N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [under construction]

marno21

Sean O'Neill speaking with the examiner about this: https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/corks-jack-lynch-tunnel-revamp-set-to-be-disruptive-438929.html

Project will go to tender in 2017, construction to start early 2019.

D Trent

http://www.redfm.ie/news/cork/2019-earmarked-for-upgrade-works-at-jack-lynch-tunneldunkettle-interchange/

AugustusMinimus

Excellent news. This is the second most important scheme in the state after the M7 widening.

One thing though. The Douglas flyover is a 2 lane road with AADT figures of circa 70,000. The only thing saving it westbound is that the present Dunkettle is reducing the effect of rush hours and spacing rush hour over a longer period.

Cars will be queuing out the end of the tunnel from Douglas when the Dunkettle scheme opens.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Excellent news. This is the second most important scheme in the state after the M7 widening.

One thing though. The Douglas flyover is a 2 lane road with AADT figures of circa 70,000. The only thing saving it westbound is that the present Dunkettle is reducing the effect of rush hours and spacing rush hour over a longer period.

Cars will be queuing out the end of the tunnel from Douglas when the Dunkettle scheme opens.

Yep, these days the tunnel isn't even the worst part of the SRR. Once you hit the Kinsale Rd flyover eastbound at peak times it grinds to a halt. There's 5 lanes there (3 N40 mainline + 2 merging from J6) merging down to two. You do have 2 exits along there but they're both queued up all the time anyway especially due to the lights at the Douglas East junction. The lack of hard shoulder means a breakdown/incident along the flyover blocks the whole thing up.

At the minute westbound is reasonably ok but as you say when Dunkettle is freeflowed and the M28 opens removing the Carrs Hill bottleneck it'll become a major mess. It'll be a major problem for ambulances heading westbound to CUH as well from east of the tunnel/Mahon/N28 area.

For a city of Cork's size the volume of traffic using the south ring is obscene. 100k vehicles daily between J6 and J7 is absolutely ridiculous all things considered.

road_high

marno21 wrote: »

For a city of Cork's size the volume of traffic using the south ring is obscene. 100k vehicles daily between J6 and J7 is absolutely ridiculous all things considered.

Stating the obvious really but if you want to get from the M8 or N25 to the west of the city, it's practically your only option apart from spending half the day negotiating the city.

AugustusMinimus

Actually, if J6 to J7 is 100,000 cars AADT then Douglas flyover must at least be 90,000.

To put it in context, The Limerick SRR for a part has AADT of 45 to 50k and people on here are calling for a third lane.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Actually, if J6 to J7 is 100,000 cars AADT then Douglas flyover must at least be 90,000.

To put it in context, The Limerick SRR for a part has AADT of 45 to 50k and people on here are calling for a third lane.

The traffic between J6 and J8 is around 90-95k cars on weekdays, 75k on Saturdays and 60-65k on Sundays. The weekday traffic is above capacity for a 3 lane road let alone a 2 lane one.

The Limerick SRR between the M20 and N24 junctions is carrying 40k most weekdays and 45k or so when UL is on term. The only reason a third lane is being talked about here is because there's space in the median and verges to make it easy to build. It's not needed for years and the roads and junctions connecting to the M7 would need upgrading first, as the Limerick SRR is always freeflowing. Never been any trouble on it whereas the Cork SRR is a daily feature on traffic reports with the Douglas flyover, Dunkettle, Mahon junction. Considering the money spend on upgrading the Kinsale Road Roundabout, what we have now is very underwhelming also.

marno21

PIN for the construction tender for the Dunkettle Interchange upgrade has been issued

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=108794&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

spacetweek

marno21 wrote: »

PIN for the construction tender for the Dunkettle Interchange upgrade has been issued

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=108794&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

A tender possibly in 12 months. I'm still confident we'll see this start in 2018, a little earlier than the official line.

marno21

Tender has been issued for the construction of the Dunkettle Interchange Improvement Scheme.

Deadline 31 May, value €77m excluding VAT.


https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase.asp?PID=111758

marno21

This will be a very interesting scheme to watch during the build. 43 major structures are required to be built - all while the interchange remains open to traffic.

Tender deadline is the 31st of May. Surely looking at being on the ground during 2018

Limerick74

This is a restricted procedure so the deadline of 31st May is only for prequalification. The second stage for the tender could take a further 12months to complete before a contractor is appointed.

marno21

Limerick74 wrote: »

This is a restricted procedure so the deadline of 31st May is only for prequalification. The second stage for the tender could take a further 12months to complete before a contractor is appointed.

Yes, as there is no funding whatsoever in place for this scheme for 2017, the scheme cannot go ahead until 2018, so they won't be in any hurry to appoint a contractor. Whilst the previous line was an early 2019 start, I can see this going ahead in 2018.

marno21

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/jack-lynch-tunnel-upgrade-to-get-real-time-information-system-450011.html

Article about information that'll be provided to motorists during the construction phase.

boardsuser1

The sooner this project gets going the better.

