N6 - Athlone Bypass Upgrade works

Tech3

I thought the works carried out on the Athlone bypass this year should deserve updates in it's own thread. The NRA has allocated 7 million euro to this. Anyone know what month this is expected to start?

Athlone's unkempt and increasingly down-at-heel relief road is to be revamped, following an unexected €7m windfall from the National Roads Authority.

The NRA has allocated €7m to be spent on the Athlone bypass this year, The €7m for Athlone bypass is to be spent on overlay and rehabilitation.

I'd be more interested to know if it includes improving the junctions with the main roads that cross it and whether it's an "M6" or an "N6". Getting off the bypass can be a nightmare at times!

Sponge Bob

Are we to have a thread on every pissant road job that gets started now ????? I will start the N63 Lackagh Streetlighting thread when I get a chance so

Well, with the reduction in road funding, we'll soon be having threads on N? being resurfaced, wait we already have.

Tech3

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Are we to have a thread on every pissant road job that gets started now ?????

No, but I'm sure many posters dont want to be flicking through several pages on the other thread trying to find bits out about the bypass. There has been a high amount of question towards the improvements on that section already. These works might prevent a gap in the motorway from M4-Oranmore in a couple of years providing it gets redesignated.

I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road. Lets hope they get these works carried out soon.

-Corkie-

tech2 wrote: »

No, but I'm sure many posters dont want to be flicking through several pages on the other thread trying to find bits out about the bypass. There has been a high amount of question towards the improvements on that section already. These works might prevent a gap in the motorway from M4-Oranmore in a couple of years providing it gets redesignated.

I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road. Lets hope they get these works carried out soon.

I travel around their a good bit and would much prefer to have the 7 million spent upgrading the athlone to ferbane/nenagh road its a disgrace.

Stinicker

SARASON wrote: »

I travel around their a good bit and would much prefer to have the 7 million spent upgrading the athlone to ferbane/nenagh road its a disgrace.

Totally Agree, and another bohereen is the stretch of N52 from Borrisokane to Birr and N62 onwards from Birr to Cloghan, the R438 from outside Borrisokane to Cloghan is far better yet still very bad, first time I travelled the route I went via Birr and will never forget travelling about 15 or 20 miles behind some sort of massive tractor contraption for Bord na Mona.

The Athlone bypass is crappy yes but it is better than parts of Cork's South Ring with its two idiotic roundabouts. I think if we are to make the available budget work then the worst roads have to be targeted. Last time I travelled to Athlone (during the cold snap) I travelled via the M18 from Limerick to North of Ennis and then connected with the M6 north of Loughrea as the roads were salted and travel-able.

Mind you if they ever finish the M7 in the bog of doom then the journey up the M7 to Nenagh would make the journey to Athlone easier. What should be built is a dual carriageway to Motorway standard connecting the M7 to the M6 straight through the midlands really.

-Corkie-

Good idea actually. I did travel that road a lot more years ago when i travelled from kerry to sligo daily youll have some pain in your ass from that borrisakane to athlone road..

serfboard

SARASON wrote: »

Good idea actually. I did travel that road a lot more years ago when i travelled from kerry to sligo daily youll have some pain in your ass from that borrisakane to athlone road..

If you were going from Kerry to Sligo why would you travel that road instead of taking the N18->17?

KevR

In the 3 years 2006, 2007 and 2008 there were approximately* 32,850,000 journeys on the Athlone Bypass; 0 fatal collisions, 2 serious collisions and 11 minor collisions.

I haven't compared this to other roads (motorway, DC or otherwise) but it seems to me that the Athlone Bypass has a good safety record.

Although, in my opinion, it should still get the upgrade and redesignated as this will make it even safer. Pedestrians, cyclists and slow moving vehicles shouldn't be allowed on it, it's simply not a safe place for them.


*based on a 30k per day average over 3 years.

-Corkie-

serfboard wrote: »

If you were going from Kerry to Sligo why would you travel that road instead of taking the N18->17?

Traffic in dock road ennis (that time) gort oranmore claregalway and tuam. No traffic hold up on the bog road

Carawaystick

tech2 wrote: »

I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road.

