at this point, but the works will involve an overlay over the full length of both carriageways, upgrade of verge barriers, repositioning the precast concrete median barrier and probably removing the existing grass median and replacing it with a paved surface.

billbond4

billbond4 wrote: »

Here is what WCC said....

The scope of the work has not been finalised at this point, but the works will involve an overlay over the full length of both carriageways, upgrade of verge barriers, repositioning the precast concrete median barrier and probably removing the existing grass median and replacing it with a paved surface.

I hope they leave the hedge! It makes a good screen against "nondippers" at night.

billbond4

I would like if they left it too, but then again they would be closing lanes of the bypass every year to cut it thought.

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

I hope they leave the hedge! It makes a good screen against "nondippers" at night.

I think in some cases people don't dip because they think "Ah sure the hedge will block it anyway". These people might be more inclined to dip if there is no hedge.

Another thing is that the cat's eyes/studs are crap at the moment. New ones will be put in after resurfacing and hopefully people won't need full headlights as much with the improved visability.

Also, if the hedge goes then the barrier can be fitted with reflectors on both sides..

Amtmann

Sounds to me like the NRA are eager to get this road blue - hence the works.

Nuttzz

typical though, we finally get an interurban motorway/DC and they want to start roadworks on it again, this should have been done as part of the whole M6 project

Amtmann

I think they should have joined the Athlone to Ballinasloe (A-B) scheme directly in with the Kilbeggan to Athlone (K-A) scheme south of Athlone instead of integrating it like they ultimately did. If you look at the eastern end of the A-B scheme it turns northeast to meet the Athlone Bypass. Instead of turning it NE they should have kept it straight and joined it with the K-A scheme. I don't think it would have entailed many more kilometres (maybe less, actually), though I have to say I am not familiar with the land south of Athlone, so there might have been practical reasons why this was not done.

Furet

Furet wrote: »

I think they should have joined the Athlone to Ballinasloe (A-B) scheme directly in with the Kilbeggan to Athlone (K-A) scheme south of Athlone instead of integrating it like they ultimately did. If you look at the eastern end of the A-B scheme it turns northeast to meet the Athlone Bypass. Instead of turning it NE they should have kept it straight and joined it with the K-A scheme. I don't think it would have entailed many more kilometres (maybe less, actually), though I have to say I am not familiar with the land south of Athlone, so there might have been practical reasons why this was not done.

Bogs and a large flood plain for starters, plus the hilly sections just to the east.

Amtmann

Ah, fair enough so!

KevR

Nuttzz wrote: »

typical though, we finally get an interurban motorway/DC and they want to start roadworks on it again, this should have been done as part of the whole M6 project

It depends how good/bad the traffic management is during the upgrade work. Hopefully there won't be massive amounts of disruption, although some is inevitable.

KevR

KevR wrote: »

It depends how good/bad the traffic management is during the upgrade work. Hopefully there won't be massive amounts of disruption, although some is inevitable.

If recent works are anything to go by, it will cause delays! This is the busiest section of road on the whole route. They will have to close one lane at a time.

antoobrien

Deleted User wrote: »

If recent works are anything to go by, it will cause delays! This is the busiest section of road on the whole route. They will have to close one lane at a time.

Hopefully they'll do what they've done on the N2 (inside m50) a couple of years ago and only start the works after peak traffic (e.g. 7 or 8pm). They did a 1-2 km strech over a couple of nights with minimal disruption (except to tesco )

Chris_5339762

Deleted User wrote: »

Bogs and a large flood plain for starters, plus the hilly sections just to the east.

You would also need one, if not two, probably DC link roads to Athlone, one hooking up with either end of the bypass.

Probably not worth it, especially when theres a good (enough) bit of DC around Athlone anyway to tie into.

spacetweek

Deleted User wrote: »

Sounds like it's almost a rebuild! When will they make a decision as to it's status?

What does "rehabilitation" mean?

Pretty happy at this news - sounds like a pretty thorough overhaul. The work amounts to completely rebuilding the road, except for bridges!

I hope they ban pedestrians though, it's not the place for them anymore. And I still wish they'd close the unnecessary junctions.

Irish and Proud

billbond4 wrote: »

Here is what WCC said....

The scope of the work has not been finalised at this point, but the works will involve an overlay over the full length of both carriageways, upgrade of verge barriers, repositioning the precast concrete median barrier and probably removing the existing grass median and replacing it with a paved surface.

That's good!

They should modify the LILOs - probably won't though...

Tech3

spacetweek wrote: »

Pretty happy at this news - sounds like a pretty thorough overhaul. The work amounts to completely rebuilding the road, except for bridges!

I hope they ban pedestrians though, it's not the place for them anymore. And I still wish they'd close the unnecessary junctions.

Even with these works carried out I doubt the road will be full motorway spec probably adequate for 100km/hr with motorway restrictions.

There is some very tight corners that would be impossible to straighten. Still it will be a huge improvement with the surface relayed, lining and catseyes changed. The ADS will probably be changed to blue as well taking away the poor current ones.

Sponge Bob

This is the SECOND big resurface since it opened circa 1987

It was completely resurfaced with asphalt instead of bitmac circa 1998 as well

If we are gonna spend €7m on every 6km of Dual/Motorway every 12 years on average we will be bankrupt in no time :eek: It will still not be good for any more than 100kph .