N25/N30 - New Ross Bypass [open to traffic]

Chris_5339762

Waterford is Type 1. No need for New Ross to be anything more than Type 2 with one GSJ for the town. The N25 doesn't carry enough traffic for full grade separation along its length, even though we'd love it.

The bridge, as far as I can remember, will be an Extrados style.

man98

Imho the bridge is way too Celtic Tigeresque.

mackerski

man98 wrote: »

Imho the bridge is way too Celtic Tigeresque.

Maybe they had an economist design it.

Subpopulus

My understanding is that because the bridge is so large and prominent, that it was designed as an extradosed bridge to improve it's aesthetic appearance. One reason that extradosed bridges aren't built more often is because they're materially wasteful compared to the alternatives like box girder bridges.

The options for the Barrow bridge would have been a box-girder type viaduct (like the Fermoy Viaduct or the Foyle Bridge), or a cable-stayed bridge (like the Suir or Boyne Bridges). The extradosed bridge offers something in the middle, but prettier than a box girder bridge and cheaper than a cable-stayed bridge.

The River Erne Bridge on the Belturbet bypass was built with an extradosed form for this reason.

The importance of providing an elegant structure with aesthetically pleasing geometry whilst minimising the visual impact on the surrounding landscape was a key principle during the conception and development of the bridge.

http://www.rod.ie/river-erne-bridge-ireland/

Geogregor

Are there any renders of the bridge available?

Chris_5339762

man98 wrote: »

Imho the bridge is way too Celtic Tigeresque.

Without a doubt... its bigger and grander than the Waterford bridge which is overkill in itself.

That said, build either of them as S2 and it just wouldn't be enough. D2 is over the top, but far, far more sensible than S2.

man98

This bridge is far longer than the Erne Bridge though. 1,200 metres is unnecessary in itself.

L1011

At this stage, the cost of redesign works and a new planning application could easily be more than any savings from a simpler bridge - if such a design could even be found. Its a LONG bridge and it needs to give a certain clearance due to the small amount of remaining activity in New Ross port so you're already rather constrained in terms of design.

antoobrien

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Without a doubt... its bigger and grander than the Waterford bridge which is overkill in itself.

Doesn't the bridge have to be high enough to clear the navigation channel underneath?

Chris_5339762

The old documents say something like 36m high for the deck. It'll be a huge bridge. Definitely Irelands longest (by some margin) and probably, when its done, the most impressive.

Chris_5339762

By the way.. I've never seen a proper render of this bridge... the only one I've found is a crude drawing on the front of the EIS from 2007.

Carawaystick

The Pont de Cheviré over the Loire in Nantes France, is 1.5km long and 52 m high
has 3 lanes up each side and 2 down.
Its a beam construction.

From the drawing above this, the road could drop into the valley, before climbing up over the bridge, but I'm not sure of the south side. As I remember it the south side of the Barrow is very steep, with cliffs beside the old Ross-Glenmore road along the bank.

allthedoyles

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

'

I hope we have a NewRoss-er on these forums to take photos of its construction!

have the camera .............hope to get the shots

allthedoyles

L1011

That's the Waterford bridge...

blindsider

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/news/217m-bypass-will-be-toll-free-kehoe-30847008.html

No toll.

Work starts mid 2015 - Enniscorthy to start late 2015

A consortium of Dutch-firm BAM PPP, PGGM and Iridium has been chosen as preferred tender for the project, with work due to begin in mid-2015.

Over 300 men will be employed working on the 13.6km of dual carriageway (N25 and N30 routes) - and 1.2km of single carriageway - New Ross N30 route, and on the new bridge at Pink Rock which will be the biggest in Ireland.

The construction work will be undertaken by a BAM Civil and Dragados joint venture, with hopes that some local contracting firms will be employed throughout the two to three year construction period.

The road will bypass the town of New Ross on the N25 route and link the N25 with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy road.

Minister Kehoe said the bypass will remove a major bottleneck on the N25 route for traffic coming from Cork and Wexford.

The National Roads Authority has indicated its intention to use the European Investment Bank's Project Bond Credit Enhancement product as the financing scheme that BAM Iridium will use for the project.

BAM PPP is an operating company of Royal BAM Group, and is responsible for Royal BAM Group's involvement in the public-private partnership (PPP) market. PGGM is a co-operative Dutch pension fund service provider.

The work will involve a bridge over the River Barrow, a railway bridge at Glenmore, dual and single carriageway stretches of road and three roundabouts.

'It's one of the biggest single infrastructure projects ever undertaken in County Wexford. The Enniscorthy bypass is expected to have a preferred tender in place by early 2015, with construction to begin by the end of next year,'

Geogregor

That looks like a great news!
When are they going to sign contracts?
Does it include design stage (like M17/M18) or is it going straight into construction phase?

Nothing more about the bridge? Any drawings available, or is it still secret?

Chris_5339762

allthedoyles wrote: »

Just to give an idea... the total length of this Waterford bypass bridge is 465m. The New Ross one will be the bones of three times as long.

Geogregor

I have questions about the Irish tendering procedures.

