M11 - Arklow to Rathnew

road_high

spacetweek wrote: »

I certainly hope they don't think that motorways must be built in a county just because a neighbouring county has one!

Some people do. They look at the M9 through kilkenny Carlow and want the same for Wexford! Counties should be abolished ....

serfboard

road_high wrote: »

Some people do. They look at the M9 through kilkenny Carlow and want the same for Wexford! Counties should be abolished ....

The usual political rules apply though ... :rolleyes:

The way it should be done (IMO): Take the NRA list of projects outstanding and apply the following filters:

1. CBA - which projects will benefit the most number of vehicles with the lowest cost per vehicle (hence M50 work, with its 130K vehicles on some days is easy to justify)

2. Safety benefits - which projects will bypass stretches of road which are most dangerous (and in this case Arklow->Rathnew definitely qualifies, being fairly high up on the list for bad crashes)

3. External Funding available - either from EIB or through PPP. With the former - sorry people of Wexford, but the BMW region wins here because we can get funding 'cos (Europe thinks) we're so poor - hence M18 and M17 being built before the M20.

After all these, then, so long as its on the NRAs list, let the local politicians lobby like hell!

road_high

Agree with all except the last point; the BMW region vs the south/east region argument is inaccurate in many instances; take Co. Wexford and Galway. Galway is supposedly "poorer" by virtue of it's location. Not the case, all the key economic indicators have pointed to Wexford (and other south-east counties) as being some of the poorest in the country. Lower average incomes, lower 3rd lever attainment and lower levels of FDI.

But take your point if we can get some more EU funding take it and run, regardless of where in the country!

P.S Just re-read your post, you weren't making an argument just stating a fact!

fred funk }{

Anyone know what those two concrete huts are that they built in between Jack Whites and the Topaz garage?

lottpaul

Friend who lives near there says they are pump houses for wells/water supply to the houses on that stretch of the road. Seems their supply before this came from wells that will be under the new road when its completed.

Carawaystick

jd, in the m17/18 thread mentions correspondence regarding the coillte access,
It will be from the existing road, not from the new mainline which is being built to hqdc standard,
Which suggests the route will be motorway from the get go

Can't link to the post, as on mobile sire, will do later, in this post

spacetweek

Carawaystick wrote: »

It will be from the existing road, not from the new mainline which is being built to hqdc standard,
Which suggests the route will be motorway from the get go

That's true about the access, but there is as yet no plan to declare this a motorway. However I am confident this will happen by Autumn 2015 before the opening. If not ,they will have to put up green dual carriageway signs only to remove all of them and replace with blue and white.

spacetweek

Pics as I rolled through this today. Fairly easy to get pics as the new road is being built parallel to the old one. Not as much progress visible as I'd expected.

Chris_5339762

Those bridges have appeared in the last month. Plenty progress I'd say! Probably hard to work as the whole site will be a bog at this stage.

JupiterKid

Great pics Spacetweek.

It looks like a bridge that will carry the new M11 over the existing road is making good progress. Doesn't look like the earthworks will involve much - if any - rock blasting/cutting.

spacetweek

JupiterKid wrote: »

Great pics Spacetweek.

It looks like a bridge that will carry the new M11 over the existing road is making good progress. Doesn't look like the earthworks will involve much - if any - rock blasting/cutting.

Thanks.
Easy enough road to build, only one new junction and nearly the whole thing is alongside the existing road through fields that have been fenced off for years.

L1011

Quite a lot of earthworks and the existing road needs to be moved in some cases.

Middle Man

spacetweek wrote: »

Thanks.
Easy enough road to build, only one new junction and nearly the whole thing is alongside the existing road through fields that have been fenced off for years.

No, there are two new interchanges proposed - one at the Beehive and one at Jack White's.

Carawaystick

spacetweek wrote: »

Thanks.
Easy enough road to build, only two new junctions and nearly the whole thing is alongside the existing road through fields that have been bought by us & fenced off for years.

Fixed yer post

spacetweek

Middle Man wrote: »

No, there are two new interchanges proposed - one at the Beehive and one at Jack White's.

Which one did I get a photo of? Didn't see any work on a second one.

jd

spacetweek wrote: »

Which one did I get a photo of? Didn't see any work on a second one.

That's the bridge near Lil Doyles, I think.

