M17/M18 - Gort to Tuam [open to traffic]

Sponge Bob

The consortia that survived did not include the one with Wills in it.

These are the members of the remaining pair.

BAM Balfour Beatty BAM PPP
Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd


Direct Route Allied Irish Bank
Strabag SE
John Sisk & Sons (Holdings) Ltd
Roadbridge
Lagan Construction Limited

Tech3

I know which consortia I want to build the road and I have said it from day 1 on the M18 thread: the one with roadbridge in it.

Are BAM ever ahead of schedule on schemes?

Sponge Bob

The 2 consortia who were just removed from the tendering process were

Eurolink (N17/N18 Consortium)
Cintra Concesiones De Infrastructuras de Transporte S.A.
SIAC Construction Ltd

GASTA Roads
Global Via Infraestructuras S. A.
Macquarie Capital Group Limited
P.Elliott & Company Ltd
Wills Bros Ltd

marmurr1916

churchview wrote: »

It's on galwaynews.ie as well

CONSTRUCTION OF M17 TO BEGIN IN NOVEMBER

January 27, 2010 - 2:12pm Construction of the proposed M17 - Gort to Tuam motorway is expected to begin in November of this year.
It's been confirmed that two companies have been shortlisted in the tender process.
BAM Balfour Beatty and Direct Route will now battle it out to become the contractor for the motorway which will run from Gort to the north of Tuam.
The route will also include the Tuam town bypass.

Excellent news. Let's hope it's followed by the M20 soon enough.

Same article in the Advertiser this morning.

Also Frank Fahey confirmed it so it must be true.

Tech3

Could someone care to explain to me and fellow posters as well where the funding will come from in all of this? For example the Direct Route consortia have AIB on board. Do they finance the project(with the government repaying with a shadow toll)?

Sponge Bob

tech2 wrote: »

Could someone care to explain to me and fellow posters as well where the funding will come from in all of this? For example the Direct Route consortia have AIB on board. Do they finance the project(with the government repaying with a shadow toll)?

Each consortium has a financing partner. They pay to build it and then float the package off ..maybe with a few schools and hospitals thrown in ...as a security like a bond with a guaranteed income strand

That happens once the income stream kicks in round the 2014 or 2015 horizon.

Sponge Bob

fresca wrote: »

watch out for bogs!!! particularly the "of doom" sort!!!

There are one or two south of Tuam but nowhere near as deep as a midland raised bog thankfully

fresca

assuming that there is no government money for this project, does that mean that there will be a toll between gort & tuam?

I assume that the new N18 will pass west of Athenry and East of Carnmore and Lackagh?

Nath

Article in the Galway Advertiser about this, looks like it won't be tolled, not sure how it will work as a PPP though if that is the case.

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/21408

The news has been welcomed by Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Frank Fahey

He confirmed that there is no toll on this stretch of road and that this was a point that was specifically argued strongly for with the late former Transport Minister Seamus Brennan.

Tech3

It's going to be a shadow toll. The government are going to repay it. No toll on the route itself.

Tech3

So we have either AIB(NAMA) or Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd funding it.

I cant find much info about Balfour Beatty Capital but they seem to have a good track record in funding PPP schemes after going through some websites. It would be a shame though if Roadbridge did not get to build this road scheme given how good they have been at this for the last few years.

Overview
Balfour Beatty Capital is one of the largest UK private sector investors in healthcare, education, roads and infrastructure. At 31 December 2008, Balfour Beatty Capital had committed equity investments of £335m in 29 privately financed projects around the UK.

Balfour Beatty Capital was originally established in the mid-1990s, following the creation of the UK government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The PFI provides a means for the private sector to invest in assets traditionally funded by the public sector.

Now a major investor in PFI, Balfour Beatty Capital is committed to further increasing its UK PFI investment base and to pursuing markets both in PFI and non-PFI infrastructure investments.

