N6 - Athlone Bypass Upgrade works

billbond4

Yeah I spotted two of those sign for Willis Bros yesterday on the eastbound lane.
No sign of what they will be doing on their projects page yet
http://www.willsbros.com/projects/

whyulittle

Bit in the paper today alright, pretty much as dolanbaker says - might be a bit of exploratory work this month, with the main work to start in January.

Contract is for 40 weeks.

Work is to begin on both carraigeways from the Monksland end and work eastwards.

Pete_Cavan

billbond4 wrote: »

Yeah I spotted two of those sign for Willis Bros yesterday on the eastbound lane.
No sign of what they will be doing on their projects page yet
http://www.willsbros.com/projects/

A bit more no that project here; http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC188995

Wild Bill

"This contract may require some or all of the following civil works, pavement overlay, pavement constuction, safety barrier, road marking and road studs, service diversions, ducting, drainage and landscaping works.Temporary Traffic Management.."

Could hardly disagree with that! And some more..........:cool:

Wild Bill

Wild Bill wrote: »

"This contract may require some or all of the following civil works, pavement overlay, pavement constuction, safety barrier, road marking and road studs, service diversions, ducting, drainage and landscaping works.Temporary Traffic Management.."

Could hardly disagree with that! And some more..........:cool:

That contract is as woolly as a flock of sheep! Baaaa. :pac:

billbond4

Nice to see the crash barrier doing its job this morning.
Was on the way into work going eastbound and at just at the exit for ericsson, on the westbound carraigeway there was a car rammed up against the median crash barrier.
Thought about taking a picture, but didnt fancy ending up that driver.

KevR

Got a taxi into work from the train station in Athlone yesterday and the taxi driver was telling me about that car that crashed.

Also, does anyone know if the steel median barrier on the bend just to the East of the Shannon has been hit lately? It looks to be in a very sorry state! I hope it's replaced soon because I actually think there will be a crossover incident if someone hits that same spot again..

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Got a taxi into work from the train station in Athlone yesterday and the taxi driver was telling me about that car that crashed.

Also, does anyone know if the steel median barrier on the bend just to the East of the Shannon has been hit lately? It looks to be in a very sorry state! I hope it's replaced soon because I actually think there will be a crossover incident if someone hits that same spot again..

There's a concrete median barrier the whole length of the bypass, the only steel barriers are on the outsides of the road.

KevR

There's a short stretch which has an armco median. Not sure why, possibly for sightline reasons?

KevR

KevR wrote: »

There's a short stretch which has an armco median. Not sure why, possibly for sightline reasons?

I stand corrected.

whyulittle

Any sign of anything happening out that end yet?

I don't venture over the far side too often.

KevR

Haven't seen anything apart from a couple of signs which mention that there will be works on the road.

KevR

Queue at J9 Eastbound off-ramp was down onto the mainline this morning. Can be really hit and miss - some days there is no queue and others there is a big one. Yesterday there was no queue and then there was massive one today for no apparent reason.

There are traffic counters on the road (not sure of route number) which intersects the bypass at J9; counters on both sides of the entrance to Ericsson. I wonder if this is a traffic study to determine if J9 should be upgraded??

billbond4

havent noticed any more traffic counters besides those ones you mentioned.
Think I heard that they maybe starting work in March, but we will have to wait and see.

veryangryman

Should have the counters closer Garycastle bridge side.

Saw a truck turning right off J9 - clearly with intent to use the bridge

Simple Solution if they cant afford upgrade J9

Slap some cameras on the bridge and a HGV/largeBus ban from it (an actual ban - not just a guideline). Anyone caught using it (Kilmartins is their safe alternative) is fined €100

Use the money raised to upgrade the junction.

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

Should have the counters closer Garycastle bridge side.

Saw a truck turning right off J9 - clearly with intent to use the bridge

Simple Solution if they cant afford upgrade J9

Slap some cameras on the bridge and a HGV/largeBus ban from it (an actual ban - not just a guideline). Anyone caught using it (Kilmartins is their safe alternative) is fined €100

Use the money raised to upgrade the junction.

Comdemn the bridge and close the road to all vehicles except bikes.

Problem solved!
They should have replaced it years ago, when the state had money.

billbond4

The works started this week, I think the tree cutting is part of it

whyulittle

Yeah they were cutting back the trees around Hammond Lane this evening.

Also, plans for a €2.6M Phase II of the upgrade were presented to the Athlone Area Committee of Westmeath Co Co by the Road Design Office.

Basically mini-roundabouts and traffic lights for all!

The plans for Garrycaslte include a new cycle/pedestrian bridge at €1.3M.

Ballymahon Road comes to €650,000.

Coosan €450,000.

