N4 - Collooney to Castlebaldwin [open to traffic]

prunudo · 07-02-2020 7:57am

Aren't drones one of the best inventions for people interested in keeping up to date with the progression of road construction.

The alignment of the 4th picture in the first post looks a bit weird, presume they still need to excavate the bank on the right hand side of the photo.

spacetweek · 07-02-2020 10:36pm

My word, they are flying along. Future alignment marked out clearly and most of the earthworks done.

serfboard · 13-02-2020 7:48pm

Unfortunately, a man was killed on the old road today:

RT&#201 wrote:

A man in his 40s has died following a road crash in Co Sligo this afternoon.

The collision between a car and a truck happened on the N4 road between Castlebaldwin and Collooney at around 12pm.

Shows the importance of upgrading this road.

BelfastVanMan · 14-02-2020 12:13pm

serfboard wrote: »

Unfortunately, a man was killed on the old road today:

Shows the importance of upgrading this road.

Absolutely.

Such a tragedy that it happened at all, let alone so close to that horrible piece of road being replaced.

Let's hope there are no more.

R.I.P.

marno21 · 03-03-2020 4:24pm

Photos from January 2020 courtsey n4realignment.ie

Chainage starts at 0 at the Collooney R/A and gets higher going south. Chainage data taken from the photo filenames

CH 6+750 upchain

CH 5+900 upchain

CH 6+300 upchain

CH 7+450 upchain

CH 7+800 downchain

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CH 8+200 upchain

CH 8+200 downchain

CH 9+350 downchain

CH 9+900 downchain

CH 13+950 / 14+140
ch13plus950-14plus140-cl2-general-fill-over-staged-construction-area-2.jpg

Eastern Parallel Link CH 2+000 downchain

Eastern Parallel Link CH2+750 downchain

Vilnian · 03-03-2020 6:27pm

They are plowing through! Nice to see this upgrade progressing at this speed.

veryangryman · 03-06-2020 12:21pm

They're back to work since last week or 2. Lots of activity to be seen. A fine job sofar even with the obvious obstacle

marno21 · 03-06-2020 4:59pm

N4 pics February 2020:

Full credit as ever for the fantastic pics by Roadbridge at www.n4realignment.ie

marno21 · 03-06-2020 5:04pm

Pics April 2020:

spacetweek · 04-06-2020 10:42am

Amazing - thanks.

Paddico · 04-06-2020 1:13pm

Looking good

L1011 · 04-06-2020 1:21pm

This looks like it was probably ahead of schedule at the time - what level of shutdown did they have?

spacetweek · 12-06-2020 1:20pm

Scheme works clearly visible on Google Maps aerial view now.

Edit: And Streetview!

21-06-2020 2:34pm

The parallel local roads on the Collooney end of this project are almost complete. I presume traffic will be diverted onto these roads temporarily, which will become one way only, the western road being northbound and vice versa? This should allow for a very progressive and unhindered upgrade of the original road to dual carriageway standard.

I would be surprised if this isn't completed much earlier than October next year. Based on current progress, I would bet maybe June or July?

13-07-2020 11:04am

Does anyone know why the Inver filling station in Castlebaldwin closed earlier this year? It was only reopened 2 years ago and was a great economic and visual boost to the village. They had a large Mullins foodcourt and grocery store as well as the filling station. It's sad to see it closed in such a prime location. Even with the bypass, it would still be a useful stopover as it will be the only convenient place to refuel etc between Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon.

dakar · 13-07-2020 11:53am

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

The parallel local roads on the Collooney end of this project are almost complete. I presume traffic will be diverted onto these roads temporarily, which will become one way only, the western road being northbound and vice versa? This should allow for a very progressive and unhindered upgrade of the original road to dual carriageway standard.

I would be surprised if this isn't completed much earlier than October next year. Based on current progress, I would bet maybe June or July?

Both North and Southbound traffic will be diverted onto the eastern access road. The western one just goes as far as the L3606 (at the halting site).

As regards Castlebaldwin, I agree it was a pity to lose the amenity of the shop/restaurant/filling station, but I assume it was an economic decision to close, unfortunately.

Donegal Storm · 13-07-2020 12:39pm

An Inver/Mullins station closed out of the blue recently in Letterkenny not long after a major refurb, maybe some bigger business issues

13-07-2020 12:41pm

Donegal Storm wrote: »

An Inver/Mullins station closed out of the blue recently in Letterkenny not long after a major refurb, maybe some bigger business issues

It's the same in Castlebaldwin, it was suddenly closed back in February according to Ocean FM. There's no info about it on the Inver website, apart from a lengthy press release about its opening in 2018.

ryanch09 · 13-07-2020 1:32pm

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

Does anyone know why the Inver filling station in Castlebaldwin closed earlier this year? It was only reopened 2 years ago and was a great economic and visual boost to the village. They had a large Mullins foodcourt and grocery store as well as the filling station. It's sad to see it closed in such a prime location. Even with the bypass, it would still be a useful stopover as it will be the only convenient place to refuel etc between Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon.

While it was great for the village to have it there, my problem with it is, as someone who frequently travels between Sligo and Dublin, there's very little reason for me to stop there. I would usually fill up at the very start of the journey and if I'm stopping for a toilet break coming from Dublin I'll usually do it in Carrick as by the time I get to Castlebaldwin I'm usually just thinking of getting to Sligo ASAP at that stage. I would guess that if anyone was travelling the route looking to stop for food many of them would know that there's Supermacs in Carrick and would press on until they get there

m17 · 06-08-2020 3:05pm

The n4 realignment collooney to castlebaldwin

marno21 · 13-08-2020 3:13pm

Q1 2020 newsletter

https://www.n4realignment.ie/newsletters/q1-2020-newsletter/

marno21 · 29-09-2020 10:08pm

We must have no N4 regulars on here.

