N86 - Tralee to Dingle [advance works ongoing for Phase 3]

Took a spin back the N86 today and serious earthworks being done on both sections.

It's looking like, weather or extreme weather allowing, these both sections will be ready to go for the summer 2018 season.

The section between Lispole and Ballynasare will be a breath of fresh air compared to what's there at the minute - serious improvements

lottpaul wrote: »

Very true. Should have posted myself to keep people up to speed.
Lots of truck movements between the 2 sites - full from Camp to Lispole - to build up an embankment below Garrynadur. Very noticable is the great view from outside the pub in Garry looking east. The trees that blocked everything have gone and it will be a great sweep of scenery when the new road opens. Traffic lights in operation some days but they don't cause too many delays and for the last week there has been an extra set at the hairpin bend just before Ballinclare graveyard. Seems to be work on reinforcing a bridge?
They have surely caught up on any time lost earlier in the year and would seem to be well on schedule.

Yeah the work on the 2nd hairpin seems to be on one of the bridge walls.

It'll be an incredible and infinitely more safer view to traffic when the Lispole section opens. The difference in the road will be astounding and will hopefully generate even more interest in getting the rest of the scheme done when the public see what a difference it makes.

On another note, I'm surprised there's no work being done east of Camp, there's a few hairy bits between Camp and Blenerville.

Of course, Kerry CoCo and TII should also be examining the possibility of extending the Tralee bypass around to meet the N86. It'd be very useful given traffic volumes in the summer and how cramped the road is from the end of the bypass to Blennerville.

Stop go system now on the easterly end of the Lispole-Ballynasare section, from the east end of the scheme to the Ballynasare road turnoff. Half the road is now gone hence the road being down to one lane. Seems to be plenty of progress along that section.

The earthworks are continuing on the Camp section with no major noticeable difference. The great thing about this part is that there's a lovely view from the short section here that's going to be bypassed, so it could make a great parking layby now that the traffic will be on the offline element here.

EDIT: Stop go system at Ballynasare is in place til 29 September, for your information.

Westbound traffic was left on the new road westbound by the Ballynasare turnoff for the Bank Holiday weekend. No stop go system in place, most of the work is done at that section.

Has a house been CPOd on the left going towards Annascaul just after Lispole, they have quite a tight area to work with from Lispole to the new offline section before the Banogue hairpin.

The Camp section looks to have earthworks done in places as above, they have it fairly well planned out as the western section ties directly into the bridge whereas the current road meets it at an angle.

lottpaul wrote: »

First house on the left just past entrance to Lispole school was CPO and has been vacant for a while. Rumours of its imminent demolition float around every month or so. No sign of it happening yet, but it is due to go.

As a separate question someone might know what is the significance of the different colours on wooden stakes in the planning stages of road schemes?
I have seen ones painted with red, yellow and blue tips. The reason I ask is that there is now a section of road leading up to Lispole bridge with lines of blue stakes on either side - some in peoples front gardens, some in fields. They seem to continue for a couple of 100m on the Dingle side of the bridge. Not part of the current scheme I know but wondered are they part of the pre-planning for the next stage?

Interesting, was wondering when it would go given the heavy work in the area.

There is land valuation ongoing along the rest of the route Dingle-Lispole, Ballynasare-Annascaul, Gortbreagoge-Ballygarret & Camp-R560 junction, which may explain the stakes you are on about.

lottpaul wrote: »

Announcement on Raidio na G lunchtime news that temporary traffic signals will be in place from O'Sullivans pub in Garrynadur to the village of Lispole -- I presume somewhere near Dorgans garage - beginning on Monday next, October 2nd. This is to allow the widening of that section of the N86. Thought I heard him say too that the lights at Ballynasare will be gone and advising drivers to take care on the temporary road surface etc. Will listen again at 5 and change if need be.

Nice one, pace is slower back there

I've a few pics taken I'll throw them up later. Not the best but a drone is your only man for this scheme

Had a look again today, absolutely unbelievable day for that part of the world weather wise.

Camp-Ballygarret: Very little progress since from the road, perhaps work being done on the offline section. There is some aggregate that they are getting ready to lay down so we may see some traffic management as they begin to disassemble the existing road before Christmas.

