Pete_Cavan wrote: » Jayuu's suggestion for the M3 to be extended to serve Cavan and Monaghan is interesting. I dont think it is very realistic though because Monaghan town is currently only an hour and a half from Dublin via the M1. I dont think an extended M3 would be any faster when travelling from Monaghan and although I would love to see the motorway as far as Cavan (being a Cavan man myself) the population doesnt justify this. Like I said in my earlier post Virginia should be bypassed and the N3 from there to Cavan is good enough considering traffic volumes are quite low and then Cavan town is already bypassed.
murphaph wrote: » Is the link road from the trumpet to south of Navan built to full motorway specs? If so it's pretty interesting as an S2 would have sufficed (as was used at Kells onto the trumpet there) and I suspect this could be a short length of any future DOOR.
MYOB wrote: » My toll tag - a working, in credit eTrip unit - failed to work at either toll plaza today, express or normal lanes. Anyone else having problems?
murphaph wrote: » Are the two roundabouts either side of a bridge (ie, do they form part of a dumbell interchange)? Or is the M3, the roundabouts and the continuation N3 all on the same level? This is such a shoddy way to connect 2 dual carriageways together, one being a motorway! This doesn't happen anywhere else a motorway joins a dual carriageway as part of the same continuous route AFAIK (N6-M6, N7-M7, N11-M11 (twice), N8-M8). It may not delay much but for the want of a single flyover it shouldn't delay at all tbh. Edit: if this is indeed a flyover with 2 roundabouts either side of it, it is almost a carbon copy of the southern termination of the Ballymena Bypass which was designed for future connection to the never built "middle bit" of the M2. In the end they dualled the A26 (what has already been done with the N3) and 30 years later ran the M2 through the junction to flow directly into the A26. At least they had a reason: the A26 was S2 when the M2 was built and wasn't dualled until years later. The M3/N3 setup however seems quite bizarre to me, would love if someone could get some pics of the lay of the land there if possible please!
nordydan wrote: » It's actually a good idea, the dumbell interchange. Due to the presence of the n52 and the old road into kells. So each roundabout is 4 armed. In context of future gsj, its not a bad solution
Pete_Cavan wrote: » The M3 stinks of something dodgy because it is now the fourth motorway passing through count Meath, the home of the minister for transport.
privateBeavis wrote: » I've account with easytrip and same thing, didn't work at either toll today. Even had one of the guys on the toll try to scan the device and it wasn't working!
murphaph wrote: » Have you seen this interchange Dan? Is it a partially built dumbell with flyover, or is it 2 roundabouts on the flat?
nordydan wrote: » Yes it is, bar a tightish bend at its joining point with the r147. Its an interesting link road, the overbridge on it is spectacularly high! Worth a spin down
Jayuu wrote: » As far as I can see the best long term planning here would be to build the M3 onwards bypassing both Virginia and Cavan on their eastern side. Then have the road turn back eastwards to pass Clones on the east and Monaghan on the west and reach the border where the exiting N2 does. Exits could be provided for all of these towns and link roads in. The M2 then from its current end then should turn westward to join the M3 at a new interchange north of Dunshaughlin (Junction 6a). This would have to be tolled along the same lines as the toll between Junctions 5 and 6 on the M3. Doing this would give us a motorway to the border serving the main towns of Meath, Cavan and Monaghan along the way and eliminating the need for any major work along the N2 corridor.
D'Peoples Voice wrote: » Jayuu, I love to see you canvassing for this idea in Donegal town and Killybegs(even up north in Letterkenny), its not enough that they have no proper rail infrastructure, but hell adding an extra hour to their journey by redirecting the M3 towards a North Easterly direction, they would get a great kick out of that idea, the fact that you may be the victim of that kick is another thing! We have the M1 - adequate enough to feed both Belfast and Derry! The M3 is there to feed everything from Letterkenny, Enniskillen, Omagh, Bundoran down as far as Sligo(I know Sligo has the N4 - but a second option is no bad thing if Galway and Mayo keep growing in terms of usage - not in a recession thank god)
GeneHunt wrote: » it's all on the flat - no flyover bridge between the roundabouts.
SeanW wrote: » Can anyone tell me what the point is of this roundabout on the trumpet junction at J10?http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.70868&lon=-6.85642&zoom=16&layers=B000FTF
murphaph wrote: » So basically for the want of a single flyover on a 63km scheme, traffic has to needlessly negotiate 2 roundabouts. There's no good reason for this: the M3 will never be extended through this junction without using the path of the new N3 (2+2 section). It should have all been connected now.
privateBeavis wrote: » Tested my new Aiptek Pencam HD while on the new M3...
BrianD wrote: » The R147 has also dropped to 80kmh as it has lost its N status. Is there an a mechanic for the local authority to up this back to 100? Similarly the N2 was upped to 120 before it got its motorway designation?
Lemlin wrote: » I drive this motorway everyday. Is there an 'Easy Pass' system that I can get for it? Where can I get one of these cards?
