N4 - Collooney to Castlebaldwin [open to traffic]

BelfastVanMan

FredFunk wrote: »

Sorry, new to this thread, will the scheme bypass Castlebaldwin?

Yes, it will. :-)

FredFunk

BelfastVanMan wrote: »

Yes, it will. :-)

Thanks, that will a nice flow from Carrick onwards then.

BelfastVanMan

FredFunk wrote: »

BelfastVanMan wrote: »

Yes, it will. :-)

Thanks, that will a nice flow from Carrick onwards then.

Absolutely. Be good when Carrick gets bypassed eventually..

Donegal Storm

Good to see this progressing, are there any plans to bypass Carrick or Newtonforbes in the pipeline?

They're the two main issues with the N4 once this scheme is built. There's also a tiny village with a zebra crossing who's name I forget, not a big bottleneck but a bit ridiculous that one of the main primary routes in the country has to give way to pedestrians

Redsoxfan

Donegal Storm wrote:

They're the two main issues with the N4 once this scheme is built. There's also a tiny village with a zebra crossing who's name I forget, not a big bottleneck but a bit ridiculous that one of the main primary routes in the country has to give way to pedestrians

Ballinalack?

L1011

There needs to be significant effort on the N4 and N15 to work against any potential border risks - the existing roads within the state to Donegal are utterly insufficient.

This is the biggest safety risk and will also provide a decent improvement in guaranteed overtaking opportunities. Carrick BP and then schemes in Donegal are the next priorities.

discodaveirl

L1011 wrote: »

There needs to be significant effort on the N4 and N15 to work against any potential border risks - the existing roads within the state to Donegal are utterly insufficient.

This is the biggest safety risk and will also provide a decent improvement in guaranteed overtaking opportunities. Carrick BP and then schemes in Donegal are the next priorities.

Theres about 25 km north of Sligo town thats way more important than Newtown Forbes. Carrick in fairness is a terrible bottleneck and if it wasnt for the expense involved in a crossing of the Shannon would have been completed years ago. Unfortunately our government hasnt the foresight to realise the possible implications of Brexit.. The day after they voted out we should have began planning this...

Donegal Storm

Design & Build tender issued today according to CIS. No mention of start date but presumably still on track for Q4

annfield1978

D&B tender issued a few weeks ago, Tender Consultation Meetings ongoing. Award Stage should be September/ October

Kermit.de.frog

I take it this scheme removes any possibility of an actual motorway between Dublin and Sligo?

pillphil

But Andy from Sligo spent so long drawing that map...

marno21

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

I take it this scheme removes any possibility of an actual motorway between Dublin and Sligo?

Motorway from Dublin to Sligo would never happen due to insufficient traffic volumes. Motorway to Longford and 2+2 thereafter. Sligo is a town with a railway and a 2+2 will more than suffice for cars

Kermit.de.frog

marno21 wrote: »

Motorway from Dublin to Sligo would never happen due to insufficient traffic volumes. Motorway to Longford and 2+2 thereafter. Sligo is a town with a railway and a 2+2 will more than suffice for cars

Is Mullingar up to motorway standard or would it have to be upgraded?

Donegal Storm

Yeah 2+2 would be perfectly fine from Longford on, traffic always noticeably thins out after Longford. Once the Castlebaldwin section is done the N4 will be largely complete from a safe alignment point of view but Mullingar - Longford is increasingly bumper to bumper so definitely needs an upgrade.

I'd argue that a Carrick bypass is the single most urgent project on the N4 but seemingly no real progress being made there, I spent 35 minutes in a 4km tailback into the town last Monday all caused by the mini roundabout by the bridge.

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Is Mullingar up to motorway standard or would it have to be upgraded?

There's a short section from south of Mullingar to Lough Owel thats 100kph DC due to inadequate junctions. I drive it frequently and while it'd be nice to see it upgraded I've never seen any issues with it so would place it well down in the list of priorities

marno21

Donegal Storm wrote: »

Yeah 2+2 would be perfectly fine from Longford on, traffic always noticeably thins out after Longford. Once the Castlebaldwin section is done the N4 will be largely complete from a safe alignment point of view but Mullingar - Longford is increasingly bumper to bumper so definitely needs an upgrade.

Between now and 2027 we are looking at Mullingar-Longford (hopefully Roosky), Carrick-on-Shannon to Dromod and Collooney-Castlebaldwin getting done. All that remains then as SC is Castlebaldwin-Boyle which could be 2+2 retrofitted quite cheaply.

Donegal Storm wrote: »

I'd argue that a Carrick bypass is the single most urgent project on the N4 but seemingly no real progress being made there, I spent 35 minutes in a 4km tailback into the town last Monday all caused by the mini roundabout by the bridge.

Will hopefully go into planning in late 2018/early 2019.