The business comprises:

PFI concessions - Aberdeen Environmental Services (AES), Connect Roads, Consort Healthcare, Health Management (UCLH), Powerlink and Transform Schools
Non-PFI infrastructure - Barking Power and Regional & City Airports
The company has its headquarters in London and has offices across the UK.

http://www.balfourbeatty.com/bby/businesses/id/bbc/

marmurr1916

Great. Now start the M20 please and the Atlantic Corridor will start looking fairly decent.

Carawaystick

tech2 wrote: »

So we have either AIB((NAMA)Us but getting less than we pay for it)

fyp

Road-Hog

tech2 wrote: »

Could someone care to explain to me and fellow posters as well where the funding will come from in all of this? For example the Direct Route consortia have AIB on board. Do they finance the project(with the government repaying with a shadow toll)?

Do you really think that companies/consortia would bother spending the significant amount of money that is needed to partake in the tendering process if they weren't somehow sure of securing the finance should they be lucky/unlucky enough to actually win the job? They hardly are partaking for the fun of it i.e. stringing the NRA along pretending to be interested only to withdraw once awarded the contract

Tech3

Road-Hog wrote: »

Do you really think that companies/consortia would bother spending the significant amount of money that is needed to partake in the tendering process if they weren't somehow sure of securing the finance should they be lucky/unlucky enough to actually win the job? They hardly are partaking for the fun of it i.e. stringing the NRA along pretending to be interested only to withdraw once awarded the contract

Thats true Road-Hog but have you forgotten that AIB are being drip fed at the moment. Their future is unstable to say the least and are being kept alive by bonds loaned out from the EU. The government could decide to close down AIB and others to have BOI as the one irish bank running if they decided to nationalize them. Granted thats not all going to happen in 10 months before the contract gets approved.

Tech3

N20 south of Mallow: close to 20K
N20 north of Mallow: 15K

N17 at Claregalway: 25K
N17 north of N63 J : 15K

D.L.R.

Anyone got the aadt figures comparing the N17/18 with the N20?

At Croom North (I have no idea where that is) it is a bit under 14,000
http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N20-15.htm

At Claregalway on the N17 it is about 23,000

http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N17-16.htm
and at Gort it is around 11,000
http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N18-6.htm

Tech3

Sponge Bob wrote: »

28K for the M17? I love to see this scheme going ahead but lets be honest I dont think we will see those figures on the M17 for decades to come.

Road-Hog

tech2 wrote: »

28K for the M17? I love to see this scheme going ahead but lets be honest I dont think we will see those figures on the M17 for decades to come.

They should probably revise the design so and build the M17 and M20 as single carriageways with grade seperated junctions, concrete median barriers etc...........

KevR

tech2 wrote: »

28K for the M17? I love to see this scheme going ahead but lets be honest I dont think we will see those figures on the M17 for decades to come.

Certainly not without the Galway Bypass.

The Galway Bypass will make using the M6/M17 for Tuam and beyond viable for a lot more people. Without the Bypass it will be quicker for many people to use the old N17.

Tech3

KevR wrote: »

Certainly not without the Galway Bypass.

The Galway Bypass will make using the M6/M17 for Tuam and beyond viable for a lot more people. Without the Bypass it will be quicker for many people to use the old N17.

I agree which means it wont reach that figure for a long time but a motorway build is still needed to futureproof the road and it's not much more to build it over an offline S2 or 2+2.

If it does go ahead I hope theres posters in the area to give updates on the M17 part which is a bit offline for me tbh. I can cover the Oranmore-Gort section and tuam bypass when passing by.

KevR

I should be able to cover the M17...assuming I'm still living in Galway when work starts.

Chris_5339762

Good news that this is still on the cards... hope it goes ahead as I've said on here before. If this goes ahead, the new PPP model is workable, if it doesnt, the new PPP model is rubbish and no more road schemes will go ahead for a decade.

And also dont read the Galway Advertiser article, it was so full of errors it was embarassing.

