M28 - Cork to Ringaskiddy [under construction; 2028 completion]

sonnyblack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124128345#Comment_124128345

See image below. I think the greenway approaches from the Janeville Estate to the south on the original railway alignment and goes under the existing brick bridge on the Rock road. It cant go much further on the original alignment because it was obliterated by Raffeen Quarry. It turns northwards and piggybacks beside the Rock Road for a while before going under the the new M28 in a widened underpass. It then goes over to the current Ringaskiddy road turns east on on down to the turnoff for Raffeen. That's my understanding anyway

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124128762#Comment_124128762

Your understanding matches mine exactly. I think the underpass under the M28 is very narrow or it was in the original drawings at least, I think 3m. Hopefully they'll fix that.

jimbob955

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124128762#Comment_124128762

thanks very much for the info. Where did you get this detail?

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124129804#Comment_124129804

M28 documentation

Hibernicis

Exiting the N28 N yesterday onto the Carr's hilll slip I had to stop at traffic control to allow this train of dumpers coming off the site of the Carr's hill interchange and heading across the slip road towards the deep cut. Fascinating to watch earth works on this scale.

DylanQuestion

TII told me in an email the other day that the signage on the city side of the N28 has reached end of life and is being replaced. Interestingly, they said "Cork N27" is going to be swapped out for "Cork (Centre) N27"

spacetweek

The newsletter was out on Friday and there are some great pictures of earthworks taking place along the existing route at the north end of the scheme.

https://mailchi.mp/1596108fc1d6/m28-progress-update-june-17583083

Aontachtoir

I drove along the route earlier today. Great progress visible even since the Christmas break. The shape of the road as it comes down to the Shannonpark roundabout is starting to become clear - they must have moved a huge amount of earth in the last few weeks. It will be quite a dominating structure for a relatively enclosed-feeling area. Separately, the Ringaskiddy bypass section looks nearly finished. Signs are up along the side of the road, just need to put some lines on it and they would be good to go!

Looking forward to them starting the Maryborough link road, which seems mostly cleared. Also, the new bridges for the housing estates down by Castletreasure are very impressive for a residential development - I wonder how far the section of the Ballybrack greenway that is supposed to be built with the M28 is going to go under them. Will it be closed off for years until the council finish the last 20 metres I wonder.

Mr.CoolGuy

Google Maps updated for me this morning, and it seems to be very recent.

The full length of the road is now clearly visible

Hibernicis

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV9bNUqUWwQ

Long awaited update from Dronehawk !!

DylanQuestion

I think I discussed this before, but it's interesting that they're keeping both N28 and M28. I also haven't seen the below signs being used in Cork before

marno21

The bottom sign is used on the M8 northbound approaching the Watergrasshill exit. It’s not used in any other sense near the city due to the lack of motorways apart from the M8.

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219313#Comment_124219313

Ringaskiddy is the terminus of National Road 28, and the last section of that is not under motorway restrictions, so what else would you expect to see on the sign? There are also not two N28s. The label on the sign for the straight-ahead roundabout exit simply means “N28, to CORK (via M28)”.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219762#Comment_124219762

I checked a few similar cases around the country and there is no consistency to how its signed in a situation like this

At Kill, N7 J8 westbound (becomes M7 at the following junction), it signposted N7 Limerick

At Shannon, N18 J8 northbound (becomes M18 at the following junction), its signposted as (M18) Galway

At Mulhuddart, N3 J3 northbound (becomes M3 at the following junction), its signposted as N3 Cavan (M3)

DylanQuestion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219762#Comment_124219762

I didn't know that the Rinaskiddy end was not under motorway restriction, which is why I was confused. When people said that section was protected, I assumed that meant it would have motorway restrictions. I had asked a City Councillor about this before and they had told me that the whole road would be M28, so I was unsure

Aontachtoir

Lovely from DroneHawk. Lots of change at Shannonpark but very little elsewhere on the M28 it seems.

Separately, I didn’t appreciate the width of that strip of land along the west edge of the M28 course between Maryborough and the Rochestown Road (carrying on from the soon-to-be-closed ramp). Who will own that land once the project is done? It seems an ideal place to put down a greenway (potentially connecting all the way out to Carrigaline), or given the current government, a road link with a cycle track between the top of the Hill and the Rochestown Road.

