M18 - Gort to Crusheen

L1011 · 04-08-2009 7:48pm

Longford N5 bypass is being redesigned to meet the N4 Mullingar-Roosky 2+2 is it not? So its no longer a piss easy one thats close to ready to go..

glineli · 13-08-2009 9:27am

Went for a walk down the Crusheen side last night, they were still working on the bridge at the Crusheen junction last night at 9pm and when herself went for a walk this morning at 7 she said they were working away. They must be putting in some amount of hours

KevR · 13-08-2009 9:35am

Brilliant picture tech2!

Glineli, it's encouraging to hear that they're putting long hours in.

glineli · 13-08-2009 10:30am

KevR wrote: »

Glineli, it's encouraging to hear that they're putting long hours in.

Yeah, its great. The bridges down the Crusheen end are really coming along. I will try to get some pics at the weekend

Tech3 · 13-08-2009 8:09pm

glineli wrote: »

Yeah, its great. The bridges down the Crusheen end are really coming along. I will try to get some pics at the weekend

Cheers glineli forgot to check out the Crusheen interchange and the Lahardan overbridge.

Tech3 · 17-08-2009 9:16am

I found another gem of a website this morning.Its crusheen.com and includes a few images of construction of the Gort-Crusheen scheme. Maybe they might like a few photos off me as its a little outdated!

http://www.crusheen.com/V4/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:media-churchesandschools&catid=18:media&Itemid=9

westtip · 25-08-2009 4:03pm

BTW what is the latest on when the new section will actually be opening - too lazy to trawl the thread! dn don't believe NRA website

Tech3 · 25-08-2009 4:08pm

westtip wrote: »

BTW what is the latest on when the new section will actually be opening - too lazy to trawl the thread! dn don't believe NRA website

Its looking more and more likely to be July next year. I will add a few photos updates in a month or two.

Chris_533976 · 25-08-2009 5:35pm

westtip wrote: »

BTW what is the latest on when the new section will actually be opening - too lazy to trawl the thread! dn don't believe NRA website

Its going really quickly so uneducated guesswork is suggesting next July, before the Galway Races 2010, similar to what happened with Athlone - Ballinasloe this year.

Tech3 · 26-08-2009 5:03pm

A question I thought I might put across to fellow road nuts.

With the N7 tunnel, redesignations on Ennis-Shannon and Gort to Crusheen completed next year how much time saving do ye reckon will be made on a trip from Limerick-Galway?

10 mins would be a significant drop I reckon.

Chris_533976 · 26-08-2009 5:22pm

Probably. The real benefit is when Gort gets bypassed; that'll pull about 20 minutes off the time in itself during rush hour.

Carawaystick · 26-08-2009 8:01pm

murphaph wrote: »

Thanks, that ADS is quite misleading given the fact we have pretty much no such LILO junctions on our motorway network and I presume the sign it replaced was a stack type sign with a left arrow rather than a full fork style ADS?

The sign should be patched to show the driver it's a particularly sharp left hand curve they are about to encounter IMO. People are used to a fork sign indicating a slip road on which they will be able to decellerate off the mainline. It's dangerous as it is tbh but could be sorted so easily.

On the N11, going south coming up the hill from the Glen of the Downs, there's an ADS sign with a left stub for a lilo and also on the sign is the left fork for the Greystones junction. These two junctions come under the same junction number.
There's similar signage going the other way at Kilpeddar and down in the Glen itself. The junctions are so close together, that having individual signs wouldn't give enough notice.
I don't know if it's kosher, I could check the traffic sign manual if it was freely available....

L1011 · 26-08-2009 8:17pm

murphaph wrote: »

The A57(M) and many other places in the UK warns drivers of a sharp slip road:

We already have precedent here, but not on a motorway. There's a junction on the Cork SRR with a max exit speed panel on its gore signage.

Tech3 · 27-08-2009 12:10am

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Probably. The real benefit is when Gort gets bypassed; that'll pull about 20 minutes off the time in itself during rush hour.

I agree and hopefully Clarinbridge wont jam up too bad afterwards. Also the rest of the road to Oranmore is relatively ok with some overtaking bits.

What is the next stage in the PPP process for the Gort-Tuam scheme? I wont be holding my breathe for it to start this time next year though.

westtip · 27-08-2009 10:04am

tech2 wrote: »

A question I thought I might put across to fellow road nuts.

With the N7 tunnel, redesignations on Ennis-Shannon and Gort to Crusheen completed next year how much time saving do ye reckon will be made on a trip from Limerick-Galway?

10 mins would be a significant drop I reckon.

I'd say more - the key issue of measuring any journey time is the time delays in the urban areas you have to drive in - how long is a piece of string - it is the consistency of time of the journey from where you get on the dc at Limerick to a fixed point that might be worth looking - for this example - lets say how long it takes to get to the oranmore roundabout, which I think should take just under an hour when the new Gort bypass opens. How long does this part of the Limerick -Galway journey take you now?

