NRA have this morning advertised for engineering consultancy to design medium to long term solution to the junction!
:):)
They’ll be creating a final bridge for the N25 West to M8 north movement alongside the new M8 mainline bridge.
The N8 east to glounthaune slip will pass under it. There isn’t much to do to open this slip. A bit more excavation of the old M8 and then just laying down done surface.
Latest update
https://youtu.be/PxMSO0vKyeI
Fantastic footage. Between Dronehawk and the on-site team, we’re getting fantastic coverage of goings on.
By the way, very little more to do to have the N8 east to Glounthaune slip opened up. Could see this opening within a month.
I ducked at 2:16. He really is incredibly skilled.
When you see the works close up, you realise what an amazing feat this project is, so much complex construction and demolition in the centre of a very busy live junction with minimal disruption.
If you look at his non-roads videos, he does some eyewatering stuff. Think railway tunnels on the Greenways and ships in Cork Harbour! Very skilled drone operator for sure.
Another outstanding update email this morning. Huge amount of embankment work done south of the N25. Nice focus on the work being done on the entrance to the tunnel.
The YouTube video really demonstrates how little work there now is to get Link U into operation.
If you look at the southbound camera, you can now see they've dug a big hole to the northwest of the tunnel, where the N40(E) to Tivoli slip will be. I've wondered why this wasn't prioritised, as it would be the simplest of all of them to build. But I wonder will they use it for temporary diversions, like make the roundabout more oblong under the N25W to M8N bridge that has appeared next to the tunnel.
Great video. It is worth looking at one of the videos from last summer for comparison to see just how much has been delivered in nine months in a whole series of increments.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PmcioC-Z_04
The videos really capture the scale of this. It really is a feat of engineering getting all of this done in such a restricted space whilst keeping traffic flowing and with a railway line to deal with as well.
Looking at last video does anybody know if there are plans to open Link U (Cork to M8 Dublin) early? It looks fairly very well advanced from what I see. Surely it would make sense to move that traffic as soon as possible just to start generating benefits from the upgrade.
Due to be opened sometime this month :)
Opening the week of 18 April according to update email. First new movement to open which is great.
Lane restrictions will be in place on the N25 eastbound in the area between the Glanmire Roundabout and the Dunkettle Interchange Roundabout. Traffic here will be reduced to one lane from Saturday 9th April 2022 to Saturday 16th April 2022. Delays should be expected especially at peak times, although the works were targeted to be completed during the Easter school holiday
Thats from the Upgrade website. Its for the final tie-in works to Link U. Id say it could even open earlier.
Early opening would be great. Every bit of traffic coming off that roundabout is a positive.
The slip to Glounthaune will soon follow hopefully.
Big tailbacks this morning between Dunkettle Roundabout and Vienna Woods (Glanmire Village). I presume it was a knock-on effect of this work.
They certainly chose a good week to do it, with the schools off.
Big mess this evening also too. 16 minute delays according to RedFM. It'll be well worth it tho.
Not sure signalising Dunkettle Roundabout was.
I rarely saw traffic at it when there were no lights. Cyclists and pedestrians should have instead been accommodated via separate walkway / cycle path.
I think the roundabout works might have been unrelated to the Interchange project, as it was done by Co-Co Roads department and their team were not integrated with the Interchange teams.
I sometimes saw traffic build-up Eastbound towards that roundabout in the evenings but nothing significant. Whatever about traffic management, beg buttons and islands are a very low quality solution for pedestrians and cyclists. I personally don't use them when cycling through there and I know nobody that does.
The Co-Co roads department team were told very clearly that it was low quality solution, but they felt it was the best they could achieve. Remember that this was designed a few years ago when there was basically no money available for walking and cycling. Because there wasn't a good enough "business case" (not my words, but the head of the NTA). Sometimes things change for the better, I guess!
The Traffic lights at Dunkettle will cause a traffic build up in the left lane of the tunnel northbound for sure once the interchange is done.
You will have free flow traffic from the tunnel, and from the East/North all meeting at a red light there.
The one benefit is that the lights can be used to control flow at that roundabout though. And traffic from the north will be metered by the roundabouts/lack of free flow
But it’s a fair point that a signalised roundabout 500m away from a monstrous junction like Dunkettle is far from ideal.
I always wondered why it wasn't incorporated into the solution, an overpass there for traffic going to/from Glanmire seems the best solution, continuing the free-flow feel of "Greater Dunkettle".
I wonder if it will be done a part of the Tivioli docks project
Nah they'll probably do something dumb/intelligent like designate one lane of the Tivoli DC as a bus lane. But yeah, I agree that the Dunkettle Roundabout lights could be an issue.
Only good thing is that traffic for the east side of the river in Glanmire will likely use the new junction east of the interchange, so won't have to face those lights.
There’s plenty of space to do a trumpet junction. Would make a lot of sense. Would need to be packaged with improved paths and cycling infrastructure.
For a long time I have been expecting Tivoli to become a bus lane and single-lane road. The justification for 100kmh dual carriageway has really seeped away, with the new traffic lights and interchange works. You now have a 60/50kmh zone at one side, and a traffic light then 60/80 kmh zone at the other end. Then the 100kmh stretch is all within the city has no hard shoulder, has premises directly accessing the road and has a footpath! I understand why it WAS 100kmh, but at this point I think the low-tech idea of a bus lane might be appropriate.
I think the Council plans for a active transport on the corridor are for long-distance detour along the shoreline. Not ideal as a primary route really. But we're all a bit off-topic now.
Link U to open either on 22 or 23 April.
Lane restrictions between Dunkettle Roundabout and Interchange to be lifted by end of today.
Anyone have any inside knowledge on Link U opening?
No inside knowledge but I passed down the cycle track the runs parallel to link U this morning (Thu that is) and literally everything was ready to go. As I approached the old Dunkettle Roundabout, a crew in a cherrypicker seemed to be modifying the text on the huge direction sign that greets eastbound traffic on leaving that roundabout.
Should be open now as Dunkettle to M8 was closed last night with a detour through Glanmire.
Nothing moving on it just yet. I'll try to have a look in a while again.
Newsletter stated that Link U is opening to traffic this afternoon
Leaving the house now from East Cork direction and tempted to go down and come back up to try the new road.. could be a complete waste of time
:):)
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