N2 - Slane Bypass [planning decision pending]

roadmaster

Never mind the public hearing lets have a poll on boards,ie for the route and which ever wins TII should go with, it will save time and money:)

spacetweek

Build a complete circle so the N51 is bypassed too.

roadmaster

spacetweek wrote: »

Build a complete circle so the N51 is bypassed too.

Don't be making sensible ideas!

Middle Man

spacetweek wrote: »

Build a complete circle so the N51 is bypassed too.

An eastern bypass (N2) and southern link (N51) would suffice IMO.

roadmaster

Middle Man wrote: »

An eastern bypass (N2) and southern link (N51) would suffice IMO.

i wonder is there any plans for the N51 or will this solely be for the N2

sdanseo

spacetweek wrote: »

Build a complete circle so the N51 is bypassed too.

There are many towns in greater need of a ring road than Slane.

Kevwoody

sdanseo wrote:

There are many towns in greater need of a ring road than Slane.

Have you ever travelled through Slane?

sdanseo

Kevwoody wrote: »

Have you ever travelled through Slane?

Yes and it badly needs a North-South bypass. But not a complete ring road.

roadmaster

sdanseo wrote: »

Yes and it badly needs a North-South bypass. But not a complete ring road.

Maybe not a ring road but something along the lines that middleman said. The N51 is a major cross country route for HGV's. Getting the N51 HGV's out of slane is just as important

marno21

At the minute, all indications are that this will be a simple north-south bypass with an N51 junction. An N51 link road/relief road is not seen as a priority at present.

Freddypaccman

What standard will it be?

marno21

Freddypaccman wrote: »

What standard will it be?

Hasn't been decided yet but likely 2+2 or Type 1 single.

roadmaster

Marno you seam to be a man in the know . Do you think they will make an empressive looking bridge or will they keep it a low key to appease the likes of an taisce?

marno21

roadmaster wrote: »

Marno you seam to be a man in the know . Do you think they will make an empressive looking bridge or will they keep it a low key to appease the likes of an taisce?

The minimum required bridge to maintain 100km/h running over the bridge I would imagine. Also would depend on which route is chosen.

Government policy going forward seems to be that the main road from Dublin to Derry will be the M1 to J14, N33 to Ardee & N2 to Derry. This reduces the requirement for high standard upgrades on the N2 between Ashbourne and Ardee.

Carawaystick

The N2 should be detrunked south of Ardee. Traffic on the M50 and in Dublin should be directed via M1 and N33. It's madness trying to have 2 high quality roads to within 7km of each other from Dublin.

Pay the truck tolls on the M1, they'd be much cheaper than a new road and its maintaninence with toll dodging trucks using the N2 to bypass the tolls

L1011

Slane will need a new bridge even if that is done.

sdanseo

Carawaystick wrote: »

The N2 should be detrunked south of Ardee. Traffic on the M50 and in Dublin should be directed via M1 and N33. It's madness trying to have 2 high quality roads to within 7km of each other from Dublin.

Pay the truck tolls on the M1, they'd be much cheaper than a new road and its maintaninence with toll dodging trucks using the N2 to bypass the tolls

With the quality as well as general emptiness of the M2 to Ashbourne it's hard to see how de-trunking would actually encourage drivers to use the M1. I work in logistics and can tell you for sure that HGVs especially would have little or no interest, they are limited to 80-90km/h anyway so there is no speed gain for them with the extra distance. The M1 is also near capacity at peak and would also need 3 lanes to at least Drogheda (and probably all the way to Ardee) if all of the traffic from the M2/N2 was added to it.

Add in the long term goal of an outer orbital being needed which would probably cross the existing N2 somewhere north of Ashbourne. This could at a later date alleviate a lot of the need for east-west bypass of Slane but I don't think you're ever going to have a situation where the one-way bridge is sustainable; even if a good portion of the traffic could be persuaded to travel further east.

roadmaster

As you say the M1 is hitting peak capacity especially south of drogheda so why do they want to divert all N2 traffic via N33 as mentioned on this thread and the Ardee thread. Would it not be best to spread the flow of traffic going in to Dublin instead of ramming it down a handful of arteries ?

marno21

roadmaster wrote: »

As you say the M1 is hitting peak capacity especially south of drogheda so why do they want to divert all N2 traffic via N33 as mentioned on this thread and the Ardee thread. Would it not be best to spread the flow of traffic going in to Dublin instead of ramming it down a handful of arteries ?

M1 south of Balbriggan only has capacity issues southbound 7-9am and northbound 4:30-6:30pm. Outside of these hours there is no issue with the M1, it's simply commuter traffic.

Upgrading the N2 would cost a fortune when there are many bigger issues elsewhere (M20, N2/A5 north of Ardee, N21, N14 etc) and would simply create a toll free alternative to the M1 that would then become heavily congested.

The future plan for the N2 seems to be to upgrade north of Ardee to 2+2 and bypass Slane for safety reasons. The rest is to be left as is, and long distance N2 traffic is to use the N33 and the M1.

The cost of dualling the N2 from Ashbourne to Ardee doesn't really stand up when the alternatives are there and there are plenty of more deserving schemes waiting for funding.

sdanseo

roadmaster wrote: »

As you say the M1 is hitting peak capacity especially south of drogheda so why do they want to divert all N2 traffic via N33 as mentioned on this thread and the Ardee thread. Would it not be best to spread the flow of traffic going in to Dublin instead of ramming it down a handful of arteries ?

If you're asking if much more of the length of the N2 corridor should be upgraded, then no for the reasons Marno mentions below.

marno21 wrote: »

M1 south of Balbriggan only has capacity issues southbound 7-9am and northbound 4:30-6:30pm. Outside of these hours there is no issue with the M1, it's simply commuter traffic.

