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N6 - Athlone Bypass Upgrade works

  • 01-04-2010 5:50pm
    #1
    Tech3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,010 ✭✭✭Tech3


    I thought the works carried out on the Athlone bypass this year should deserve updates in it's own thread. The NRA has allocated 7 million euro to this. Anyone know what month this is expected to start?
    Athlone's unkempt and increasingly down-at-heel relief road is to be revamped, following an unexected €7m windfall from the National Roads Authority.

    The NRA has allocated €7m to be spent on the Athlone bypass this year, The €7m for Athlone bypass is to be spent on overlay and rehabilitation.
    Tagged:


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Comments

  • #2
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    I'd be more interested to know if it includes improving the junctions with the main roads that cross it and whether it's an "M6" or an "N6". Getting off the bypass can be a nightmare at times!


  • #3
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Are we to have a thread on every pissant road job that gets started now ????? I will start the N63 Lackagh Streetlighting thread when I get a chance so :D


  • #4
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    :D

    Well, with the reduction in road funding, we'll soon be having threads on N? being resurfaced, wait we already have. ;)


  • #5
    Tech3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,010 ✭✭✭Tech3


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    Are we to have a thread on every pissant road job that gets started now ?????

    No, but I'm sure many posters dont want to be flicking through several pages on the other thread trying to find bits out about the bypass. There has been a high amount of question towards the improvements on that section already. These works might prevent a gap in the motorway from M4-Oranmore in a couple of years providing it gets redesignated.

    I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road. Lets hope they get these works carried out soon.


  • #6
    -Corkie-
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,025 ✭✭✭✭-Corkie-


    tech2 wrote: »
    No, but I'm sure many posters dont want to be flicking through several pages on the other thread trying to find bits out about the bypass. There has been a high amount of question towards the improvements on that section already. These works might prevent a gap in the motorway from M4-Oranmore in a couple of years providing it gets redesignated.

    I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road. Lets hope they get these works carried out soon.

    I travel around their a good bit and would much prefer to have the 7 million spent upgrading the athlone to ferbane/nenagh road its a disgrace.


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  • #7
    Stinicker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,102 ✭✭✭Stinicker


    SARASON wrote: »
    I travel around their a good bit and would much prefer to have the 7 million spent upgrading the athlone to ferbane/nenagh road its a disgrace.

    Totally Agree, and another bohereen is the stretch of N52 from Borrisokane to Birr and N62 onwards from Birr to Cloghan, the R438 from outside Borrisokane to Cloghan is far better yet still very bad, first time I travelled the route I went via Birr and will never forget travelling about 15 or 20 miles behind some sort of massive tractor contraption for Bord na Mona.

    The Athlone bypass is crappy yes but it is better than parts of Cork's South Ring with its two idiotic roundabouts. I think if we are to make the available budget work then the worst roads have to be targeted. Last time I travelled to Athlone (during the cold snap) I travelled via the M18 from Limerick to North of Ennis and then connected with the M6 north of Loughrea as the roads were salted and travel-able.

    Mind you if they ever finish the M7 in the bog of doom then the journey up the M7 to Nenagh would make the journey to Athlone easier. What should be built is a dual carriageway to Motorway standard connecting the M7 to the M6 straight through the midlands really.


  • #8
    -Corkie-
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,025 ✭✭✭✭-Corkie-


    Good idea actually. I did travel that road a lot more years ago when i travelled from kerry to sligo daily youll have some pain in your ass from that borrisakane to athlone road..


  • #9
    serfboard
    Registered Users Posts: 4,668 ✭✭✭serfboard


    SARASON wrote: »
    Good idea actually. I did travel that road a lot more years ago when i travelled from kerry to sligo daily youll have some pain in your ass from that borrisakane to athlone road..

    If you were going from Kerry to Sligo why would you travel that road instead of taking the N18->17?


  • #10
    KevR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    In the 3 years 2006, 2007 and 2008 there were approximately* 32,850,000 journeys on the Athlone Bypass; 0 fatal collisions, 2 serious collisions and 11 minor collisions.