KevR

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

And also dont read the Galway Advertiser article, it was so full of errors it was embarassing.

I couldn't help but laugh when they referred to the 3-level stacked roundabout at Rathmorrissey as a "Spaghetti Junction".

Tech3

Just looking through the Road Needs Study 1998 where it mentions the level of service required on a national route in 2019. LOS D is very average and anything below that is poor to very poor and is unacceptable. The average speed for LOS D is 80km/hr.

Now for a journey from Limerick to Sligo 226km it takes on average 3hr 10mins
Average speed for that journey is 84km per hour just in the LOS D range.

I would say the Gort-Tuam part is below the LOS D range. The M18 and Claremorris bypass schemes bring the average well up from under 80km/hr

KevR

There was an article in the Galway Independent yesterday saying with the NRA saying construction might not actually start in November of this year. They said contracts will be definitely signed by then and it will be up to the PPP consortium whether they are ready to start actual construction work straight away or not.

Fingers crossed they will be ready to start work straight away or shortly after the contracts are signed!

serfboard

KevR wrote: »

There was an article in the Galway Independent yesterday saying with the NRA saying construction might not actually start in November of this year. They said contracts will be definitely signed by then and it will be up to the PPP consortium whether they are ready to start actual construction work straight away or not.

Fingers crossed they will be ready to start work straight away or shortly after the contracts are signed!

I was under the impression that it was always the plan to sign the contract in November of this year and to start construction next year.

The article is here.

Galway Independent wrote:

Construction on the €500 million, 57km stretch of M17 motorway from Gort to north of Tuam may not begin in November, contrary to an announcement by a local TD. The National Roads Authority (NRA) said this week that, while there is no issue with funding and it will go ahead as planned, the start date is likely to be 2011 and not November this year.

The road, which will cross the M6 Dublin-Galway motorway and eventually bypass the town of Tuam, is expected to take 30 months to build. On completion, there will be a full motorway connecting Tuam, Galway City and Limerick.

The M18 Gort to Crusheen motorway could be opened by then, as construction on the 22km road is "doing significantly well", the NRA indicated.

Welcoming the NRA's announcement on Monday that the roads authority had short-listed two consortia for the next phase of the tender process for the proposed M17, Fianna Fáil deputy Frank Fahey said the NRA announcement was another major step in the progression of this project.

"The 57Km piece of dual carriageway, once commenced, should be fully constructed within a 2 to 2.5 year timeframe and it will mean that a person may travel from the new bypass in Gort to the north side of Tuam.

"It will also have a major impact on traffic congestion in Claregalway, as it will remove all north/south bound through traffic from the village of Claregalway. I also welcome the commencement date for the project, which will be in November of this year," he said.

However, a spokesperson for the NRA said Mr Fahey might have mixed up the schedule.

"One man's shovel is another man's contractual obligations. The contracts will definitely be signed by November, but whether construction work begins this year is up to the programme and contractor.

"There is no issue with the construction of the new road - the funding is there and it is going ahead - but whether work starts this year or not is unclear," the spokesperson said.

The two remaining tender bids are from BAM Balfour Beatty - consisting of BAM PPP & Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd - and Direct Route - consisting of AIB plc, Strabag SE, John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd., Roadbridge and Lagan Construction Ltd.

Meanwhile, the NRA spokesperson said the €92m Gort to Crusheen M18 motorway could be opened well ahead of the mid-2011 expected completion date.

"A lot of these road constructions are tied in to the weather and particularly summer weather. At the moment the road is doing significantly well. I would not like to say a date until closer to the time and once it has been discussed with the contractors."

Amazingly enough it was you-know-who who jumped the gun! Anyway, it all seems pretty positive that 2011 will see diggers in place.

Tech3

serfboard wrote: »

Anyway, it all seems pretty positive that 2011 will see diggers in place.

Yeah a bit too positive by the NRA spokesperson. I'll believe it when I see the diggers on site.