This is not atrocious. It's grade separated D2, and far higher standard than the N20 near Buttevant, N28 between the top of the hill above Douglas and Carrigaline, N11 north of the Tap, N14, N16 etc.

As a regular user of the road, it's a good section of DC but appears poor relative to the two sections of new(er) motorway eitherside of it.

As it is the surface is starting to fail, in the past few months several sections have failed and needed patching, a large section subsided near the Coosan bridge westbound - I'm sure many will remember the congestion it caused!

Not looking forward to the rebuilding works, just the end result.

oddiot

KevR wrote: »

Although, in my opinion, it should still get the upgrade and redesignated as this will make it even safer. Pedestrians, cyclists and slow moving vehicles shouldn't be allowed on it, it's simply not a safe place for them.

Funnily you should mention that... I saw a cyclist being spoken to sternly by a garda on the M6 westbound near Ballinasloe this afternoon!

Enbee

Just out of interest was there a financial reason (such as the cost of an additional Shannon bridge and perhaps difficult terrain) that mitigated against simply running the M6 to the south of the town and keeping the bypass as an urban relief road?

Chris_5339762

You'd have needed a huge bridge across the Shannon and one, if not two link roads to either end of the bypass. That seemed silly when there is already reasonably good DC there already to link into. Also, the plans were designed as HQDC with 100kmh limits, so the whole motorway reclassification thing wouldnt have entered into it at the time.

Enbee

Thanks, I had vague memories of the Shannon being difficult to cross south of the town.

So was the M6 designation the third time in a dozen or so years that the plans were upgraded. When I spent some time in Mullingar in '98 I remember reading something about the road west of Kinnegad being planned as reduced dual-carriageway with a narrow median and little to no hard shoulder.

antoobrien

Enbee wrote: »

Thanks, I had vague memories of the Shannon being difficult to cross south of the town.

So was the M6 designation the third time in a dozen or so years that the plans were upgraded. When I spent some time in Mullingar in '98 I remember reading something about the road west of Kinnegad being planned as reduced dual-carriageway with a narrow median and little to no hard shoulder.

Almost all of the NIU's started off as HQ dual carriage ways. I seem to remember someone asking about motorways, then some horsetrading and then a decision that since they were being built to that standard (or it was easy enough to make the required changes in most cases) to make them all motorways

roosterman71

Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

L1011

antoobrien wrote: »

Almost all of the NIU's started off as HQ dual carriage ways. I seem to remember someone asking about motorways, then some horsetrading and then a decision that since they were being built to that standard (or it was easy enough to make the required changes in most cases) to make them all motorways

You're both right in that while the plans for the MIU's all started as HQDC, the 1998 Road Needs Study had substantial lengths of them as only requiring basic DC or even wide single carriageway - including part of the M6 and most of the M9 routes.

KevR

roosterman71 wrote: »

Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

I agree that something should be done with those exits, especially Monksland where the acceleration/deceleration lanes are way too short.

The speed limit is only 100kmh and will remain at 100kmh even if the bypass gets redesignated as motorway. The 90 degree bends at those exits aren't ideal but even with the short deceleration lanes which are there now, people can slow down to a safe speed before they reach the bend. Longer deceleration lanes and better warning signs for the bends will make it safer though.

veryangryman

KevR wrote: »

I agree that something should be done with those exits, especially Monksland where the acceleration/deceleration lanes are way too short.

The speed limit is only 100kmh and will remain at 100kmh even if the bypass gets redesignated as motorway. The 90 degree bends at those exits aren't ideal but even with the short deceleration lanes which are there now, people can slow down to a safe speed before they reach the bend. Longer deceleration lanes and better warning signs for the bends will make it safer though.

Luckily enough, you usually have a fukcing tractor in front of you going on that exit.

Monksland exit has got very busy these days since they closed off access to Summerhill via old N6.