Nath · 27-08-2009 10:41pm

westtip wrote: »

I'd say more - the key issue of measuring any journey time is the time delays in the urban areas you have to drive in - how long is a piece of string - it is the consistency of time of the journey from where you get on the dc at Limerick to a fixed point that might be worth looking - for this example - lets say how long it takes to get to the oranmore roundabout, which I think should take just under an hour when the new Gort bypass opens. How long does this part of the Limerick -Galway journey take you now?

I do Galway to Limerick and vice versa twice a week, usually about 1hr 5m to Limerick and about 1hr 10min to Galway, slightly longer going back because of heavier traffic in the evening.
This is measured between the roundabout beside the Galway Clinic and the first roundabout in Limerick (there's loads of roadworks going on now near Limerick now so it wont be possible to measure this again for a few months).

I reckon that it will be possible to do this journey in 55 mins when Gort-Crusheen is opened, so a time saving of 10-15 mins in my opinion.

Tech3 · 28-08-2009 9:19am

westtip wrote: »

I'd say more - the key issue of measuring any journey time is the time delays in the urban areas you have to drive in - how long is a piece of string - it is the consistency of time of the journey from where you get on the dc at Limerick to a fixed point that might be worth looking - for this example - lets say how long it takes to get to the oranmore roundabout, which I think should take just under an hour when the new Gort bypass opens. How long does this part of the Limerick -Galway journey take you now?

Not necessarily just urban areas, we have to remember that this road is poor for overtaking opportunities too. I rarely ever get a easy drive from Limerick - Galway always get caught up by a least on vehicle going 80km/hr.

I mainly use the route to drive Limerick - Sligo so my accuracy of Limerick-Galway commute time would be a little off. I would say Coonagh - Oranmore is about 1hr ish at the minute.

Also on topic I have updated the M18 wikipedia page and cleaned it up a bit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M18_motorway_(Ireland))

westtip · 28-08-2009 9:31am

tech2 wrote: »

Not necessarily just urban areas, we have to remember that this road is poor for overtaking opportunities too. I rarely ever get a easy drive from Limerick - Galway always get caught up by a least on vehicle going 80km/hr.

I mainly use the route to drive Limerick - Sligo so my accuracy of Limerick-Galway commute time would be a little off. I would say Coonagh - Oranmore is about 1hr ish at the minute.

Also on topic I have updated the M18 wikipedia page and cleaned it up a bit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M18_motorway_(Ireland))

Yes agree with you about thd overtaking opps, I did Ballina - Shannon in 2 hours 15 a few months back - mind you left at 4.30 am so with nothing on the road it was a breeze for the 135 miles it is. Coming back having dropped someone off at Shannon at 6.45 stoping for a cup of tea and leaving shannon at 7 was of cours a different story; in particular getting round ClareGalway - as per usual - the back up coming south into Galway stretched back to the Roscommon road junction (at about 8.30 am), all the more reason for the Gort Tuam section to be pushed on with, an extra hour coming back. Of course if the Western Rail Corridor was up and running I could have taken the train the day before, booked into a hotel and spent the whole of the next day travelling back in leisure on the wee train up through Claremorris (I jest of course). The N17/18 upgrade is the single most important infrastucture project for us west of the shannon!

BTW your wikipedia page is very good - well done.

Tech3 · 28-08-2009 9:44am

westtip wrote: »

Yes agree with you about thd overtaking opps, I did Ballina - Shannon in 2 hours 15 a few months back - mind you left at 4.30 am so with nothing on the road it was a breeze for the 135 miles it is. Coming back having dropped someone off at Shannon at 6.45 stoping for a cup of tea and leaving shannon at 7 was of cours a different story; in particular getting round ClareGalway - as per usual - the back up coming south into Galway stretched back to the Roscommon road junction (at about 8.30 am), all the more reason for the Gort Tuam section to be pushed on with, an extra hour coming back. Of course if the Western Rail Corridor was up and running I could have taken the train the day before, booked into a hotel and spent the whole of the next day travelling back in leisure on the wee train up through Claremorris (I jest of course). The N17/18 upgrade is the single most important infrastucture project for us west of the shannon!

BTW your wikipedia page is very good - well done.

Interesting journey times, I managed to travel from Sligo to Limerick one night in 2hr 30 mins without breaking the limit. I reckon when the M17/M18 is done the same trip will be just over 2hrs. The most crucial part of this is there is no toll on the entire length only the Limerick tunnel.

Yes the wikipedia page is taking shape now but I it has been updated also by other boards members. I would like to gather more history particularly on the Shannon - Newmarket-on-Fergus stretch though.

westtip · 28-08-2009 11:37am

tech2 wrote: »

Interesting journey times, I managed to travel from Sligo to Limerick one night in 2hr 30 mins without breaking the limit. I reckon when the M17/M18 is done the same trip will be just over 2hrs. The most crucial part of this is there is no toll on the entire length only the Limerick tunnel.

