N3 - Belturbet Bypass

mintoffdom · 02-06-2012 10:17am

Looking north at the start of the works on Thursday 31st May......

mintoffdom · 02-06-2012 10:18am

Forgot about that.....:rolleyes:

At this junction.....

...looking north towards Belturbet

mintoffdom · 02-06-2012 10:26am

At the halfway stage....looking north.....

......looking south

mintoffdom · 02-06-2012 10:30am

At the northern edge of Belturbet where a roundabout joins the N3/(A509) to NI with the N87 to Swanlinbar.......

The northern end of the bypass.......

Apologies for the greyness but it was very late and very dull.

Storm2 · 02-06-2012 1:10pm

Nice pictures there, excellent work.

Wilderbeast1 · 03-06-2012 8:15am

Thank you!

I took them before some communication difficulties evolved.

- Wild Bill

Bummer1234 · 04-06-2012 5:40pm

Bummer1234 went for a walk!!

First three located here

The next few pictures are located in backroads

Below: Putiaghan bog ...Alot work to do here yet.

View of the Staghall Roundabout from the new road.

One of the new bridges.

Bummer1234 · 07-06-2012 6:17pm

Noticed how small them pictures appear to be on this so here is a link so you can see them bigger and in more detail by zooming in.

Also if you click on "full details page" on the left hand side you will see the exact location via the Latitude and Longitude if you wanted to know

M three · 06-07-2012 1:51am

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Noticed how small them pictures appear to be on this so here is a link so you can see them bigger and in more detail by zooming in.

Also if you click on "full details page" on the left hand side you will see the exact location via the Latitude and Longitude if you wanted to know

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Will be a great job when its done. Hopefully the belturbet town council will get up off their arses and do something with the town when the bypass is done but I doubt it.

spacetweek · 06-07-2012 1:10pm

M three wrote: »

Hopefully the belturbet town council will get up off their arses and do something with the town when the bypass is done but I doubt it.

Lovely town.

bureau2009 · 06-07-2012 1:38pm

spacetweek wrote: »

Lovely town.

Will always have a soft spot for Belturbet and the truly friendly, pleasant people there.

Sponge Bob · 27-07-2012 12:57pm

Any chance of close up pics of the Erne Bridge and the Bog Bridge ???

TIA

M three · 01-08-2012 12:50am

spacetweek wrote: »

Lovely town.

Not saying it isnt but the people elected to represent it arent much use.
They've spent the last few months quibbling over the fact that there isnt money to maintain the public toilets so they closed the toilets instead.

Not one of the town councilors suggested taking a pay cut for a few months or forgoing some of their expenses so the work could be done.

Bummer1234 · 26-09-2012 2:53pm

One of the bridges on the road

http://www.rod.ie/projects-N3-Butlers-bridge.asp

munchkin_utd · 13-11-2012 9:49am

Staying on the original topic of all things N3 outside of the motorway (which was the original thread title before someone came along and renamed it), it seems that the 46km stretch from the Kells Bypass to the Fermanagh border is now reactivated and is again in planning.

http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/CavanCountyCouncil/N3NorthofKellstoCavan/SchemeName,16536,en.html

The Virginia by-pass is needed, but to investigate that they probably needed to reactivate the entire existing project to be able to work on planning of the Virginia section.

Actually if its considered a fact that the N4 north of Mullingar needs upgrading then on that basis the N3 north of Virginia actually is more in need and should have priority seeing as traffic levels there are 20% higher than on the N4 and are even higher than some sections of the M6 or M8 or M9!

Chris_5339762 · 13-11-2012 11:43am

I highly doubt a 46km, presumably 2+2 scheme will be going ahead anytime soon!

munchkin_utd · 13-11-2012 12:41pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I highly doubt a 46km, presumably 2+2 scheme will be going ahead anytime soon!

have to agree theres places more in need of work, but unlike the Longford or Monaghan planned bypasses of the bypasses and associated works which are offline and of questionable merit in the first place, the majority of the 46km study area would be an online upgrade from very good wide offline single carraigeway with hard shoulders and limited enough local access to a 2+2 with even more limited local access. The problem with the current road is similar to many others in Ireland that it just takes one muppet doing 30mph on a busy day with lots of oncoming traffic and the benefits of such a monster of a road are out the window.
And again, to put it in perspective this road north of Virginia is busier than sections of the M6 M8 and M9 so traffic can build up behind slow cars.

