When is the tunnel opening?

phill106

Roadend wrote: »

Better off driving through it, don't think its wide enough to fly through

Coonagh is right there? That would be brilliant!
Wheres my camcorder?!

Kess73

Radio now is saying that Cowen will be cutting the ribbon sometime before lunch, and that the tunnel will open to the public later this afternoon around 16:00

zuroph

Got to go to Ennis and back today from Annacotty. Looks like I'll be going the long way and keeping the fingers crossed on way back

Limerick_Lass

Never heard so much excitment about a tunnel opening before

Raiser

Delays seem likely later today - There have been reports of a sizeable Fianna Fail obstruction in the tunnel bore emitting a loud noise and a foul malodorous Gas.

- The Green Party have launched an initiative to harness this Gas a source of renewable energy and plan to source and reserve dedicated research funding from us all until April 2030 at a cost of 379 Million.

Limerick_Lass wrote: »

Never heard so much excitment about a tunnel opening before

Are all of your double-entendres on purpose LL?

Limerick_Lass

take it whichever way you wish

Raiser

Limerick_Lass wrote: »

take it whichever way you wish

Lol

Are all of your double-entendres intentional LL?

Mc Love

At least the tunnel is distracting from all Clare crime thread

the drifter

Raiser wrote: »

Lol

Are all of your double-entendres intentional LL?

Kids these days.....

Itsdacraic

Raiser wrote: »

Lol

Are all of your double-entendres intentional LL?

If she's stuck for anymore double-entendres I'll give her one

Limerick_Lass

Itsdacraic wrote: »

If she's stuck for anymore double-entendres I'll give her one

back on topic boys

phill106

Limerick_Lass wrote: »

Never heard so much excitment about a tunnel opening before

Sure when was the last tunnel opened in ireland? Cork?
Long time!

zuroph

Limerick_Lass wrote: »

back on topic boys

:eek:

Kess73

phill106 wrote: »

Sure when was the last tunnel opened in ireland? Cork?
Long time!

The Dublin Port tunnel was opened in 2006 or 2007.

phill106

Kess73 wrote: »

The Dublin Port tunnel was opened in 2006 or 2007.

Ah yes, forgot that one. Wonder do the supertrucks fit in the limerick tunnel?

Kess73

Well the opening was about 90 minutes ago.


But will not be open to the public for another 90 mins to two hours from now.



Cowen and Noel Dempsey claimed that by the end of this year, every major town and city in Ireland will have a world class road system between them, that links the entire country.

Cookiemunster

Kess73 wrote: »

Cowen and Noel Dempsey claimed that by the end of this year, every major town and city in Ireland will have a world class road system between them, that links the entire country.

Yes the Limerick - Cork road definitely qualifies as work class :rolleyes: They must really think we're all stupid.

Twin-go

It's Open!!!!!!!

http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/

zuroph

sign is updated to 5pm. passed on cratloe side at 15.45 and was not open, road was being swept and bollards still in place.

TestTransmission

zuroph wrote: »

sign is updated to 5pm. passed on cratloe side at 15.45 and was not open, road was being swept and bollards still in place.

Eh,its open.I used it there about 15 minutes ago,very impressive!

They gave me one of the leftover commerative books from the open day too (the cheap ****ers)

zuroph

gutted, if only I'd been stuck in traffic and gotten home later :pac:

Berty

Passed at Cratloe side at 4pm and still was not open. Two traffic corps jeeps with Lagan guy waiting to stop traffic but definately not open then although I understand RTE announced it open at 2:30pm.

The Dagda

Used the tunnel today, both directions. Southbound via Clonmacken around 4pm and Northbound all the way from Tipperary Road to Shannon around 6pm.

Great piece of infrastructure with huge time savings.

Pity about the cost but better than not having it...