In Poland after choosing preferred bidder there is 30 days for competitors to fill official complains.
If there is a complain the Road Authority can accept it and choose other bidder or reject the protest.
If there are no complains there is 30 days for control of the tender by the National Procurement Agency (a public body which has to check and approve any large tender in the country)
Then there is contract signing and finally contractor gets access to the site.
That's if I remember correctly.

How does it look in Ireland?
When can we realistically expect any movement on the ground. In the article there is mention of "mid 2015" but it is a bit vague.
Do you have any strict time limits in such tendering processes?
Were there any other bidders?
Can they protest and delay the whole thing?

EDIT:
On page 14 of this document:
http://www.eib.org/infocentre/register/all/52323257.pdf

I found this info:

The Barrow Bridge will be an Extrados [sic!] Type Bridge and is illustrated in Figure 2 below. Tree of the bridge piers will extend through the bridge deck, with the centre pier extending approximately 25m above the bridge deck and the two side piers extending approximately 15m above the bridge deck.Inclined stay cables will link these three piers to the centre of the bridge deck. The overall length of the bridge is approximately 900m with the two main central spans approximately 230m in length. The vertical alignment for the Barrow Bridge allows a 36m clearance envelope above Mean High Water Spring (MHWS) for navigation of the river.

It looks like interesting design. I haven't yet seen a bridge with different height of the towers. It seems that the tallest one will have about 65m (40m to the deck and 25m above), two lower ones about 55m

Carawaystick

I think there's a less formal process here,
There's no formal objection process, but loosing tenderers can get a decision judicially reviewed, if they believed there was good reason the preferred tender was wrongly chosen. This is rare, but has happened 2 or 3 times over the road building schemes during the boom.

I presume the NRA tentatively scope out the tendering company before awarding the tender( formally as must have points in the tender) and informally like sussing out if the winner will be able to get finance, manage the project etc.

And then formally scope out the winner before signing contracts.



But ending with an at grade Roundabout at Glenmore??

Geogregor

So, any hints when they can sign the contract?
Hopefully they won't repeat the M17/M18 saga where it took months to sign the deal.

I'm also surprised with at grade roundabouts on both ends of the scheme.

Carawaystick

I'd say there's a bit of horsetrading from both sides, the govt might not have its finance lined up completely either, and might drag out contract negotiations.

It's not so much the signing the deal with the m17/18
Its the starting actually work

I suppose the at grade roundabouts are a cheap form of traffic calming
the one at Cloch is annoying, but I've never been held up too much there, 2 vehicles (5 seconds) at worst

Geogregor

I'm surprised however that they are planning grade separated junction with a minor road (R733 if I remember) but just roundabouts on much busier tie-ins with the old route.

Chris_5339762

The GSJ will be considered the main access to New Ross, so gets one. The other two are just tie-ins and will probably only cater for through traffic really.

Also you don't want traffic coming off a 2+2 onto the old N25 REALLY.

hi5

Geogregor wrote: »

So, any hints when they can sign the contract?
Hopefully they won't repeat the M17/M18 saga where it took months to sign the deal.

I'm also surprised with at grade roundabouts on both ends of the scheme.

It's an EU bank funded scheme, its approved and will need to be signed next.
If we get the same hold up as the M17/18, then I'd say 2016 before a sod is turned.

http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/index.htm?start=&end=&status=&region=&country=ireland&sector=

spacetweek

hi5 wrote: »

If we get the same hold up as the M17/18, then I'd say 2016 before a sod is turned.

We bloody better not!

It's possible that the Waterford-Glenmore HQDC will grade separate the New Ross roundabout at Glenmore. So the Glenmore roundabout is only a placeholder.

sonnyblack

spacetweek wrote: »

We bloody better not!

It's possible that the Waterford-Glenmore HQDC will grade separate the New Ross roundabout at Glenmore. So the Glenmore roundabout is only a placeholder.

Anybody Heard that BAM are now the preferred tenderer for this project? Just a rumor. don't have any source info.

Wonder when it will start.

Chris_5339762

Waterford - Glenmore (connecting Waterford and New Ross bypasses) isn't going anywhere as far as I know. Suspended, and nowhere near tender stage.

PoolDude

BAM are preferred bidder for New Ross Bypass not Waterford - Glenmore:

MINISTER PAUL KEHOE TD has welcomed the announcement of BAM PPP PGGM and Iridium consortium as preferred tenderers for the new €217 million New Ross bypass that will create 300 construction jobs.

Speaking on the announcement of the preferred tenderer this morning, Minister Kehoe said;

“I welcome the announcement of the preferred tenderer for the completion of what is one of the biggest single infrastructure projects ever undertaken in County Wexford with a 13.6KM stretch of dual carriageway and 1.2KM of single carriageway – that will make up the new bypass. I want to wish BAM PPP PGGM and Dragados all the best with the project that will commence shortly.

“This project will create 300 jobs during its construction and on completion the new road will bypass New Ross on the N25 route and link the N25 with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy road. The new bypass will remove a major bottleneck on the N25 route and improve access to County Wexford and Rosslare from Cork and Waterford”.

L1011

PoolDude wrote: »

BAM are preferred bidder for New Ross Bypass not Waterford - Glenmore:

Nobody said they were...