    I haven't compared this to other roads (motorway, DC or otherwise) but it seems to me that the Athlone Bypass has a good safety record.

    Although, in my opinion, it should still get the upgrade and redesignated as this will make it even safer. Pedestrians, cyclists and slow moving vehicles shouldn't be allowed on it, it's simply not a safe place for them.


    *based on a 30k per day average over 3 years.


  • #11
    -Corkie-
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,025 ✭✭✭✭-Corkie-


    serfboard wrote: »
    If you were going from Kerry to Sligo why would you travel that road instead of taking the N18->17?

    Traffic in dock road ennis (that time) gort oranmore claregalway and tuam. No traffic hold up on the bog road


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  • #12
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    tech2 wrote: »
    I have driven the bypass many times now and it really is an atrocious bit of road.
    This is not atrocious. It's grade separated D2, and far higher standard than the N20 near Buttevant, N28 between the top of the hill above Douglas and Carrigaline, N11 north of the Tap, N14, N16 etc.


  • #13
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    As a regular user of the road, it's a good section of DC but appears poor relative to the two sections of new(er) motorway eitherside of it.

    As it is the surface is starting to fail, in the past few months several sections have failed and needed patching, a large section subsided near the Coosan bridge westbound - I'm sure many will remember the congestion it caused!

    Not looking forward to the rebuilding works, just the end result.


  • #14
    oddiot
    Registered Users Posts: 89 ✭✭oddiot


    KevR wrote: »
    Although, in my opinion, it should still get the upgrade and redesignated as this will make it even safer. Pedestrians, cyclists and slow moving vehicles shouldn't be allowed on it, it's simply not a safe place for them.
    Funnily you should mention that... I saw a cyclist being spoken to sternly by a garda on the M6 westbound near Ballinasloe this afternoon!


  • #15
    Enbee
    Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭Enbee


    Just out of interest was there a financial reason (such as the cost of an additional Shannon bridge and perhaps difficult terrain) that mitigated against simply running the M6 to the south of the town and keeping the bypass as an urban relief road?


  • #16
    Chris_5339762
    Registered Users Posts: 5,848 ✭✭✭Chris_5339762


    You'd have needed a huge bridge across the Shannon and one, if not two link roads to either end of the bypass. That seemed silly when there is already reasonably good DC there already to link into. Also, the plans were designed as HQDC with 100kmh limits, so the whole motorway reclassification thing wouldnt have entered into it at the time.


  • #17
    Enbee
    Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭Enbee


    Thanks, I had vague memories of the Shannon being difficult to cross south of the town.

    So was the M6 designation the third time in a dozen or so years that the plans were upgraded. When I spent some time in Mullingar in '98 I remember reading something about the road west of Kinnegad being planned as reduced dual-carriageway with a narrow median and little to no hard shoulder.


  • #18
    antoobrien
    Registered Users Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭antoobrien


    Enbee wrote: »
    Thanks, I had vague memories of the Shannon being difficult to cross south of the town.

    So was the M6 designation the third time in a dozen or so years that the plans were upgraded. When I spent some time in Mullingar in '98 I remember reading something about the road west of Kinnegad being planned as reduced dual-carriageway with a narrow median and little to no hard shoulder.

    Almost all of the NIU's started off as HQ dual carriage ways. I seem to remember someone asking about motorways, then some horsetrading and then a decision that since they were being built to that standard (or it was easy enough to make the required changes in most cases) to make them all motorways


  • #19
    roosterman71
    Registered Users Posts: 5,339 ✭✭✭roosterman71


    Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage


  • #20
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,523 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    antoobrien wrote: »
    Almost all of the NIU's started off as HQ dual carriage ways. I seem to remember someone asking about motorways, then some horsetrading and then a decision that since they were being built to that standard (or it was easy enough to make the required changes in most cases) to make them all motorways

    You're both right in that while the plans for the MIU's all started as HQDC, the 1998 Road Needs Study had substantial lengths of them as only requiring basic DC or even wide single carriageway - including part of the M6 and most of the M9 routes.


