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

Agree that its very difficult to take photos. Only safe spot to park is in front of the pub in Garrynadur and then there's a bit of a walk, with no footpath. The storm is going to throw the cones in the Ballynasare section around like skittles! There could be chaos for a few hours on Monday. There's a very deep excavation at the junction of the new diversion with the old road on the Annascaul side of Ballynasare but it's guarded by those heavier red/white linked sections so it shouldn't be a problem.

Good progress being done since last post given the 2 storms we've encountered.

On the Camp side, on the online section they have aggregate ready to go down and I'd be seeing the first tarmac in the next few weeks, weather dependent. After this, traffic management will be required as they subsume the old road into the new road, so expect traffic lights. The offline section looks a bit behind alright.

Back at Ballynasare, work has started on the cycle paths on the upgraded online section, which now just requires its last layer of tarmac. A precast concrete structure is now in place to bridge the stream that runs between the Ballynasare turnoff and the Banogue hairpin. Earthworks are now well advanced on the section between Kate's Cross and Lispole.

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.

Had a look today - no change at the Camp roadworks

Back west, massive progress has been made. Work is now well advanced on the cycle paths at the eastern online section at Ballynasare. The eastern part of the offline section is now ready for tarmac also.

West of where the new road crosses the existing N86 is where all the work has been done. A new temporary road has been built up the hill towards the offline section approaching the pub at Garrynadur. By the looks of things, the existing N86 will close here soon and traffic will be diverted up the temporary road onto the offline section. At the Garrynadur tie in, traffic is down to one lane as they are constructing the tie in at present. On the western online section, the earthworks are mostly complete and there will be traffic management implemented here as the new road replaces the old one. Very impressive stuff being done at the minute.

I was wrong about how they would close the existing N86, turns out they will divert traffic on the Ballynasare side up the hill, then close the existing road before the hairpin. Only a few more weeks of the hairpin

Yes, I had assumed they would keep the bend for longer and divert traffic across the new bridge -- the new slip road up to Garry seems very steep though and I wouldn't fancy it in icy or very wet weather.
Several (20+) of the little flashing lights used on the top of the cones at the Ballynasare end were stolen sometime last week -- total cost put at between €500-600.

marno21 wrote: »

Only a few more weeks of the hairpin

There'll be many a bus driver/lorry driver pleased they no longer have to drive that hairpin.

Going to be hopefully heading down in a few weeks, will be interesting to see what they've done so far.

Spied this on facebook on the Annascaul Village Page

Still no movement at the Camp section but I can see them starting traffic management shortly to integrate the new and old roads together.

Back west, another major week of works. The eastern end of the offline section is now ready for tarmac but will likely be held off until the rest is done. The slip road from the existing N86 to avoid the hairpin is now nearly finished with tarmac. The tie in for the old road down towards Banogue with the new road up at Garrynadur is also nearly done. There's been major work at the tie in up by O'Sullivans pub also, and west of there is ready for traffic management to build the new road up on the old.

The days of the Banogue hairpin are now almost gone, be interesting to see where they leave it before Xmas

How is the road looking at the moment?

Mc Love wrote: »

How is the road looking at the moment?

Wasn't over east since Monday but at that stage the lights were outside the pub at Garry - with a timing of about 2 mins each way - with single lane working to the old road down to Banoge -- but they were beginning to tie in the new road at that time (11am) so am not sure what has happened since. The section at Ballynasare is 90%+ complete I'd say but still full of cones etc and just needs to be tied into the new road and bridge - which is a bit off yet I'd say.

Thanks for the update Paul - probably be down that way Monday

Had a look behind today.

At Camp, it looks like they are ready to begin laying down the new road on the widened section - there are traffic light signs up now in Camp village.

Back behind, the final layer of tarmac has started going down on the eastern online section at Ballynasare. The cycle paths are being done at the minute as well. The offline section, eastern end is ready for tarmac now but no sign of tarmac yet.

