Motorway opening??

Smiley Burnett

Can anyone confirm if the final stretch of the new motorway is opening tomorrow?

kensutz

Yes!

crow_eat_crow

Woo hoo!

old gregg

in a spirit of feigned irresponsibility, may I suggest people use this thread to post their lap times

michellie

I will let you know my lap time tomorrow...I can almost feel the shopping bags in my hands now, its so close!!!:D

deisemum

michellie wrote: »

I will let you know my lap time tomorrow...I can almost feel the shopping bags in my hands now, its so close!!!:D

:D:D

wellboy76

May I be the first to say that it is open!!!!!

ziedth

Anyone have a working time to Dublin yet?

I'd be very curious.

fricatus

Paulstown-Dunkitt: 30 minutes on the nose.

Did it at 70 mph on cruise control so actually a smidgen below the 120 km/h speed limit.

Paddy@CIRL

The road didn't open until 3PM much to my dismay, but got to take it all in on the way back from Carlow. Around 35/40 minutes from the Carlow exit to the end of the M9 in Waterford.

1967

thank god its finally open, i do a lot of daytrips to uk early morning flights and late night flights back should be in my bed before one in the morning.

deise_boi

I really hope this will spark a proper non-stop direct bus service from Waterford to Dublin City/Dublin Airport, akin to that run by GoBus from galway to Dublin, where they follow the motorway all the way along.

One can dream

Not only is it open, but you're also allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road, how great is that?

200motels

It's good that the new road is open and I'll never have to see those awful villages in Kilkenny again.

kayaksurfbum

So,, where is the closest shop/garage/coffee stop to the motorway? I do the trip to dublin once a week, have to have a coffee stop on the way up. castledermot might be nearest the road id say!

marlin vs

michellie wrote: »

I will let you know my lap time tomorrow...I can almost feel the shopping bags in my hands now, its so close!!!:D

Just back and on the satnav it took 1H 29m to get there and 1h 35m to get back.

beazee

marlin vs wrote: »

Just back and on the satnav it took 1H 29m to get there and 1h 35m to get back.

No speeding, right?

Cabaal

kayaksurfbum wrote: »

So,, where is the closest shop/garage/coffee stop to the motorway? I do the trip to dublin once a week, have to have a coffee stop on the way up. castledermot might be nearest the road id say!

You'd have to call in to a town or village, Mullinavat is pretty close to the exit for it but its likely too close to the start of your trip

Minstrel27

marlin vs wrote: »

Just back and on the satnav it took 1H 29m to get there and 1h 35m to get back.

What was the average speed?

sunnysoutheast

ziedth wrote: »

Anyone have a working time to Dublin yet?

I'd be very curious.

1h38 from turning the key in the Blue carpark at Dublin airport at 8PM last night to the Tower Hotel.

Pretty much 120 all the way, with a wry laugh on seeing the signs to Paulstown, Thomastown, Gowran etc. remembering how it used to be!

SSE

ziedth

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

1h38 from turning the key in the Blue carpark at Dublin airport at 8PM last night to the Tower Hotel.

Pretty much 120 all the way, with a wry laugh on seeing the signs to Paulstown, Thomastown, Gowran etc. remembering how it used to be!

SSE

nice one,

Makes any travel allot easier in fairness

Professey Chin

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

1h38 from turning the key in the Blue carpark at Dublin airport at 8PM last night to the Tower Hotel.

Pretty much 120 all the way, with a wry laugh on seeing the signs to Paulstown, Thomastown, Gowran etc. remembering how it used to be!

SSE

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :pac:

sunnysoutheast

ziedth wrote: »

nice one,

Makes any travel allot easier in fairness

I'd say you save 20-25 min. at the largely unsocial hours I travel, but the potential saving during the day avoiding the towns AND THAT FECKING RIGHT TURN AT PAULSTOWN could be up to an hour!

SSE

marlin vs

Minstrel27 wrote: »

What was the average speed?

