N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [open to traffic]

EnzoScifo · 21-04-2021 10:02pm

martiin wrote: »

Of course they will be demand. Otherwise why is link from Cork to Dublin built? I think it is the same approach as in my town. New road was built and after few months they dig it up to put some extra pipes under. No one think ahead. Unbelievable

Or... they might want people to leave the city and don't come back

Also M8 merging with M7... you can't go to Limerick direction. Well done. Proud to be Irish...

City centre to city centre is no longer the desired link for motorways. They want traffic to be distributed away from the centre via ring roads as it is far more efficient.

They are also redeveloping the docklands with the Tivoli site to become a residential neighbourhood amongst other mixed use sites. There is no appetite for intercity traffic and freight to cross the city centre in any way.

cantalach · 22-04-2021 1:04am

kub wrote: »

I was past that area again today and works have advanced further, it most certainly is not for one of those M40 type signs, they are further East towards the Little Island/ Glounthaune interchange

The Central Reservoir is being built up and is the area directly North of it, a glance south towards Little Island certainly looks to me like it is a road being constructed and a glance north is most definitely the construction of columns of uprights for an overpass

Yes, absolutely. That's what that is. Sorry for the confusion. You threw me by asking what was approx 100m east because that work is more like 650m according to Google Maps. I guess distance is deceptive when moving at speed

KrisW1001 · 22-04-2021 10:00am

martiin wrote: »

Also M8 merging with M7... you can't go to Limerick direction. Well done. Proud to be Irish...

Putting a full interchange at the site of the M8/M7 split would have been stupid, as it would have dragged traffic for N7 westbound on a pointless 10 km detour.

The original plan for this interchange included junctions on both M8 (J2) and M20 (J20) that would have let you go West/South, but this was canned after a local objections. If you look at aerial photos you can guess where it would have gone, especially on M7.

It wouldn't take much work to build it now, but there hasn't been any real demand for it since the road opened. Local traffic already has shorter routes, and anyone going long distance would use N62 between Horse and Jockey and Borris in Ossory anyway.

spacetweek · 22-04-2021 3:00pm

Also you can go M8 J3 Ballacolla - Rathdowney - M7 J21 Borris. Just needs some prominent signage and away you go.

kub · 22-04-2021 11:35pm

cantalach wrote: »

Yes, absolutely. That's what that is. Sorry for the confusion. You threw me by asking what was approx 100m east because that work is more like 650m according to Google Maps. I guess distance is deceptive when moving at speed

My apologies, indeed the distance is indeed deceptive while driving.
And all i was doing was the 60......of course

I was driving up from Halfway today and needed to exit for Ballinhassig, i did indeed notice how quickly that 300 meter sign became 200 and then 100 as i exited at that junction.

AugustusMinimus · 24-04-2021 10:06am

Drove through yesterday. Huge amount of earthworks now on the northeast and southeast of the roundabout. The works directly to the southeast seem to be relatively new?

marno21 · 26-04-2021 8:33pm

Recent drone videos (from the last week or so)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K3SQilrcHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy5Y89yD2q8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eiWsgnpMuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c273YsRM7bw

kravmaga · 28-04-2021 9:04pm

marno21 wrote: »

Recent drone videos (from the last week or so)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K3SQilrcHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy5Y89yD2q8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eiWsgnpMuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c273YsRM7bw

wow, fantastic drone footage, well done

rounders · 29-04-2021 10:29pm

First beams going up crossing the railway tomorrow morning according to their twitter!

https://twitter.com/dunkettleint/status/1387877607207751684?s=20

jackrussel · 05-05-2021 9:26am

Beams were delivered last week as per the Dunkettle email. First lift was last night. You can see the installed beams on the M8 Dunkettle traffic camera. More beam lifts tonight & tomorrow night.

Not sure what rounders was saying in their post when the tweet says different.

rounders · 05-05-2021 10:27am

Woop - misread their tweet.