.

Yep at 227 km according to the AA route planner at 120 kph an hour on dc and 100 kph on non dc it will make the journey of Sligo limerick very doabble in just over 2 hours. even one toll would not hold you up that much - we will never go back to the days of toll queues like the M50 bridge - will we??

Limerick galway BTW at just over 100k should take about an hour - or as mentioned on the WRC thread before you could take the train and take 1 hour 50 minutes plus your travel time to the station - and maybe four trains a day to pick from - but there you go my views on that one well known!

Tech3 · 08-09-2009 3:41pm

westtip wrote: »

I am getting an error message from the NRA website when I click on the N17 Oranmore - Gort section and on the N18 Tuam bypass section - have the NRA removed any updates to these projects?

There seems to be an issue with the road scheme activity section of the website. This problem has been ongoing for a few months now.

Has anyone passed Gort-Crusheen lately? Any updates?

Nath · 08-09-2009 4:53pm

tech2 wrote: »

There seems to be an issue with the road scheme activity section of the website. This problem has been ongoing for a few months now.

Has anyone passed Gort-Crusheen lately? Any updates?

I passed it on Monday morning, the bridge for the junction with the old N18 at Barefield is progressing reasonably well, as is the visible section of the road running alongside the old N18 between there and Crusheen. It's hard to tell how progress further on is progressing though.

Tech3 · 08-09-2009 5:28pm

Nath wrote: »

I passed it on Monday morning, the bridge for the junction with the old N18 at Barefield is progressing reasonably well, as is the visible section of the road running alongside the old N18 between there and Crusheen. It's hard to tell how progress further on is progressing though.

Thanks Nath. I have covered the whole scheme a few times but just havnt got the chance to check it out in the last month where the Tubber-Gort road overbridge was still not opened to traffic.

If people ever want to cover that section of the scheme the best way to do this is to drive on the tubber-gort road which is just off the N18 north of Crusheen. The structures are then on link roads on the right side of the road until it crosses over the main road south of Gort.

Nath · 09-09-2009 10:29pm

tech2 wrote: »

Thanks Nath. I have covered the whole scheme a few times but just havnt got the chance to check it out in the last month where the Tubber-Gort road overbridge was still not opened to traffic.

If people ever want to cover that section of the scheme the best way to do this is to drive on the tubber-gort road which is just off the N18 north of Crusheen. The structures are then on link roads on the right side of the road until it crosses over the main road south of Gort.

Some pictures I took this evening between Barefield and Gort via Tubber. They are flying through this, I was very surprised at the progress they have made, especially around the intersection with the Gort-Tubber road.

Sponge Bob · 10-09-2009 1:44pm

It would be a very very good idea to restrict or partly restrict that junction once the Barefield 'North' junction is built .

Chris_533976 · 10-09-2009 3:03pm

There isnt a Barefield north junction though. The bridge thats being built at Barefield will link the old N18 (pre bypass that goes through Barefield) with the current N18, and the mainline will continue north to Crusheen. There is no junction, just a bridge.

Only junctions on this scheme are Crusheen and Gort. And they very sensibly decided to built a full GSJ at Gort now, as it avoids a messy tie in. Only a roundabout was initially proposed, to be upgraded to a full GSJ as part of the Gort - Oranmore scheme.

Sponge Bob · 10-09-2009 3:19pm

My apologies , I though that was a GSJ they were building north of Barefield. Scrap that so

Tech3 · 11-09-2009 1:38pm

Nath wrote: »

Some pictures I took this evening between Barefield and Gort via Tubber. They are flying through this, I was very surprised at the progress they have made, especially around the intersection with the Gort-Tubber road.

Thanks alot Nath, from the pics the R460 overbridge shocked me the most. It was barely started 2 months ago. Still dissapointed the gort-tubber overbridge isint open to traffic. It is very good that the Crusheen-Tubber and the Tubber-Gort road is parallel to the new motorway isint it!

Other structures that are currently being worked hard on is the crusheen interchage and the lahardan overbridge. Both of these can be accessed as you come into Crusheen from south side go straight on instead of going under the railbridge, you will see the lahardan overbridge after about 1km straight down that road. If you look south of that you will see the Crusheen interchange.

Next summer is looking good to see this completed anyway. I will be travelling on the N18/N17 nearly every week again from September so will give updates again more often on the scheme.

Carawaystick · 11-09-2009 3:06pm

The road doesn't cross the rail line at all does it? IE pull shenanigans for every new bridge over their lines.

Nath · 11-09-2009 3:41pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

The road doesn't cross the rail line at all does it? IE pull shenanigans for every new bridge over their lines.

No, all this scheme keeps west of the rail line.
It does run right alongside the rail line for two miles north from Rathwilldoon (just east of Tubber)

M18 - Gort to Crusheen

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