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M3 Clonee-Kells Motorway construction updates

sdanseo

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.

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spacetweek

veryangryman wrote: »

Why the hell has the M3 even been built? It hardly counts as an Inter-Urban (Navan/Kells/Cavan are hardly bustling metroplolises)

You can't win in this country. When we underspec something, it has to be upgraded and people complain "why didn't they just do it right the first time". When you give something a high-spec, people ask what it's for. The NRA just can't seem to win at all here.

The N3 connects a string of major towns to the capital city of the country. Meath currently has no motorways whatsoever (The M1, M4 and N2 do NOT count) and has generally woeful infrastructure including, famously, no railways. A major transport upgrade for the county is urgently needed.

veryangryman wrote: »

I realise that the towns as far as perhaps Navan need a decent road for commuters, but beyond that, i think that Motorway was definitely overkill. A few WS2 bypasses similar to the Cavan bypass would have been more than adequate for the remainder of long distance traffic.

Thats where the money for Interconnector/Metro North was wasted on IMO

Also, wont it feel weird paying 2 tolls on a road that doesnt lead to a city (travelling Northwest i mean).

But beyond Navan is not getting motorway; it reduces to dualler for a few k's, and then peters out. This final section is likely to have cost very little of the overall cost so the comparison with IC/Metro is frankly preposterous.

I agree the tolls are overkill; I wonder if one will eventually be removed. Even one toll on such a short route would have been a bit meh.

Jip

There' seems to be alot of movement regarding works to the roundabout at Blanchardstown Vilalge and the M50 itself. It looks like they're going to create a road around the roundabout itself so that they can work on either upgrade or remove the smaller roundabout.
Anyone got any detailed info on what's happening there at the moment ?

L1011

veryangryman wrote: »

Warning: Unpopular comments on the way. Rotten eggs at the ready...

Why the hell has the M3 even been built? It hardly counts as an Inter-Urban (Navan/Kells/Cavan are hardly bustling metroplolises)

I realise that the towns as far as perhaps Navan need a decent road for commuters, but beyond that, i think that Motorway was definitely overkill. A few WS2 bypasses similar to the Cavan bypass would have been more than adequate for the remainder of long distance traffic.

Thats where the money for Interconnector/Metro North was wasted on IMO

Also, wont it feel weird paying 2 tolls on a road that doesnt lead to a city (travelling Northwest i mean).

All the small joining sideroads along the N3 cause it to have abnormal traffic flows for the quantity of traffic using it - bunching and coming to a complete halt for a phantom reason are very common. An improved alignment with less at grade junctions between the towns was needed as well as bypasses. Building WS2 grade seperated would have been foolish for future traffic growth and we didn't use 2+2 at the time... Narrow D2 was the only class of road they'd do.

upmeath

JupiterKid wrote: »

Why did it take so long, though, to build the very short S2 link between the N51 and the N3?

I take it that's the road from St. Pats/the Ag offices to Clogherboy/Halfords? There's a train line beneath the road, it had to be built and bridged in stages with a stop-and-go system in place for the best part of 6 months. Also I'd imagine site access was a nightmare at any time of day whatwith the site being sandwiched between National Primary Road (N3), National Secondary Road (N51) a large secondary school with limited setdown (St. Pats) and a regional hospital.

JupiterKid

upmeath wrote: »

2/3 weeks ago, it was a feature in the Meath Chronicle the week after it opened. Very similar to the Waterford Ring Road. Hopefully the traffic corps don't spend as much of their time here with their hairdryers. :rolleyes:

I drove the new N51 DC west of Navan yesterday and I have to say I was very impressed with it. So yet another National Secondary route geys a piece of dual carriageway.:)

Why did it take so long, though, to build the very short S2 link between the N51 and the N3?

df1985

dunshauglin and kells bottlenecks id say are the main reasons-a nightmare at times.instead of a few bypasses for these towns,id be of the opinion if you're going to do it,do it right the first time.

invincibleirish

veryangryman wrote: »

Why the hell has the M3 even been built?

(from the Irish property awards!?!)

veryangryman

Warning: Unpopular comments on the way. Rotten eggs at the ready...

Why the hell has the M3 even been built? It hardly counts as an Inter-Urban (Navan/Kells/Cavan are hardly bustling metroplolises)

I realise that the towns as far as perhaps Navan need a decent road for commuters, but beyond that, i think that Motorway was definitely overkill. A few WS2 bypasses similar to the Cavan bypass would have been more than adequate for the remainder of long distance traffic.

Thats where the money for Interconnector/Metro North was wasted on IMO

Also, wont it feel weird paying 2 tolls on a road that doesnt lead to a city (travelling Northwest i mean).

upmeath

nordydan wrote: »

I came back through Navan at the weekend, and went to take a look at the scheme. When did the N51 DC section open?
It's very impressive, same standard as Greystones southern access road or Waterford RIng Road.

2/3 weeks ago, it was a feature in the Meath Chronicle the week after it opened. Very similar to the Waterford Ring Road. Hopefully the traffic corps don't spend as much of their time here with their hairdryers. :rolleyes:

nordydan

Its 2+2 north of the N52, and motorway south.

I came back through Navan at the weekend, and went to take a look at the scheme. When did the N51 DC section open?
It's very impressive, same standard as Greystones southern access road or Waterford RIng Road.

D.L.R.

Is the Kells Bypass section DC or single lane?

upmeath

Furet wrote: »

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.

Certainly will, I'll have a look at it, although wiki-editing isn't my forté and I'd probably only make matters worse. If you're likely to be editing it, don't be afraid to use my photos, I'm not going to press charges

upmeath

Last from this junction

upmeath

More shots

upmeath

Here are a few shots at the junction between the N51 (Navan-Athboy Road, which now follows a much better route slightly north of the old road) and the M3.

CUCINA

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!

CUCINA

Attachment not found.

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

Attachment not found.

Attachment not found.

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

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

Attachment not found.Attachment not found.I 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

Attachment not found.Attachment not found.

CUCINA

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

Amtmann

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.

upmeath

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

upmeath

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

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

More more more

upmeath

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

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!

L1011

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.