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

ohnoigotsick

996tt wrote: »

Wild Bill, please have a bit of cop on and dont be that hero that is parked up in the EMERGENCY LANE with cars doing 70+zipping by you

booo

Wild Bill

996tt wrote: »

Wild Bill, please have a bit of cop on and dont be that hero that is parked up in the EMERGENCY LANE with cars doing 70+zipping by you

Do it all the time if I feel the need to take a pic for boards.ie. Must say I don't feel very heroic but it is very kind of you to say so.

Anyway, I generally find the cars doing 70kph are too busy hogging the fast lane to be a threat to the hard shoulder. Maybe the odd tractor......

Wild Bill

Here's a pic of the service buildings on the eastbound side. To take this I has to

- Pass a "works personnel only" sign
- Ignore some guy in a jeep with a flashing orange light
- drive through a barrier of traffic cones
- Get out in a controlled construction site with zero safety gear
- ignore several roars and shouts while trespassing
- take pics while a security guy told me I wasn't allowed to
- smile at them all and drive away


Now if that ain't heroic I don't know what is. :cool:

L1011

KevR wrote: »

Overtaking lane from Lucan to Maynooth coned off tonight for work (not sure exactly what). It was a bit chaotic going from 3 lanes down to 1 in a very short space.

MYOB wrote: »

Hedge cutting, I expect, seeing as they did a little bit towards Leixlip a few nights ago.

Same again last night, but this time I saw them working. They were actually attacking a plant with what appeared to be a teleporter, and now there's some armco installed where the plant used to be. I'm completely at a loss as to what they were doing this for.

MYOB

MYOB wrote: »

Same again last night, but this time I saw them working. They were actually attacking a plant with what appeared to be a teleporter, and now there's some armco installed where the plant used to be. I'm completely at a loss as to what they were doing this for.

I saw that as well yesterday evening, there was also some digging on the verge opposite the armco. could it be for the installation of a gantry or footbridge or similar?

KevR

Tried to get a few pics of the M4 MSA (Eastbound) when passing on Monday. Unfortunately, there were 5 million dead flies plastered to my windscreen having driven all the way from Galway and my window washer only smudged them rather than properly clearing them off so the picture quality is aweful.

Not nearly as good as Wild Bill's but here they are anyway:
Click for full size images

MYOB wrote: »

Same again last night, but this time I saw them working. They were actually attacking a plant with what appeared to be a teleporter, and now there's some armco installed where the plant used to be. I'm completely at a loss as to what they were doing this for.

Armco in the median? Could they be replacing the horrible rusty old cable barrier with armco?

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Armco in the median? Could they be replacing the horrible rusty old cable barrier with armco?

No, it's only a short section with a proper start & end pieces, similar to that erected by piers, signs or the like.

Wild Bill

MYOB wrote: »

They were actually attacking a plant with what appeared to be a teleporter

Lol!

Further west along the M4 (eastbound) if you squint you can see the Applegreen logo; the lights are on in the main building - all looking good. A fine lookin' pylon standing over it all.

Amtmann

As an M8 user who lives within 15km of the putative Cashel MSA, I am very envious of M4 and M1 users.

yop

The BurgerKing lights were on there on Monday night. Niicceee

996tt

Wild Bill wrote: »

Do it all the time if I feel the need to take a pic for boards.ie. Must say I don't feel very heroic but it is very kind of you to say so.

Anyway, I generally find the cars doing 70kph are too busy hogging the fast lane to be a threat to the hard shoulder. Maybe the odd tractor......

Due to your lack of knowlege of the rules of the road I'd recomend that you grab a copy of the rules of the road, in there you will find such things as the outer lane is in fact called an overtaking lane.

As much as we are all interested in finding out the progress of the motorway services i doubt think anyone wants to see you parked up in the EMERGENCY LANE, not because we care that someone might crash into you and hurt you but that we dont want to be delayed by the crash

Amtmann

996tt wrote: »

Due to your lack of knowlege of the rules of the road I'd recomend that you grab a copy of the rules of the road, in there you will find such things as the outer lane is in fact called an overtaking lane.

As much as we are all interested in finding out the progress of the motorway services i doubt think anyone wants to see you parked up in the EMERGENCY LANE, not because we care that someone might crash into you and hurt you but that we dont want to be delayed by the crash

Hmmm... I'm going to call off-topic on this. You have potentially valid points of course (but for all we know, Wild Bill was actually working on the site). However, this thread is about the M4/M6 including MSA construction progress along it, not the rules of the road. I think what you've highlighted is important, but really, it's a discussion for another thread and another forum.

Wild Bill

Was in Mullingar today and I spotted something. They appear to be erecting those "exit now" cantilever signs at the start of the off-ramps on all the grade-separated junctions on the Mulllingar N4 bypass.

(I hope this M4 completed-sections thread extends that far!)

Only the bases are in place but I can't figure what else they could be. I was naughty in the emergency lane again but I took a few pics of what I saw. Will post them when I find the camera chip!

:cool:



This is where I stopped. Note that I made sure I would not be hit by those 70 kph crazies.

Turning round and looking east towards the junction with the N52 - this is what I spotted:



Surely it can only be...THE BASE of a cantilever sign?



