New Newry Bypass Open

milly4ever

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10795146

'Mr McGuinness said it was estimated the journey between Belfast and Dublin could be cut to 90 minutes.'

90 minutes! it's great that it is finally complete and it's brilliant road connection for the 2 biggest cities in ireland.

JHMEG

90 mins. Hmm, might be a bit optimistic as most of the road on the northern side of the border is the A1 - ie dual carriageway, not motorway.

lord lucan

milly4ever wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10795146

'Mr McGuinness said it was estimated the journey between Belfast and Dublin could be cut to 90 minutes.'

90 minutes! it's great that it is finally complete and it's brilliant road connection for the 2 biggest cities in ireland.

And whilst road times are cut the Enterprise is getting slower! It's cheaper and quicker to go by road(car or bus) than it is to go by train.:(

ipodrocker

great news and i was just about to look for an update on the road!

JHMEG

Hopefully all the howyas and representatives from every Dublin scumbag housing estate will end up accidentally bypassing Newry, leaving it safe for the rest of us.

milly4ever

from http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/finished-the-road-thatrsquos-shrinking-ireland-14891433.html:

In May, the final 41km stretch of Ireland’s longest motorway opened in Co Laois, bringing the drive from Belfast to Cork down from seven-and-a-half hours, to four. Motorists can now travel non-stop from the Dunkettle interchange on the outskirts of Cork city to the M50 circling Dublin.

4 hours to cork from belfast?! i thought it was at least that from dublin to cork! :eek:

KCAccidental

takes about 2 and a half to 3 to go from Cork to Dublin now. I would say it would take closer to 5 hours from Cork to Belfast with traffic on the M50 etc coming into play.

milly4ever

that's amazing, i never thought it could be that quick.
i was just remembering people doing the journey years ago and it taking them 8 hours!

Cookie_Monster

I could have sworn I drove on this road over Easter, still works all over it but it was open... Maybe I'm going mad.

The Swordsman

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I could have sworn I drove on this road over Easter, still works all over it but it was open... Maybe I'm going mad.

Some of it was open (from the border to just past Newry) but IIRC you had to take a right turn from end of the bit that was open down a narrow-ish road to a roundabout on the A1 (near the retail park where Smyths is).

So you're not completely mad:D.

cargo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I could have sworn I drove on this road over Easter, still works all over it but it was open... Maybe I'm going mad.

No Cookie ur not (unless ur also talking to ur plants a lot!!) the Cloghogue roundabout (as you hit Newry) was opened on a restricted temporary basis to alleviate jams just before Christmas and bits of the route along the by-pass have been opening one lane or part of lanes at times as the project progressed. I believe it's all open as a dual carriageway now.

Now get back to your plants they're getting lonely again (stop smoking them and it may help

Cookie_Monster

cargo wrote: »

Now get back to your plants they're getting lonely again (stop smoking them and it may help

The only two plants I had died sometime around January...

:P

cargo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The only two plants I had died sometime around January...

:P

CM only pulling your leg

Back to the road, it'll be a great help heading anywhere up the M1 as it'll help heading into Newry or getting out of Newry as you have better choice as to where to get onto the motorway and also all those little slow downs and diversions off hte bypass while it was under construction slowed you down a lot.

Cookie_Monster

so 90 mins plus a bit more from south Dublin less a bit by doing 140 or so most of the way. Starting to get to timelines I can live with to go watch the Ice hockey more often

nordydan

JHMEG wrote: »

90 mins. Hmm, might be a bit optimistic as most of the road on the northern side of the border is the A1 - ie dual carriageway, not motorway.

Drove from north Belfast to Dublin City Centre in 1h40 before BOTH the Newry/Dundalk & Newry Bypass were opened. 1hr30 is very possible

Given that, 4hrs Belfast-Cork can be done most times of day now. No hold-ups anywhere bar Newlands X. There is never a significant hold-up at Sprucefield

Stonewolf

nordydan wrote: »

Drove from north Belfast to Dublin City Centre in 1h40 before BOTH the Newry/Dundalk & Newry Bypass were opened. 1hr30 is very possible

Given that, 4hrs Belfast-Cork can be done most times of day now. No hold-ups anywhere bar Newlands X. There is never a significant hold-up at Sprucefield

I'll never understand why Newlands Cross wasn't replaced with a grade separated junction when they were redoing the Red Cow.

Terrontress

nordydan wrote: »

Drove from north Belfast to Dublin City Centre in 1h40 before BOTH the Newry/Dundalk & Newry Bypass were opened. 1hr30 is very possible

Before the motorway section bypassing Castlebellingham opened, it used to take me 5 hours on a Friday leaving from Rathmines going to Belfast, heading out at 3pm. You could be over an hour through Drogheda and I've even known the Dundalk bypass to take an hour. I will never hear a single negative word said against Ireland's motorway programme except that it did not happen soon enough!

L1011

JHMEG wrote: »

90 mins. Hmm, might be a bit optimistic as most of the road on the northern side of the border is the A1 - ie dual carriageway, not motorway.

most of it is 70mph limited, so its not as big a speed loss.

JHMEG

MYOB wrote: »

most of it is 70mph limited, so its not as big a speed loss.

Most of the A1 is 70mph? Didn't know/notice that!

D'Peoples Voice

FFS I have an old fashioned speed display,
trying to see 112km/h on my speedometer is tricky!
Why oh why aren't all speedometers digital:mad:

I'll stick to 110km/h to be safe;)

milly4ever

MYOB wrote: »

most of it is 70mph limited, so its not as big a speed loss.

dual carriageways are 60mph and i know of quite a few people who have been caught speeding on that stretch so would definitely not do 70 there!

Terrontress

milly4ever wrote: »

dual carriageways are 60mph and i know of quite a few people who have been caught speeding on that stretch so would definitely not do 70 there!

For a car, the speed limit is 70 on a dual carriageway. There are several sections of the A1 where the speed limit is reduced to 60, usually due to a lot of non grade separated junctions. The whole section past Banbridge is one of them. Then it's back up to 70 until Dromore. When the limit goes down to 60, there are massive, yellow surrounded speed limit signs and regular smaller repeaters.

L1011

milly4ever wrote: »

dual carriageways are 60mph and i know of quite a few people who have been caught speeding on that stretch so would definitely not do 70 there!

There not.

The UK NSL is 70mph for dual carriageways. Has been since year one of the NSL existing.

Only the sections which are EXPLICITLY signed as 60 (Around Banbridge and Hillsborough) are 60mph.

milly4ever

Terrontress wrote: »

For a car, the speed limit is 70 on a dual carriageway. There are several sections of the A1 where the speed limit is reduced to 60, usually due to a lot of non grade separated junctions. The whole section past Banbridge is one of them. Then it's back up to 70 until Dromore. When the limit goes down to 60, there are massive, yellow surrounded speed limit signs and regular smaller repeaters.

I never knew that, been over cautious then! and from someone who got full marks in their theory test, whoops :rolleyes:. So from banbridge to dromore is 70 then? i suppose when it didn't say 60, and just had the national speed limit sign i was taking it to be 60 anyway