Waterford city by-pass to open by October

Daysha

http://www.waterford-news.com/news/story/?trs=mhaukfgbey&cat=news

Some good pictures here too near the end of the thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055148589

Amtmann

This is excellent. Are there any indications what AADT and the expected toll charge will be? I've seen many photos of the road under construction; it looks superb.

Typewriter

The waterford news and star said last tuesday that the toll will be €1:90. I dont think many people will use it because of the toll.

Bards

Furet wrote: »

This is excellent. Are there any indications what AADT and the expected toll charge will be? I've seen many photos of the road under construction; it looks superb.

They expect 10K AADT approx on opening which is about 25% AADT of rice Bridge currently

Road-Hog

Bards wrote: »

They expect 10K AADT approx on opening which is about 25% AADT of rice Bridge currently

So a single carriageway bridge wuold have been sufficient?

Amtmann

That seems extremely low.

Bards

Furet wrote: »

That seems extremely low.

You must remember, this is based on year of opening and is a conservative figure. Concession is for 30 years so it would be very short sighted to build as single carriageway considering there is only one other crossing point of the suir in Waterford which often exceeds 40,000 AADT

crocro

When will the retail parks be ready for each junction?

This road should provide great relief for all those people who were stuck in traffic in waterford trying to get from say new ross to youghal. Now they'll be able to take the bypass and maybe call into b & q on the way.

Not much use to people going to work or school every day though.

mysterious

Furet wrote: »

That seems extremely low.

Thats cus its only taking the N25 traffic

The Edmund Rice Bridge carries all city traffic, including N9/N24/N25.

Bards

mysterious wrote: »

Thats cus its only taking the N25 traffic

The Edmund Rice Bridge carries all city traffic, including N9/N24/N25.

Suir bridge will also carry N9/N24/N25 traffic too. Please remember Suir Bridge leads directly to Grannagh Interchange. Therefore traffic from West Waterford wanting to go to either Wexford, Limerick, Dublin will use new Bridge

Amtmann

So, I presume AADT will jump suddenly once the Knocktopher to Waterford section of the M9 opens?

Run_to_da_hills

I hope there will be a Mc Donalds off this bypass.

Amtmann

Bards, according to the EIS you posted in the Waterford City forum, AADT is predicted to range from 18,000 - 40,000 vehicles per day. Where are you getting the 10,000 figure from?

Bards

Furet wrote: »

Bards, according to the EIS you posted in the Waterford City forum, AADT is predicted to range from 18,000 - 40,000 vehicles per day. Where are you getting the 10,000 figure from?

I will try and dig it out, but I do remember reading it and having the same thoughts as yourselves, that it seemed quiet low.

Also remember this bypass was meant to be in situ since circa 2005 so is about 4 years behind schedule, due to the Woodstown find, and the Foot & Mouth.

I also remember reading the original EIS and it was much more detailed than the one that is now on the N25 Bypass web site???.

as far as I know the design year mentioned in the EIS is 2025 and not the current year of operation, otherwise the new bridge will take all Rice Bridge traffic as the AADT is saying 40,000 between the Western Link & Grannagh Interchange????

mysterious

Bards wrote: »

Suir bridge will also carry N9/N24/N25 traffic too. Please remember Suir Bridge leads directly to Grannagh Interchange. Therefore traffic from West Waterford wanting to go to either Wexford, Limerick, Dublin will use new Bridge

It can, but it won't cus you say so. People from limerick and Dublin will not be going towards south Waterford over the suir bridge generally The N9/N24 end at Waterford city, majority is going to Waterford as destination or would go south or east, not towards the Suir. Do you realise that your argument stll only registers with a few hundred vehicles? If your coming from Dublin, why would you use the Suir bridge to via Wexford? Oh god this argument is plain and utter retarded. Why would people from Limerick use the Suir bridge to go in a boomerany direction for the sake of going over the suir bridge and pay a toll, when they could cut across at Carrick on suir, Clonmel, even Cahir(N8), use the N72 at Dongarvan(for south Waterford). Why would anyone travel extra miles out of their journey in the wrong direction and pay a tol, just because you state so?

your argument, is like basically saying
The N7 is connected to the M50, meaning people are going to travel to Dublin and join the N4 and use that road, cus the interchange is not for from the Naas road, therefore all traffic leaving the N7 will use the N4

Lunacy and makes no sense.
Look at how silly that would be.

Recap, cus I'm just shocked at his post.
The N9 and N24 are coming from the South and West towards a Waterford direction. N24 is coming from Clonmenl and Limerick. Why would the majority of the traffic go on the suir bridge and agree with your argument?? A few hundred cars daily might use the suir bridge from the N9/N24 but it won't be much more than that I can assure you.

So your wrong. And again I am right. The traffic figures will still be around 10,000. The bypass was built generally for the N25 bypassing the city thus allowing the N9/N24 to connect onto it.

mysterious

Furet wrote: »

Bards, according to the EIS you posted in the Waterford City forum, AADT is predicted to range from 18,000 - 40,000 vehicles per day. Where are you getting the 10,000 figure from?

It won't even reach 18,000 a day.

I just can't see it.

The N25 doesnt even carry 13,000 thousand just south of the new bypass and that is untolled.


This bypass is really only a N25 bypass. The N9/N24 terminates at North Waterford, and these routes are inter city traffic generally and local traffic would be heading generally towards Waterford, plus the Rice bridge is still in use. There will be traffic of course leaving the N9 towards the Suir bridge but it will be a small amount.

