M3 Clonee-Kells Motorway construction updates

sdanseo · 17-03-2009 1:47am #1

Is it me or is there no existing thread on this?

How is the project progressing? Any locals with pics or updates for us? Their website isn't particuarly thought-provoking, to be honest.

CUCINA · 20-04-2009 10:22pm

Yes there is! You'll find it in the Meath section under north-east region. I have been taking photos etc around Dunboyne/Fairyhouse/Dunshaughlin but have a look at that thread. Hopefully you will find it of interest...

Amtmann · 20-04-2009 10:28pm

CUCINA, can you post the pictures on this thread? I suspect it's a shoo-in to open before the year is over.

CUCINA · 21-04-2009 8:02am

Re request for photos, would be happy to provide, but see explanation on Meath forum!
Will have more info later, no time just now!

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:20pm

Loads of pictures taken along the M3 route starting back in 2007 up to february 09

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:22pm

Second set of pictures

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:25pm

more pictures not sure if this is working........

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:27pm

another 5

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:29pm

Heres some more

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:30pm

5 more

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:32pm

construction going well

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:33pm

next 5

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 9:37pm

Construction is progressing well even through the Tara valley. All the way from Clonee to kells major progress is been made. Practially all bridges are complete. However the boyne crossing north of Navan is slow last time I was down there was little to see. I can't see the whole road open B4 Xmas if this is not complete

Amtmann · 29-04-2009 10:07pm

Many thanks for your efforts Celtic Warrior. The most recent are from February you say? Progress looks very mixed.

Celtic Warrior · 29-04-2009 11:03pm

Here's a few from a few weeks back. Some sections are well on there way with several courses done others not travelling the length of it I was surprised to see how far they've progressed. Most of the other pictures are from last year have to say. The Boyne crossing is the bottleneck i'd say

CUCINA · 30-04-2009 9:07pm

Well done to Celtic Warrior...interesting browsing...I have been taking photos around Clonee/Dunboyne/Dunshaughlin M3 sites for the last couple of years, have them in an album, but unfortunately now deleted from the camera so unable to upload them. I hadn't realised up till recently that anyone else would have been bothered to take photos of its progress!

Amtmann · 30-04-2009 9:08pm

CUCINA wrote: »

Well done to Celtic Warrior...interesting browsing...I have been taking photos around Clonee/Dunboyne/Dunshaughlin M3 sites for the last couple of years, have them in an album, but unfortunately now deleted from the camera so unable to upload them. I hadn't realised up till recently that anyone else would have been bothered to take photos of its progress!

They'll be a historical record in decades to come.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 9:55pm

Hi folks, I took these photos a month ago (27th April to be precise), promised contributors to the M3 thread in the Region>North East>Meath forum that I'd have them up within the week but alas here I am only getting round to it a month later.

I have photos from 4 access points along the northern half of the route.
We'll start off at the northernmost, an overpass between Greetiagh and the Silver Tankard. For those of you trying to gather your bearings, there's quite a large site office/machinery compound just east of this overpass, it's about 700m west of the Oristown/Silver Tankard junction on the existing N3.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:05pm

Silver Tankard overpass #2

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:06pm

Silver Tankard overpass #3

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:09pm

Silver Tankard overpass #4

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:14pm

Silver Tankard overpass #5

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:20pm

Slowly gaining familiarity with the uploader, I thought max filesize = 1.95mb meant total uploads could only amount to 1.95mb too

Still at the Silver Tankard flyover by the way, about another half dozen after this post

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:28pm

More from the Greetiagh-Oristown Road, this is nearly the lot at this stage.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:30pm

Last from the Silver Tankard/Greetiagh/Oristown collection. Running off to compress the remainder from other access sites now, I'll be back with more from sites further south before long.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 10:50pm

Back before long... Hope the previous batch are useful to those of you who take a peek.

These ones were taken a short time later, about 3km further south, on the road linking the N3 junction at Newgate Motors (just north of Tara Mines) with Greetiagh.

Note 1: While the contractors operating the cherry picker at the previous overpass were happy to tell me about the road's progress, they were less happy to see me here. I was asked if I had a permit to take photos, who I was representing, where the photos would appear, blahdeeblah, but I got away with it in the end. Special thanks to the bald guy with a strong Ardee accent in the Mitsubishi van

Note 2: My batteries were diminishing at this point, and the weather began to disimprove, so I only have a handful from this site. Apologies!

Tech3 · 26-05-2009 10:56pm

upmeath wrote: »

Note 1: While the contractors operating the cherry picker at the previous overpass were happy to tell me about the road's progress, they were less happy to see me here. I was asked if I had a permit to take photos, who I was representing, where the photos would appear, blahdeeblah, but I got away with it in the end. Special thanks to the bald guy with a strong Ardee accent in the Mitsubishi van

A lesson for many not to enter a site!!! A permit for photos?