Every evening i have to now contend with

-> Elan
-> Industrial Estate Traffic
-> My fellow villagers
-> Brideswell/Kiltoom Grannies incapable of >40KMPH. If your planning driving fast after Elan westbound, forget about it!
-> Summerhill
-> Drum
-> Bus Eireann coaches who STILL refuse to use the perfectly good adjacent Motorway
-> The odd dumbass who cant find the Athlone Springs

All Generally i find (maybe the conspracy theorist inside me) that Roscommon side drivers seem to never have any sense of urgency to them when it comes to the road. They are also poorer drivers in general

KevR

The amount of people who I have seen using the wrong lane going onto the roundabout that you come to after exiting at Monksland Westbound is unreal. It's clearly marked - left lane is for first and second exit off the RAB and the right lane is for the third exit. Loads of people use the right lane for the second exit, crazy!

Carawaystick

roosterman71 wrote: »

Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.

roosterman71

roosterman71 wrote: »

Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

Well, they've been there nearly 20 years now, as far as I know there haven't been any major incidents. A few minor overruns around the curves mind you. All the locals are used to them, through traffic just needs to be aware that drivers start their decellaration before the slip lanes.

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.

But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!

Carawaystick

Deleted User wrote: »

But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!

short enough lane here, about 190m
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.803334,6.7601&spn=0.001949,0.006282&t=h&z=18

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

short enough lane here, about 190m
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.803334,6.7601&spn=0.001949,0.006282&t=h&z=18

That's easy, unless you're half-asleep!

The monkslands and Roscommon slips are less that half of that with a 90Deg bend after it!

http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,602164,741836,8

veryangryman

Carawaystick wrote: »

Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.

Don't get me started on the Germans today...:mad:

Zoney

Deleted User wrote: »

But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!

In my experience, you want to make sure you're back down to 120 km/h on the mainline before entering those slips! However you might well be back down closer to 80 km/h on the mainline as before leaving it you might well have to mix with HGVs and buses going slowly in the inside lane.

flazio

veryangryman wrote: »

-> Bus Eireann coaches who STILL refuse to use the perfectly good adjacent Motorway

Bus Eireann can't use the motorway as there is a stop outside Naughtons garage.

I have noticed that a large number of survey points have been set up along the bypass and some of the feeder roads in the past week.

I wonder if this part of the planning for the scheduling of the upgrade works.

whyulittle

The entrance to the feeder road from Kilmartin's Roundabout is a bloody nightmare, big chunk of the road missing along the centre plus a few big potholes. Can't understand how it has never been repaired.

Plus does anyone know if the big hump/dip at the following roundabout is intentional, or just badly constructed?

whyulittle

Not news as such, but there is a small bit in the local paper this week saying the Minister is still waiting on information from the NRA, before making a decision about upgrading the bypass to motorway. No sign of a date for the decision either.

veryangryman

Some work going on this morning on Roscommon side

Morons at the AA roadwatch mentioned a stop-go system Eastbound.

Not the case - Just was down to 1 lane from Exit 13 to just after the bridge. Anyone any idea what their at?

veryangryman

Some pics i took en route

Looking at the photos, I would guess that they are marking the road into segments for future resurfacing/reconstruction, possibly with some minor realignments as well.

The start of many months of slow traffic!

veryangryman

Id imagine that if you drive down towards Mulligans and get on at Ganleys it shouldnt be too bad (still pretty bad though)

billbond4

Yeah, they are marking the eastbound carriageway in segments this week and marking the westbound carriageway.
Its doing to be another summer of slow traffic on the N6 bypass

At least they are taking the cones up at night time in the section that they are finished and moving it on to the next section

whyulittle

A bit more in the paper today. Upgrade work won't start before the Galway Races, and any festivals on in Athlone over the summer.

Fibre optic cables will have to be moved from underneath the median strip, to the roadside, at a cost of €700,000, which may have to come out of the overall funding.

billbond4

yeah the 700k should have to come from the project,you wouldnt expect the owners of the fiber optic to pay to have their own cabling moved, as they already pay for the existing ducting.

If the paper said "upgrade work" wont start before the galway races, they could still start laying the new top surface layer before August.

The sooner they start the sooner they will finish it.

whyulittle

"THERE could be major phone and internet outtages across the Midlands and even further afield when the €7m upgrade of the Athlone reflief road begins after August.

The work, which will be carried out by Westmeath County Council and covers a 7.9km stretch of road that straddles Westmeath and Roscommon, will not begin until the festivals in Athlone and the Galway Races are over."

