If you could have one road scheme started in 2009... which would it be?

BluntGuy

It has pretty much been confirmed that no new road schemes are going to be starting in 2009.

But suppose the government did for whatever reason decide to go ahead with just one more, which one should it be?

galwayrush

Galway outer by-pass,(complete, feck the bog cotton, it's not scarce by any means ) with the additional link of a new dual carriageway way from Loughgeorge. Solves almost all of the City's problems.
The fools in the NRA though think a road 11 miles away will do away with the need for any Claregalway bypass, despite almost all industrial estates being located between the Tuam rd and Monivea rd and est 85 % of all Claregalway traffic being local or to and from the City.

Trampas

no offense op but this will be voted by people who use the road.

So I vote Newlands

BluntGuy

Trampas wrote: »

no offense op but this will be voted by people who use the road.

So I vote Newlands

Obviously, they are all important schemes. But surely there is some kind of consensus as to which scheme should be the one to receive funding should any be made available next year (unlikely though ).

Chris_533976

Newlands, or maybe the M20. I'd do a local Claregalway bypass.

Or the Galway bypass, ALL OF IT.

BluntGuy

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Newlands, or maybe the M20. I'd do a local Claregalway bypass.

Or the Galway bypass, ALL OF IT.

I would also say the M20. But even if we had money, there would be little chance of it being started next year due to it having to go through the EIS/CPO stages etc.

Stark

I'd vote Arklow-Rathnew over Newland's. Newland's might be a right pain in the ass but at least there aren't people dying every year there.

KC61

Arklow - Rathnew simply because of the huge volume of accidents and deaths that have occurred on this section of road.

L1011

N11 for safety of the general public

Newlands Cross for making my drive to work easier.


I've voted for self over side there...

445279.ie

Adare by-pass. Balls most of the time but a nightmare in the summer :mad:

Amtmann

Stark wrote: »

I'd vote Arklow-Rathnew over Newland's. Newland's might be a right pain in the ass but at least there aren't people dying every year there.

Excellent point. Some people seem to think that daily traffic volume is the be all and end all, but it isn't.

Typewriter

Cork SRR upgrades.:cool:

JupiterKid

It's hard to select just one as all those listed iun the poll are needed, but I'd say the N11 dualling to link the Arklow and Rathnew sections. The current road is a death trap.

Getting the M20 started (the section between Mallow and Charleville) would be the next in my order of prioirities

Cian R

certainly the N11 scheme as it will link up both ends of the N11 at Arklow and Wicklow and it will save lives as the Rathnew-Arklow road is very twisty. it wouldnt cost the world either because that stretch of road is only about 10km.

bill_ashmount

I'm going to go with Cork SRR (purely because that's the one I use most often )

invincibleirish

I'd like them to finish the SRR upgrades in 2009, they started several years ago.....

Tech3

DCC160 wrote: »

Adare by-pass. Balls most of the time but a nightmare in the summer :mad:

Went for the castleisland bypass but would have went for the adare or claregalway bypass if it was a choice.

No point going for gort to athenry unless the M17 athenry to tuam is also started, you would end up having to connect on to the M6 and head back into galway( or take the regional road to tuam). Surely the NRA would have spotted that most of the motorists on the N17 road only communte to galway and tuam every day yet they put the proposed road out near athenry

SeanW

Gotta be the N5 bypass for Longford town - such a big traffic problem that could have be alleviated for such a small bill, I simply cannot understand why the project has been canned. Let's just hope enough of my fellow Longfordians remember just how much FF thinks of us in the next General Election.

weehamster

Must be the N11 Arklow - Rathnew. People are killed on the existing stretch every year.

D'Peoples Voice

page 7 of 24

of this report published in 2008,
it would have to be those roads with the highest recorded fatal, serious and minor injuries - although I voted for Newlands Cross, I think people's lives are more important than simply being delayed by a few minutes!

so in descending order
N1 - Dundalk town to Co Down border - although though this should be M1
N2 - M50 to Ashbourne - I thought this was dual carriageway yet the report says single carriageway so they should know
N21 - Tralee to Castleisland
N25 - Waterford to Kilmeaden
N52 - R400 south of Mullingar to Tyrellstown

amacachi

so in descending order
N1 - Dundalk town to Co Down border - although though this should be M1
N2 - M50 to Ashbourne - I thought this was dual carriageway yet the report says single carriageway so they should know

That'll be the old N1, new N1 is HQDC, same with the N2.

SeanW

I was reading the NRA website there was a project (completed) called the N1/A1 Dual Carriageway. Wikipedia also says that M-way regulations end just before the border and becomes the N1 dual carriageway just North of Dundalk for a short stretch to the Border.

Why does the road have to return to N-road status before the border? Could they not have had motorway regulations cross-border?