Donegal Storm wrote: »

There's a short section from south of Mullingar to Lough Owel thats 100kph DC due to inadequate junctions. I drive it frequently and while it'd be nice to see it upgraded I've never seen any issues with it so would place it well down in the list of priorities

It would be nice to see this upgraded to motorway quite cheaply as part of the Mullingar-Longford scheme to give continious motorway from Leixlip to Longford. Leixlip-Longford at 120km/h would take around 55 minutes which is a major plus for accessibility to the north west.

marno21

annfield1978 wrote: »

D&B tender issued a few weeks ago, Tender Consultation Meetings ongoing. Award Stage should be September/ October

Quality that. Less than a year for the tender process. If similar happens for the N5 & N22 projects we'll be laughing.

Paddico

Isnt this meant to be started this year?

highwaymaniac

Paddico wrote: »

Isnt this meant to be started this year?

Tenders are back, it should be awarded soon if not allready, I'd say construction will start in earnest Feb/March.

hondar

highwaymaniac wrote: »

Tenders are back, it should be awarded soon if not allready, I'd say construction will start in earnest Feb/March.

July, August earliest.

highwaymaniac

hondar wrote: »

July, August earliest.

Care to elaborate?

hondar

highwaymaniac wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

July until August before construction will start.

highwaymaniac

hondar wrote: »

July until August before construction will start.

I got that bit! Is this an opinion or do you have some more concrete information?

NedNew2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete

(Sorry, couldn't resist it)

spacetweek

The word is that it will start in the next 2 months.

highwaymaniac

spacetweek wrote: »

The word is that it will start in the next 2 months.

That's what I was assuming knowing the reputation of who has won it to hit the ground running.

BelfastVanMan

spacetweek wrote: »

The word is that it will start in the next 2 months.

Happy days.

hondar

spacetweek wrote: »

The word is that it will start in the next 2 months.

The contract will be award in the next 2 months.work won't start tell next year.thats what Sligo County Council are saying.

RedDevil55

Slightly off topic but are there any plans to up the M4 to 3 lanes from Leixlip out to the Maynooth or Kilcock exit?

It would relieve a lot of congestion at peak times and the space is there in the centre for the extra lanes. I think the only problem would be the bridge over the liffey where they would have to use the hard shoulder.

Just looking on Google maps, it is approx 8km to Maynooth and 16km to Kilcock.

L1011

Maynooth exit is planned for the medium term

road_high

hondar wrote: »

The contract will be award in the next 2 months.work won't start tell next year.thats what Sligo County Council are saying.

I must have psssed this well over 12 months ago and swear it all looked fenced off and ready to proceed. I wish infrastructural projects here could just simply “get on with it”. It could be nearly finished if things had started then. Why must we constantly wait wait wait?

highwaymaniac

road_high wrote: »

I must have psssed this well over 12 months ago and swear it all looked fenced off and ready to proceed. I wish infrastructural projects here could just simply “get on with it”. It could be nearly finished if things had started then. Why must we constantly wait wait wait?

Site Investigation, Archaeological advance works, Utility Diversions, Public Procurement, Legal Challenges to name but a few, but still TII should be using Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contracts a lot more.

hondar

road_high wrote: »

I must have psssed this well over 12 months ago and swear it all looked fenced off and ready to proceed. I wish infrastructural projects here could just simply “get on with it”. It could be nearly finished if things had started then. Why must we constantly wait wait wait?

It's been fenced off for a few years.funding was not available.it's not going to start as soon as a lot of people think it will.

Donegal Storm

road_high wrote: »

I must have psssed this well over 12 months ago and swear it all looked fenced off and ready to proceed. I wish infrastructural projects here could just simply “get on with it”. It could be nearly finished if things had started then. Why must we constantly wait wait wait?

Everything seems to move at an absolute snails pace these days, looking back at the 2000-2010 period its amazing what was achieved in road building when you compare it to now.

veryangryman

Saw a sign up last week for Advance notice of road works near Collooney on N4. Is this the long awaited or just some minor sh1te

MayoSalmon

Donegal Storm wrote: »

Everything seems to move at an absolute snails pace these days, looking back at the 2000-2010 period its amazing what was achieved in road building when you compare it to now.

Ireland is the fifth highest indebted sovereign nation in Europe, after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

Cookiemunster

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Ireland is the fifth highest indebted sovereign nation in Europe, after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

People are very quick to forget this. It's as if no lessons were learnt at all in the last decade. Just throwing money at things is what got us into the whole mess in the first place.

marno21

Cookiemunster wrote: »

People are very quick to forget this. It's as if no lessons were learnt at all in the last decade. Just throwing money at things is what got us into the whole mess in the first place.

I would argue the difference between funding infrastructure projects like this with positive cost benefit rations and proven benefits as opposed to consistently throwing money into sinkholes like the extra funding for the HSE next year when it's been repeatedly proven that it won't solve anything

Apart from a minor increase in capital funding next year, most spending increases in the budget were towards the usual social welfare and health measures.