KevR

I'm sure Ericsson and other companies in the area will be far from impressed at the phone and internet outages..

dubhthach

whyulittle wrote: »

"THERE could be major phone and internet outtages across the Midlands and even further afield when the €7m upgrade of the Athlone reflief road begins after August.

The work, which will be carried out by Westmeath County Council and covers a 7.9km stretch of road that straddles Westmeath and Roscommon, will not begin until the festivals in Athlone and the Galway Races are over."

I assume this is tied in with fact that the Fibre MAN in Athlone follows the Bypass for part of it's route. See map here:


I'm assuming the quoted comment is from a local newspaper. What they don't realise is the MAN is built as a Ring. If the fibre is broken in one point traffic can be routed around the other part of the Ring. As you can see if the duct along the bypass is broken it won't take down the MAN as traffic will all then be routed via the other crossing of the River.

Barname

Enbee wrote: »

Just out of interest was there a financial reason (such as the cost of an additional Shannon bridge and perhaps difficult terrain) that mitigated against simply running the M6 to the south of the town and keeping the bypass as an urban relief road?

Its a truly bizarre set up

esp when you consider all the cash spent on the M6 either side

perhaps the useless government would consider some capital expenditure to create employment and connect the 2 motorways with a new section of motorway

123easy

Barname wrote: »

Its a truly bizarre set up

esp when you consider all the cash spent on the M6 either side

perhaps the useless government would consider some capital expenditure to create employment and connect the 2 motorways with a new section of motorway

We dont have money to waste on Irelands first completed interurban. I think most people are quite happy with the M6/M4 Galway to Dublin.

Barname

123easy wrote: »

We dont have money to waste on Irelands first completed interurban. I think most people are quite happy with the M6/M4 Galway to Dublin.

I note you edited your earlier stupid comment.

thing is you followed it up with another stupid post.

[mod]Infracted for insulting other poster[/mod]

The bypass is in need of refurbishment now, before it deteriorates too much and becomes a safety issue.

The cost of building a parallel motorway to the south of the town could never be justified. The best that could be hoped for would be a two lane bridge parallel to the existing one for non-motorway traffic, but I just don't see that happening in the current economic climate if ever!

Anyway, we are still waiting for the decision as to whether it's a motorway or an N road.

veryangryman

This time 10 years ago, you had Motorway to Kilcock from Dublin. The length of the m4/M6 has quadrupled since.

People act like spoilt brats with this. The fact is that you have at worst Dual Carriageway all the way Heuston to Renmore. Sure Athlone bypass is looking a tad dated but its hardly a bottleneck by any mans standards. One of the great advantages of living in the town (as any visitor will also confirm) is the decent infrastructure provided a la the bypass.

Complete waste of money to upgrade until the likes of Claregalway, Newlands, completed Atlantic corridoor and even a possible N52 upgrade from Tyrellspass-Ardee get sorted out.

And a partridge in a pear tree

KevR

veryangryman wrote: »

Sure Athlone bypass is looking a tad dated but its hardly a bottleneck by any mans standards. One of the great advantages of living in the town (as any visitor will also confirm) is the decent infrastructure provided a la the bypass.

Complete waste of money to upgrade until the likes of Claregalway, Newlands, completed Atlantic corridoor and even a possible N52 upgrade from Tyrellspass-Ardee get sorted out.

And a partridge in a pear tree

+1

I really wish the people opposed to the Galway Bypass would spend some time in Athlone to see the huge positive difference a bypass can make. So effortless getting from one side of the town to the other.

I think the planned upgrade works on the Athlone Bypass will be suffecient. A new Southern Bypass couldn't be justified both now and for the forseeable future. Other schemes are way more important.

CerebralCortex

Deleted User wrote: »

...The cost of building a parallel motorway to the south of the town could never be justified. The best that could be hoped for would be a two lane bridge parallel to the existing one for non-motorway traffic, but I just don't see that happening in the current economic climate if ever!...

That's fairly pessimistic, ever is a long time! Ireland's population needs to and will grow and therein lies the justification to building infrastructure ahead of that time. Right now with our current road infrastructure(and all infrastructure for that matter) we're playing catch up.