DylanQuestion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219983#Comment_124219983

This land? The M28 will split around the Maryborough Hill bridge. The existing alignment will be for eastbound traffic going to Bloomfield, and the land above will be for a new westbound carriageway/bridge to Bloomfield. This means cars heading to the N40 from Carr's Hill will choose their Bloomfield lanes at a different point to the cars comign from the Rochestown Road. The aim is to reduce collisions at Bloomfield from all of the changing, and I assume to reduce the amount of people braking waiting to get into their lane

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219912#Comment_124219912

”Protected Road” is a more flexible regulation for use where motorway regulations would be confusing to drivers: for instance, on single carriageway roads like this one. A protected road is one that is allowed to be used only by certain kinds of traffic. The exact types of traffic (and other limitations) are set on a case-by-case basis, but on this one, I believe that there are no pedestrians, cyclists or animals allowed, but unlike a motorway, there is no minimum speed limit.

This is different from a motorway, which always has a fixed set of restrictions (no pedestrians, no cyclists, no animals, no vehicles under 50 km/h).

The ability to designate protected roads has been around since the 1993 Roads Act.

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219905#Comment_124219905

Yes it’s inconsistent - “Nx (Mx)” is technically correct, but adds visual clutter . Logically, this doesn’t matter much, as the signs are correct in saying “Follow this road to get to this place”, and the Motorway restriction is later. As long as there’s a way to leave N28 before the motorway begins, the sign is okay, and with M28 there is. The sign at M7 J8 Kill you mention, is I assume, the one here (Naas Rd - Google Maps):

This pre-dates the opening of M8 and M9 (my screenshot above is from 2009), and should really have been updated, either with the destination text on a blue patch, or at least with (M7) (M8) (M9) after them on blue patches, and ”M8 - M9” should be instead of ”N8 - N9”, but honestly, it would mean spending a lot of money for very little benefit. The next sign along at J9 has a blue background on the mainline, which is correct, as at that point if you’re still in those lines you will end up on a motorway, so there’s plenty of warning to allow prohibited drivers to leave.

Aontachtoir

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124220007#Comment_124220007

Yes, that land exactly (which I think is the Mulcon Valley that was beloved of the M28 Steering Group). Part of it will go to the diverge, yes, but going off the maps there is still a fair chunk of land left adjacent to the new road that would still be in State hands after the M28 opens. Who will actually own it then? TII? The NTA? The Council?

It would be nice to do something useful with it that would increase permeability of the area for active travel, especially given the near-absence of any upgrades for walking or cycling that are going with the M28. I always loved driving that stretch of road with the trees, but I would much rather be able to walk through them than fly past in the car.

DylanQuestion

^ Ah, I'm actually not sure. I could see a greenway being resisted that close to the houses, but it would be a great connection from Maryborough Hill to Rochestown Road

New traffic cameras on the N28

https://m28.ie/traffic-locations/

LLewellen Farquarson

Looks like the drone hawk videos may be no more https://youtu.be/T5K7SRQNgdk?si=jVprJIhZ8ghjfnXg

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124228828#Comment_124228828

I’m split on this: there are far too many idiot drone users, modern drones are able to fly higher, and drones are becoming a much more frequent source of disruption around airports, but that does mean the responsible operators like DH have their life made more difficult. As long as there are morons who think it’s all about getting a cool shot, and don’t consider the risks they’re posing to general aviation, we have to have these rules. I know DroneHawk is not one of these people, but you need zero training to operate a drone, and there’s loads of lads out there who get these things don’t think about what they’re actually doing.

Some cause for hope is that the construction videos from DroneHawk appear to be paid for or supported by the contractors (many of them appear in official communications), and these are a very effective way of fulfilling the public engagement requirements of the contracts, so it should not be difficult for them to get the relevant permissions.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124228971#Comment_124228971

It seems clear that a licensing/registering system like a slimmed down version of what's used in commercial aviation would be ideal for "more than hobbyist" users like DroneHawk.