Bards

mysterious wrote: »

It can, but it won't cus you say so. People from limerick and Dublin will not be going towards south Waterford over the suir bridge generally The N9/N24 end at Waterford city, majority is going to Waterford as destination or would go south or east, not towards the Suir. Do you realise that your argument stll only registers with a few hundred vehicles? If your coming from Dublin, why would you use the Suir bridge to via Wexford? Oh god this argument is plain and utter retarded. Why would people from Limerick use the Suir bridge to go in a boomerany direction for the sake of going over the suir bridge and pay a toll, when they could cut across at Carrick on suir, Clonmel, even Cahir(N8), use the N72 at Dongarvan(for south Waterford). Why would anyone travel extra miles out of their journey in the wrong direction and pay a tol, just because you state so?

your argument, is like basically saying
The N7 is connected to the M50, meaning people are going to travel to Dublin and join the N4 and use that road, cus the interchange is not for from the Naas road, therefore all traffic leaving the N7 will use the N4

Lunacy and makes no sense.
Look at how silly that would be.

Recap, cus I'm just shocked at his post.
The N9 and N24 are coming from the South and West towards a Waterford direction. N24 is coming from Clonmenl and Limerick. Why would the majority of the traffic go on the suir bridge and agree with your argument?? A few hundred cars daily might use the suir bridge from the N9/N24 but it won't be much more than that I can assure you.

So your wrong. And again I am right. The traffic figures will still be around 10,000. The bypass was built generally for the N25 bypassing the city thus allowing the N9/N24 to connect onto it.

please read my post again. I never mentioned Dublin or Limerick traffic, I specifically mentioned traffic comming from West Waterford

I also never post the 18,000 AADT figure. I have always posted the 10,000 figure again please read

Edit:

Anyway the bypass will be in operation before year end. Let's wait until then and we can see the traffic flows beofre saying who is right and who is wrong

fricatus

mysterious wrote: »

This bypass is really only a N25 bypass. The N9/N24 terminates at North Waterford, and these routes are inter city traffic generally and local traffic would be heading generally towards Waterford, plus the Rice bridge is still in use. There will be traffic of course leaving the N9 towards the Suir bridge but it will be a small amount.

There's definitely scope for N9/N24 traffic to use the new Suir Bridge, but it all depends on factors like the price of the toll, traffic congestion, time of day, etc., and that will all only shake itself out when the bridge is in place.

Certainly traffic going between points outside of Waterford will use the bridge because of the obvious time saving, especially where the journey is an occasional one.

The unknown bit relates to the commuter traffic. The new bridge is the obvious choice for commuters coming from KK and WX on the N9 and N25, given that it leads directly to the south-west of the city where most of the employment (including WIT) is. It's less an obvious choice for those who use the N24, especially those who live far enough out to have Fiddown Bridge as an option.

The discussion centres around the level of the toll (I've seen €1.90 quoted somewhere) and how much of a deterrent this will be to commuters. My personal view is that people will initially resist paying it (after taking one inaugural spin over the new bridge of course), but then will increasingly use it because of how quickly it gets them to work (€20 per week or 20 minutes extra in bed... which would you go for?)

The last point centres around what effect the new bridge (and the M9) will have on the attractiveness of working in Waterford, and I think it will have a massive impact. I know one guy in Kilkenny who looked into working in Waterford but was put off by the length of time the journey took. I'm sure his dilemma has been repeated many times. That won't be a factor any more since there will now be plenty of excess capacity for commuters in the morning, and a lot of these people will just factor in the toll as they factor in how much it will cost them in petrol/diesel.

My guess is that the traffic figure will be 20,000 a day, but I freely admit to having nothing whatsoever to back that up other than the above arguments!

Amtmann

I was just a bit surprised that any PPP company would consider it worth its while to invest heavily in a road with such a low AADT. The Fermoy Bypass initially attracted only 11,000 vehicles per day, because at least 5,000 opted to dodge the toll. But in recent months the numbers using the bypass has visibly increased...I'd imagine something similar will happen the Waterford Bypass.

serfboard

fricatus wrote: »

I know one guy in Kilkenny who looked into working in Waterford but was put off by the length of time the journey took. ... That won't be a factor any more since there will now be plenty of excess capacity for commuters in the morning ...

The length of time won't be a factor any more cos the guy will just be delighted to have a job

Furet wrote: »

The Fermoy Bypass initially attracted only 11,000 vehicles per day, because at least 5,000 opted to dodge the toll. But in recent months the numbers using the bypass has visibly increased...I'd imagine something similar will happen the Waterford Bypass.

Ditto with the M4 toll. When people factor in the true cost of avoiding the toll (time, extra fuel, wear & tear) they realise the short-term saving isn't worth it.

Amtmann

I've always found toll dodgers to be a bit tight anyway. I honestly don't know why anyone from north-of OR north Fermoy wouldn't use the motorway, for safety if nothing else. And don't even get me started on hauliers! :mad:

RE Waterford, HGVs should be made to use the new bypass. A suitable discount could surely be negotiated.

BluntGuy

Here is what the EIS says about Design Year AADT (factoring in the toll):

N25 Bypass Western Tie-In Western Link -19,354
N25 bypass Western Link-Granny Interchange - 40,721
N25 bypass Granny Interchange-Northern Tie-in - 23,015
Western Link - 34,733
Newrath Link -18,390
N9 Link -18,189
N24 Link - 19,021

crocro wrote: »

When will the retail parks be ready for each junction?

Soon if councillors have their way. The road isn't motorway, so it's open to whatever idiotic developments they want to throw on it.

Unless it immediately gets motorway status, it won't be a "bypass" for long I can assure you.