Stark

There's no alternative route just before the border.

D'Peoples Voice

amacachi wrote: »

That'll be the old N1, new N1 is HQDC, same with the N2.

ah okay then, well that would mean, my preference is for the next on the list
N21 - Tralee to Castleisland

no-one wants to see families without their loved ones at christmas and if that means me being delayed a few mins more at newlands cross, so be it!

E92

I'd like the flyovers on the SRR in Cork to begin or else a section of the M20 but then again I live in Cork so I've a vested interest in the whole thing. So I voted accordingly;)!

What should start next year is Newlands Cross.
After that Arklow-Rathnew has to begin because it is such a dangerous road apparently.

I hope they will build it as a full spec motorway if they do it.

If a job is worth doing then it is worth doing it properly.

jd

Haven't they already acquired the land and done some clearance work for the N11 Rathnew Arklow section? When more funding is made available after MIUs are complete in 2010 it surely makes sense to complete this.

The Word Is Bor

jd wrote: »

Haven't they already acquired the land and done some clearance work for the N11 Rathnew Arklow section? When more funding is made available after MIUs are complete in 2010 it surely makes sense to complete this.

If the land has been CPO'd then it can sit there. Advance works are a plus but the advance works for the section of the M3 from the Clonee By-pass to Navan were done well in advance of the main contract going ahead.

AFAIK Newlands has been shelved for the moment. There is no money for the N25 SRR upgrades. Even if there was money it would be diverted elsewhere. Gort-Oranmore has been shelved as well. Gort-Crusheen is the sop to the mid-west, although the rate/km should have the government screaming out to get more schemes done at the moment. N5 Longford bypass while needed (in the eyes of the local population) is not a necessity and therefore can wait. Galway is aspirational plus given the completion of the MIU M6/N6 it can hardly claim to have been deprived. The Castleisland job looks as if it's the only job that has the potential to go to site next year, not saying that it the most deserving.

In my opinion 2009 is not going to be the make or break it will be 2010 when most of the MIU's are completed and the major contractors are kicking their heels. A lot of them are looking towards the continent and further afield at this stage.

Therefore of the schemes listed in the poll the N11 would appear to be the most deserving of breaking the sod but with the Soldiers of Destiny at the helm it's pure pot luck.

All I know at this stage is that my job is not exactly secure and I cannot look past April/May, which is probably a better situation than some other folk.

KevR

I voted for the Galway Bypass - I'm from Galway City though...

Alternatively, I would really like a start made on the M20 in 2009.

The Word Is Bor

The M20 will not 'start' until 2011 at the earliest. The prelim design hasn't been completed plus the Motorway Order is at least another 6 months off at this stage.

BluntGuy

KevR wrote: »

Alternatively, I would really like a start made on the M20 in 2009.

I would've liked to see it start as well, but as The Word Is Bor said, even if we had the money for it, it wouldn't be starting this year anyway. The motorway order is due to be published in June next year, and even at that it still leaves CPOing, tendering and all the other elements of a road scheme that lead up to construction to do.

It could start in 2010, but realistically we're looking at 2012, 2013, maybe even beyond.

serfboard

While this poll is interesting, is it not a bit predictable, given that people will vote for improvements on the road they use most often, and which they see as the most necessary for themselves? I hope not, I'm just asking.

To that end, would a poll saying which road outside your own province would you like to see start in 2009?

So, despite being from the West, I voted for the N11. Surely safety should be our number one priority.

L1011

serfboard wrote: »

While this poll is interesting, is it not a bit predictable, given that people will vote for improvements on the road they use most often, and which they see as the most necessary for themselves? I hope not, I'm just asking.

To that end, would a poll saying which road outside your own province would you like to see start in 2009?

So, despite being from the West, I voted for the N11. Surely safety should be our number one priority.

N56 Mountcharles to Inver.


Or are those that have moved disbarred from voting for either province?

BluntGuy

serfboard wrote: »

While this poll is interesting, is it not a bit predictable, given that people will vote for improvements on the road they use most often, and which they see as the most necessary for themselves? I hope not, I'm just asking.

To that end, would a poll saying which road outside your own province would you like to see start in 2009?

So, despite being from the West, I voted for the N11. Surely safety should be our number one priority.

People will generally vote for what's going to benefit themselves the most, that's just human nature sadly.

If I was voting for myself, then my vote would be for the M20 and SRRs since those are roads I would be using, but I have to say top of the list should be the N11 scheme or Newlands Cross. If I see either one of them go ahead next year I'll be somewhat happy.

Zoney

My vote goes to the N20 - it's quite simply unacceptable to have a goat track connecting the 2nd city in the Republic to the 3rd and 4th.

