N56 - Cloughbolie to Meenacarn Type 3 SC

Sponge Bob

The N56 Type 3 SC Project ( or Tourist Route ) has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum but Donegal County Council have extracted a single 4.5km stretch for early progression in 2011. Here.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,580457,904594,4,10

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/roadstransport/majorprojects/Dungloe-Glenties.htm

The Council are also exploring the possibility of starting construction on a part of this project in 2011, subject to planning and land acquisition. The section under consideration is 4.5km long and stretches from Cloughbolie to Meenacarn. Some preliminary discussions have taken place with landowners on this section with more detailed discussions to follow in the coming months.

Next Steps
After the preliminary design has been refined the design will be issued to the environmental consultants for assessment and recommendations as to mitigation measures. This will be followed by a final refinement to incorporate these mitigation measures into the design. An Environmental (Impact) Statement and Compulsory Purchase Order will then be prepared and, subject to the relevant approvals, will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála for their consideration.
In relation to the proposed 2011 construction area it is planned to submit a Part 8 planning application for consideration at the Council meeting in May 2011.

That would be 4.5km out of an overall project intended to be 30km long

http://www.ga.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN155937

Tech3

Still a start, now any project like this I would be happy with to proceed with given the brutal road it will replace. It is an awful section of national secondary road with a series of humps and serious bends but the 4.5km project will not reach the Gweebarra bends I presume. We could be waiting another 10 years to realign that section.

L1011

DCC never answered my email asking if it is intended to bypass Glenties in this entire scheme - the southern terminus is the R262 turnoff south of Glenties; and Glenties itself can be the cause of comparatively (for a rural national secondary) quite long delays. Not to mention the 20/30min delays when there's a festival/market/parade/what have you on the main street, which happens on a lot of high tourist traffic weekends.

North of the proposed 2011-start bit towards Dungloe has had some recently completed realignments as is.

L1011

An even smaller section of this (3.3km) has been awarded now (thanks to I&P for his update, otherwise I'd not have noticed)

The EIS for the lower bit from outside Lettermacaward to Glenties was published last month it seems, includes some rough maps which show how far offline and over how steep terrain the section along the Gweebarra River will have to be:

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/NR/rdonlyres/6C382283-B77D-48D0-A124-C2A8EB3DF77A/0/NonTechnicalSummaryFinal_111209withFigsopt.pdf

It will not bypass Glenties

Stonewolf

Tech3 wrote: »

Still a start, now any project like this I would be happy with to proceed with given the brutal road it will replace. It is an awful section of national secondary road with a series of humps and serious bends but the 4.5km project will not reach the Gweebarra bends I presume. We could be waiting another 10 years to realign that section.

The road from Maas to the Gweebarra bridge is one of my favourite in the country, it's actually a lovely drive when the council haven't ruined it with that woeful tar and chips rubbish they're so fond of. If the purpose is to make a road for tourists then leaving the bends in would be better than blithely bulldozing it straight.

L1011

From Maas to Gweebarra won't be straight (the map is in the PDF I linked to), just moved inland and have the number of bends reduced; but believe me, tourists very nearly soil themselves driving along there as it stands.

munchkin_utd

MYOB wrote: »

From Maas to Gweebarra won't be straight (the map is in the PDF I linked to), just moved inland and have the number of bends reduced; but believe me, tourists very nearly soil themselves driving along there as it stands.

sweet mother of god you are right.
They are some savage bends and you'd be hard pressed to find worse on the National road network.

Good job the council put up a 100kmh sign to warn you of the extreme severity of the section coming up in case you decided to break the limit on that section (that you'd be hard pressed to do 15kmh on the 180degree tight horseshoe bends)
http://maps.google.de/maps?q=Meenacarn+donegal&hl=de&ll=54.876384,-8.309526&spn=0.019876,0.055747&sll=54.536223,-8.125076&sspn=0.320698,0.891953&hnear=Meenacarn,+County+Donegal,+Irland&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=54.876287,-8.30946&panoid=w9okOi-TfCHs7FqrmBMSCg&cbp=12,328.75,,1,0.14

because we all know that its really useful to remind people that the limit is 100kmh when approaching a section of road that only a helicopter could achieve that speed.

EDIT: either way, a perfect example of the sections of national secondary road that a little money spent creates a massive safety benefit

L1011

When it was NSL, there used to be an NSL repeater *on* the second bend around the corner there also.

There is currently one safe overtaking opportunity for about ten km, and if you happen to be caught behind a non-local, you're not getting past unless the single chance is free. And its not particularly large either:

http://maps.google.de/maps?q=Meenacarn+donegal&hl=de&ll=54.876384,-8.309526&spn=0.019876,0.055747&sll=54.536223,-8.125076&sspn=0.320698,0.891953&hnear=Meenacarn,+County+Donegal,+Irland&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=54.876287,-8.30946&panoid=w9okOi-TfCHs7FqrmBMSCg&cbp=12,328.75,,1,0.14

L1011

This SHOULD be well under construction by now as a tender was awarded in January - I've just not been up home by car since then (flown)

The CPO for Lettermacaward-Kilraine - the Gweebarra bends - is in with ABP and actually has an expected approval date of tomorrow:

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/KA0021.htm

spacetweek

In fairness I think most of the bends are due to the steep inclines and not because the roads started off with wandering wagons. So you couldn't really remove most of them. Just widen the road.

L1011

spacetweek wrote: »

In fairness I think most of the bends are due to the steep inclines and not because the roads started off with wandering wagons. So you couldn't really remove most of them. Just widen the road.

If you look at the EIS, they are removing most of them. God only knows what the cost is going to be.

The road is going further up the hill and is even going to have a long straight along the river bank.

L1011

EIS application for the Gweebarra Bends sction was delayed from expected reply in June, to late August, no "proposed date not available at this time".

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/KA0021.htm

Sponge Bob

Thing to remember about this and the other 'Tourist Route' schemes on the N59/N56 and in Kerry is that they are the only roads that get EU funding ...70% IIRC and that the construction contracts must be awarded by March-June 2013 latest in order that they are substantially underway by end 2013.

Thereafter the funding expires, the funding comes from the Rural Development portion of the Common Agriculture Policy. see > http://2007-2013.eu/policies_agriculture.php

Time is running out for planning related fannyballs TBH.

L1011

Donegal CC have a works department that are capable of doing the works for this (veeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy), would it be possible to fudge around the rules by having them commence and hand over to the proper contractor later if there was a delay?

L1011

CPO approved "with modifications" which I'm trying to figure out from the report. A LOT of objections were received, many of them appear to be from businesses in Lettermacaward who will lose passing trade.

Sponge Bob

CPO??? Sure there is diggers onsite. Are you referring to the Gweebarra Bends - Maas bypass??

L1011

Sponge Bob wrote: »

CPO??? Sure there is diggers onsite. Are you referring to the Gweebarra Bends - Maas bypass??

Yes. I'm too lazy to start a new thread... previous posts have been about that section.

L1011

This is now complete on the ground but doubt there'll be an opening ceremony either until the next section is done, or they resurface the already completed bit... NRA website says its completed, though.

There's nothing wrong with the surface, driving wise - and I was on it during torrential rain after weeks without any so some of the worst conditions possible - but it looks DREADFUL. There's been patching work or something similar done so its in multiple colours, etc.

There are clearance and geotech works underway south of the Gweebarra bridge now, Wills on site. This would appear to be this: http://www.mytenders.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAR406341 rather than construction starting though.