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N25 - Waterford City Bypass

Bards

For those interested New website went live today

http://www.waterfordcity.ie/n25bypass

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rice bridge

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Comments

NedNew

Bards wrote: »

it would be interesting to see if they increased the spped limit on the ORR to 80 or 100 KM/h what impact it would have on traffic flows from the Ardkeen area to the Western Link, and onwards over the new bridge.

At the moment due to the ridiculously slow speed limit it take longer to get to the new bridge from the Ardkeen area than it does to go via Rice Bridge.

Especially when it is considered that the Kilkenny Ring Road, a single carriageway route, has a 100 km/h speed limit compared to the 60 km/h of the Waterford ORR dual carriageway.

Dim.

dougal

Bards wrote: »

At the moment due to the ridiculously slow speed limit it take longer to get to the new bridge from the Ardkeen area than it does to go via Rice Bridge.

Who decides this speed limit and what is the process for having it reviewed?
It really is restrictive - even if it was raised to 80 it would be something.

Chris_533976

I'm not an expert on bridges, but I drove down to Waterford to have a good sconce at the new bridge. (And I went across it slowly

). Seems to me that the bridge is very bumpy and that large sections of tar have buckled somewhat. I know bridges move a bit but this was quite noticable. Anyone else see this and is it bad?

Trick of the Tail

Yes, especially noticeable in a car with sports suspension.

The surface isn't very even at all.

A.

mike65

Its so those who use the ORR don't get a smooth shock.

pjq

Saw this bridge in France during the summer ;
http://www.abelard.org/france/viaduct-de-millau.php
http://www.leviaducdemillau.com/english/divers/gallerie.html

France 2460m long, 280m over river, 7 pylons,highest 343m, Cost €400-m, complete 2004
Ireland 465m long, 14m over the river, 1 pylon,highest 118m,Cost €500-m, complete 2009

Millau carried 4,670,449 vehicles in 2008, costs €5.60 for a car in low season and is the highest road bridge in the world.

pjq

PS our cost is higher because of the 23km of bypass road? otherwise the french would have all the biggest highest etc. records

wellbutty

pjq wrote: »

Saw this bridge in France during the summer ;
http://www.abelard.org/france/viaduct-de-millau.php
http://www.leviaducdemillau.com/english/divers/gallerie.html

France 2460m long, 280m over river, 7 pylons,highest 343m, Cost €400-m, complete 2004
Ireland 465m long, 14m over the river, 1 pylon,highest 118m,Cost €500-m, complete 2009

Millau carried 4,670,449 vehicles in 2008, costs €5.60 for a car in low season and is the highest road bridge in the world.

pjq

PS our cost is higher because of the 23km of bypass road? otherwise the french would have all the biggest highest etc. records

You cant just choose a random bridge and compare it to the Waterford one. I was on this one last year in France and it cost me €18 return....in a car!
http://www.trivago.co.uk/rivedoux-plage--116146/building/l-ile-de-re-bridge-182806

Bards

pjq wrote: »

Saw this bridge in France during the summer ;
http://www.abelard.org/france/viaduct-de-millau.php
http://www.leviaducdemillau.com/english/divers/gallerie.html

France 2460m long, 280m over river, 7 pylons,highest 343m, Cost €400-m, complete 2004
Ireland 465m long, 14m over the river, 1 pylon,highest 118m,Cost €500-m, complete 2009

Millau carried 4,670,449 vehicles in 2008, costs €5.60 for a car in low season and is the highest road bridge in the world.

pjq

PS our cost is higher because of the 23km of bypass road? otherwise the french would have all the biggest highest etc. records

exaclty,

I read somewhere that the suir bridge cost somewhere in the region of €40m

placard

I was on the bypass the weekend and it's a motorway in disguise.
The large elipseabout just before the bridge is a little confusing but cool.
The roundabout at the end of the soon to be open M9 has an extra space ready for the mooncoin bypass, looks like there are no plans to change the layout for a long time.
The bridge is impressive at night. I've seen the boyne bridge at night and both are equally impressive.

The speed limit on the outer ring road should be increased.. it's a Joke at 60k why bother having two lanes when you can't use the fast lane ; )

Trick of the Tail

...And I see new 60km/h speed limit signs on the new link roads from the Grannagh interchange to Ferrybank.

Jeez. Another dual carriageway in Waterford with a stupid speed limit.

Fish.

Barrels.

Discuss.

A.

