N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [under construction]

Chris_5339762 · 21-12-2020 9:40pm

They've been stockpiling material, and are planning the first major structures next year so I'm GUESSING that they were waiting till early 2021 to really start on this. I think there is quite a bit of detailled design and planning work going on in the background too.

marno21 · 23-12-2020 2:36pm

Tender award to Sisk:

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders/ViewNotice/226992

€101.94m

Pete_Cavan · 23-12-2020 11:01pm

Interestingly TII had up the estimated cost to €120m when issuing the tender for the second time

marno21 wrote: »

Tender out for Dunkettle Interchange upgrade

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/152980/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

€120m estimate this time. Quite a jump.

Maybe there is some truth in the claim that retendering saved €40m from what Sisk were looking for before.

cantalach · 23-12-2020 11:42pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Interestingly TII had up the estimated cost to €120m when issuing the tender for the second time

Maybe there is some truth in the claim that retendering saved €40m from what Sisk were looking for before.

Anyone know what the value of the original contract was two years ago? I realise that mightn’t be a like for like comparison because the scope of the advance works seems to have expanded since then. But curious to know anyway.

Pete_Cavan · 24-12-2020 10:30am

cantalach wrote: »

Anyone know what the value of the original contract was two years ago? I realise that mightn’t be a like for like comparison because the scope of the advance works seems to have expanded since then. But curious to know anyway.

There are articles from the time of the cancellation of the first tender stating that costs could have risen to as much as €170m. That sounds a bit much but Sisk could have been looking for around €140m then. They put a value of €120m on the reissued tender which suggests that they were concerned enough to increase the estimate. If the contract value is €100m now, that backs up the €40m saved figure from a couple of months ago.

Limerick74 · 24-12-2020 11:14am

cantalach wrote: »

Anyone know what the value of the original contract was two years ago? I realise that mightn’t be a like for like comparison because the scope of the advance works seems to have expanded since then. But curious to know anyway.

From etenders:

Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT: 88500000.00 EUR

cantalach · 24-12-2020 1:01pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

There are articles from the time of the cancellation of the first tender stating that costs could have risen to as much as €170m. That sounds a bit much but Sisk could have been looking for around €140m then. They put a value of €120m on the reissued tender which suggests that they were concerned enough to increase the estimate. If the contract value is €100m now, that backs up the €40m saved figure from a couple of months ago.

Thanks. So I guess the only unknown is the economic, social, and environmental cost caused by the two year delay, i.e. is that more than €20M per annum.

Pete_Cavan · 24-12-2020 3:34pm

cantalach wrote: »

Thanks. So I guess the only unknown is the economic, social, and environmental cost caused by the two year delay, i.e. is that more than €20M per annum.

The main contract couldn't have started before enabling works were completed so I'm not sure that there was a delay at all, nevermind of two years.

steeler j · 24-12-2020 3:56pm

cantalach wrote: »

Thanks. So I guess the only unknown is the economic, social, and environmental cost caused by the two year delay, i.e. is that more than €20M per annum.

There was plenty of other work done ,like the n25e to m8n slip road ,the main part of the works weren't delayed that long by the retendering process

omicron · 29-12-2020 12:41am

Also Dunkettle has been predominantly deserted since the middle of March last year so hardly a massive economic cost as a result of congestion.

Chris_5339762 · 29-12-2020 9:54pm

Well yes, apart from when we were at Level 5 where the M8 SB was jammed every morning, and in the evening the south ring was backed up to Douglas.

Chris_5339762 · 08-01-2021 4:54pm

Well, this weeks Dunkettle Newsletter has just come through and no sign of works being stopped due to the new lockdown. They haven't mentioned it at all.

Cookiemunster · 08-01-2021 5:09pm

When was it published? The restrictions were only announced 48 hours ago.

kub · 08-01-2021 7:19pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Well, this weeks Dunkettle Newsletter has just come through and no sign of works being stopped due to the new lockdown. They haven't mentioned it at all.

As they should not be, road works and vital civil projects are allowed continue.

To be fair, usually on such sites people are alone in machines and trucks.

Chris_5339762 · 18-01-2021 9:25pm

Progress continues here during lockdown - quite a bit of activity onsite. I'm still at work, so no hope of coming here for sneaky photos, but the Dunkettle Traffic website is useful. Took a few screenshots today and I daresay they've got a support column up already. Took these screenshots too early though.

Cork Trucker · 18-01-2021 9:43pm

Driving by here on a daily basis (for essential reasons) and it’s very evident construction is underway now

Pete_Cavan · 18-01-2021 10:53pm

I wonder will they try to bring forward some disruptive works to the first six months of this year when the interchange will be quieter. Obviously it would be to make things easier for themselves, not for the benefit of commuters.

Chris_5339762 · 18-01-2021 11:34pm

Maybe... you'd hope so anyway.