Heres a section that shows a long straight that has no entries and at the end a few local accesses that could be merged into one if the old parallel road was reinstated just as an example of what most of the road is already like.
https://maps.google.de/maps?q=N3,+County+Cavan,+Ireland&hl=en&ll=53.888035,-7.151349&spn=0.001203,0.003076&geocode=FYo4NwMd7reR_w&hnear=N3,+County+Cavan,+Ireland&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=53.888035,-7.151349&panoid=uQs4f9Fe1pX5aBEXuyA-iQ&cbp=12,318.32,,0,22.8

The only real major work needed offline is the actual Virginia By-Pass and the couple of km either side of the town that hasnt been touched in the past decades but unfortunately thats all wrapped up in the super major upgrade project so it means that Virginia must be done as part of the bigger project, or is split from the bigger project - but either way the bigger project has to be reactivated or modified to allow just Virginia to proceed.

spacetweek · 13-11-2012 2:57pm

How on earth is traffic so high? There is nothing in that part of the country and no major destination at the end.

Bummer1234 · 13-11-2012 3:14pm

spacetweek wrote: »

How on earth is traffic so high? There is nothing in that part of the country and no major destination at the end.

1)Alot of people have to Drive and commute to and from Dublin to work and towns inbetween.

2)Other road networks in Ireland have Rail services up against them and there is nothing along the N3/M3 route.

M three · 19-11-2012 3:50am

spacetweek wrote: »

How on earth is traffic so high? There is nothing in that part of the country and no major destination at the end.

Theres a lot of people travelling from Dublin to cavan, and onwards to Enniskillen and a large part of donegal also.
No train service available either as already mentioned so all public transport is via bus

ardmacha · 19-11-2012 6:49pm

How on earth is traffic so high? There is nothing in that part of the country and no major destination at the end.

"Major destination" is not the point. This is the main route for all of Cavan, Fermanagh, half of Donegal and part of Tyrone, a quarter of a million people. Contrast that with the M9 which only has County Waterford with half that population at its end.

veryangryman · 19-11-2012 9:55pm

ardmacha wrote: »

"Major destination" is not the point. This is the main route for all of Cavan, Fermanagh, half of Donegal and part of Tyrone, a quarter of a million people. Contrast that with the M9 which only has County Waterford with half that population at its end.

Plus kilkenny carlow and new Ross. South east region has half a mill people in the 6 counties.

Sponge Bob · 19-11-2012 11:47pm

veryangryman wrote: »

Plus kilkenny carlow and new Ross. South east region has half a mill people in the 6 counties.

And 2 motorways and a crap N road in between to Dublin don't forget.

road_high · 20-11-2012 12:28am

ardmacha wrote: »

"Major destination" is not the point. This is the main route for all of Cavan, Fermanagh, half of Donegal and part of Tyrone, a quarter of a million people. Contrast that with the M9 which only has County Waterford with half that population at its end.

M9 is far busier than the N/M3 and at various points further from Dublin.
Check out figures here for comparison. And compare similarly to the M8/7/6 at various points too. Happy reading to all who like to think the M9 is an unused white elephant.

Geogregor · 17-02-2013 6:24pm

Guys, any chance for some photographic update?
This project must be coming along nicely by now. Especially the new bridge.
Any info about the opening date? Ahead of schedule? On time? Or maybe delayed?

Bummer1234 · 18-02-2013 10:54am

Geogregor wrote: »

Guys, any chance for some photographic update?
This project must be coming along nicely by now. Especially the new bridge.
Any info about the opening date? Ahead of schedule? On time? Or maybe delayed?

I was on the road yesterday for a walk and they have alot of work to do yet,I took a few pictures of the new bridge crossing the Erne, The opening date was Down for May but i have heard that they could be having problems with the bridges in the bog and with what i seen there is loads of work to do yet so could be longer.

Pictures are to large to display here so click on attachments below.

Bummer1234 · 18-02-2013 10:58am

Some more pictures. Also picture IMG_2491.JPG shows the depth of tar already on the road but alot more to add.

Geogregor · 18-02-2013 3:02pm

Thanks for the quick response. I honestly wasn't hoping for that good shots.