I will totally agree that it's a disgrace that next years budget isn't in surplus but that's not the fault of roadbuilding

Donegal Storm

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Ireland is the fifth highest indebted sovereign nation in Europe, after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

More speaking of the long rambling planning/appeals and procurement processes, it seems to take a monumental effort just to get a project started recently

road_high

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Ireland is the fifth highest indebted sovereign nation in Europe, after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

But still well able to squander multiples of millions on welfare bonuses- it’s the spending priorities and focus that are all wrong. The economy actually generates a healthy tax revenue its what’s being done with it that boggles me

BelfastVanMan

Hardly squandering to the poor folk that need it...many things are just as important.

jhenno78

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Ireland is the fifth highest indebted sovereign nation in Europe, after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

Just not true.

We're 11th at 68.5% of GDP - compared to the EU average of 83.2%
Germany are in 12th at 64%, feckless rogues that they are.

Government borrowing is cheap at the moment, incredibly cheap. Given how politically/ideologically unpopular it is, it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

And as was pointed out, it's borrowing for investment which will yield much more than the cost. Personally I think we're mad to not borrow now to invest in things like infrastructure and education.

NedNew2

jhenno78 wrote: »

Just not true.

We're 11th at 68.5% of GDP - compared to the EU average of 83.2%
Germany are in 12th at 64%, feckless rogues that they are.

Government borrowing is cheap at the moment, incredibly cheap. Given how politically/ideologically unpopular it is, it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

And as was pointed out, it's borrowing for investment which will yield much more than the cost. Personally I think we're mad to not borrow now to invest in things like infrastructure and education.

You cannot rely on GDP figures in Ireland due to the effect of multinationals.

MayoSalmon

Except it is very true. GDP in an Irish context are fairy numbers.

A truer measure is the gross national income (GNI) measure. On this measure, Irelands debt is around 100% making us the fifth highest indebted sovereign in the EU after Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

jhenno78

NedNew2 wrote: »

You cannot rely on GDP figures in Ireland due to the effect of multinationals.

Fair point as a measure of general economic activity, though I would argue that it's all taxable so it's relevant.

Haven't seen recent(since 2011) figures available for debt to GNI and even our GNI will be much higher since then. I might sit down and work them out if I have time.

Either way, the main idea stands. Borrowing for this stuff is worth it and it'll never be cheaper to do.

marno21

Dominic Mullaney of DTTAS spoke recently at an Oireachtas committee and said that this project would be underway by Christmas. It's looking tight but there should be a tender award very, very shortly if that's the case.

Donegal Storm

CIS Ireland reporting that the tender will be awarded "in the coming months" so definitely 2019 before anything happens here. It was given the go ahead by ABP in mid 2014 so almost 5 years from approval to construction for a relatively short and straight forward scheme..

road_high

Donegal Storm wrote: »

CIS Ireland reporting that the tender will be awarded "in the coming months" so definitely 2019 before anything happens here. It was given the go ahead by ABP in mid 2014 so almost 5 years from approval to construction for a relatively short and straight forward scheme..

Chronically slow. Bearing in mind there've been many deaths on this stretch too. As I said I was up there well over a year ago and was all fenced off. It’s crazy it hasn’t progressed to construction in that time- this has been talked about and planned for decades- what hope for all new builds if this is the rate of progress?

HabibiLibnen

This scheme should be starting very shortly, perhaps early February, given all the hints and the fact it has been specified for a 2019 start earlier this year. €23,891,000 allocated to Sligo Co. Co. for this road alone for 2019.

From Sligo Co. Co. website: "The 2019 allocation confirms that the Scheme is going to long awaited construction in the coming year. The Council will, once Cabinet sign-off is received, look to sign the contract for construction early in 2019 to allow for immediate commencement of work."

veryangryman

Still no word on start construction date? For the thread title. All credit to maynooth but can mods encourage it getting its own thread. Sligo section is a long drive from this

marno21

Maynooth posts moved.

Tender for this scheme was to be awarded in Q4 2018 and it was to start before Christmas. This has not happened and there has been no official reason published for this.

Here's what Shane Ross said last week:

The N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin road scheme is one of the major national infrastructure projects included in the NDP for appraisal and delivery. It is required for regional connectivity and to support the ambition for development of the Border region and accessibility to the north west. It forms part of the N4 national primary route from Dublin to Silgo, which is identified as a strategic radial corridor, and also forms part of the TEN-T comprehensive network. This project involves the upgrading of a very substandard narrow section of the N4 to type 2 dual carriageway from the existing N41-N17 Toberbridge roundabout in Collooney, to Cloghoge Lower, south of Castlebaldwin village, a total length of 14.7 km, of which 11.2 km is offline. An Bord Pleanála approved the proposed development of the N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin scheme in 2014. All advance works have been completed and land purchase is 90% complete. Sligo County Council has now received tenders for the main construction contract. Government approval is required prior to the award of the project as it will cost in excess of €100 million. It is expected that a contractor will be appointed early in the new year. There are many expected benefits from the proposed scheme. An improved level of safety will reduce the number of fatalities. Improved conditions for pedestrians and cyclists wishing to access local services will increase their safety on the road and lead to environmental benefits including reduced emissions and improved water quality.

If I were to guess it's something to do with him that's holding it up.