The N8 Cork to M8 Dublin link that is built hasn't opened and I'd say they won't bother for now... because the carriageway has to move east a goodly bit they said they'd need "significant" traffic management. If I were them I'd leave it sit for now with very little traffic about the place.

AugustusMinimus · 19-01-2021 11:05am

I see they’re starting to put bollards up both sides of the M8 from the interchange. Construction certainly ramping up.

Traffic management for such a build fascinated me. So much to think about, especially on how to utilise newly built section to get traffic successful through the work in progress interchange.

hans aus dtschl · 19-01-2021 11:07am

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Maybe... you'd hope so anyway.

The N8 Cork to M8 Dublin link that is built hasn't opened and I'd say they won't bother for now... because the carriageway has to move east a goodly bit they said they'd need "significant" traffic management. If I were them I'd leave it sit for now with very little traffic about the place.

There's a little bit to go on that Cork-Dublin slip road itself too, Chris. They have the blacktop down for the majority of it, but it stops a bit short of its join to the carriageway. Same with the new "Glounthaune" slip. They're definitely waiting for the existing carriageway works on these two, machinery seems to be withdrawn from them since December.

I'll try to pop over and take some photos on Thursday when the weather's nicer. There's a huge mound of earth now to the North East where the North Esk slip road joins the N25 (it's almost like the start of that new Little Island Interchange /overpass it's so big) but I think it's just material storage, given the location.

Lots of work going on at the Dunkettle roundabout too, big parking bays going in on both sides of the R639, which I presume are a precursor to gantry signage. Loads of walkers on the new "greenway" actually, which is a bit messy as they're walking through a building site at the Dunkettle roundabout. Bad scheduling here tbh.

hans aus dtschl · 19-01-2021 11:09am

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

I see they’re starting to put bollards up both sides of the M8 from the interchange. Construction certainly ramping up.

Traffic management for such a build fascinated me. So much to think about, especially on how to utilise newly built section to get traffic successful through the work in progress interchange.

They were a little but lucky on this one, that there were pre-existing roads under large parts of it that they could use for access, but still the mind boggles about the traffic management alright.
I'd definitely need phase-by-phase drawings anyway!

hans aus dtschl · 21-01-2021 4:19pm

Hopefully these pics are of an OK resolution to make out what's going on. The North of the interchange is where the most obvious/visible pieces of work are happening.

There's significant ground works in between the middle of the legacy "Glounthaune" sliproad, with earth now up around head height in the middle triangle between the "off" and "on" slips, but it's hard to get a pic of it from afar.

If there's a desire for pics of the works beside the school, or on the south of the interchange I can pop over for some at the weekend. But I don't think what's going on in either of those is as visibly progressed as what I have in the photos.

Dunkettle roundabout footpath was a building site again today, with construction machinery on it. This whole aspect of the interchange work is really poor overall: bad route, bad scheduling, bad detailed design and bad finish. Hopefully the interchange proper will be a better job.

Treehelpplease · 21-01-2021 5:15pm

Who is going to be responsible for this when it's done, the county or city council? I wonder when the roundabout signs along the N40 and here will change from county council to city, same with any road markings/road sings that say"cork"/"city" in areas that are already cork/city (such as in this project)

EnzoScifo · 21-01-2021 5:18pm

Treehelpplease wrote: »

Who is going to be responsible for this when it's done, the county or city council? I wonder when the roundabout signs along the N40 and here will change from county council to city, same with any road markings/road sings that say"cork"/"city" in areas that are already cork/city (such as in this project)

Neither. It will be Transport Infrastructure Ireland like any other National route.

Treehelpplease · 21-01-2021 5:32pm

EnzoScifo wrote: »

Neither. It will be Transport Infrastructure Ireland like any other National route.

I mean on the roundabout, sorry, not maintenance. Apologies for the confusion

https://goo.gl/maps/WDTd1W9SGq2Xx7YJ9

hans aus dtschl · 21-01-2021 5:41pm

Treehelpplease wrote: »

I mean on the roundabout, sorry, not maintenance. Apologies for the confusion

https://goo.gl/maps/WDTd1W9SGq2Xx7YJ9

Roundabout is part of the N or M routes north and south, east and west. As I understand it, the Dunkettle Interchange and its associated signage will be TII responsibility as a result.

AugustusMinimus · 06-02-2021 5:53pm

What are they doing with the N40 south of the tunnel? Adding new gantries?

Chris_5339762 · 06-02-2021 7:14pm

VMS signs, and lots of them. They may be bundling work for gantries in with that though - would make sense.

cantalach · 06-02-2021 7:55pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

VMS signs, and lots of them. They may be bundling work for gantries in with that though - would make sense.

Don’t they mount the VMS signs on gantries?

AugustusMinimus · 06-02-2021 8:06pm

cantalach wrote: »

Don’t they mount the VMS signs on gantries?

The recent ones have been put on cantilevers.

N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [under construction]

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