4000 extra cars per day using the JLT.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/corknews/Gridlock-in-Cork-as-4000-extra-cars-a-day-using-the-Jack-Lynch-Tunnel-every-day-b822f8c0-1e0a-46ee-af09-66bf21324f69-ds

grogi

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

The sooner this project gets going the better.

4000 extra cars per day using the JLT.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/corknews/Gridlock-in-Cork-as-4000-extra-cars-a-day-using-the-Jack-Lynch-Tunnel-every-day-b822f8c0-1e0a-46ee-af09-66bf21324f69-ds

How the hell Dunkettle sees only 55150 AADT, while JLT is carrying 67183 AADT?! I though that every car going through the tunnel goes through Dunkettle as well...

marno21

grogi wrote: »

How the hell Dunkettle sees only 55150 AADT, while JLT is carrying 67183 AADT?! I though that every car going through the tunnel goes through Dunkettle as well...

I think that should mean the N25 between Dunkettle and the Little Island exit.

grogi

marno21 wrote: »

I think that should mean the N25 between Dunkettle and the Little Island exit.

You're right - "Dunkettle" is TMU N25 000.0 E, "JLT" is TMU N40 015.0 W.

What's more - the quoted data for 2017 covers only ~85% of the year. We'll see highest averages around 24 December, to fall down a bit during holiday season...

boardsuser1

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

The sooner this project gets going the better.

4000 extra cars per day using the JLT.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/corknews/Gridlock-in-Cork-as-4000-extra-cars-a-day-using-the-Jack-Lynch-Tunnel-every-day-b822f8c0-1e0a-46ee-af09-66bf21324f69-ds

This has been briefly mentioned by Neil Prendeville on RedFM.

He'll most likely come back to it later in the morning.

boardsuser1

Must be serious, although a bit away from the Dunkettle, it is still on the N25.

https://twitter.com/CorkSafetyAlert/status/934522068401573888

JupiterKid

For a small city of just over 200k population, I think it’s shocking that the JLT is caring an AADT of close to 70,000 vehicles.

A damning indictment of dire public transport and poor urban planning if I ever saw it.:mad:

marno21

Nine expressions of interest were received by TII/Cork RDO. This has been shortlisted to five who have been invited to tender.

Q1 2019 start date remains current.

Tender award will be given in advance during 2018 due to extensive traffic management plans required for construction phase.

AugustusMinimus

JupiterKid wrote: »

For a small city of just over 200k population, I think it’s shocking that the JLT is caring an AADT of close to 70,000 vehicles.

A damning indictment of dire public transport and poor urban planning if I ever saw it.:mad:

It says more about the geography of Cork and the importance of the tunnel.

It also shows that there is little forward thinking in this country. This will cost 100m to fix. At the same time, we built a 3 stack Roundabout at the M17/M18/M6 junction. Crazy.

boardsuser1

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

we built a 3 stack Roundabout at the M17/M18/M6 junction.

That is an impressive bit of work though having travelled it.

AugustusMinimus

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

we built a 3 stack Roundabout at the M17/M18/M6 junction.

That is an impressive bit of work though having travelled it.

A partially unrolled cloverleaf which would have given much higher capacity and a cheaper build would have been much better though.

There was originally supposed to be a service station at this Roundabout. The station was removed and bizarrely the junction was maintained.

Most European countries would automatically put a stack on this type of junction, irrespective of traffic levels.

DerMutt

Work on the Dunkettle Interchange project has actually started!

There has been some clearing work done in the area to the north-east of the roundabout - lots of red and white barriers in place forming some sort of access road near the rail container depot.

Information update signs are in place too :-)

marno21

DerMutt wrote: »

Work on the Dunkettle Interchange project has actually started!

There has been some clearing work done in the area to the north-east of the roundabout - lots of red and white barriers in place forming some sort of access road near the rail container depot.

Information update signs are in place too :-)

What kind of information update signs?

I see new poles up on the N21 near Limerick which I thought could be for project information signs.

DerMutt

marno21 wrote: »

What kind of information update signs?

TII signs with Dunkettle Interchange and an email address for updates on them.

snotboogie

JupiterKid wrote: »

For a small city of just over 200k population, I think it’s shocking that the JLT is caring an AADT of close to 70,000 vehicles.

A damning indictment of dire public transport and poor urban planning if I ever saw it.:mad:

It also shows the reality of commuting and that the city has an influence well beyond any proposed boundaries. The commuter belt is probably close to double the number you mentioned.

blindsider

DerMutt wrote: »

TII signs with Dunkettle Interchange and an email address for updates on them.

Tired to capture this today but failed

anyone got it...?

Great to see a real sign of progress, here's hoping it proceeds as per schedule.