NRA have this morning advertised for engineering consultancy to design medium to long term solution to the junction!
:):)
For N25 they changed the light sequencing massively over the last week which has helped a lot with the tailbacks to Midleton.
Those joining the tunnel from the Little Island slip only have around 6 seconds of green light now.
Just enough time for my favourite type of driver - the person who dawdles at the lights for five seconds (reading their phone, chatting to their fellow passenger), then suddenly notices the green light and moves off just as its turning amber, ensuring that they've got through.
Latest update appears to mention piling being done at night time, from the pic it looks like it's on the existing roundabout. How does that work? I thought it required closure of road for a period of time but mustn't be.
It’s literally the very next sentence of the same paragraph: “Local diversions will be in place for traffic each night.”
That's for each night during the works, but it's more about the day time side of it. Thought piling was done for a structure so when it starts, the affected area wouldn't be used at all again, but seemingly not the case
Yeah, I presume they’ll just resurface whatever area received the piles at the end of the night’s work.
Speaking of piling and ground stabilisation works, I was curious as to what this actually involves as they've been doing it all over the place on this job.
I understand it's because of the tidal nature of the site and that it involves drilling quite deep piles but what are they back filling all these piles with? Is it concrete? Or some sort of compacted sand/gravel?
Traffic appears to be moving through the junction better than ever now.
Like most problems faced by civil engineers, there are lots of solutions, each with its own pros and cons. This page gives a good overview of the different techniques: https://theconstructor.org/geotechnical/ground-improvement-techniques-soil-stabilization/1836/
Without having somebody with specific knowledge of the works write a comment here, it’s difficult to know which technique is being used at the DKI.
It does alright but traffic was very light this morning. A lot of people WFH with the icy road conditions.
Latest Drone footage of project
https://youtu.be/sQZ1G_1mKTA
Breezed through again this morning.
Traffic probably is a bit lower this week. However, it’s impossible to ignore people now understanding the revised junction and light sequences being updated. I think it bodes very well for the final design.
Which is the safest lane/more correct lane to be in approaching the interchange going M8 southbound and M8 northbound?
Stay in the left N25 Waterford lane and move right to the M8 near the end, running the risk of nowhere to go if there is a queue? Or move to the right lane early after the 60kph zone starts?
Trouble is the speed limit is ignored by many so staying in the right lane you get tailgated or undertaken. But moving to the right lane late on, you can't get across.
I would change to the lane for the M8 when it's safe to do so, somewhere between the start of the overhead signs and road markings which indicate the destinations, and the tunnel entrance depending on traffic flow and speed. I would ignore any clowns tailgating me. Any undertaking is not an issue as both lanes are for different destinations and if the lane for the N25 etc. is moving faster so be it.
IMHO, from the start of the M8 lane signs, the lane 1 for driving and lane 2 for overtaking rule no longer applies.
Beams being laid last night and tonight for ST08. Bloody camera looking north is unfortunately not working though.
Latest video from Drone Hawk.
Help an amateur out. 2 queries...
If i'm coming M8 south towards City, do i hit roundabout?
If i'm coming M8 south towards tunnel, do i hit roundabout?
And long term is this still going to be the case?
For both directions you're asking, traffic is still using the roundabout.
Long term, there will be no roundabout :)
Long term if you are going M8 South to City you’ll need to go through 2 small roundabouts via the eastern dumbbell interchange.
M8 South to tunnel will be completely free flow.
Thanks guys, I wonder will the freeeflow result in a bit of a log jam in the tunnel and/or people exceeding the speed limit in it. Perhaps it will be increased anyway
I don't think so.. the lane arrangements are planned well enough I think.
I reckon myself that the logjam will move to the N28 merge along the south ring.
Yep backups will be near the N28 (Bloomfield interchange) and no increase in speed limit, if anything a reduction to 60kmh on sections of the interchange.
The Douglas flyover section West bound is going to a issue also.
All the tunnel traffic plus the N/M28 Wesbound on the N40 will well and truly be bottlenecked there.
Yeah sorry I wasn't clear enough, the issues will be somewhere between around Bloomfield and around Douglas West for the medium-term and possibly long-term future.
Anyone find the outer lane heading west on the N25 toward the interchange very very narrow with the temporary barriers?
Even at the 60kmh limit I see some cars struggle to stay within the lane.
Absolutely. And when the M28 is opened, I still think it'll be one of the biggest bottlenecks in the country, if not the biggest. Delays during the day for longer than rush hour.
It IS possible to widen the viaduct, there actually is space without much/any demolition, but realistically I don't think it'd happen. People would go ballistic thesedays. With NIMBYISM taking on the douglas valley bridge (part of the southern distributor) it does not bode well for doing anything much about it.
Would the North Ring help? Not as much as people think, I don't reckon.
The only solution to Douglas flyover would be to stack it and have a lower 3 or 4 carriageway serving westbound traffic and have the upper deck serving westbound traffic.
I'm convinced if they put blocked the view into Douglas village heading west it would prevent some of the slow down. Once vehicles have passed the flyover everyone speeds up again. Otherwise as mentioned already it'll get worse once traffic volumes increase. Plus the regular collisions on that stretch of road.
Exactly its the fear factor at play. The lack of a hard shoulder at that location seems to induce fear into a certain type of driver of which Cork has a plentiful supply of. I don't think though that a view blocking screen would stop it as the screen would then become the fear inducer.
:):)
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