It looks like a new scheme is on the way as Limerick County Council have started the procurement of consultants for the Foynes to Limerick Road Improvement Scheme.
This project was first proposed in 2017, and went to ABP in 2021. The 2011 “Adare Bypass” was canned due to lack of money to build the M20, upon which it depended: Adare was originally going to be bypassed to the south, with traffic for Limerick joining M20 at a junction near Croom.
Both N21 and N20 have since been completely redesigned since those days, and the M21 has come out of that process is a completely different thing. Actually, I just looked back at the start of this thread and it’s ironic to see that as early as the third post, someone put forward pretty much the current plan as an alternative to what was being planned back then.
That was announced in early November.
This project was initiated when the country was still broke. The planning process has not gone any more slowly than any other major infrastructure project in that time.
However the project was only cleared from Judicial Review in June 2023 (after 2 1/2 years with ABP) and will be under construction in early 2025. That is amazingly fast for this process.
Plus Sorensen are already on site doing enabling works which, from DroneHawks videos, look to involve quite a lot of ground works and Sisk already have the three railway underpasses under construction.
This thread is more than ten years old - hardly quick progress.
That’s a bit more than “glacial”. They’ve appointed a contractor, Sisk/Sorensen, so that contractor will now be highly motivated to complete the construction as soon as possible.
The glacier moves with contractor appointment.
https://www.live95fm.ie/news/live95-news/limerick-td-confirms-adare-bypass-plans-progressing-to-next-phase/
WWII History
video:https://x.com/ams_ireland_uk/status/1864747837201813841?s=46
The plant will be Sorensons for the enabling works. The plan is to have everything signed off by Christmas.
I passed the site entrance just east of Croagh Village yesterday and there was a lot of plant in the area of the "Croagh Junction". Do we expect to see contract signed before Christmas?
There is no M20/M21 junction on this scheme. The current M20 motorway will flow seamlessly into the new M21.
The first junction will be at Adare and is being built as part of this project.
The new M20 project will upgrade the current J5 at Patrickswell to allow freeflow movements.
I'm going to make a wild guess that the simple solution was used here… build the quickest/most minimal they can here and lump the junction construction in with the M20. I guess it gives the M20 junction freedom to do what it wants when that gets done.
I can't recall any project website giving anything more than milestone updates before construction started. As Limerick74 said, the contractor will start to give updates once they get on site. Most don't do anymore than monthly or quarterly newsletters.
Dunkettle was very much the exception rather than the rule. It would be great if they were all like Dunkettle, but I wouldn't be holding my breath.
Thanks for posting this. Really informative to see the before and after views. So tough on the properties that were CPOd. Great to see it progressing.
The more you look at that omission the less sense this makes. Originally I thought that it was because of complications or sequencing relating to the M20, but I don't believe that is the case. Did anybody find the reason for omitting it ?
Agreed. The quality of recent road project websites and social media varies enormously. Dunkettle Interchange was excellent. N22 Macaroon Bypass and N25 New Ross Bypass were pretty good. M28 communications have been an absolute disaster from the outset and must bear a fair share of the responsibility for the delay in commencing the project. So far the M/N21 hasn't been much better. Fully appreciate the videos provided by Dronehawk and the likes of Sisk in the case of the Killaloe bypass and bridge, but in this day and age a proper communications strategy for major projects is an essential if the public are to be kept onboard and provided with accurate and up to date information. Otherwise it's wide open to twitter etc to post whatever crap the naysayers want to dream up.
Structures are what will take the time.
There are 3 river bridges including the Maigue Bridge which is to be a 200m long three span bridge with a center span of 95m.
Then there are two full grade separated junctions along with 9 over/underbridges.
June 2027 is the required finish date according to the contract.
I really don't see the timeline as being ambitious. It's a short enough section of motorway, favourable terraine and they've got a head start. Wouldn't be surprised if it was finished by the end of 2026.
Dronehawk update
Also should be finished the large scale works in Killaloe in time
It'll be interesting to see the plan now for the c. 3km between the Adare Interchange and the M20. It could be tendered separately and likely complete before the Ryder Cup as there are no significant structures on it. It'll be messy between the M20 and M21 if not complete in a timely manner.
Dunkettles weekly newsletter during construction was fantastic and really detailed. They did their own drone work too. They also produced an app which I still use.
The contractor typically takes the lead with public communications during the construction phase. I would expect monthly newsletters on progress and upcoming works starting in 2025.
Im aware of dronehawks footage.
And what project websites have previously provided any of that?
If you want drone footage look up DroneHawk on YouTube.
too busy getting on with the job at hand
Have to say the project website is very disappointing. No news about preferred bidder or any works undertaken in the last 12 months. No photos or drone footage of route or enabling works carried out.
Sisk also have a large civils team in the area as they are doing the Foynes rail reinstatement and have recently been awarded the contract to build 3 railway bridges by IÉ. No surprise they've won this contract.
Great news. Considering Sorenson have the enabling works they should be able to hit the ground running.
https://www.limerick.ie/council/newsroom/news/announcement-of-the-successful-tenderer-for-the-adare-bypass
The fairies definitely caught up with that farmer. Sure Eddie Lenahan himself said it for years and theres the direct proof …
That's assuming they were all maintained and inhabited at the same time. I think there's a good chance a lot of them were never permanent habitations but might've been livestock enclosures or served other (maybe seasonal?) uses.
They wouldn't all have been inhabitated at the same time. They are thought to have been in use for thousands of years.