  • #21
    KevR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    roosterman71 wrote: »
    Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

    I agree that something should be done with those exits, especially Monksland where the acceleration/deceleration lanes are way too short.

    The speed limit is only 100kmh and will remain at 100kmh even if the bypass gets redesignated as motorway. The 90 degree bends at those exits aren't ideal but even with the short deceleration lanes which are there now, people can slow down to a safe speed before they reach the bend. Longer deceleration lanes and better warning signs for the bends will make it safer though.


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  • #22
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,528 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    KevR wrote: »
    I agree that something should be done with those exits, especially Monksland where the acceleration/deceleration lanes are way too short.

    The speed limit is only 100kmh and will remain at 100kmh even if the bypass gets redesignated as motorway. The 90 degree bends at those exits aren't ideal but even with the short deceleration lanes which are there now, people can slow down to a safe speed before they reach the bend. Longer deceleration lanes and better warning signs for the bends will make it safer though.

    Luckily enough, you usually have a fukcing tractor in front of you going on that exit.

    Monksland exit has got very busy these days since they closed off access to Summerhill via old N6.

    Every evening i have to now contend with

    -> Elan
    -> Industrial Estate Traffic
    -> My fellow villagers
    -> Brideswell/Kiltoom Grannies incapable of >40KMPH. If your planning driving fast after Elan westbound, forget about it!
    -> Summerhill
    -> Drum
    -> Bus Eireann coaches who STILL refuse to use the perfectly good adjacent Motorway
    -> The odd dumbass who cant find the Athlone Springs

    All Generally i find (maybe the conspracy theorist inside me) that Roscommon side drivers seem to never have any sense of urgency to them when it comes to the road. They are also poorer drivers in general


  • #23
    KevR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    The amount of people who I have seen using the wrong lane going onto the roundabout that you come to after exiting at Monksland Westbound is unreal. It's clearly marked - left lane is for first and second exit off the RAB and the right lane is for the third exit. Loads of people use the right lane for the second exit, crazy!


  • #24
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    roosterman71 wrote: »
    Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage
    Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.


  • #25
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    roosterman71 wrote: »
    Are the exits going to be upgraded? The Roscommon and Monksland turn offs are a disaster. Imagine heading for those at 120km/h and your faced with a 90 degree, or even 180 degree turn on the off road. It would be carnage

    Well, they've been there nearly 20 years now, as far as I know there haven't been any major incidents. A few minor overruns around the curves mind you. All the locals are used to them, through traffic just needs to be aware that drivers start their decellaration before the slip lanes.


  • #26
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    Carawaystick wrote: »
    Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.

    But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!


  • #27
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Juelz Enough Stagecoach wrote: »
    But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!

    short enough lane here, about 190m
    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.803334,6.7601&spn=0.001949,0.006282&t=h&z=18


  • #28
    Juelz Enough Stagecoach
    Posts: 0 ✭ Juelz Enough Stagecoach


    Carawaystick wrote: »
    short enough lane here, about 190m
    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.803334,6.7601&spn=0.001949,0.006282&t=h&z=18

    That's easy, unless you're half-asleep! ;)

    The monkslands and Roscommon slips are less that half of that with a 90Deg bend after it!

    http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,602164,741836,8


  • #29
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,528 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    Carawaystick wrote: »
    Seems to work fine on Motorways in Germany with no speed limits.

    Don't get me started on the Germans today...:mad:


  • #30
    Zoney
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭Zoney


    Juelz Enough Stagecoach wrote: »
    But there is a good long slip lane before the turn to slow down in!

    In my experience, you want to make sure you're back down to 120 km/h on the mainline before entering those slips! However you might well be back down closer to 80 km/h on the mainline as before leaving it you might well have to mix with HGVs and buses going slowly in the inside lane.


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  • #31
    flazio
    Registered Users Posts: 12,783 ✭✭✭✭flazio


    veryangryman wrote: »
    -> Bus Eireann coaches who STILL refuse to use the perfectly good adjacent Motorway

    Bus Eireann can't use the motorway as there is a stop outside Naughtons garage.


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