It looks like they still have quite a lot to do. But May might be doable. It seems that bridge is structurally done, all they need to do now is waterproofing of the deck, laying tarmac and adding barriers. Could be done in 2-3 months or even less if they push for it.
I guess a lot depends how about the rest of scheme. If most of the base layers are laid on the majority of the project length then the wearing course can be added quite quickly.

Bummer1234 · 18-02-2013 3:17pm

Geogregor wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response. I honestly wasn't hoping for that good shots.

It looks like they still have quite a lot to do. But May might be doable. It seems that bridge is structurally done, all they need to do now is waterproofing of the deck, laying tarmac and adding barriers. Could be done in 2-3 months or even less if they push for it.
I guess a lot depends how about the rest of scheme. If most of the base layers are laid on the majority of the project length then the wearing course can be added quite quickly.

The have loads of work to do on the "putchcan bog" area where there having problems with sinking ground and the are also working on the suspension bridge on the butlersbridge side which i havn't got a picture of but the are only laying the supports for them.

Chris_5339762 · 18-02-2013 3:35pm

Is this the ROIs first big Extrados bridge?

Bummer1234 · 18-02-2013 3:37pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Is this the ROIs first big Extrados bridge?

Apparently thats true yes

Geogregor · 18-02-2013 7:46pm

Bummer1234 wrote: »

The have loads of work to do on the "putchcan bog" area where there having problems with sinking ground and the are also working on the suspension bridge on the butlersbridge side which i havn't got a picture of but the are only laying the supports for them.

Oh, there is another bridge? Something big?
If they really only doing supports for it then it will be good if they finish before the next winter.

Bummer1234 · 18-02-2013 9:47pm

Geogregor wrote: »

Oh, there is another bridge? Something big?
If they really only doing supports for it then it will be good if they finish before the next winter.

Yea, Theres another suspension bridge going across the old n3 road here, Its a real boggy area to the right of that road and they have a to build a bridge over it.

Overall going very slowly and plenty to do.

Geogregor · 19-02-2013 1:09am

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Yea, Theres another suspension bridge going across the old n3 road here, Its a real boggy area to the right of that road and they have a to build a bridge over it.

Overall going very slowly and plenty to do.

Ok, thanks.
Do you know where can I find more details about this bridge? Is it going to be long?
Maybe you could take some pictures of it as well, next time when you go for a walk

M three · 19-02-2013 3:08am

Bummer1234 wrote: »

I was on the road yesterday for a walk and they have alot of work to do yet,I took a few pictures of the new bridge crossing the Erne, The opening date was Down for May but i have heard that they could be having problems with the bridges in the bog and with what i seen there is loads of work to do yet so could be longer.

Pictures are to large to display here so click on attachments below.

Geogregor wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response. I honestly wasn't hoping for that good shots.

It looks like they still have quite a lot to do. But May might be doable. It seems that bridge is structurally done, all they need to do now is waterproofing of the deck, laying tarmac and adding barriers. Could be done in 2-3 months or even less if they push for it.
I guess a lot depends how about the rest of scheme. If most of the base layers are laid on the majority of the project length then the wearing course can be added quite quickly.

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Yea, Theres another suspension bridge going across the old n3 road here, Its a real boggy area to the right of that road and they have a to build a bridge over it.

Overall going very slowly and plenty to do.

Great pics, thanks for sharing those.
The pic ending in -86 that you attached, the one taken from the bridge, shows a lot of water backed up. They've obviously had to do this to construct the bridge down river but its caused flooding further up river.
A section of the N3 was closed for the last few weeks because of this, traffic from cavan to belturbet/ballyconnell/enniskillen/ donegal has had to divert. Its only a few miles and will be worth it in the end.

Id say a 2/3 months for completion is optimistic. Its amazing how long landscaping, painting and signage takes to do. You could drive on a new road months before its actually ready to be opened.

All the wet weather last year held progress up a lot Id say.

Bummer1234 · 19-02-2013 10:52am

Geogregor wrote: »

Ok, thanks.
Do you know where can I find more details about this bridge? Is it going to be long?
Maybe you could take some pictures of it as well, next time when you go for a walk

Ill get back to you on that :P

M three wrote: »

Great pics, thanks for sharing those.
The pic ending in -86 that you attached, the one taken from the bridge, shows a lot of water backed up. They've obviously had to do this to construct the bridge down river but its caused flooding further up river.
A section of the N3 was closed for the last few weeks because of this, traffic from cavan to belturbet/ballyconnell/enniskillen/ donegal has had to divert. Its only a few miles and will be worth it in the end.