CCSL

I live not far from the Cement Factory and the Dock road was always a nightmare. I always had to leave loads of extra time if I had to be in Shannon or beyond for a meeting. Today on the way back from Fanore and zipped through

Vid Below!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuC9Z6fWfGU

:cool:

zuroph

jesus that toll in the video was painful, especially when the jeep stopped for a chat. Parked up for over a minute :mad: why isnt the easy pass lane open anyone know?

Liam Byrne

What's the deal with "COINS ONLY - NO RECEIPTS - NO CHANGE" (visible in the video @ about 2.10)

FFS, €1.80 is already €840 a year if you use it twice daily going to and from work, without trying to scam people even more!!!!!

shg101

I didn't go through the tunnel (tomorrow) but did turn up onto the new road from the Dock road and drove out towards the Dublin side.

Very impressed, and amazed that you can drive through Limerick without even noticing it was there!

highlydebased

Just used it there, twice in fact, quite handy I think.

If you use the Clonmacken toll plaza the basket machine does give change. If you use the cashier at either plaza change is naturally given...

Kess73

Got to see it as a passenger about 30 minutes ago. Was not overly impressed with the finish on the tunnel, but it will be handy for people who need to travel to Galway, Ennis etc on a regular basis.


I have to say that the toll booth experience was a bit of a clown show though.

The Easy tag lane is closed as you drive from the Dooradoyle side outwards, and the four lanes that were open were all operating on you having to stop and hand the change in to the operator rather than a basket system like on the M50.

Basically meant that every car had to come to a complete stop to hand in the money and then wait for the guy (or girl) to lift the barrier.

Then the four lanes come together in an unmarked wide area that becomes two lanes after about about 100 yards. So on a busy day all the lanes would be competing for two lanes with only a very short run up to it.

The "No change and no notes" bit is a bit rich. Talk about an easy way to fleece people.


And it would not be complete without the ape in the silver golf who was not patient enough to wait in one lane, he had to try and reverse out of his lane and then tried to get across to the lane at another booth.:rolleyes:


On the way in from Shannon I could see a lot of people getting caught for the toll in error as people who would not know the road would end up on the by pass easily as the road that continues on towards Limerick would be easy to miss.


Can see it being very good for Dublin/Cork/Kerry etc to Clare/Galway etc commuters as it will knock a nice chunk off of the journey, especially at peak times, but it does make Limerick city very easy to bypass and ignore now, and I have a feeling it may have a negative effect on businesses that would normally have caught a chunk of the passing traffic before.

CCSL

zuroph wrote: »

jesus that toll in the video was painful, especially when the jeep stopped for a chat. Parked up for over a minute :mad: why isnt the easy pass lane open anyone know?

He was looking to get back on to the Dock Road!

Melion

It was posted on here a few months ago that it was priced €1.80 so people would just throw in €2 and not wait for the change. It would all add up if everyone does that, i know i will be.

zuroph

just get a tag for yourselves. no messing about with change and the barrier gets up quicker for ye, and the fast flow lane will be open soon.

Berty

People probably got very confused at the toll plazas today and will for weeks to come because people dont understand the light up signs.

There is no point mentioning there are signs in advance. People do not read signs.

Im just glad I have had a tag years so will avoid the toll lanes however It is not good that the fast pass lanes were closed today.

I didn't get to use the tunnell today. Maybe tomorrow.

Agent_99

have they removed the cones and merging traffic lane in Cratloe it was still there at 4.40 got on to the new road toll was a bit congested but was still home in 30 mins. Will try again later in the week to see my uncongested travel time.... bit expensive to do everyday tho.

Melion

How much are the tags?
I wont be using it all that much so wont be buying one anyway. The new roads are of no benefit to me unfortunately.

Berty

I have my tag from http://easytrip.ie/

It works on every toll in the country and also you get into Q-Parks without needing a ticket. Like Dunnes Harveys Quay/Howleys Quay(whatever).

No qeueing behind people at machines, no qeueing at Toll Plazas either.

Melion

I must be going blind. How much are they?

Berty

Melion wrote: »

I must be going blind. How much are they?