West of the existing N86, the new sliproad looks to be nearly ready for traffic, so the existing N86 will be closed here shortly. The existing N86 has been torn up at O'Sullivans Bar and traffic is now using the tie in to the new road which will be used in future to head down towards Banogue. Lots of work ongoing at the top of the hill by Kate's Cross. Back behind this everything is as before

BelfastVanMan

marno21 wrote: »

Had a look behind today.

At Camp, it looks like they are ready to begin laying down the new road on the widened section - there are traffic light signs up now in Camp village.

Back behind, the final layer of tarmac has started going down on the eastern online section at Ballynasare. The cycle paths are being done at the minute as well. The offline section, eastern end is ready for tarmac now but no sign of tarmac yet.

West of the existing N86, the new sliproad looks to be nearly ready for traffic, so the existing N86 will be closed here shortly. The existing N86 has been torn up at O'Sullivans Bar and traffic is now using the tie in to the new road which will be used in future to head down towards Banogue. Lots of work ongoing at the top of the hill by Kate's Cross. Back behind this everything is as before

Great update Marno, cheers.
Looking forward to hopefully driving the finished sections this time next month....fingere crossed.

Brief interview with a local county councillor (Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald) on Radio na G this morning giving July or August as the expected completion date - or "earlier if the weather stays good". Things are nice and tidy over there at the moment which I presume means work hasn't restarted -- and perhaps just as well with the storms of the last week - no debris to blow around the place etc`

ps.. Radio Kerry announcement that 24 hour traffic control would be re-introduced from today (Thursday) at Lispole and Camp for up to 3 months

lottpaul wrote: »

ps.. Radio Kerry announcement that 24 hour traffic control would be re-introduced from today (Thursday) at Lispole and Camp for up to 3 months

It's only for the night time though afaik

I'm surprised they're saying summer - I would've thought it would be done for April given the progress so far, although there is a lot of work left at the gap in the offline section near the Banogue hairpin

The traffic control at Camp is no surprise, there is as much work done as possible before they start widening the road onto the cleared verges, will be down to 1 lane for some time

Same job back at Lispole, the online widening west of Kate's Cross is ready for the old road to be taken apart and the new one build up.

Thanks for the update lottpaul

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

Great news indeed - it will certainly make the drive a lot easier when finished.

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.

https://www.facebook.com/DingleNews/videos/10156030153143560/

Small clip posted on Dingle News today of part of the new road heading from Annascaul towards Lispole. Haven't been over that way lately and prob won't for another week etc so can't give any first hand account.

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

marno21 wrote: »

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

From the video on the dingle news, it looks like its still there

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

Great update Marno!

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!!).

Agree 100% about the state of the surface from Gleann na Gealt to Skylough - its in a terrible state and with the tourist season beckoning it will just get worse with increased traffic.
The works at Garrynadur seem very sporadic -- travelling east last Wednesday night at about 7.30 we were held for 2 minutes at Lispole school for no obvious reason - not a sign of anyone - but coming home at 10.30 or so work was ongoing under floodlight. I presume it was because traffic was using a pretty soft surface off to the side. There aren't many houses too close to it but the noise and light would be very disruptive if they went on much later than that.
Must have been fun too for the heavy truck I met just leaving Dingle heading to Tralee and expecting to miss all of the works

The last few days have given plenty of rain and the odd heavy hail/sleet shower back here, with more expected. The "ramp" down/up from Garrynadur to Ballynasare is very steep and you'd have to take great care. Have been lucky on the days I used it and only had rain and wind to deal with.

lottpaul wrote: »

Agree 100% about the state of the surface from Gleann na Gealt to Skylough - its in a terrible state and with the tourist season beckoning it will just get worse with increased traffic.

It's bad at the best times, I can only imagine what it's like with all the construction traffic using it daily

I see AA Roadwatch and Radio Kerry reporting dangerous conditions between Lispole and Annascaul this morning. I can't imagine going up that hill being much fun in this weather

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

Delightful if true.