Guramoogah

This Waterford city bypass is a sick and dangerous joke. Driving from Fenor to the city and joining the Cork Road (N25) at the Butlerstown cross this morning, the volume of traffic from the Kilmeaden direction is as bad now as it was a year ago. The only way to get onto the road is take a chance - point the car and stomp on the accellerator and pray to Jesus that someone will brake to let you join. The motorists approaching Waterford from the Cork side are simply NOT USING THE BYPASS.

mike65

Guramoogah wrote: »

This Waterford city bypass is a sick and dangerous joke. Driving from Fenor to the city and joining the Cork Road (N25) at the Butlerstown cross this morning, the volume of traffic from the Kilmeaden direction is as bad now as it was a year ago. The only way to get onto the road is take a chance - point the car and stomp on the accellerator and pray to Jesus that someone will brake to let you join. The motorists approaching Waterford from the Cork side are simply NOT USING THE BYPASS.

So its not the bypass thats dangerous, its the whatever tha old road is now called (whats its designation?) still being as bad as ever. Can't wait for the first traffic survey, if the anecdotal evidence is to be belived its empty.

Guramoogah

Workmates here in the Waterford industrial estate tell me that the main reason they don't use the city bypass is because of the roundabout at the Cork Road/Outer Ring Road junction. If they join the bypass before Kilmeaden and try to get on to the Cork Road be coming up by B&Q, they have to give right-of-way to the traffic that's coming directly from Kilmeaden. Therefore, they gain advantage at rush hour by not using the bypass.

Bards

Guramoogah wrote: »

Workmates here in the Waterford industrial estate tell me that the main reason they don't use the city bypass is because of the roundabout at the Cork Road/Outer Ring Road junction. If they join the bypass before Kilmeaden and try to get on to the Cork Road be coming up by B&Q, they have to give right-of-way to the traffic that's coming directly from Kilmeaden. Therefore, they gain advantage at rush hour by not using the bypass.

I can see traffic calming measure being put in place before too long (Traffic lights anyone)

Guramoogah

mike65 wrote: »

So its not the bypass thats dangerous, its the whatever tha old road is now called (whats its designation?) still being as bad as ever. Can't wait for the first traffic survey, if the anecdotal evidence is to be belived its empty.

Looking at the maps on http://www.openstreetmap.org/ , the new designation appears to be R680.

Silverado

What sort of an individual would forsake a fast dual carriageway in favour of a busy and windy two lane road because of one large roundabout? I use the Cork Road roundabout daily and never get held up coming from the new bridge side. The logic in that argument is probably the same as those people who seem to be either afraid or unwilling to use the new bypass road.

Incidentally has anybody noticed the way most trucks and commercial vehicles are still using the Rice Bridge route instead of paying the toll on the new bridge.

Amtmann

Much of the discussion on the functioning of the bypass can now be picked up over on the Commuting and Transport forum. This thread was for discussing and recording the construction and routing of the WCB - and it did that job very well indeed. I'm going to lock it now and create a link on the archive thread. New threads to discuss physical aspects of the now operational bypass can of course be started on this forum, but proceedings on this thread are closed.

Amtmann

Re-opened by request.

Bards

Cheers Furet,

Interesting Topic in Engineers Ireland Journal this Month about the Suir Bridge

http://www.iei.ie/media/engineersireland/services/engineersjournal/2009/nov-dec2009issue9/Suir%20Bridge.pdf

mike65

this bit caught my eye

The tower crane which serviced the construction of the pylon
could also be deemed a star performer. It stood at a hook
height of 128m, connected at 80m via triple steel ties to the
pylon. Analysis of the complex structural arrangement of the
tied crane under an array of loading conditions is unlikely to
appear in a standard textbook. The crane operator faced the
daunting task of climbing the 437 ladder steps to his cabin,
which took about 40 minutes.

Given the cranes semi-permanent nature I'd have thought a winch/pulley system would have been appriciated.

brandon_flowers

Ok I haven't read all the posts on this thread and only travelled the road today fpr the first time but I have honestly never seen a more deserted road at half 8 in the morning and again at half 1 today.

Maybe Waterford was crying out for a bypass but it seems to me to be serious over-kill. I was the only car at the toll both at lunch time heading east or west. It might just be sheer luck that it was empty but I very much doubt it.

The bridge is impressive in fairness but again it seems like its an over-designed expensive piece of architecture.

alpha2zulu

brandon_flowers wrote: »

Maybe Waterford was crying out for a bypass but it seems to me to be serious over-kill. I was the only car at the toll both at lunch time heading east or west. It might just be sheer luck that it was empty but I very much doubt it.

From passing through the area every day, it appears to me at least that Slieverue to Grannagh Junction roundabout section on the Kilkenny side does receive a decent amount of traffic, but as you say any time i've been on the toll bridge its been deserted. As you drive under the overpasses at Grannagh on the N9, the mainline towards the bridge is invariably empty while the on/off ramps do a decent amount of business.

