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

peter.teahan

At last it's really happening today!
So, who wants to guess when Google Maps will update with the new road? 1 week, 1 month...???

Benbecul97

sentient_6 wrote: »

Something has changed anyway. My wifes 50 minute commute from east Galway has just turned into an hour and half the last couple of mornings.

I had Monday off and thought I was being smart waiting till after 9 to pop in to Galway. Hit about mile tail back on the airport road at 9.50. Turned around and headed in the tuam road and hit traffic at kenny motors 5 minutes later. Turned around again and headed to Briarhill via the race course and got through ok. Still traffic beyond sight queued trying to come through on the monivea road. Bizarre stuff.

If its any consolation, the traffic has increased in every direction. Between volume, crashes, surveys, and protests the N84 has been appalling the last 2 weeks. Something different every day. :mad:

threeball

Anyone know what time the different sections are opening at

They should all be open at 4.

chrismon

Hespy wrote: »

Traffic really bad on the oranmore dual carriageway. Are they testing light sequences at Briarhill?

20 mins added to my commute this morning coming from Athlone

Pereplyotchik

westtip wrote: »

My guess is this road will make Tuam less than 2 hours from Lucan now? Wow. and no need to drive cross country to Athlone wow

Tuam to Dublin is a journey I do with alarming regularly, I would say that this will make the journey to Lucan about 1h 45m

How I have waited for this day... just over 500m from driveway to motorway system, my life just got quite a bit easier what with regular trips to Dublin, South Kildare and Cork/Kerry..

glineli

Safe driving all!

Poor Shane might get a cold with all that rain today!

jasper100

One of the downsides of these openings is traffic jams tend to get pushed out to the next bottleneck, as previous filters that slow down traffic are no longer there.

Adare for example is the first bottleneck on the Dublin Kerry route.

Where do people see traffic getting worse because of this?

Charleville I assume will get some of the brunt southbound as people get there earlier in the evening when travelling from Galway to Cork.

What other potential downsides do people envisage?

Raisins

jasper100 wrote: »

One of the downsides of these openings is traffic jams tend to get pushed out to the next bottleneck, as previous filters that slow down traffic are no longer there.

Adare for example is the first bottleneck on the Dublin Kerry route.

Where do people see traffic getting worse because of this?

Charleville I assume will get some of the brunt southbound as people get there earlier in the evening when travelling from Galway to Cork.

What other potential downsides do people envisage?

Can we stay positive for like 10 seconds the road we've been waiting for is just about to open!!

joeKel73

Raisins wrote: »

Can we stay positive for like 10 seconds the road we've been waiting for is just about to open!!

I heard the spread of sandwiches at the opening ceremony is very poor and the tea is only lukewarm. :pac:

Roadfan

J o e wrote: »

I heard the spread of sandwiches at the opening ceremony is very poor and the tea is only lukewarm. :pac:

Yeah and,Lord Ross forgot the scissors

Middle Man

The Saw Doctors will not be changing their 'N17' song as it will be referring to a piece of history - makes sense I guess!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0927/907774-galway-motorway/

Scroll down to hear their view...

More about the opening here - the official part is done!

http://www.dttas.ie/press-releases/2017/minister-ross-opens-m17m18-gort-tuam-road-scheme

veryangryman

RTE with their "The next phase is the Galway bypass"..

Completely unrelated project ye fukcnuts!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0927/907774-galway-motorway/

And it buried under about 10 articles on a pretty slow news day.

Roadfan

veryangryman wrote: »

RTE with their "The next phase is the Galway bypass"..

Completely unrelated project ye fukcnuts!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0927/907774-galway-motorway/

And it buried under about 10 articles on a pretty slow news day.

Checking local radio Galway Bay FM and mid west. Thought there might be live coverage but doesn't appear to be

Butter

Feels like Christmas morning to all those including myself that will use the M17/M18. It will make life a lot easier and hopefully safer for us on a daily basis.

Wonder when the beautiful blue line will appear on Google maps?

marno21

There was a crash at the Coolagh roundabout this morning which likely had an effect on traffic flow in the area

veryangryman wrote: »

RTE with their "The next phase is the Galway bypass"..

Completely unrelated project ye fukcnuts!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0927/907774-galway-motorway/

And it buried under about 10 articles on a pretty slow news day.

It is the next phase in solving Galways congestion issues. It also directly ties in with this scheme as it involves the removal of the major bottleneck for M17/M18 traffic at Doughiska.

MBSnr

Butter wrote: »

Wonder when the beautiful blue line will appear on Google maps?

They were slow enough to amend the N84 widening and re-alignment. It was at least a month and I had to email a few times. You'd hope on this they'd be fairly quick...

marno21

Butter wrote: »

Feels like Christmas morning to all those including myself that will use the M17/M18. It will make life a lot easier and hopefully safer for us on a daily basis.

Wonder when the beautiful blue line will appear on Google maps?

The orange line should be there in a day or two. It will likely be marked incorrectly though and the legacy road network won't be fully correct on the map for a year or two.

LastLagoon

How much time to we think this chops off sligo to limerick drive? Am I being insanely optimistic to think maybe 40 mins? Looking forward to never seeing Tuam or claregalway ever again

nheaney

Like many others, I'm a long-time lurker, first-time poster here.

I couldn't let today pass without thanking all contributors to this thread over the years, but a special mention must go to M17. As he has said himself many times, this is the place to get the most up to date information!

Been following here since the diggers first arrived on-site - now I can't wait to get on the new road.

Thank you M17!

Roadfan

LastLagoon wrote: »

How much time to we think this chops off sligo to limerick drive? Am I being insanely optimistic to think maybe 40 mins? Looking forward to never seeing Tuam or claregalway ever again

About 30 minutes. Anyone know if the ribbon has been cut. Are we there yet?

barry181091

Where will we turn off for Gort to Galway now? Will it be at the intersection with the M6 outside of Athenry?

marno21

LastLagoon wrote: »

How much time to we think this chops off sligo to limerick drive? Am I being insanely optimistic to think maybe 40 mins? Looking forward to never seeing Tuam or claregalway ever again

Upto an hour at peak times. Limerick-Tuam will now be an hour

marno21

barry181091 wrote: »

Where will we turn off for Gort to Galway now? Will it be at the intersection with the M6 outside of Athenry?

J18, the new junction on the M6 between Athenry and Oranmore

Benbecul97

barry181091 wrote: »

Where will we turn off for Gort to Galway now? Will it be at the intersection with the M6 outside of Athenry?

You wont turn off for Gort to Galway now - straight through at Junction 16 Gort then left at Junction 18 for Galway

WestCoast2017

Anyone at the official opening? We need photos!

Benbecul97

WestCoast2017 wrote: »

Anyone at the official opening? We need photos!

Pat McGrath was https://twitter.com/patmcgrath/status/912971124887183360

Roadfan

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Pat McGrath was https://twitter.com/patmcgrath/status/912971124887183360

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://twitter.com/merrionstreet%3Fref_src%3Dtwsrc%255Egoogle%257Ctwcamp%255Eserp%257Ctwgr%255Eauthor&ved=0ahUKEwirp672mMXWAhWbHsAKHTMKBLcQ6F4IRDAH&usg=AFQjCNH5mHPieqX6TVdj0uS5UOChnNyRaQ

m17

The r347 tuam to athenry last timem17form the r347 to the m17 in 4 hours 10 mins I'm counting down the seconds roll on

Roadfan

https://www.rte.ie/news/player/2017/0927/21240094-new-motorway-in-galway-set-to-cut-journey-times/