I can't remember but my fastest seed was 129.that must have been when I was overtaking as I tried to keep it at 120.

Ostrom

Heading back from Maynooth this evening, i'll have to see... Delighted about not having to take the old Gowran road anymore, car was banjaxed from it

STIG83

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

The road didn't open until 3PM much to my dismay, but got to take it all in on the way back from Carlow. Around 35/40 minutes from the Carlow exit to the end of the M9 in Waterford.

That is unbelievable timing!! Cant wait to go for a spin on it

Miss Dymph

Drove home from the airport yesterday afternoon, hour to carlow and half an hour to waterford, doing the speed limit all the way even a little under sometimes, definitely the job for people travelling to college along the way. Cant wait for Christmas, shopping will be done in a day...on the 24th

STIG83

The days of been stuck in bottleneck villages are long gone!! Dublin is only up the road now!! Happy Days!!

JohnC.

I remember, as a child, I used to like the rare trip to Dublin, but hated the journey to get there and back. It seemed so long. Now it's only 90 minutes. I've taken nearly that long to get from Mooncoin to Waterford a few times. Admittedly exceptional, but in heavy traffic and with the old road layout and bad luck, it did take over an hour a few times.

Chris P. Bacon

I'm going to go for a spin up tomorrow see how long it takes ive nothing else to do

I'll try keep within the speed limit for research purposes ,but that might be hard when im driving a M3

wellboy76

Right,

From the Granny roundabout to the M9/M7 merge took me 55 minutes today. 15 minutes to junction 8 (kilkenny) for the same roundabout!!!. (Imagine that a few months ago. They will be able to get to work here quicker now!!) Took 28 mins to the Carlow exit.

I left at 9.30 this morning and was on the Westmeath/Longford border at 11.30!!!!

So I did it like the anorak that I am on the iphone stopwatch from the M7/M9 merge on the way back (sorry couldnt do it from the red cow as I was coming from Mullingar);

Merge to Exit 2 Kilcullen - 2.51min
Exit 2 to 3 Athy/Moone - 8.18
Exit 3 to 4 Carlow - 5.43
Exit 4 to 5 Carlow/Rosslare/Bunclody - 5.31
Exit 5 to 6 Leighlinbridge/Bagenalstown - 3.14
Exit 6 to 7 Paulstown/Gowran - 5.39
Exit 7 to 8 kilkenny - 4.10
Exit 8 to 9 Stoneyford - 4.26
Exit 9 to 10 Knocktopher - 4.46
Exit 10 to 11 Vegas - 5.21
Exit 11 to 12 THE DEISE - 5.21

Total time 56.56

Used to take that to just get to kilkenny a year ago.

It really does make everywhere on the route very accessible and if you travel as part of your career it does open up business opportunities that you may not have thought of before because it takes such a short time to get places now

The main gripe I have with the road is that if you want to go south on the merge with the M7 you have to go north to the Mondello exit and double back.

Oh and would them clowns ever take them flags down off the bridges. The bloody colour of them, looks like they were soaked in shyte and puke!!

Chris P. Bacon

^^ 28 minutes to the Carlow exit!!

wellboy76

Richie Cranium wrote: »

^^ 28 minutes to the Carlow exit!!

Yup!

rude awakening

Does anyone know when or If the bus's are going to start running on the motorway or will they stick to the regular route?

Joey leBlanc

I left the car park of Bewleys Hotel Dublin Airport at 11.08pm last night & was back at home in Abbeylands, Ferrybank at 12.43am! One Hour 35mins door-to-door! Amazing!! It was great after arriving back from hol's & getting home so quickly. It is hard to appreciate how accessible it now makes Waterford to the rest of the country. I remember driving to Dublin one afternoon less than two yrs ago & the journey time was in excess of 3hr 30mins.
Another added bonus for those who like the ease of motorway driving but none of the hassle associated with city driving is the Park & Ride Scheme @ the Red Cow Roundabout.

