Looks like a farm track alright, it's about 10 Mtrs wide divided in two so capable of handling vehicles;
At a guess, an accommodation bridge for the farmer to move livestock etc. They are often put in as underpasses, but for obvious reasons this wouldn't have been possible here.
Boreen, not sure of number if any.
Is the boreen the L3415?
Or this one:
So what’s the story with this bridge on the Ballyvourney side, seems private? There is a Boreen to it from the R618 but there is a locked gate.
OK thanks. Was looking for anecdotal evidence which I've since been provided with. Cheers!
45 minutes tonight from the N72 part of the Killarney bypass to the start of the Ballincollig bypass. Had nobody ahead of me so full on the speed limit. Really nice drive. Was on my driveway in a hour. Only left Cork about half eight and had an hours walk around the centre so it's within a short visit driving range from Cork. Excellent road, real smooth journey.
The Mitchelstown and Fermoy Railway Company had planned a continuation from Mitchelstown to Cahir on the Waterford & Limerick railway however it was never built.
At the risk of derailing the thread, there was probably good reason why the railway back in the day never went Fermoy/Mitchelstown to Limerick/Limerick junction;
Way off topic here. The route was whittled down from 18 options to 8 in phase 1 of the N/M20 Cork to Limerick Project on then and then to 1 preferred option in phase 2. Your proposal was referred to as "Road-Based Scenario B (new route in R513 corridor from M8 at Mitchelstown to Ballysimon)"
Everything you need is here:
https://corklimerick.ie/introduction/
This with a lot of other ideas of varying quality and merit was extensively discussed in the M20 thread.
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055372963/m20-cork-to-limerick-preferred-route-chosen-in-design-phase-3
Link please.
You're right it didn't work.
Nobody learned from it.
I had to double check just now what thread I was in…shouldn’t all the above be in the N/M20 thread?
A proper study would need to be carried out
Wait 'till I tell you, it already has. It considered your cunning plan and dismissed it.
Interestingly, while travelling Cork bound, from Jct2 on the N18 Google Maps attempted to route me to Cork via the Mitchelstown (M7, N24, R513, M8) route
We tried that. It didn't work very well.
I wonder if you have ever driven it? From Limerick to the Galtees, the land is as flat as a pancake, and Galteemore rises pretty much straight up from the plain. You then pass through a valley between Galteemore and the hills to the west, and finally come down a few miles of slope to the north of Mitchellstown. There is nothing particularly difficult there engineering wise, although the Greens will object enormously. As they will with whichever route is chosen.
Of course we want to do it right, which is precisely why I think a new road as explained already is the way to go; considering the route primarily as a commercial corridor.
Much if not most of the traffic feeding into Cork will be travelling through the tunnel in any case, particularly all the traffic to the continent, as well as much of the more local traffic - more of Cork is south of the Lee than to the north, so a section of ring-road will be needed to bring this around the city. My guess is that it will run eastwards rather than to the west. Could be wrong though.
Your points about the N20 are valid to a fair degree, although removing all the current long distance traffic and everything going to the port would relieve stress on the route in the short to medium term. A proper study would need to be carried out - but AFAICS the main pressure for a motorway on this route is much the same as the pressure to build a motorway south of Bray into Co Wicklow - which was mostly about opening up the area for the suburban development that happened all the way down to Wicklow once the motorway was in place. If a motorway is run up alongside the N20, you can expect to see the same happen there, much more than is already the case.
All the usual errors in your post:
The aim isn't to spend the least amount of money possible and do it on the cheap, the idea is to do it right.
A lot of traffic isn't going the whole way from Limerick-Cork, it is going to Mallow or other towns along the way.
Mallow-Cork has so much traffic that it needs to be dualled anyway.
Even if the motorway went via Michelstown, the road from Croom-Mallow would have to be replaced by a single carriageway road anyway as it is not even good enough to be a local road never mind the N20.
It’s not flat countryside. The section between Limerick and Mitchelstown is quite hilly especially north of Mitchelstown.
The route is much longer than the proposed M20. It doesn’t solve the problem of providing a better road on the present N20 corridor. Mallow, Buttevant and Charleville will still need to be bypassed. It will dump even more traffic on an already over trafficked Dunkettle Interchange. And that’s only a few of the reasons repeated on here.
Why so? Most of it is across flat countryside, the last slightly more difficult section is nothing compared to the Alps or the Pyrenees.
I can’t think of another post here I’d agree less with.
The Limerick to Mitchelstown Road has been shot down time and time again on here. It makes no sense.
I agree, I've driven those roads and your point is a good one.
The best thing to do would be to run a new road from Limerick to the M8 at Mitchelstown, of Motorway standard. I know that there is pressure to build a new motorway the whole way from Limerick to Cork parallel to the N20. I can see the attraction to many, and particularly to whoever gets the contract to build 100 km of road rather than 65 km but in any case a north ring around Cork will be needed sooner rather than later whichever.
The point I was disputing was someone calling Limerick a "major city" when it's nothing of the sort, it's a small city although given Ireland's small population and low population density, it has its importance in Irish terms, and of course it is an important regional centre.
I've just completed a return trip Cork - Clifden - Cork
The Galway-Clifden section is acceptable all things considered, and the Limerick-Galway section is excellent. However, the Cork-Limerick section is a total shambles and should be an embarrassment to our political class and TII.
If memory serves me right the old N18 was not a bad road in comparison to the N20, so some seriously confused priorities seem to be at play when it comes to road upgrades, particularly when bypasses for Castlemartyr and Killagh on the N25 are about 30 years overdue.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but even within Ireland Limerick is not a major city - nor is Cork for that matter. Within Ireland, I'd reserve the term for Dublin and Belfast, while I'd call Cork an important regional city.
Limerick is an important small city though, I get that, similar to Galway and Derry, and more so than Waterford.
As would I and many others.
That said, there are times when you are being overtaken yourself and do not have that option. It's happened to me on several occasions, on other roads, not the N22.
Google maps can estimate this fairly accurately at any given time
Too many drivers seem afraid of the full potential of their vehicle's engine. There's nothing worse or more dangerous than a driver gently/slowly accelerating along after pulling into a traffic lane. It should be pedal to the metal for a few moments to get the vehicle up to the same speed as the other traffic you are joining in as short a time as possible.
I did Tralee to the hospital in Wilton in 95 minutes on Monday morning despite still having to drive through Ballyvorney and also meeting 2 stop/go roadwork hold ups (both very brief)
Assuming the final stretch opened shaves off another 5 minutes, can we comfortably say Tralee to N40 exit for Cork city center can now be done in 90 minutes and from Killarney in an hour or are faster (within speed limit and assuming you're not stuck behind a tractor at Ovens!) journey times anticipated?
Google maps on the ball quicker for this last section :). I’m sure the new piece can be done in less than 14 mins though ;) New road slightly longer at 22.2km but we will live.
Enjoy the new road everyone. I've no interest in the ongoing monotonous sliproad/stop sign arguments. So I'm unsubscribing