Lispole-Ballynasare: The eastern part of the offline section is now ready for tarmac, and they have got a 2nd precast concrete structure further up the hill towards Garrynadur. At a guess, the eastern offline section will be opened and traffic will be diverted onto it, then off the eastern section where it meets the existing N86 just before the hairpin, to allow them to build up the part where the new N86 will cross the old N86. The online section between Garrynadur through Kate's Cross back to Lispole has seen incredible work in the last 2 weeks with all the earthworks done. I'd expect traffic management along there in the next few weeks as they begin to lay the new sections and take apart the old road.

Still on target for April or perhaps slightly earlier, depending on what work is required for the remaining online sections and of course weather dependent.

Going into the future for a second.

€4m has been allocated for the remainder of the scheme (the parts not started yet) in 2018. This is a huge amount of money and brilliant to see

By the looks of the allocations, it seems that next up will be the remainder of the road from Lispole to Annascaul and from the end of the 2012 upgrade east of Annascaul to Camp.

Delightful

Not much has changed since last post on the topic. No traffic management at the East/West sites today.

At the 2 sites requiring traffic management, Kates Cross-Lispole and the entire eastern section, everything is ready to go for them to start digging the existing road up. It seems they are holding off until everything else is ready before closing a lane, which is good to see.

The offline section closest to Garrynadur now has tarmac down, the existing road is yet to close where the slip road has been built. I would imagine they will hold off on closing the existing N86 for as long as possible because as said before by lottpaul, the new temporary access road is incredibly steep and could prove tricky in poor weather, especially if an ambulance had to head to Dingle and got stuck on the sliproad.

Looks like the Banogue hairpin is gone.. must take a look at the weekend

Things have moved on quite a lot in the last 2 weeks.

At Camp, there is a single lane of the new alignment open over a distance of about 700m. The old road has been closed off and removed in places, and only the western section remains intact.

Back at Ballynasare, the section east of the N86 crossing is as it was before. West of there, the Banogue hairpin has been closed to through traffic, with traffic now diverted up the hill before where the new road crosses the old N86, parallel to the new road for some distance before joining the new alignment half way up the hill. The new alignment continues as far as Kate's Cross where traffic is down to one lane as traffic is diverted onto approx 400m of single lane new alignment

The old road is as is until the Banogue junction coming from Lispole. The road is being blocked here and the old road beyond here is being used for storing construction material. I'd imagine it'll remain as is until the job is finished and the old road closed off at the Banogue hairpin itself.

I have included a fairly crude drawing using Google maps as to the current layout

N86 upgrade: Camp

At the Camp works, the easternmost part of this scheme just heading out of Camp is currently under construction with the road down to one lane and traffic lights for around 300m, where half of the road has been excavated. Beyond this, there is now around 600m of new road down with tarmac, which is a lot straighter than the old part. The westernmost part is not as advanced with earthworks continuing

At Ballynasare, I've decided to attach a crude image dividing the works into sections

1. This section is currently as is with earthworks continuing at the roadside, the road remains untouched
2. This section is now realigned with 2 lanes fully open to traffic, with another layer of tarmac to go down
3. This section remains as is with work ongoing at the side of the road
4. Section 4 is part of the new offline section and is now open to traffic. Halfway down the new section the new alignment diverts off to the left and traffic rejoins the existing N86 via the slip road marked in green.
5. This part of the offline section is still less advanced as they are only now building up the embankment across the now disused N86, which will take some time.
6. This section is now tarmaced between its interface with the N86 at the beginning of section 7 and a culvert at the divide between 5 and 6
7. This section is tarmaced and open to traffic with a 50km/h limit and no overtaking (as per the rest of the road but this is the most advanced section).



On another note, the surface of the N86 between the end of the Camp works and the Maumnaholtora turn off near the old Gleann na nGealt railway halt is now almost at the stage of being dangerous. The road is woefully torn up and is liable to hold water. I hope this realignment section is progressed soon as it won't last much longer. The only planned resurfacing on the N86 this year is a short section east of Camp (east!!).

According to tomorrow's Examiner, the rest of the N86 upgrade (some 24km worth) is in the Capital Plan.

Delightful if true.