N7 Limerick To Nenagh Construction

Amtmann

Ah. It's the same bridge I pass under at 7.24 of the bypass video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQKmkUuVGQ

Sponge Bob

Open by the end of May from the look of it

101sean

All the new overbridges on the mainline have central piers only. As far as I can remember, the underbridges include a hard shoulder and margin. Been 8 months since I was on site and my memory isn't what it used to be

mysterious

101sean wrote: »

All the new overbridges on the mainline have central piers only. As far as I can remember, the underbridges include a hard shoulder and margin. Been 8 months since I was on site and my memory isn't what it used to be

Good this means the Limerick Nenagh motorway can be widened.:D

Horray!

But on topic. I can't wait till this road is finished. The Nenagh Limerick Motorway goes through interesting terrain. It runs close to the Silvermnine mountains and it cut through a few vallys beside the railway. It aso crosses a river and a bog too.The alitude goes up and down a good bit. You will be able to see the Motorway alot from the old road.

P.S the soon to be R445 Limerick nenagh road is one of my favourite sections of nationaly primary route in the country. I don 't know why.

How is the Lisnagry interchange going.

mysterious

Furet wrote: »

Ah. It's the same bridge I pass under at 7.24 of the bypass video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQKmkUuVGQ

That is the Nenagh flyover. This was built when the bypass was constructed

I swear to god they better take the two pillars out on either side and place a central pillar in the middle. This way they can make a motorway fit through.

I've always thought about this when they retro fit bridges, is this possible?

I hate this bridge:mad:

101sean

That bridge is staying as is, the piers are well back.

It will be a fairly stunning drive with great views. A couple of the cuttings are very deep, Balinahinch is around 30m deep and very wide.

Heading north from there you'll come through another deep cutting on to the long Kilmastulla viaduct that crosses river and railway and then on 5km of embankment with good views of the Silvermines.

Amtmann

101sean wrote: »

That bridge is staying as is, the piers are well back.

It will be a fairly stunning drive with great views. A couple of the cuttings are very deep, Balinahinch is around 30m deep and very wide.

Heading north from there you'll come through another deep cutting on to the long Kilmastulla viaduct that crosses river and railway and then on 5km of embankment with good views of the Silvermines.

Sean, do you have any idea when this is now likely to open?

101sean

No, I'd say May was optimistic though :rolleyes:

I left site last July and to be honest it would appear that not much tarmac has happened since then going by the photos and video.

mysterious

101sean wrote: »

That bridge is staying as is, the piers are well back.

It will be a fairly stunning drive with great views. A couple of the cuttings are very deep, Balinahinch is around 30m deep and very wide.

Heading north from there you'll come through another deep cutting on to the long Kilmastulla viaduct that crosses river and railway and then on 5km of embankment with good views of the Silvermines.

It's only about 2metres of a gap. You won't put a HS through it.

Why can't they put a pillar in the middle and take the two out on the side. This means you have more room?

L1011

mysterious wrote: »

It's only about 2metres of a gap. You won't put a HS through it.

Why can't they put a pillar in the middle and take the two out on the side. This means you have more room?

Dependent on original design this may not be possible at all - would require replacing the deck too.

limericklad87

limerick leader last week.......

looks like it won't meet deadline

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/Motorway-is-on-the-road.4973087.jp

BluntGuy

The M7 is turning out to be a bit of disaster in terms of progress. While segements of the M8, M6 and M9 are racing ahead, pretty much all the M7 segments (barring the Limerick Tunnel) don't seem to moving all that quickly.

M7 Limerick-Nenagh is turning out to be a massive dissappointment. Considering the scheme started in 2006, it is unbelievable that we are now staring at an almost certain inevitability that it won't finish this year.

Sierra Oscar

I know one of the main suppliers for rock for the scheme from the Newport area (don’t want to go naming any names), and they have not been supplying anything for the past few weeks apart from the few odd deliveries each week compared to dozens of deliveries around last November. His own business is in a bad shape now as a result, due to the fact that he invested heavily in machinery to be able to supply for the scheme.

I also personally know one of the main maintenance men who has the contract for repairing tyres for vehicles working on the scheme, and before Christmas he was on site each day and has not returned except for the odd job since - basically due to the fact that far fewer machinery are working on the scheme at the moment, so things certainly are not going as planned I would imagine.

Amtmann

The CBM is not yet laid on the westbound carriageway from what I've seen. This means that the surface is less than half done, and that the median cannot be laid. The landscaping is also not done. If they had the machines and workers they could probably have this open by late July. But sadly they don't have either of those things.

Sponge Bob

Given that they obviously cannot find a few bob to pay the plant operators who have been waiting months for payment ( since at least late summer) I believe that Nenagh-Limerick cannot be finished in 2009 .

EG , Have these asphalt plants appeared by any chance ??

http://www.tipperarystar.ie/news/Green-Light-for-Asphalt-Plants.4459329.jp

The Bord granted the license to RAC Eire/Bothar Hibernian to operate the plants at Ballycahill, Nenagh (beside existing Nenagh by-pass) and at Rossacreena, Annaholty, Birdhill (located adjacent to Birdhill NS).
North Tipperary County Council had previously granted RAC Eire and Bothar Hibernian licences for the manufacture of bitumen macadam and asphalt - for use on the new motorway which is currently under construction - at both sites.