Amtmann · 26-05-2009 11:02pm

That's absurd. While I can understand why people *should not* enter a site, asking for a permit to take pictures is nothing short of asinine. It's a 60km road ffs - people drive past it, cycle past it, walk past it and live beside it. They should build a roof over it if they don't want people photographing it.

No-one should be dissuaded from taking pictures.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 11:04pm

Now onto the next site, further south again, we're just west of Navan now.

As far as I know (I'm not a frequent user of this road) the bridge pictured is now in use and the Navan-Athboy Road doesn't pass in the foreground anymore as seen in these photos, instead going over the bridge. It came into use about 2 weeks ago, and a dual carriageway now connects the M3 site with Navan at Clogherboy.
I stand to be corrected on this though as I haven't personally used the road and I'm just going on word-of-mouth/my understanding of the local print press.

Again, the labourers weren't too happy to see a young man with a camera, and the lad in the flashy jacket alerted the boys in the grey van to my presence. Undeterred, I continued to photograph them. Snap happy!

upmeath · 26-05-2009 11:12pm

tech2 wrote: »

A lesson for many not to enter a site!!! A permit for photos?

I wasn't actually on the site, there's a slip road parallel to the bridge which trucks use to ramp down onto the motorway site, there's at least one house on this lane, so it's still accessible to the public. The site proper doesn't start until you reach the metal barriers about 10m from the road's edge, and I didn't pass those. A lot of these boys are powertripping judging by the vibes I got that day.

Furet wrote:

...asking for a permit to take pictures is nothing short of asinine.

Unfortunately it's becoming all too commonplace nowadays. I can understand his fears that I might be trying to build a legal case against them or some such (eg. I was walking along the road on a Sunday afternoon while work was halted, and I tripped over and dislocated my knee) but I'm pretty sure any jury would find in their favour if I brought such an action against them.
Maybe he's just a busy body who likes to know where the photos are going to appear so he can tell friends and relatives.

I agree with you both entirely, there's no plausible reason not to be able to take photos from existing roads that aren't within the boundaries of their work site.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 11:20pm

Here's the overpass on the Navan-Robinstown Road. It's about 2km from Claremont on the southern edge of Navan, about 1km east of Balreask on the Navan-Trim Road. Considering this is the furthest site south that I visited that day, I was surprised that work here seemed to be at the least advanced stage of all four sites.

upmeath · 26-05-2009 11:29pm

The last of the photos from the Navan-Robinstown Road and the end of my tour of 27th April.

I hope to revisit some or all of these sites in the coming days, hopefully it won't take me a month to upload them this time!
I pass the first one (Silver Tankard) every day commuting between Trim and Kells, so that shouldn't be a problem, and if weather/time constraints allow I'll fit in a ramble to the others. I know from passing the Silver Tankard one every day that both northbound and southbound carriageways appear to be fully paved at this stage, they seem to be needing little more than catseyes and markings, a lot of progress was made over the last few weeks. As for the others, I'm not too sure.
One I haven't photographed here but which I use quite often - the Trim-Navan Road overpass at Balreask - seemed ready for use by the Trim-Navan Road within days the last time I passed (about 10 days ago). A stop-and-go system has been in place in the area for months, I can't wait for the bridge to be opened, and I'll definitely look to take photographs there too if I'm in the area this week.

IIMII · 26-05-2009 11:35pm

upmeath wrote: »

Again, the labourers weren't too happy to see a young man with a camera, and the lad in the flashy jacket alerted the boys in the grey van to my presence. Undeterred, I continued to photograph them. Snap happy!

Screw them - they have no right to hassle you. Nor do you have to engage with them in any way when they come up to you. Tossers

Irish and Proud · 27-05-2009 11:27am

IIMII wrote: »

Screw them - they have no right to hassle you. Nor do you have to engage with them in any way when they come up to you. Tossers

Wonder is that anything to do with alleged bridge subsidence in the Bohermeen area?

The bridges themselves look pretty robust, but that aint any use if the ground beneath is like soup! Can anyone fill me in on whether there is subsidence problems or not - particularly in the Bohermeen area?

Many Thanks!

serfboard · 27-05-2009 3:30pm

upmeath wrote: »

... there's no plausible reason not to be able to take photos from existing roads that aren't within the boundaries of their work site.

Unless you're paranoid, or have reason to be? What is these guys problem?

Unbelievable.

And not only is there no plausible reason, there's no legal reason either. You're on a public road taking photos. No problem there.