Waterford did need a bypass, just the 1.90 toll is hard to justify on a regular basis for locals and even for Cork-Rosslare route traffic their is now a very well travelled route for truckers dodging the toll, by using the old bridge then travelling down Bilberry via the Carrickpherish road to join the bypass where it meets the outer ring road. The potential is there to increase the toll bridge figures given the large volumes heading to WIT and industrial estate areas every day but if the toll rates stay the same the status quo will continue. Even an initiative like variable pricing at off peak etc would help the situation. Between the hours of 10pm and 6am when Waterford traffic lights on the old N25 route default to green, the time saving becomes quite marginal from my experience.

Sully

I see they have still not removed the black from the "Welcome to Waterford" sign as you come into Waterford towards the old bridge (for the life of me, I have forgotten that areas name).

I use the bypass mostly during the night - oddly, they close the baskets so you must give the money to the attendants. Always quiet. But, I have seen heavy traffic on the road towards New Ross so I assume people are just dodging paying.

alpha2zulu

Sully wrote: »

I see they have still not removed the black from the "Welcome to Waterford" sign as you come into Waterford towards the old bridge (for the life of me, I have forgotten that areas name).

.

Newrath. Its location practically within sight of the Kilkenny County Council Regional office in Newrath is probably doing the sign no favours either.

I use the bypass mostly during the night - oddly, they close the baskets so you must give the money to the attendants. Always quiet. But, I have seen heavy traffic on the road towards New Ross so I assume people are just dodging paying

The 2 times Ive gone through the toll at 830am the basket lanes were closed off with the attendants and the tag lane being the only way through.

road_high

brandon_flowers wrote: »

Ok I haven't read all the posts on this thread and only travelled the road today fpr the first time but I have honestly never seen a more deserted road at half 8 in the morning and again at half 1 today.

Maybe Waterford was crying out for a bypass but it seems to me to be serious over-kill. I was the only car at the toll both at lunch time heading east or west. It might just be sheer luck that it was empty but I very much doubt it.

The bridge is impressive in fairness but again it seems like its an over-designed expensive piece of architecture.

I cetainly don't think it was overkill. The Rice bridge carries/carried 40k+ cars per day. The bypass is designed to alleviate thisbottleknck.
However the major issue just is the toll rather than lack of demand or available traffic. 1.90 twice per day/5 days per week is money many people cannot afford and are willing to spend that extra 10/15 mins to avoid it. Simple as that really.

Carawaystick

Meant to post this a while ago, regarding the rice bridge being closed to traffic for the duration of the tall ships in waterford.

was listening to radio1 and the head of the tallships organisation remarked that the rice bridge would be closed to traffic so pedestrians could easily cross it to see the ships on both sides of the quays in Waterford.
There was no mention of a waiver on the toll and the alternative route is up to Fiddown and back, which is a looong detour.

Has anyone in Waterford/Kilkenny heard about this? seems to be on shakey ground if pushbikes and other traffic not allowed across the N25 bridge are inconvenienced so much.

Bards

Carawaystick wrote: »

Meant to post this a while ago, regarding the rice bridge being closed to traffic for the duration of the tall ships in waterford.

was listening to radio1 and the head of the tallships organisation remarked that the rice bridge would be closed to traffic so pedestrians could easily cross it to see the ships on both sides of the quays in Waterford.
There was no mention of a waiver on the toll and the alternative route is up to Fiddown and back, which is a looong detour.

Has anyone in Waterford/Kilkenny heard about this? seems to be on shakey ground if pushbikes and other traffic not allowed across the N25 bridge are inconvenienced so much.

Waterford Bypass will bne Toll Free for the duration of the Tall Ships

munchkin_utd

Bards wrote: »

Waterford Bypass will bne Toll Free for the duration of the Tall Ships

yup
“The availability of the M9 Dublin-Waterford motorway and – in particular - the Outer Ring Road and the Suir Bridge which will be toll-free during The Tall Ships Races 2011 are all assets when it comes to traffic planning for this major event. Our traffic plans are being outlined at this point so that commuters, residents and businesses can make any necessary alternative arrangements"
http://www.waterfordchamber.com/index.php/about-waterford/931-policing-and-logistics-details-outlined-for-tall-ships-races-2011

who will make up the lost revenue I wonder or are the private operators doing this out of the good of their heart?

Carawaystick

grand, the lad on the radio didn't mention anything about the toll being waived, and he was supposed to be running the thing...

munchkin_utd

Carawaystick wrote: »

grand, the lad on the radio didn't mention anything about the toll being waived, and he was supposed to be running the thing...

Well...
the page I linked was from the chamber of commerce and only a quote from a senior guard.

on the official site itsself, it makes no mention of the toll bridge being free that I could find amongst the masses of logistal information.