And there is one of these in the same position on every off-ramp along the bypass. I rest my case.

KevR

Any update on the opening date of the M4 Enfield Services?

Driving along the M4 section between Lucan - Kinnegad, I noticed that the works in the central median have continued.

It appears to be bases for gantries that they are installing? I'm guessing that it may be that it will be a continuation of the (soon to be installed) urban signalling/traffic management system similar to that that will go into the empty gantries on the M50.

Wild Bill

Kev - not sure if my reply worked - but fire away!

Amtmann

Wild Bill wrote: »

And there is one of these in the same position on every off-ramp along the bypass. I rest my case.

Cantilever base without a doubt. There's no rhyme nor reason to the NRA's scattered signage update programme, if that's even what it is. The M7 in Co Kildare is had lots of new signage put up recently, but no cantilevers, while the M8 Fermoy Bypass is renowned for its non-standard signage and there are no plans to update them.

Also, why do we always have to guess what the NRA are up to or planning? Why can't they just issue some news feeds on their website rather than skulking around and giving reluctant half-arsed answers whenever they are politely asked?

antoobrien

KevR wrote: »

Any update on the opening date of the M4 Enfield Services?

According to the signs on the road outside the stop - today

medoc

Just passed heading Dublin direction at half six and the services appeared to be open. Barrier removed from entrance, fuel prices active on advance signs and some cars in car park. Didn't have time to go in but i'll be lookin forward to trying it tomorrow.

KevR

@medoc, let us know what you think if you visit the MSA tomorrow.


I can't wait to see it myself but I probably won't be passing there again for another few weeks.

irishdub14

medoc wrote: »

Just passed heading Dublin direction at half six and the services appeared to be open. Barrier removed from entrance, fuel prices active on advance signs and some cars in car park. Didn't have time to go in but i'll be lookin forward to trying it tomorrow.

take lots of pics!

Amtmann

KevR wrote: »

I can't wait to see it myself but I probably won't be passing there again for another few weeks.

Now now Kev, you know you'll develop an irresistible urge to drive the M6 and M4 any day now just to see the new MSA.

KevR

Furet wrote: »

Now now Kev, you know you'll develop an irresistible urge to drive the M6 and M4 any day now just to see the new MSA.

Haha, I would definitely take a spin there tomorrow if I wasn't broke (can't quite justify petrol + tolls for an unnecessary trip at the moment). I might manage it next week though but I'm not sure..

L1011

IIRC the Mullingar BP has its original, 1994/5/6/whatever signage on it, so its due a refresh. But when the Leixlip-Kilcock section was done only a few months ago it used tower signs not cantilevers.

I'm still unsure as to why the cantilever bases now being installed on said section are in the *median* either

medoc

Hi Guys,

Change of plan I went home the M4 instead of M7 as I just had to take a peek at the services. Unfortunatly I had no camera in the car, I took a few on my phone but just relalised I dont have the cable to transfer them to the pc Sorry . Also started taking a gsm trace but the batteries died, I'll be passing eastbound in the next few days if no other pics put up by then.

Overall Impression:

I was very impressed by the facilities even though Burgerking is not my first choice fast food establishment. Costa Coffee wasn't open at 9.30pm but they looked all set for the morning same with the "Acafe". Plenty of people eating at BK and there were cars at most of the pumps. The diesel was 123.9 and petrol around 130 I think ( fairly reasonable considering they have a monolopy). The mainline M4 needs lighting through the services. (not sure if they were installed and not switched on yet or just not present).

Wild Bill

The lights are there - at least the poles are!

Maybe the folk who manage the junction lights on the M7 are in charge? Or the Naas Road?

There are more dead lights than live ones. Certainly not up to "European norms" - NRA should be ashamed. :mad:

-Corkie-

I dont know has this been mentioned before. I was travelling from Athlone to Loughrea on sunday on the M6. The road is really windey as in loads of bends. How can this happen on a motorway, should they not be straighter. I was shocked tbh.

L1011

Modern roads are rarely dead straight, varying reasons from trying to reduce the number of houses knocked, reduce the number of landbanks/farms split, prevent drivers falling asleep with boredom (!) and prevent people doing 200km/h+ speeds cause of the road feeling like a runway

Most of the mad long straights on the Irish motorway network were planned (or even built) in the 80's.

The bends are well within motorway design limits, they can handle 160km/h

KevR

Agree with what MYOB has said.

The older sections of motorway near Dublin are more inclined to have long straight sections compared to the newer sections of motorway elsewhere.

Also, Athlone-Ballinasloe East is one of the bendier sections of new motorway; nothing wrong with it in my opinion. Many other new sections aren't as bendy though.

-Corkie-

MYOB wrote: »

Modern roads are rarely dead straight, varying reasons from trying to reduce the number of houses knocked, reduce the number of landbanks/farms split, prevent drivers falling asleep with boredom (!) and prevent people doing 200km/h+ speeds cause of the road feeling like a runway

Most of the mad long straights on the Irish motorway network were planned (or even built) in the 80's.

The bends are well within motorway design limits, they can handle 160km/h

True maybe. Herself was driving and was doing 140 ish. Maybe it was all the liquer from saturday night making it worse...:o