You could make the same argument for most motorways. Traffic volumes on the M50 are <100 pdph in the middle of the night. Congestion on the M1 happens at more than just peak times, I would use it a few times a month at various hours and there are huge volumes now throughout the day. The lack of a third lane can mean waiting several km for an overtaking opportunity. Even when the third lane comes, mind you, we will have the same issues whereby its effectiveness will be quite badly limited by the sheer number of drivers to whom lane discipline is an alien concept - but that is an education and enforcement problem and doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

marno21 wrote: »

Upgrading the N2 would cost a fortune when there are many bigger issues elsewhere (M20, N2/A5 north of Ardee, N21, N14 etc) and would simply create a toll free alternative to the M1 that would then become heavily congested.

The future plan for the N2 seems to be to upgrade north of Ardee to 2+2 and bypass Slane for safety reasons. The rest is to be left as is, and long distance N2 traffic is to use the N33 and the M1.

The cost of dualling the N2 from Ashbourne to Ardee doesn't really stand up when the alternatives are there and there are plenty of more deserving schemes waiting for funding.

Agree completely. Focus is needed elsewhere, but I do think an outer orbital is further down the food chain than it should be. Mind you, fit for purpose public transport for Dublin should be an even higher priority, but that's drifting outside the remit of this thread.

roadmaster

marno21 wrote: »

M1 south of Balbriggan only has capacity issues southbound 7-9am and northbound 4:30-6:30pm. Outside of these hours there is no issue with the M1, it's simply commuter traffic.

Upgrading the N2 would cost a fortune when there are many bigger issues elsewhere (M20, N2/A5 north of Ardee, N21, N14 etc) and would simply create a toll free alternative to the M1 that would then become heavily congested.

The future plan for the N2 seems to be to upgrade north of Ardee to 2+2 and bypass Slane for safety reasons. The rest is to be left as is, and long distance N2 traffic is to use the N33 and the M1.

The cost of dualling the N2 from Ashbourne to Ardee doesn't really stand up when the alternatives are there and there are plenty of more deserving schemes waiting for funding.

I'd be happy with killmoon cross sorted and the N2 Ardee bypass if that ever happened. I travel the N2 at least once a week from finglas. The M2 is allways busy but when I hit the N2 at the pilo it's bumper to bumper right up in to monaghan. People will always use this route coming from south of finglas they will not go via the M1 as it will just add extra time. If you are going to the airport etc from Tyrone monaghan I would go N33/M1. But once Slane gets bypassed it will be a huge help.

road_high

Anyone that drives the N2 will know it is a very busy route after Ashbourne. Equivalent I'd say to any of the other major N routes.

marno21

For reference with the above posts, TII have activated a new scheme on the N2 from the end of the M2 at Rath to north of Kilmoon Cross. Cross section will likely be 2+2 or HDQC/motorway.

The N2 Slane bypass was allocated €1.7m in 2018 which should get it moving fairly lively.

For anyone who didn't know, the Slane bypass enters it's 34th year of planning in 2018. It recently passed its 4th feasibility study.

Pete_Cavan

So that would be an additional ~7km of motorway?

I hope the plan isn't to eventually have motorway all the way to Ardee to join the new/upgraded road planned from there north. Linking the M2 over to the M1 south of Drogheda would be a better idea and would help relieve the M1 on approach to Dublin. Slane needs a bypass in any case but single carriageway would suffice.

spacetweek

marno21 wrote: »

For anyone who didn't know, the Slane bypass enters it's 34th year of planning in 2018. It recently passed its 4th feasibility study.

In fairness it's not an easy one to build. Slane Castle, Boyne Valley, etc.

Middle Man

spacetweek wrote: »

In fairness it's not an easy one to build. Slane Castle, Boyne Valley, etc.

As a Meath man, I think it is a disgrace that this road is still not built - it should have been done decades ago!

Middle Man

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

So that would be an additional ~7km of motorway?

I hope the plan isn't to eventually have motorway all the way to Ardee to join the new/upgraded road planned from there north. Linking the M2 over to the M1 south of Drogheda would be a better idea and would help relieve the M1 on approach to Dublin. Slane needs a bypass in any case but single carriageway would suffice.

I don't think the Slane Bypass will be motorway - Type 2 dual at most I reckon. In any case, a single carriageway bypass (the very original plan from around the 1990's) would be far better than no bypass.

MayoSalmon

spacetweek wrote:

In fairness it's not an easy one to build. Slane Castle, Boyne Valley, etc.

34 years FFS. Your not building the trans Siberian Railway here

marno21

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

So that would be an additional ~7km of motorway?

I hope the plan isn't to eventually have motorway all the way to Ardee to join the new/upgraded road planned from there north. Linking the M2 over to the M1 south of Drogheda would be a better idea and would help relieve the M1 on approach to Dublin. Slane needs a bypass in any case but single carriageway would suffice.

Around 6-8km yes depending on how far north of Kilmoon Cross they extend it.

The plan at the minute is to dual Emyvale-Ardee, bypass Slane and extend the N2 dual carraigeway as far as Kilmoon Cross to relieve chronic congestion in the mornings. The rest will remain as is and traffic will be directed via the M1.

spacetweek wrote: »

In fairness it's not an easy one to build. Slane Castle, Boyne Valley, etc.

The most difficult of builds shouldn't require 4 feasibility studies, it's either needed or it isn't.

I hope this new N2 Slane bypass proposal is designed with forensic detail to ensure it's not ABP rejected again. Thankfully it's not motorway which may arouse less of the objectioners.

marno21

marno21 wrote: »

Tender gone out for ground investigation - likely to see a preferred route emerge soon

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=117778&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

Awarded to IGSL Ltd

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=117778&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=2&PP=ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders

This scheme seems to be moving at a snails pace