JohnC.

rude awakening wrote: »

Does anyone know when or If the bus's are going to start running on the motorway or will they stick to the regular route?

Unless someone starts some kind of direct express service, I'd imagine it will stick to the the old route. They still need to go through all the places bypassed by the motorway.

bluesfan

Joey leBlanc wrote: »

Another added bonus for those who like the ease of motorway driving but none of the hassle associated with city driving is the Park & Ride Scheme @ the Red Cow Roundabout.

I recommend this as well, €4 for 24 hours parking and another €4 for a return ticket on the Luas(which has a stop in the middle of the car park) to the city centre.Although if it's a full car it might be cheaper to find a car park in the city centre.

Chris P. Bacon

I drove it today,i timed it from the Grannagh roundabout to the red cow and it took me 01:13:42 yes that's 1 hour and 13 minutes

It took 11 minutes to the Thomastown exit,and 15 minutes to the Kilkenny exit,and just 30 minutes to the Carlow exit.

jrd

Richie Cranium wrote: »

I drove it today,i timed it from the Grannagh roundabout to the red cow and it took me 01:13:42 yes that's 1 hour and 13 minutes

It took 11 minutes to the Thomastown exit,and 15 minutes to the Kilkenny exit,and just 30 minutes to the Carlow exit.

+1.

Incredible stuff really. It's now just 90 minutes to Dublin Airport given the m50 moves well.

If I cast my mind back to getting the Rapid Express buses in the 80s from Tara Street .... one night, it took 4 and a half hours

We have progressed !

Miss Dymph

rude awakening wrote: »

Does anyone know when or If the bus's are going to start running on the motorway or will they stick to the regular route?

No as far as I know they will just stick to the regular route because it still has to serve the smaller towns, would have to be a huge huge demand like an airport run from waterford direct but cant see them doing that anytime soon really.

uoluol

Brilliant.... Saturday evening did Waterford Airport to Dundalk, cruise control 130 km ish - 2 hours 15 mins.:D

mickger844posts

Richie Cranium wrote: »

I drove it today,i timed it from the Grannagh roundabout to the red cow and it took me 01:13:42 yes that's 1 hour and 13 minutes

It took 11 minutes to the Thomastown exit,and 15 minutes to the Kilkenny exit,and just 30 minutes to the Carlow exit.

What speed were you travelling at Rich?

Chris P. Bacon

mickger844posts wrote: »

What speed were you travelling at Rich?

The slowest i done was 120 and the fastest i think was around the 190-200,i didn't time it coming back but i think it was done in about an hour..

mickger844posts

Richie Cranium wrote: »

The slowest i done was 120 and the fastest i think was around the 190-200,i didn't time it coming back but i think it was done in about an hour..

Was thinking you were hitting those speeds as it normally took me about 30 mins to KK town before the new section opened.

Chris P. Bacon

mickger844posts wrote: »

Was thinking you were hitting those speeds as it normally took me about 30 mins to KK town before the new section opened.

To be honest i dont usually drive that fast.

mickger844posts

Richie Cranium wrote: »

To be honest i dont usually drive that fast,but i had it on cruise control at 150 most of the way,and its hard not to speed when there is an open road in front..

Yeah its hard not to speed but i try not to hit more than 130. Will probably take a trip to Carlow tomorrow and see how long it takes me travelling at 120kmph.

Mysterious&Shy

Richie Cranium wrote: »

The slowest i done was 120 and the fastest i think was around the 190-200,i didn't time it coming back but i think it was done in about an hour..

OMG! Is that not a bit wreckless?

Chris P. Bacon

Mysterious&Shy wrote: »

OMG! Is that not a bit wreckless?

Yeah it was a bit wreckless,but as i said i dont usually drive at those speeds.

honeybadger

on good roads like them its hard to keep to the speed limits

Musicman2000

Untill you end up burried in a ditch or field:rolleyes:

honeybadger

and then you know your after going too fast init
and before u add senseible speed and wreckless speed are 2 different tings