They are now installed though

https://twitter.com/dunkettleint/status/1389854681309093888?s=20

AugustusMinimus · 14-05-2021 1:41pm

They seem to be making huge progrsss on the new slip roads from M8 South to N25 East. I’m at a loss to see how the S to E movement will take a further 18 months before opening. The ground isn’t that boggy.

KrisW1001 · 14-05-2021 2:06pm

They may be using that part of the site as a storage area - there's not a huge amount of space around there. A condition of planning is that all works have to take place within a tightly constrained area (the Lands Made Available, or "LMA"). It's not uncommon to see the location of a later part of the road used as a temporary depot flor construction materials and infill material during the early stages of construction.

AugustusMinimus · 01-06-2021 9:58am

More beams put in place over night on the new M8 mainline over the railway. Very noticeable in the Dunkettle app compared to how it looked yesterday.

hans aus dtschl · 02-06-2021 2:50pm

Yeah it looks like a lot of progress over the last few weeks. Some of the structures are substantially up out of the ground. They're working on the existing M8 bridge over the L2998 (L2999?) right now too, which looks to me like reinforcement on the Eastern side of the bridge in preparation for widening and use of the existing hard shoulder.

AugustusMinimus · 02-06-2021 3:22pm

Will be interesting to see when they move the existing M8 carriageways to the east. This would facilitate opening the M8 East to M8 North slip road.

hans aus dtschl · 02-06-2021 3:39pm

Yep. I know I keep harping on about it, but I'm most looking forward to the new "Glounthaune" slip adjacent to that one.

AugustusMinimus · 02-06-2021 3:56pm

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Yep. I know I keep harping on about it, but I'm most looking forward to the new "Glounthaune" slip adjacent to that one.

Very little to do on that slip. Once the M8 carriageways are moved, it’s just a matter of digging out the old road and laying tarmac.

AugustusMinimus · 18-06-2021 1:18pm

Just read the weekly newsletter.

Can anyone explain what is happening at ST10. Sounds like there’s demolition work ongoing. But what exactly is being demolished? Can’t be the bridge structures themselves for the m8?

Ajbayj123 · 18-06-2021 2:27pm

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Just read the weekly newsletter.

Can anyone explain what is happening at ST10. Sounds like there’s demolition work ongoing. But what exactly is being demolished? Can’t be the bridge structures themselves for the m8?

From what I can tell their rebuilding the fence on the bridge and the waterproofing and drainage. I could be wrong but that's what I i saw in the newsletter.

Chris_5339762 · 19-06-2021 8:51pm

Someones had a good go at mapping the upgrade on Openstreetmap. Shows nicely how it'll all go together - the official maps can be hard to understand sometimes.

24-06-2021 6:23pm

Painfully long traffic jams every day now. I know they are doing some realignment but a few years of this will be awful, hopefully it improves.

kub · 24-06-2021 9:50pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Painfully long traffic jams every day now. I know they are doing some realignment but a few years of this will be awful, hopefully it improves.

It is a pity that these lads could not work away during the lockdowns when traffic was minimal.

Most of the current works are done by guys on their own in machinery and trucks with perhaps minimal groundworkers with feet on the ground

KrisW1001 · 25-06-2021 10:00am

They did.

spacetweek · 25-06-2021 9:18pm

KrisW1001 wrote: »

They did.

Yea I'm pretty sure major infrastructure projects like this never actually shut down at all.

Chris_5339762 · 25-06-2021 9:32pm

This didn't shut down, it may have gone a bit slower, but it didn't shut down.

In fairness they did do a lot of lane closure stuff, gantry construction and all those things on the approach roads while traffic was at its lowest.

With traffic back to 90 - 100% now of pre-COVID, its inevitable jams are back.

AugustusMinimus · 03-07-2021 7:03pm

Further update video. Most of the progress appears to be piling / ground improvement.

The concrete surface for the M8 South to N25 East bridge got laid the week before last. Suspect this bridge will be use a lot by construction machinery. Will greatly add to site access.

Chris_5339762 · 03-07-2021 8:34pm

Seems to me that work has ramped up quite a bit in the last week. There seems to be a lot more earthworks going on, and a lot more works traffic onsite.