Celtic Warrior · 27-05-2009 7:56pm

Irish and Proud wrote: »

Wonder is that anything to do with alleged bridge subsidence in the Bohermeen area?

The bridges themselves look pretty robust, but that aint any use if the ground beneath is like soup! Can anyone fill me in on whether there is subsidence problems or not - particularly in the Bohermeen area?

Many Thanks!

The Bohermeen area is a well known for its bogs there are quiet a few down around there.

However as far as I can remember the road is not running close to them.

Heard there is talk of a problem with a bridge towards Navan between Bohermeen and Tara Mines. Anyone else hear that?

L1011 · 27-05-2009 10:42pm

When I took some pics of this back a month or two ago I did it with hi-viz on and got a friendly nod from a working leaving the site in a van despite having camera gear - shiney yellow seems to open all sorts of doors!

I would think that they're worried about photographers potentially being from the hippies/protestors who live nowhere near the road and never use it groupings. Never heard of anyone being questioned on any of the less controversial schemes.

upmeath · 28-05-2009 7:15pm

Just a quick word folks, I did another tour of the northern half of the project today, a month on from the photos I posted on Tuesday, and I have a few dozen, maybe as many as 50 photos to put up. I went a little further south on today's tour because it was such a nice evening, so I managed to get about a half dozen bridges

- Greetiagh to Oristown
- N51 (Navan-Athboy Road and yes, the dual carriageway is open and it's top notch, comparable to the Waterford City ring road)
- The old Navan-Athboy Road
- Navan-Robinstown Road
- Navan-Trim Road
- Navan-Bective Road (beside Bective GAA, I think it's known as the Kilcarn Road, and there's a massive concrete structure going beneath the road here, a tunnel, possibly relating to the rail project)

There's just one catch, I'm running into Dublin tonight, so I won't get them up until tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned!

upmeath · 29-05-2009 5:37pm

I spoke with a worker here yesterday evening, he said this stretch should be due a final layer of paving within a fortnight, it looks great.

upmeath · 29-05-2009 5:41pm

More more more

upmeath · 29-05-2009 8:08pm

This is almost it for this particular site. As you'll see, I took a good few photos of the drainage channels around the road. There are bogs south and south east of here at Bohermeen and Tullaghanstown, and a lot of excavation work has been done to alleviate any drainage problems that might arise here.

upmeath · 29-05-2009 8:19pm

These are views from the overpass, north/northwest towards Kells. You may be able to make out the church spires and towers in Kells out in the distance.

upmeath · 29-05-2009 8:25pm

That's it for this bridge. Heading further south now with the next lot.

Amtmann · 29-05-2009 8:46pm

upmeath, thanks again. Some good shots there, and I note a few mammal passes, etc.

Will you please consider uploading one or two good bright photos to the N3 wikipedia page? That needs some work, and your images will help.

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 9:43pm

View of M3 double bridge facing south, towards Dunboyne taken last month

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 9:46pm

Attachment not found.STA60619.JPG

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 10:02pm

Attachment not found.STA60613.JPGI have put up a few Photos of the M3 works near Fairyhouse and Dunboyne on the Meath forum, but I am putting up a few more here (hopefully)...

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 10:09pm

613 above shows close up of Toll bridge works at Fairyhouse, facing north, taken two weeks ago.

618 shows road-markings of old N3 right turn for Kilsaran/"Gardenworks", taken at the same time.

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 10:28pm

STA60611.JPG

STA60009.JPG

611 shows close-up of old bridge for Tolka river, beside existing toll bridge works at Fairyhouse, this bridge is also visible when driving past the site on the R147 (formally known as the N3) to or from Fairyhouse roundabout.

609 is shot taken with my back to Rathbeggan junction, towards Fairyhouse, facing south. The foreground is quite rough (especially for cycling!) but smooths out nicely on the approach to the bridge.
Both photos taken two weeks ago.
If anyone is interested in seeing more shots of this area, I have plenty more in reserve, including photos taken in the same area about a year ago, which I think makes for an interesting contrast. Just let me know and i will post them before I delete them from my camera...

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 10:54pm

STA60050.JPG

Just one more for now! This was taken about this time last year (or possibly last July) and I was standing on the old N3, just before the rh turn for Trim. This area has changed radically since then, of course. This particular section of the old N3 was still in use up until the bridge was opened some months ago, where traffic coming from Trim had to negotiate a temporary ramp alongside the new bridge to access the newer section of the N3 that opened up just over a year ago.

CUCINA · 02-06-2009 11:14pm

Just noticed that ref photo 609 in an earlier post was the wrong one! Sorry about that...will try to post the correct photo now to match the description!

M3 Clonee-Kells Motorway construction updates

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