Amtmann

The asphalt plant at Nenagh has been erected. It's visible here in the first photo beside that overbridge in the distance.

If you look at the photos you'll see that asphalt has been laid on the eastbound carriageway.

101sean

SO, I had a lot of dealings with rock import and the tyre guys were well employed due to state of haul roads. The rock import should have tailed off anyway but i've also heard the same stuff about other local major suppliers.

Won't speculate otherwise though as I'm no longer involved but I'm not surprised at what I'm hearing.

AFAIK, the on site asphalt and CBM plants were all running apart from the one at Birdhill. A deal was done with a local supplier on that one, plant was on site already waiting to be built but obviously wasn't.

Amtmann

Two Fridays ago the CBM crew on the Fermoy to Mitchelstown scheme finished their work and 25 men left the site. By Saturday afternoon, the batching plant had been dismantled and removed. It's a pity that red tape and dead contracts would prohibit this crew from taking over CBM duties on the Nenagh to Limerick scheme.

mysterious

Jesus christ where is the government on this. this is absaloutely dispicable. ****ing ***** in office I'm telling you.

If I had my way, and was that pissed off, I'd bloody shoot the entire fianna fail party. It's gone to that stage

First on the list.
Brian cowen
Martin Cullen
Noel Dempsey
Willie O Dea

There are retarded ****s. Get your act together you shower of bastards. One of these T.Ds should be onboard with this issue. Fianna fiail had two terms, failed every development plan, squandered all the money in every department. They are complete an utter failures in their departments

Most noticeably Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen.

The only real achievement they could complete was the interurbans. Even this is now unlikely

I am so mad beyond belief. Cown shift your fat lob and do something. I'm so sick of this government.

Geogregor

mysterious wrote: »

Jesus christ where is the government on this. this is absaloutely dispicable. ****ing ***** in office I'm telling you.

If I had my way, and was that pissed off, I'd bloody shoot the entire fianna fail party. It's gone to that stage

First on the list.
Brian cowen
Martin Cullen
Noel Dempsey
Willie O Dea

There are retarded ****s. Get your act together you shower of bastards. One of these T.Ds should be onboard with this issue. Fianna fiail had two terms, failed every development plan, squandered all the money in every department. They are complete an utter failures in their departments

Most noticeably Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen.

The only real achievement they could complete was the interurbans. Even this is now unlikely

I am so mad beyond belief. Cown shift your fat lob and do something. I'm so sick of this government.

I think this post has more to do with politics than N7

Sponge Bob

Yep.

This delay is not Dempseys fault...and God knows I simply can't stand Dempsey . It is not even Frank Faheys fault :cool:

The delays are purely organisational and commercial.

mysterious

Sponge Bob wrote: »

God knows I simply can't stand Dempsey.

Dempsey is a tool.! He was the most usless piece of crap as transport minister. He was in two terms. And our road network ugh. public transport. Nuf said there. Why is he even in politics. He is actually someone who doesn't know a scratch about anything.

He actually spoke more ****e than all the mileage of roads built in Ireland to date.

That big square muffle jumble just really gets on my nerves.

Geogregor

mysterious wrote: »

Dempsey is a tool.! He was the most usless piece of crap as transport minister. He was in two terms. And our road network ugh. public transport. Nuf said there. Why is he even in politics. He is actually someone who doesn't know a scratch about anything.

He actually spoke more ****e than all the mileage of roads built in Ireland to date.

That big square muffle jumble just really gets on my nerves.

I don't know this guy, I don't follow Irish politics.
But do you really think ministers personally supervise projects like that?
I can't see minister going to the construction site and telling digger operator to dig faster:

" hey, Tommie dig here on the left, It doesn't matter there is water pipe"

There could be millions of reasons why projects are delayed. Traffic organisation issues, technological processes and so on. Building motorway, especially "under traffic" like here is a bit more complicated than erecting barn on somebody farm.

You guys are really spoiled with all this projects finished before deadline in last few years.
I can't remember even one project finished on time in Poland in last few years.

Amtmann

I have a few photographic updates. A bit of progress with the pavement and concrete barrier has been made, but we're still miles away from an opening.

This photo is taken from an overbridge west of the end of the Nenagh Bypass. You can access it by taking the first right turn up a narrow lane after you clear the bypass heading from Limerick. I photographed the same position last February; that picture is upthread.


This photo is taken from the same overbridge, this time looking towards the Nenagh Bypass and Dublin:


This photo, which looks east, was taken from an overbridge close to the turn off for Silvermines:


Taken from the same position, looking to Limerick:


Taken from an overbridge on the Limerick side of Daly's Cross, looking east:


Taken from the same location, this time looking west:

Chris_533976

Lots to do, but more progress than I expected

Amtmann

In fairness, looking back at the photos I took last February, good progress has indeed been made on the pavement.

BluntGuy

Looks like the May 2009 target is still on track then!

I just thought I'd make the point nice 'n' clear before the NRA re-schedules the completion date and then pretends that was the intended completion date all along.

flazio

Thanks for the pics Furet but on the last two pics you marked both of them as looking East, which one is actually west?
And also what were those pole things in the very last picture?

Amtmann

Thanks for that flazio, duly edited.

L1011

I'm also intrigued as to what those poles in the final photo are...