Well if you are reffering to Easytrip they cost 0, Zero, Nada, Zilch.

You load your tag with an amount of money(probably €40) and when you get to less than €10 you get another €40 topped back up(automatically) so you never run the risk of getting stuck in a car park or at a Toll Plaza.

You pay a small admin fee per month.

Liam Byrne

Berty wrote: »

Well if you are reffering to Easytrip they cost 0, Zero, Nada, Zilch.

You pay a small admin fee per month.

Then they don't cost "nada, zilch".

Edit : There's also no mention on their website of a monthly charge.

In addition, there's an interesting twist on their "balance"

Your low balance warning is the credit level you allow your account to reach before an automatic top up occurs. The minimum level is €12.00 per tag.

So basically they permanently have €12 that you can never use ?

Berty

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Then they don't cost "nada, zilch".

They cost nada/zilch to purchase. The admin fee of Tag only(no parking) is €1 per month.

Handy if you don't have to worry about carrying money.

EDIT After your edit here is my edit

http://easytrip.ie/?page_id=37#faq19

Melion

Seems very handy, id probably get one if i needed to.

Liam Byrne

OK, so it costs €1 per month.

That's not bad, tbh. But it's still not "nada".

Berty

Liam Byrne wrote: »

OK, so it costs €1 per month.

That's not bad, tbh. But it's still not "nada".

Put it another way so. If you were using the M50 Toll it is cheaper to pay by using a Toll tag than by paying over the phone or in a shop meaning you would save money.

I spend around €20+ in Tolls/Parking on my Tag so it goes a long way for me.

Liam Byrne

Berty wrote: »

Put it another way so. If you were using the M50 Toll it is cheaper to pay by using a Toll tag than by paying over the phone or in a shop meaning you would save money.

I spend around €20+ in Tolls/Parking on my Tag so it goes a long way for me.

What are you saying - that they have special treatment for those who use the M50 ?

If so, yeah - it's good for Dubs; kindof irrelevant in a thread about the Limerick Tunnel, though.

DemoniK

What he's trying to say is that Tags are cheaper than paying the toll by hand on the M50 - this is because of the costs involved in tracking the non-tag drivers...
Not a special treatment thing at all - in fact if you have a tag for limerick tunnel you can use it on the M50 and get a much cheaper toll that if you pay later.

Anyways...
Went through it this morning - heading to Shannon.
Was pretty good. Knocked 10mins off my time even despite going the long way round to come on via the Rosbrien interchange (wanted the full experience ).

Overall good, but the Express lane is still closed and tolltag.ie tags still not working.

Hope they sort this out soon... Luckily I had a cash to pay it just in case after reading up here last night - thanks gusy for the heads up

Kencollins

My tolltag.ie tag didn't work yesterday, but worked perfectly in the cash basket lane heading for shannon this morning. I wonder when the express lanes will be open...

Liam Byrne

RikD wrote: »

What he's trying to say is that Tags are cheaper than paying the toll by hand on the M50 - this is because of the costs involved in tracking the non-tag drivers...

Fair point, but my point is that that is only a benefit if you use the M50 regularly, and so isn't much of a benefit to Limerick Tunnel users.

zuroph

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Fair point, but my point is that that is only a benefit if you use the M50 regularly, and so isn't much of a benefit to Limerick Tunnel users.

I use the limerick tunnel, the waterford bridge, the fermoy bypass. the tag is very very handy.

Kess73

zuroph wrote: »

I use the limerick tunnel, the waterford bridge, the fermoy bypass. the tag is very very handy.

Been a fair few years since I drove to Waterford from the Limerick side. Is the main bridge, the one that could open for boats, into Waterford tolled now?

zuroph

Kess73 wrote: »

Been a fair few years since I drove to Waterford from the Limerick side. Is the main bridge, the one that could open for boats, into Waterford tolled now?

no, theres a new suspension bridge on this side to allow you access to cork/tramore road without having to go through city.