Road Works and Closures

Roads Affected Current Road Work Details
N11 Wicklow County Council hereby gives notice that the following public road will be closed from 6.00 a.m. on Wednesday the 22nd of January, 2014, until 6.00 am on Thursday, the 3rd of April 2014
Roads to be closed: The L5664 (Kilbride Road) from its junction with N11 at Lil Doyle’s for a distance of 100 metres.
Alternative Route:
Diversion Route One: Eastbound traffic from the N11 should divert at L5159-0 (Dunganstown road) to its junction with the L5157 and on to the L5664
Diversion Route One: Westbound traffic to the N11 from the Dunganstown and Kilbride Area should divert along the L 5157-0 to its junction with the L5159-0 and on to the N11 at The Tap area.
This road closure is necessary in order to facilitate the construction of the Bridge Structure No. 4 and other works associated with the N11 Rathnew to Arklow Road Improvement Scheme Public Private Partnership.

serfboard

spacetweek wrote: »

Which one did I get a photo of?

I don't think your photo is of either of the interchanges, both of which are offline - I think your photo is of one of the bridges on the scheme.

BTW, someone has very kindly put the scheme design on OpenStreetMap.

PoolDude

I'm surprised that only on flyover bridge has started aren't there a few more further down from the existing one around the bend from the petrol station and another one after Jack Whites and before the current DC starts?

Given the settling in period I would have thought they would be working on all bridges. That said the one they have put in went up quickly.

Carawaystick

The bridge at Lil Doyles seems very different to the bridges on the Arklow bypass, which have abutments of mass concrete and sloping fill.

I realise the current road is being built up above the existing road, but the hexagonal concrete panels of 50 or 60 mm thick seem not up to the job of containing the fill behind. seems to be ( from the existing road to be bridged over), a wall of hexagonal panels, blue gravel packed down, and another thin wall, to be backed up with an earthen ramp for the new road to go on top of.

Davy

Carawaystick wrote: »

The bridge at Lil Doyles seems very different to the bridges on the Arklow bypass, which have abutments of mass concrete and sloping fill.

I realise the current road is being built up above the existing road, but the hexagonal concrete panels of 50 or 60 mm thick seem not up to the job of containing the fill behind. seems to be ( from the existing road to be bridged over), a wall of hexagonal panels, blue gravel packed down, and another thin wall, to be backed up with an earthen ramp for the new road to go on top of.

Said bridge has half on the cross beams in place since last night, with the remaining going in tonight.

Other bridges aren't at that stage yet

jd

Davy wrote: »

Said bridge has half on the cross beams in place since last night, with the remaining going in tonight.

Other bridges aren't at that stage yet

Yip drove down this morning

Geogregor

Thanks jd

Once the weather improves in spring maybe some brave local would present some more photos of the construction.

It is strangely quiet in this thread, considering it is quite close to Dublin.

vickers209

Geogregor wrote: »

Thanks jd

Once the weather improves in spring maybe some brave local would present some more photos of the construction.

It is strangely quiet in this thread, considering it is quite close to Dublin.

There not much more happening yet main thing so far is just the bridge above at barndarrig

jd

I think there is some work going on beside "the bends". Not stopping there to find out!

spacetweek

Geogregor wrote: »

Thanks jd

Once the weather improves in spring maybe some brave local would present some more photos of the construction.

It is strangely quiet in this thread, considering it is quite close to Dublin.

As I drove through I found the existing road often quite narrow, it's not that easy to take piccies and as someone said many parts just have the site levelled and there isn't much to look at.

Davy

vickers209 wrote: »

There not much more happening yet main thing so far is just the bridge above at barndarrig

Their is two other similar bridges directly north of lil Doyle's behind theTap but slightly behind.

The one at lil Doyle's has the remaining Beams in place.

BigMoose

Other than that bridge, there's very little to see the length of it driving down the existing N11, nothing else photo worthy just yet. I'm amazed at how slow this project seems to be going.

Davy

BigMoose wrote: »

Other than that bridge, there's very little to see the length of it driving down the existing N11, nothing else photo worthy just yet. I'm amazed at how slow this project seems to be going.

One of the bridges behind theTap now has cross beams in place.

jd

There is an article in the Wexford People about the work on the N/M11, it should be online later on this week.
It says Applegreen at Cullenmore should be open in June, with the North of Gorey Service Station open early 2015. August 2015 for Rathnew-Arklow section. "There have been difficulties with the bad weather...as we go into the summer, we expect the contractor will make up the time lost.." said Sean O'Neill of the NRA.

The article also mentioned that much of the work under way is site clearance under the supervision of an ecologist!

fred funk }{

Seems to be a big push on over the past few weeks. All time and effort going into the bridges.