Roscommon Road €200,000, including new signage to advise about the severity of the on/off ramps.

whyulittle

whyulittle wrote: »

Basically mini-roundabouts and traffic lights for all!

Both? Are there any on-line details for this work?

whyulittle

Nothing on Westmeath site yet.

Report done by Roughan & O'Donovan Consulting Engineers for Road Design Office. Nothing on either of these sites from what I see.

Going by the article, looks like lights for Garrycaslte, lights for Ballymahon Road with R/A at the Cova, lights at Coosan with R/A at SDS and lights at Roscommon Road.

Going by the graphics, going out the Ballymahon Road you'll meet three sets of lights, one each for the on/off ramps, and one to let people out from The Two Mile/Buccaneers Road. Same with Garrycastle, one each for ramps and one for the Moydrum Road.

veryangryman

whyulittle wrote: »

Nothing on Westmeath site yet.

Report done by Roughan & O'Donovan Consulting Engineers for Road Design Office. Nothing on either of these sites from what I see.

Going by the article, looks like lights for Garrycaslte, lights for Ballymahon Road with R/A at the Cova, lights at Coosan with R/A at SDS and lights at Roscommon Road.

Going by the graphics, going out the Ballymahon Road you'll meet three sets of lights, one each for the on/off ramps, and one to let people out from The Two Mile/Buccaneers Road. Same with Garrycastle, one each for ramps and one for the Moydrum Road.

What a load of sh1te

Traffic lights? Seriously?

Garycastle junction is not THAT slow - absolute max 5 minutes holdup from Ericsson to dangerous bridge

Either stop being cheapskates and unpgrade the junction with roundabouts etc or leave it the way it is

In my experience of Athlone (Crescent anyone?), traffic lights make a bad situation worse.

billbond4

The Westmeath Indo has some mock ups of the junctions at garry castle and town centre.
Yeah they are basically slapping traffic lights at the junctions, what a fecking waste of money, they wont do anything except slow the main flow of traffic, when will roads planners every learn????

veryangryman

billbond4 wrote: »

The Westmeath Indo has some mock ups of the junctions at garry castle and town centre.
Yeah they are basically slapping traffic lights at the junctions, what a fecking waste of money, they wont do anything except slow the main flow of traffic, when will roads planners every learn????

Anywhere we can object to this madness before it becomes officially planned?

KevR

Saw a VMS being unloaded off the back of a pick-up truck on the mainline at J10 Eastbound this morning. Could be something to do with the upgrade work..

KevR

VMS just before J10 Westbound saying 'Major road works ahead, hard shoulder closed next 2km'. Some men at work signs also. I wonder if upgrade work is starting soon..

veryangryman

Bush trimming

or for the non innuendo fans among us..

Tree cutting


Not really an upgrade so much as a chance to see what the fields nearby look like. As someone who traverses the bypass in his sleep from now on, it will be refreshing to admire the odd donkey etc in the fields to make the journey that bit more enjoyable

KevR

Saw a pick up truck going the wrong way down the J9 Eastbound exit this morning. He was crawling down the ramp; I presume (and pray!) that he was doing some tree cutting.

whyulittle

Couple of things in the Westmeath this week.

€2.6M has been allocated for the Phase II of the bypass works.

It says €4M announced as part of the overall €21M to the whole county, is what remains of the €7M for Phase I. How could they have spent €3M already!? :eek:

The first lane closures are to start next Monday at the Monksland end.

Plus the was a meeting of councillors from Athlone, Westmeath and Roscommon over the Phase II plans.

Roscommon County Council's Cllr Kilduff said that he didn't think traffic lights at Ganly's roundabout would be too successful, because during some mornings traffic is tailbacked to the Hill of Berries.

"There should be more co-operation between the two councils and we should go to visit the NRA, and they might be willing to listen to us," said Cllr Kilduff.

He was told by the consulting engineers that there would be no traffic lights at Ganly's.

and

"Traffic has been backed up four miles on the Roscommon Road during the recent snow, so whatever we do I hope there will be more movement of traffic," said Cllr Ward.

give you a taster.

Looking at Phase I to take until August, with Phase II starting in August or September and taking about four months.

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2011/01/26/4002889-winter-roads-maintenance-funding-cut-by-250000/

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2011/01/26/4002893-relief-road-lane-closures-to-begin-on-monday/

SeanW

An upgrade of the junction from simple uncontrolled diamond junctions is a very good idea - I remember a while back I was getting off the dual carriageway in Athlone ad was stuck for over 10 minutes because I needed to turn right off the slip and there was always traffic in at least one direction.

but the article says they're putting in "median crossovers" ... what's that all about?

Zubeneschamali

50 km/hr signs out at J11 heading West this morning, until after J13.

No sign of actual works, but it was early...