N21 Castleisland Bypass Thread

fresca · 28-06-2010 10:54am

now available
http://www.kerrycoco.ie/en/allservices/roads/n21castleislandbypass/thefile,4330,en.pdf

fresca · 05-07-2010 9:24am

notice of restricted speed limits on n21 & n23 in order to facilitate the construction/completion of the 3 roundabouts:
- 1 on limerick road, north of castleisland (n21)
- 1 on tralee road, west of castleisland (n21)
- 1 on farranfore road (n23)

http://www.kerrycoco.ie/en/advertsnotices/title,4354,en.html

they've given themselves a year... generous...

fresca · 12-07-2010 10:41am

all,

they've started the round about interface between bypass and n21 limerick road on the north (limerick) side of castleisland.
traffic is down to one lane with a set of traffic lights.
i was stuck there for 30 mins on sat.
no room to turn and swing round by crag cave.

sorry - no pics either, didn't have the camera.

carchaeologist · 12-07-2010 5:10pm

How did they get the pile of gravel for the tar on the Tralee road so high! A bulldozer wouldnt go up that far i dont think.
Its not as high as it was,but it was massive a few weeks ago.

fresca · 04-08-2010 10:22am

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/

...Kerry County Council is looking for submissions from artists to commission art for the new N21 Castleisland Bypass. The €55,000 budget is ring fenced for this project alone...

fresca · 09-08-2010 11:13am

details of roadart competition
http://www.kerrycoco.ie/en/allservices/roads/n21castleislandbypass/publicartworkcompetition/

ejmaztec · 09-08-2010 12:33pm

KCC likes throwing money around, doesn't it? €55K?:eek:

fresca · 09-08-2010 3:34pm

ejmaztec wrote: »

KCC likes throwing money around, doesn't it? €55K?:eek:

take a look at:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ireland/090903/highway-art-sculpture?page=0,0

or
http://www.millstreet.ie/blog/2010/08/05/ann-lane%E2%80%99s-photographic-journal-of-public-art

interesting that e110,000 was earmarked for road art on m7 nenagh-limerick...

i like roadart

ejmaztec · 09-08-2010 3:43pm

fresca wrote: »

take a look at:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ireland/090903/highway-art-sculpture?page=0,0

or
http://www.millstreet.ie/blog/2010/08/05/ann-lane%E2%80%99s-photographic-journal-of-public-art

interesting that e110,000 was earmarked for road art on m7 nenagh-limerick...

i like roadart

One man's roadart is another man's pile of re-constituted scrap.:P

Still, they make a change from flower-laden monuments to the dead and religious grottoes.

Tech3 · 09-09-2010 2:57pm

Hi Guys,

Had a look at the bypass today and it's very close to completion on the Tralee-Limerick road section. It's nearly all lined and studded but the Killarney-Tralee rd section is a little behind that but the length is not that long.

I took two photos from the pound road. First one is looking north:

This one is looking south from the same overpass. The wire mesh for the median hasnt been done yet but the markings are in place for the steel poles. Also there seems to be a cycle/walking path on the verge too!!

I must walk or cycle the route before it opens!!

North Cork · 09-09-2010 5:11pm

Is there going to be a barrier in the middle?

Tech3 · 09-09-2010 8:19pm

Yep the wire rope will separate the carriageways like the one on the N20 Mallow-Cork road. Wish it was the concrete barrier though.

Davidth88 · 10-09-2010 8:36am

Silly question been asked a million times , when is this ' due ' to open ?

BTW , the wire central barrier is hated by motor-cyclists . The concrete barrier is hated by ' greens ' ( stops wildlife apparently ).

As a car driver , I just want to see a barrier TBH

fresca · 10-09-2010 2:34pm

expected to open round the end of october - prior to nov 1 anyway
(according to an article in this weeks kerryman)

my vote would be for concrete median!!

Davidth88 wrote: »

Silly question been asked a million times , when is this ' due ' to open ?

BTW , the wire central barrier is hated by motor-cyclists . The concrete barrier is hated by ' greens ' ( stops wildlife apparently ).

As a car driver , I just want to see a barrier TBH

dmeehan · 10-09-2010 3:17pm

whose dumbass idea was it to use the wire median barrier. this will just add more cost in future years when someone* decides that the wire barriers are not "safe" and will have to spend millions retro-fitting a concrete barrier

* = politician etc.

limklad · 10-09-2010 4:27pm

tech2 wrote: »

Yep the wire rope will separate the carriageways like the one on the N20 Mallow-Cork road. Wish it was the concrete barrier though.

Wire rope is very dangerous to have no matter where it is placed. I do not know what the road builders/government where thinking off, most likely the cheapest way to make a road at road user safety expense. Why did the RSA not object to this is beyond me. I rather concrete barrier on this type of road otherwise, it could end up killing motorcyclist rather than bounce off. At speed the wire be like a fine piece of wire on butter. They will go though the wire in half hitting oncoming traffic on the other side and have accident on both side of the road. There is no room for error here, unlike the M20 (Rosbrien to Patrickwell) in the wide grass margin and road shoulder as between the roads where a driver or motorcyclist has a chance to recover from a swerve.

mk6705 · 10-09-2010 11:09pm

Nice to see a dual-carraigeway in Kerry. It annoys me to see the great roads going to every neck of the country, it kind of leaves us behind down here. We might be getting somewhere access wise when the Adare to Abbeyfeale road is done, in about 100-500 years. :rolleyes:

Tech3 · 13-09-2010 5:59pm

limklad wrote: »

Wire rope is very dangerous to have no matter where it is placed. I do not know what the road builders/government where thinking off, most likely the cheapest way to make a road at road user safety expense. Why did the RSA not object to this is beyond me. I rather concrete barrier on this type of road otherwise, it could end up killing motorcyclist rather than bounce off. At speed the wire be like a fine piece of wire on butter. They will go though the wire in half hitting oncoming traffic on the other side and have accident on both side of the road. There is no room for error here, unlike the M20 (Rosbrien to Patrickwell) in the wide grass margin and road shoulder as between the roads where a driver or motorcyclist has a chance to recover from a swerve.

