M6 - Partial opening of Motorway requested by Cowen

Sponge Bob

The only passable road across east Galway is AN UNOPENED MOTORWAY which is complete ( and dry ) from Galway to Athenry and then to Bullaun with a spur to Loughrea. It is too incomplete east of there for normal traffic but the emergency services are using it to gain access to Ballinasloe which is badly flooded. It would serve as an alternative to Craughwell for Loughrea - Galway City traffic only .

A bridge has shifted or collapsed in Craughwell ( and is under 4 foot of water anyway) . It will probably not reopen again this year and most alternative routes are under water especially north of Craughwell ( between Athenry and Ballinsaloe in general) . It is not impossible at this stage that the bridge in Ballinasloe is shut or access restricted to emergency services only meaning they have to urgently open the rest of the motorway under restriction too.

I understand that an appeal from the Taoiseachs office to partially open this motorway by monday has been made . As it is not officially open there is to be a 40 mph limit with strict enforcement ( confiscation of vehicle) for safety reasons .

NedNew

Just wondering do you mean 40 km/h or 60 km/h will be the limit if it is opened?

Owen

The very best of luck to anyone that tries to confiscate a vehicle for going over 40mph.

Sponge Bob

Just heard from the same source that it cannot be done although the emergency services have access now .

They are going to try for a full opening in 1 week instead , at least to Aughrim , and with manual toll collections because the systems are not yet up and running at the toll gates

rainbowdash

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Just heard from the same source that it cannot be done although the emergency services have access now .

They are going to try for a full opening in 1 week instead , at least to Aughrim , and with manual toll collections because the systems are not yet up and running at the toll gates

Some shower of retards, why not just let people use it for free until the tolls are ready.

So people will be paying a toll for a half finished road. Only in Ireland I would imagine.

Sponge Bob

It is a private road open to the public . The last story I heard is that the state will undertake to pay all the tolls for the next 3 weeks or as they hope for 7 days while the floods abate and they can re open the old N6 for a week or two .

This means that clickers will manually count vehicles through in both directions at the toll gates and will invoice the government weekly for the cash .

How those Spanish eyes are smiling at the prospect of €20k a day cash

Roryhy

According to the news just now there will be a partial opening later today, 1 lane(each way i presume, 50kph speed limit strictly enforced.

Fey!

Unconfirmed by Galway Couty Cuncil 10 minutes ago.

updates here, post #8.

HarryD

Confirmed by aaroadwatch

Sponge Bob

Only from Loughrea to Galway , not east of Loughrea.

HarryD

not open yet. Just drove passed the new roundabout.

Sponge Bob

Section around Ballinasloe now open , section Galway - Loughrea to open at 9pm , no exits at Carnmore or Athenry it would appear .

Middle section either side of toll plaza will not open at all until dec 14th .

HarryD

not open yet. Just drove passed the new roundabout.

brandon_flowers

Sponge Bob wrote: »

How those Spanish eyes are smiling at the prospect of €20k a day cash

They are still smiling.

Dont think the €20k a day cash will be bothering them, it'll be more like the massive Extension of Time claim that they will be able to generate given its a design build with FIDIC conditions.

galwaybaygolf

Does anyone know if i can get off the M6 into lougrea and then onto gort please? any help greatly appreciated!!!!!

Sponge Bob

yes

zing

The new stretch around B'Sloe took me half an hour this afternoon heading eastbound whereas westbound took less then 10 mins yesterday morning. The problem - as far as I could see - appears to be that they are having to prioritise westbound traffic as the roundabout at the top of the slip on the east side of B'sloe gets blocked with traffic coming from the east side of B'sloe very quickly so they're trying to keep it clear. They should try open the couple hundred meter strech of M6 eastbound under that bridge asap really -- looked completed from what I could see (poss a couple of bits of the armco barrier to be secured yet ?). Stop/Go system would need to remain in place but very little of the traffic coming off the motorway seemed to be heading for the east side of B'Sloe/N6 so it should take the pressure off that slip road/roundabout. There's so much traffic queueing to head up it that simply doesn't need to.

Overall there still appears to be a fair amount of work to be done on the road. Loughrea <-> Galway appears to be mostly completed both side of the carriage way but there appears to be lots of work left to be done from the bits of the road you could see east of there.

leonardermo

Can anyone confirm that the Oranmore and Athenry Junctions are closed?I need to know for work in the morning . Thanks.

Chris_533976

Apparently yes, you can only go Galway Clinic to Loughrea and back. No entering/exiting at the Athenry or Glennascaul junctions.

leonardermo

Thanks for that, I would have been pretty pissed off if I got on and couldn't get off where I needed.

zing

Confirm what Chris said - no junctions open between Loughrea & Doughiska. Some still need work done on them - barriers, line markings, etc.. Nothing too major iirc but enough to keep them from being opened now.

KevR

leonardermo wrote: »

Can anyone confirm that the Oranmore and Athenry Junctions are closed?I need to know for work in the morning . Thanks.

Yes they are definitely closed. My aunt tried to use the M6 to get from Loughrea to Athenry today, she thought she could get off at Athenry. She couldn't get off in Athenry or Oranmore and had to go to Doughiska and come back along the N6 and R348 to get to Athenry.

KevR

rainbowdash wrote: »

Some shower of retards, why not just let people use it for free until the tolls are ready.

So people will be paying a toll for a half finished road. Only in Ireland I would imagine.

The M50 is tolled and has been a building site for the last 2 years.

The construction company went a lot out of their way to make this emergency opening possible. It will probably push back the proper opening of the motorway which would mean they are out of pocket if they don't charge during the emergency opening. Given that they went to a lot of trouble to do us all a favour, they should be praised and they shouldn't be left out of pocket. I think the government really should foot the bill for tolls during the emergency opening. If they won't then I don't mind the construction company charging motorists.