Chris_5339762 · 03-07-2021 8:45pm

Oh by the way, the cameras on www.dunkettletraffic.ie . They've adjusted all of the cameras to give a better view of the works. Lots going on.

Chris_5339762 · 04-07-2021 3:27pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmcioC-Z_04

Our usual drone maniac has been out again

Some good footage in here and some progress over the last few months.

jackrussel · 06-07-2021 2:20pm

Seems busy enough on site today.

blindsider · 10-08-2021 12:43pm

Is the Tivoli to M8 slip road open yet? Thanks

AugustusMinimus · 10-08-2021 1:07pm

Not yet. I see they are doing a lot of work to move the M8 carriageways east to facilitate the new tie in though. The grass central median for instance has had concrete poured on it.

hans aus dtschl · 11-08-2021 3:46pm

The M8 bridge over the L2998 seems to be widened too.

And the new bridge structures over the railway line and new Glounthaune slip road are almost in place. Lot to be done yet though.

AugustusMinimus · 14-08-2021 3:11pm

Huge progress this week.

All the beams for the new bridge to carry the M8 over the N8 -> Glounthaune slip and the railway track are now in place. Concrete being poured to complete it.

Chris_5339762 · 14-08-2021 3:46pm

I reckon it won't be too long before they build a temporary tie in from that new bridge to the current roundabout, and send one side of the current M8 along it, allowing work to be done on the current carriageways. Reckon that'll be the first big diversions of live traffic.

AugustusMinimus · 14-08-2021 3:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117753028#Comment_117753028

They are currently doing the tie in from the M8 south to the new bridge.

assume the current M8 north carriageway will be demolished. The M8 South carriageway will also be dug out with 2 new bridges and will become the M8 north?

cheerylemon · 15-08-2021 11:20am

Just clicked in on this thread, at least they're getting it done! Went for a holiday down in Cork around 2011 and the jams coming out of the tunnel into Dunkettle were legendarily... ****.

Ajbayj123 · 15-08-2021 10:41pm

Drove past the closed M8 slip today and saw a huge mound of gravel on the road. Looks like they're putting a lot of work in there especially since the rest of the site is closed on Sundays so this must be a big priority at the moment.

hans aus dtschl · 16-08-2021 1:56pm

Yeah the old "Ibis" slip road is now closed. Glanmire-Tunnel traffic is diverted via Little Island interchange (or via Dunkettle).

Exactly as AugustusMinimus said, I believe they'll bring the M8 south carriageway across what was that old Ibis slip, over the two new bridges and back to the tunnel. Then they'll dig out the M8 North carriageway and put a new bridge in (for the new Glounthaune slip road). They'll divert the M8 North onto the old M8 South, and finally they'll dig out the old M8 South.

I don't think they'll get all of this done before the schools go back and the traffic demands through the Little Island junction will increase quite a lot. I've always maintained that it is not viable to co-route any traffic flows through a shared Little Island junction, but their gamble might pay off!

As an aside, there have been lots of speed vans around over the last few weeks too. They seem to have cottoned on to the fact that there's a lot of rat-running in Glanmire/Glounthaune.

hans aus dtschl · 16-08-2021 2:02pm

Some more details: the new roundabout by Pfizer in Little Island is completely done and open. It's being used as the primary southside site access.

The new Little Island flyover bridges are under construction. Pillars seem to be in place on both sides of the road. No mound of earth is yet in place yet for its associated slip roads and roundabouts (as of Sunday 15-August-21) on the south, but the mound of earth on the North is part-way done.

You can just about make out the pillars and the mound of earth on the webcam:

https://www.dunkettletraffic.ie/live/?id=2

AugustusMinimus · 19-09-2021 10:11pm

More visible changes in the last few weeks.