Yeah it seems that the wire rope is placed in for less cost but could possibly end up costing more in terms of road safety and maintenance over a longer period. I don't understand why they could not introduce the concrete median for all dual road types. I was on the N15 around Ballyshannon/Bundoran in Donegal where there was a 2+1 section and a concrete barrier in the middle. Cant understand why it cant be implemented into the 2+2 schemes now. Even Armco would be better.

Tech3 · 01-10-2010 8:59pm

New poles installed on the median for the wire rope to be connected soon. I havnt seen enough of the Tralee rd- Farranfore rd if someone gets a chance to look at and give an update.

mk6705 · 02-10-2010 6:49pm

Say it from the N23 side this week and last week, the lines are painted onto that side today, they weren't last Sunday.

limklad · 06-10-2010 11:27am

I was looking at the picture that tech2 supplied. The so call safety wire in the median will do nothing to prevent any car and definitely any truck from entering the overtaking lane on the other side.
On the M20 near Patrickwell several vehicles hit the wire on its wide margin and barely missing any traffic on the overtaking lane on the other side. I cannot see this wire saving lives on such a very narrow margin. Concrete barrier is the only solution for this design. I just hope no lives will be lost because of the poor cheap design. It is a death trap in the making.

fresca · 07-10-2010 1:39pm

Photos taken last sunday 3/oct.

n21_20101003_a: looking south from daly's cold storage at bypass (pound road overbridge in distance)
n21_20101003_b: same as a + zoom
n21_20101003_c: at roundabout north of castleisland
n21_20101003_d: looking north from pound road overbridge (that's the cycle path on the right-hand-side outside amcro barrier)
n21_20101003_e: again looking north from overbridge, you can see the "verticals" in the median awaiting wire

fresca · 07-10-2010 1:42pm

n21_20101003_f: looking south from overbridge
n21_20101003_g: looking south from overbridge (you can see limit of median poles & nice view of cycle lane also)

Tech3 · 07-10-2010 2:00pm

Nice photos fresca, much appreciated.

@ limklad,

yes I do think the wire rope barrier is not good enough for the safety of traffic on these roads, also the junctions are poor. At grade roundabouts every 10km wont dont it for long distance journeys on 2+2 roads. Instead of 2 roundabouts one grade seperated junction would be more efficient on the N21 Tralee side. A roundabout then for the less important N23.

tharlear · 07-10-2010 3:09pm

fresca

On the first 2 pic you posted, a and b there appears to be a slight movement in the carrageway form right to left and then back just before the overpass. Is that real or just a camera trick?

limklad · 07-10-2010 3:36pm

tharlear wrote: »

fresca

On the first 2 pic you posted, a and b there appears to be a slight movement in the carrageway form right to left and then back just before the overpass. Is that real or just a camera trick?

It would be some camera trick or mirage!! I doubt it is movement of that land which looks fairly solid. It look like, it was the way it was constructed. They actually constructed a bend on a straight bit :eek:. Well, this must be NRA way of keeping Kerry drivers awake and paying attention. You can't leave them board after all, they grew up with road with lots and lots of bends on main roads to keep their attention to driving otherwise they might talk about football which will definitely keep their attention away from driving!!

dmeehan · 11-10-2010 1:02pm

tech2 wrote: »

Instead of 2 roundabouts one grade seperated junction would be more efficient on the N21 Tralee side. A roundabout then for the less important N23.

why even bother with the roundabout. 1 grade separated junction "Castleisland South" should be enough, then the N23 can continue straight onto the new bypass (or even an at grade junction with NO RIGHT TURNS!!). Cant see that happening though.

There is still the exit on the Limerick side: "Castleisland North". I dont see why a small town like Castleisland needs 3 exists

fresca · 13-10-2010 7:46am

i was in castleisland last night - passed through the roundabout on the tralee road (n21).

it looks like the dual carriageway section linking the n21 (tralee) to n21 (limerick) is almost ready to go. the wire is in place in the central median. the poles for signage are up. lots of cleaning up and landscaping going on. this section certainly looks as if we could open before nov 1.

disclaimer: i did not get to the roundabout on the nothern end (so i'm not 100% sure if that end shows the same level of progress - but i'm guessing it does).

Also, the single carriageway section linking n21 (tralee) to n23 (farranfore) seems not to have the same level of progress - but this gap may close very quickly?

dmeehan · 13-10-2010 5:09pm

fresca wrote: »

disclaimer: i did not get to the roundabout on the nothern end (so i'm not 100% sure if that end shows the same level of progress - but i'm guessing it does).

you guess correct, Ive come back that way over the weekend and the dual carriageway is ready to go: road marking lines painted and that awful wire "barrier" is in place at the limerick end

carchaeologist · 13-10-2010 9:09pm

Passed through the tralee road roundabout this eve,and there was some green road signs up on the road up towards the limerick roundabout.

N21 Castleisland Bypass Thread

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