I find it remarkable that the creator of the poll has N21 Castleisland on it and not the N20.

The only projects on the poll that one can make a fair case for being more important than the N20 are Newlands Cross and the Cork Southern Ring Road roundabouts. Both of which would be great improvements, but very costly and not solving each city's traffic problems. I would argue that should push them down the list of priorities below the N20.

murfie

On the N4/N5 the longford bypass is long overdue and somehow a roscommon county bypass as well would be nice, worst roads in Ireland in roscommon. Maybe a long flyover of roscommon, before strokestown to the far side of ballaghaderreen!

BluntGuy

Zoney wrote: »

I find it remarkable that the creator of the poll has N21 Castleisland on it and not the N20.

I didn't put it on the poll because there is NO CHANCE of it starting next year. Even if we were swimming in money there would be no chance because the Motorway Order is due to be published in June 2009, and that leaves the other stages to do...

Construction can only begin on the proposed N20 upgrade once all of that is completed, and that'll take at least until mid-2010.

The reason the N21 Castleisland is on the poll is because I included schemes that were either due to start in 2009 or at the tender stage and close to going under construction - basically: schemes that are actually feasible.

galwayrush

galwayrush wrote: »

Galway outer by-pass,(complete, feck the bog cotton, it's not scarce by any means ) with the additional link of a new dual carriageway way from Loughgeorge. Solves almost all of the City's problems.
The fools in the NRA though think a road 11 miles away will do away with the need for any Claregalway bypass, despite almost all industrial estates being located between the Tuam rd and Monivea rd and est 85 % of all Claregalway traffic being local or to and from the City.

Unfortunately there isn't even a link to the current N17 proposed as part of the outer bypass.

It was assumed the Athenry to Tuam road would do the job.

rekrow

Deleted User wrote: »

Unfortunately there isn't even a link to the current N17 proposed as part of the outer bypass.

It was assumed the Athenry to Tuam road would do the job.

The NRA show such vision! I think what is needed is a new access route into the city from the North. (Biased resident of claregalway). I think a local bypass of claregalway will not be enough. The messing with the bus lanes they are doing at present is slowing the traffic even further. The traffic is now backing up on the from Claregalway to the end of the bus lane on the Galway side.

Sponge Bob

Galway Bypass , NOW!

dubhthach

N11 for me purely as the current road is a death trap and needs to be replaced as soon as possible. After that been from Galway I'd say the Claregalway "inner relief road" which is mapped out on the current development plan for Claregalway.

JupiterKid

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

of this report published in 2008,
it would have to be those roads with the highest recorded fatal, serious and minor injuries - although I voted for Newlands Cross, I think people's lives are more important than simply being delayed by a few minutes!

so in descending order
N1 - Dundalk town to Co Down border - although though this should be M1
N2 - M50 to Ashbourne - I thought this was dual carriageway yet the report says single carriageway so they should know
N21 - Tralee to Castleisland
N25 - Waterford to Kilmeaden
N52 - R400 south of Mullingar to Tyrellstown

That EuroRAP report is based on out of date accident figures. Sure, the N1 was upgraded to HQDC in 2007 and the N2 M50 to Ashbourne likewise in 2006. Those accident figures must be for 2005/6 or earlier, before these roads were improved.

If comparable data existed for 2007/2008, I wouldn't be surprised if the S2 section of N11 between Rathnew and Arklow was in the top 5 of the list.

Dualling the N11 from Rathnew to Arklow should be the priority. If the M20 is not ready to "go" in 2009, then 2nd priority should be the N7 Newlands Cross GSJ.

BluntGuy

JupiterKid wrote: »

That EuroRAP report is based on out of date accident figures. Sure, the N1 was upgraded to HQDC in 2007 and the N2 M50 to Ashbourne likewise in 2006. Those accident figures must be for 2005/6 or earlier, before these roads were improved.

If comparable data existed for 2007/2008, I wouldn't be surprised if the S2 section of N11 between Rathnew and Arklow was in the top 5 of the list.

Dualling the N11 from Rathnew to Arklow should be the priority. If the M20 is not ready to "go" in 2009, then 2nd priority should be the N7 Newlands Cross GSJ.

I agree.

The M20 will not be ready to "go" in 2009 that is a certainty. If it was it would be my number two choice after the N11. The only way it'll be ready is if they somehow manage to go through preliminary design, EIS/CPO, detailed design, oral hearings, awarding of contracts and all the other stages involved in the space of a year. Sadly, that's not possible.

But don't get me wrong, the M20 is making good progress and should be ready to "go" under construction in late 2010 at the latest. But then it hits that horrible brick wall called: funding. Anyway, let's get the M20 out of our heads - it's not on 2009's road-scheme menu whatever the case may be...