The M8 South to N25 East slip is now mostly tarmaced. Bridge completed.
Substantial works done done for the slip tie into the M8.
The old slip from Glounthaune to M8 South is now open again. Substantial temporary barriers in place.
Concrete poured on the bridge for the new M8 South mainline. Still need to build up earthworks to match level of bridge on both sides.
Pillars nearly complete for the 4/4 Dumbell/Bridge east of the current interchange.
N25 West to M8 North slip is starting to take shape. Significant earthworks completed on it.

hans aus dtschl · 20-09-2021 12:46pm

They're currently widening both sides of the existing M8 bridge over the L2998 too.

Traffic underneath is one lane stop-go over the last few weeks.

Generally no tailbacks.

AugustusMinimus · 20-09-2021 1:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914736#Comment_117914736

They have new metal barriers up on the bridge on the M8 north section by the looks of it.

Assume they’ll move traffic to the east onto the new bridge before long and then dig away the old M8 north section.

Chris_5339762 · 20-09-2021 1:55pm

Yup, thats my thinking too. Maybe not initially? Perhaps they'll open M8(S) to N25(E), which also seems to be getting a lot of attention paid to it, to pull some traffic off the roundabout before switching to the big new bridge.

hans aus dtschl · 20-09-2021 1:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914874#Comment_117914874

That's exactly what I'm expecting also.

And I suspect it will happen soon enough, too, given the looks of that new bridge.

Meanwhile, Cork Co Co has also got approval for a new footpath/cycleway through from Bury's Bridge into the back of Eastgate, with a new dedicated Bus Gate.

So buses will take the Westernmost N25 Little Island slip to access Little Island, via the new Dumbell Interchange. it's not perfect, but it's the most ambitious thing I've ever seen from them

https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/planning/traffic-transport/statutory-processes

Chris_5339762 · 20-09-2021 9:56pm

That is ambitious for Cork, let alone the country as a whole.

A bus gate, and bus stops on dual carriageway slip roads is unheard of here. Glad they are thinking of doing all of this. Did they employ someone new?

hans aus dtschl · 21-09-2021 10:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917440#Comment_117917440

This one is by Arup, and I haven't seen a design by them in a while, but I'm fairly sure they've been used before.

It's like someone with a sustainable transport mindset has been magically parachuted in for this one. The bus gates in Eastgate, the removal of the "rat runs" at Harvey Norman, the kerb-separated cycle lanes, the raised table entrance crossings...OK it's not absolutely perfect, but there's some real ingenuity here. I was genuinely shocked at the new sustainable transport entrance to the West of Eastgate.

I still am quite worried about that new Little Island West dumbell interchange though. I may stand corrected, but I just don't think it will cope with the Dublin+Glanmire+Glounthaune+Mahon traffic demands in the mornings. Dublin should be using it to get to Tivoli, Glanmire and Glounthaune using it to get to the tunnel, and Mahon using it to get to Little Island. It just looks like too many flows to me, and the weaving on the northern arm (Dublin+Tivoli) looks very short.

https://www.dunkettle.ie/media/1334/traffic-movements_from-littleisland-glounthane.jpg

KrisW1001 · 21-09-2021 11:08am

Looks good.

It might seem strange, but the off-ramp is probably the best location for that bus-stop: lots of people exit the station there, and walk across to Little Island, so it could allow an easier transfer to the far side of Little Island for people coming in by rail. It’s good to see transport planners taking notice of desire-paths and using them, and better to see efforts being made to facilitate rail/bus interchanges.

I spent about a year walking around there during lunch-breaks, and I can’t argue with any of those plans - this whole area was never particularly pedestrian-friendly (especially the circuitous access into EastGate Village by foot) and the new bus gate will improve connectivity without creating a rat-run.

Chris_5339762 · 21-09-2021 11:33am

Ive always worried about that Little Island "west" junction... for instance will N40E to N25E coming out of the tunnel in the evening get bogged down in traffic trying to join a potential queue up onto that junction. Quite how bad the weaving will be, or how long the merge lanes will be I don't know. None of the models have shown it well enough yet.The trouble is, what other option did they have? The whole interchange itself kind of blocks any attempt at further grade separation.

N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [open to traffic]

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