Id say a 2/3 months for completion is optimistic. Its amazing how long landscaping, painting and signage takes to do. You could drive on a new road months before its actually ready to be opened.

All the wet weather last year held progress up a lot Id say.

The picture ending in -86 with the town in the background is the water after passing under the bridge, The picture ending in -84 shows a DAM like feature and this defiantly causedthe hold up of the water,But i was told just before my picture was taking, The load of rocks on the same picture to the left was out more and holding up even more water. The floods have gone down and i was able to drive on the n3 road fully even with road blocked signs.

spacetweek · 19-02-2013 4:58pm

I like the architecture of the new bridge shown in those pictures.

spacetweek · 09-03-2013 9:05pm

This was meant to finish in May, do we think that's still likely?

mcgeebers · 11-03-2013 4:07pm

Bad news on NRA website - Q1 2014

N3 Belturbet Bypass
Local Authority: Cavan County Council
Start County: Cavan
End County: Cavan
Description: The N3 Butlersbridge to Belturbet Road Improvement Scheme which comprises the construction of 6.7km of standard single carriageway will include a bypass of Belturbet Town and a major river crossing of the River Erne. The scheme from the existing N3 at Kilnaleck to the Staghall Roundabout on the existing N3 north of Belturbet will include five at-grade junctions, realignment of side roads and 2 bridge structures. The construction contract has been awarded to Ferrovial Agroman PT McWilliams Ltd. J.V. and construction commenced in May 2011.

This project has been funded by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.
Mainline Length (km): 6.7
Contractor: Ferrovial Agroman PT McWilliams Ltd. JV
Current Project Phase: Construction
End of construction: Q1 2014

Sponge Bob · 11-03-2013 4:24pm

Depends on the weather really, the bog bridge could take some time to finish as it is in a boggy and rather inaccessible area where dry weather is a must.

Geogregor · 12-03-2013 1:12am

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Depends on the weather really, the bog bridge could take some time to finish as it is in a boggy and rather inaccessible area where dry weather is a must.

Still, Q1 2014 is quite a long way off. From the pictures posted here before I think they could finish it before next winter.

spacetweek · 13-03-2013 1:44pm

Geogregor wrote: »

Still, Q1 2014 is quite a long way off. From the pictures posted here before I think they could finish it before next winter.

Winter?? It is scheduled to be finished in 6 weeks! Q1 2014 is a 10-month delay.

M three · 13-03-2013 1:49pm

In fairness last year was a disaster weather wise and probably held things up a lot.
On top of that they're dealing with a very boggy area, who knows what changes they've had to make to get a foundation for some of the structures.
Its only when they started excavating that you'd realise how bad the ground is.
The delay is a pity but we've managed this long without a belturbet bypass another year wont make much difference!

L1011 · 26-03-2013 5:22pm

I could see the town bypass section being opened well before the realignment part south of the town - assuming no horrors hiding along what can't be seen

Bummer1234 · 27-03-2013 10:34am

MYOB wrote: »

I could see the town bypass section being opened well before the realignment part south of the town - assuming no horrors hiding along what can't be seen

The only problem maybe this area as its a very boggy and may require alot more fill than previously thought. But yes..Apart from that the town can be by-passed.

spacetweek · 27-03-2013 11:55am

You can see the bypass in Bing! Their aerial imagery seems to be a lot more up-to-date than Google's.

bureau2009 · 10-04-2013 11:44am

I grew up in Belturbet a very, very long time ago

So I just want to say "Hello!" to all Belturbet people!

Was back there recently and I COULD NOT BELIEVE I had to use the traffic lights to cross to the other side of the street!

Bummer1234 · 04-06-2013 10:07am

People saying around that the New road will be open next weekend with out the new bridge still in construction in time for the G8 in Enniskillen,

Anyone else hear anything?

opa01_2000 · 13-06-2013 11:43am

wasn't open this morning - G8 is next week right?

spacetweek · 13-06-2013 2:24pm

opa01_2000 wrote: »

wasn't open this morning - G8 is next week right?

Why is this so important for the G8 - are they all going to fly into Dublin for something on in Enniskillen??

N3 - Belturbet Bypass

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