Varadkar looks like he's seething in this particular company.
I find it bizarre that they didn’t build the junction so you can come off at the west most junction while travelling westbound.
Here :) 3pm opening one side and 30 mins later the other
Baile Bhuirne has tourism in its own right - it’s a common base to explore the Cork-Kerry bounds.
As for passing trade, the line the bypass takes makes it only 400 m shorter than driving through the two villages: leaving at Toonlane and driving through the villages adds only 5 minutes to your trip, but as this offers the last services of any kind until at least Glenflesk (or Kilgarvan if heading to Kenmare), and the last place to eat before Killarney or Kenmare, I think a lot of tourists will still choose to stop here.
But you’ve only got to sit in the likes of the Mills or the Abbey and listen to the accents of the customers to realise that most of their business is drawn from the surrounding areas, and the presence of the bypass won’t affect that negatively.
1pm
Ah, well spotted, I missed that one, myself.
But all the tourists will skip it.
I think Macroom might see a bit of a boom in terms of housing and population.
It might actually help them, people can in and out of the town much easier now and get parked, not to mention they can cross the main street with much less chance of getting knocked down.
Do you think it'll kill a few businesses in Ballyvourney or just put a dent in their profits?
You do realise that the usual politicians and cute hoors will have to all be present at the "look how great we are" grand opening don't ya? They won't be doing that at stupid o clock in the morning. It'll be done in the middle of the day for maximum exposure so that every journalist who scoops this sh*te up will be there to report on it. So enjoy the last nostalgic drive through BallyV!
Anyone know what time the final section is opening tomorrow? Think the first two were around 10/11am? Will probably have to drive through Ballyvourney tomorrow morning then so, for what will likely be the last time for a very long time.
Traffic levels on N20 were too high for 2+1, especially a 2+1 with frequent junctions as was done there. In the Nordic countries that use this road type, it’s mainly seen on remote rural stretches, with 5-10 km between junctions. The main purpose is to allow safe passing, not to add capacity.
The purpose-built 2+1 on N2 Clontibret-Castleblaney is more like the original use-case for this road type (AADT is 11,000 unlike N20 which is around 17,000), and it has performed well, but as an offline new-build, it wasn’t a whole lot cheaper than building as 2+2.
You're always going to have poor drivers but the reality was that the pilot implementations of the 2+1 road types were done on the cheap with poor levels of segregation and badly designed junctions. I remember using the N24 one a few times and hating it, especially at night time. it doesn't surprise me that people drove poorly on them.
I think if they had been done in a decent manner people would have become used to them over a period of time. It would definitely be an improvement on some of the WS2 roads we have now that still contain drivers at 80kph holding everyone up with no ability to overtake at all.
Any this is slightly off topic. Look forward to seeing some images from the new section when it opens next week. It's not a road I'm likely to drive given my location but always happen to see improved infrastructure come onstream.
Echo report on Monday opening
Google Maps has removed the N status from the old national road in preparation for the opening of the final section I see.
Newsletter #13 published this morning. Final section opening this coming Monday 6 Nov.
http://www.n22bbm.ie/nuachtlitir-uimh-13-newsletter-no-13/
Ballyvourney to Killarney is a great road, and a really fun drive. I generally haven't had problems on that section apart from the occasional slow driver before the climbing lanes, but it is fine I think for many many years.
If the N22 got any more attention it simply must be Ovens - Macroom, but I fear that is also many many years away.
2+1 on the N20 is terrible. People will drive at 80kph holding everyone up on the single sections and will up their speed to over 100kph on the 2 lane sections to stop people overtaking them.
Plenty of cases of Lorrie’s taking the entire length of a 2 lane section to pass each other. Complete disaster.
Lots of examples of 2+1 in Europe
Yea I love climbing lanes and 2+1 can’t understand the big accident risk with some- they’re ideal in places already upgraded to wide two lane.
To be honest I’ve only driven the full thing once! Thought it was very good until Ballyvourney and a winding dangerous boreen. Thankfully replaced now
Agreed. It is one of the main problems we have with even decent WS2 sections of road, both the slow drivers and the dangerous overtaking as people lose patience.
It is such a pity that our poor implementation of the pilot 2+1 road type led to this option being abandoned. There are a large number of roads in the country where existing roads could have been updated to this type in order to create safe overtaking opportunities.
Would be great if the Ballyvourney-Killarney section could be enhanced further, but it's probably pie in the sky stuff at the moment. Most days I'd get stuck behind some gobshíte pottering along at 75km/h with no way to safely overtake. I'd also see a lot of dangerous overtaking from people who don't have the patience that I would.
There are climbing lanes on it already. That section of road can still get very congested. Obviously not a priority by any means though.
The section to Killarney is excellent though isn’t it? Not dual carriageway of course but I found it a very good road- why not climbing lanes?
Just on that topic, what feasibly could be done with the Ballyvourney to Killarney section? I think 2+2 may eventually happen but obviously isn’t a priority at present.
It's a great piece road to travel on. I remember travelling on the old road several times a month 20 or so years ago, so really nice to see a proper upgrade.
For those complaining a dual carriageway is too much, don't forget built to meet demand for the next 40-50 years at least.
This road was well above the criteria for a building this type of dual carriageway I’d assumed
Where did I mention anything regarding your rant in my post? Oh, nowhere.
Easily known you don't use it for commuting to work very much.
A single carriageway would have been very little of an improvement on the sh1tshow it was.
Journey times are already way down already with BV still there.
