N22 - Macroom to Ballyvourney (Macroom Bypass) [open to traffic]

No-one is sure yet. Opening to the Millstreet road would free up the centre of Macroom but it would be messy getting back to the current N22. Opening to Carrigphuca is tricky as there is no junction there. I still feel that is more likely though - some form of temporary terminus I'm sure would be possible there, and would get Macroom done and dusted anyway.

If the project was to have been handed over only when complete, the council would have to re-negotiate with the contractor for any kind of phased opening, including to Millstreet Road. Depending on where site compounds are, losing the Eastern section may make things more difficult to complete works on the western section, or may require construction traffic to come back onto the current local roads. My guess is that it’ll open with one lane each way, with two rows of cones down the middle to reserve a through-way for construction traffic.

If the Millstreet road junction is “messy” for rejoining the old N22, it will only be a temporary measure for Kerry-bound traffic, and it’s a lot, lot better than having that traffic driving through Macroom. Remember that the reason it’s so hard at the moment to turn right here is that you have to wait a very long time for a gap in the constant stream of traffic coming from your left, out of Macroom. That stream of traffic won’t be there anymore.

Carrigaphuca is a non-starter... the height difference means that there’s no safe way to connect the new road to the old, even temporarily. You can see that in the video posted above (at 5’51”: https://youtu.be/MweBNq8nU40?t=351 ). It would be really expensive, and possibly dangerous, and it only bypasses a section of the old road that doesn’t have traffic issues anyway. It’s not worth it.

I was thinking that - at about 5:58 you can see the barriers across the new road - I reckon they could do a wide sweeping hairpin onto the temporary construction ramp and down onto the old road at a T junction of sorts. It's do-able I think, but I wouldn't be an expert on it. The gradient is no worse than what they have temporarily on the M8 at Dunkettle.

Going to Millstreet Road.... thats fine too as long as people realise it would be for the benefit of Macroom itself, and not to save time for drivers. The route back to the N22 plus the new road would be about the same off peak as ploughing through Macroom itself.

...like I almost did on the Banbridge bypass! They were doing roadworks late one night, and it was a very poorly signposted diversion where you did a hairpin turn and went up the onramp, if that makes sense. Absolutely terrifying.

I hope they do go to Carrigphooca and just work out a way somehow!

Just a small correction in the interests of accuracy regarding the N18 where you said “N18 Bunratty Bypass is the oldest part of this road”. It’s actually kind of the opposite. The old Shannon Dual Carriageway as we locals called it ran from Coonagh Roundabout to just east of Bunratty Castle. It opened in phases starting from the late-70s if I recall correctly. The dual carriageway resumed to the north-west of Bunratty and ran through Hurler’s Cross until the eastern edge of Shannon Town (this original road went to Shannon and you actually exited to the right for Ennis!). There were daily traffic jams going through Bunratty until they finally opened the bypass in the early-90s, effectively completing the Shannon Dual Carriageway.

Did anything further come out yet?

Any updates on progress ?

Thats still the golden question. No information on where a temporary tie in will be.

Here’s Carrigaphuca where the new road crosses the old - just west of the overbridge. I’ve marked the only practical option for a tie-in in orange, but I’m still sceptical that they’ll actually do this - there’s a difference in levels, and connecting the roads here would create a nasty temporary junction between the old N22 and the new route right on a bend, just after a roundabout. The “old N22” will still be fairly busy with local traffic here.

I heard several weeks ago the rumoured target was October bank holiday weekend for a partial opening. If I'm the only person who's heard that rumour I'd not take too much notice of it though.

Full finish is still down as late next year - I’d guess October/November 2023. That date may slip due to the partial opening of the eastern end.

You haven’t considered local traffic that is not going to Macroom at all, and will continue to use the current N22. For these users, the new roundabout and link roads must remain open as they are now, and it is this that makes a tie-in so dangerous here:

Local traffic from west of Macroom (the blue line) is in direct conflict with Killarney-origin traffic (green line) wishing to join the new road. The distance between the crossover point and the roundabout is barely 150 metres, and traffic that has just turned left off that roundabout will be naturally be accelerating, as will the right-turners joining the new road.

If you were designing a layout to encourage high-speed frontal collisions, this would be a good starting point. And to save less than two and a half minutes of travelling time bypassing a free-moving road at a lower speed limit with one at a higher limit?

And as for relieving Macroom, opening from Coolcower to the Millstreet Road will do this already. The western edge of Macroom town does not suffer from traffic congestion except as a result of eastbound traffic backing up.

There isn’t room for a temporary roundabout on the new link road, and one could not be built on the dual carriagway. Maps are flat, and that’s fooling a lot of people, but the terrain here is not: at their closest point, there’s a considerable difference in height between the new and old roads (around 3 metres, I think), and that makes any tie-in more dangerous and expensive.

I don’t get why the partial opening as far as Millstreet Road is now seen as a poor option - it means that for the first time in decades, Macroom town centre will not be choked by traffic. To me, that is a major win.

All other problems on either side of Macroom are due to that congestion within the town centre. If I’ve been stuck in traffic before the Auld Triangle (west of the Millstreet Rd), that traffic jam has lasted all the way through Macroom to Coolcower. Once you fix the centre, there’s really no need for a longer-distance opening, because traffic will be running freely on the old N22 between Millstreet Rd and Carrigaphuca.

And 18 months from now, the whole thing will open, and whether or not a a tie-in was built won’t matter - it seems like a lot of effort, cost and risk to go to for such a small benefit for such a short length of time.

Michael Creed is saying on his latest Facebook post that the bypass between Coolcour and Carrigapooka will open before the end of the year so that confirms that it wont be just as far as the Millstreet junction.