The 3km of N4 that's part of the online upgrade at the northern end of this scheme is now closed until August 13th 2021. Traffic is now using the Eastern Parallel Road (shown in some pictures above) which will become the local access route when the mainline N4 is upgraded to 2+2.

The fact they are showing a reopening date for a section of N4 to be upgraded to 2+2 may give a hint that the full upgrade will be complete in August.

30-09-2020 12:28am

That section has been closed for some weeks now. I took some pics of the new road when I went for a walk on it a while back but I'm unable to upload them to this unfortunately. It keeps asking for a url when I try to upload them.

The userability of boards is declining rather than improving....

Donegal Storm · 30-09-2020 1:13am

^^You can try uploading them to a third party site (I use imgbb) then just link them here

I used to be a semi regular on the N4 (around once per month) but the pandemic put an end to that, think January was the last time I was on it and that was in the dark. Looking forward to seeing progress though at the rate things are going it might be finished before I get the chance again!

dakar · 30-09-2020 9:47am

marno21 wrote: »

We must have no N4 regulars on here.

N4 regular, but only remember this thread when it pops up in my followed threads when someone else posts!

The Eastern Parallel route will be my regular commute even after the N4 upgrade is complete. I’ve been watching the whole process with fascination since they started. They’ve been making great progress lately.

30-09-2020 1:18pm

Some pics I took a few weeks back.

30-09-2020 1:32pm

A couple more. This was located roughly halfway along the route of the project. There were other walkers there too as it was a Sunday. Technically illegal, but a great walk on a sunny Sunday.

I would expect with most of the work from Castlebaldwin to Cloonmahon due to finish up within the next 8 weeks or so, possibly sooner, it will allow the on-route widening at Collooney and the tie-in at Castlebaldwin to be accelerated. This road could well be open by May or June next year.

marno21 · 30-09-2020 1:42pm

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

A couple more. This was located roughly halfway along the route of the project. There were other walkers there too as it was a Sunday. Technically illegal, but a great walk on a sunny Sunday.

I would expect with most of the work from Castlebaldwin to Cloonmahon due to finish up within the next 8 weeks or so, possibly sooner, it will allow the on-route widening at Collooney and the tie-in at Castlebaldwin to be accelerated. This road could well be open by May or June next year.

Wow. Fantastic news that. I had no idea they were that close to finishing the mainline.

An early opening is pretty much guaranteed if that's the case. It would hardly take another year to complete what's left.

30-09-2020 2:20pm

It's really remarkable to compare this vast new road with the old one. It's about 6 times wider. In circa 8/9 months, Boyle to Sligo, indeed Carrick-on-Shannon to Sligo, will be non-stop bar a couple of roundabouts. Such a change from the early 90s when one had to take the dengerously windy route through the Curlew Mountains, Ballinafad, the existing Castlebaldwin to Collooney stretch, through Collooney and Ballisodare and through the southern suburbs of Sligo.

lucernarian · 30-09-2020 2:40pm

marno21 wrote: »

We must have no N4 regulars on here.

The 3km of N4 that's part of the online upgrade at the northern end of this scheme is now closed until August 13th 2021. Traffic is now using the Eastern Parallel Road (shown in some pictures above) which will become the local access route when the mainline N4 is upgraded to 2+2.

The fact they are showing a reopening date for a section of N4 to be upgraded to 2+2 may give a hint that the full upgrade will be complete in August.

Was on it somewhat recently, in the dark though. It didn't seem like the detour was 3 km long, it just went through some new road sections near some buildings with a couple of roundabouts. The existing road is much worse than it appears on a map, it will be good to see this completed.

steeler j · 30-09-2020 3:14pm

Some great photos ,they are flying along with the work

scooby77 · 01-10-2020 10:07pm

Fantastic progress. Wonder if they could spare a week or two and sort out mess at n15/rosses point junction! At this rate N4 be finished before it!!!

lucernarian · 02-10-2020 9:58am

scooby77 wrote: »

Fantastic progress. Wonder if they could spare a week or two and sort out mess at n15/rosses point junction! At this rate N4 be finished before it!!!

What is happening at that junction?

shanec1928 · 02-10-2020 10:58am

lucernarian wrote: »

What is happening at that junction?

a whole lot of road works with little benefit.

https://www.sligococo.ie/PublicNotices/N4-N15SligoUrbanImprovementSchemeUpdate/

dakar · 02-10-2020 11:54am

It should improve the traffic flow when it’s done, it was a fairly tedious junction layout beforehand with the N4, N15, N16 and local Rosses Point traffic converging at a cobbled together mishmash of junctions.

The roadworks are clogging the whole flow of traffic northbound along the mid block route as two lanes merge into one just south of Hughes’ Bridge and do seem to be taking a very long time.

Full description here:
https://www.sligococo.ie/N4-N15/

Donegal Storm · 02-10-2020 12:32pm

Seems to be taking forever there alright and it's an absolute mess trying to get through at busy times, took me a good half an hour crawling along the diversion a few weeks back

scooby77 · 02-10-2020 4:28pm

Southbound diversion just as bad, if not worse and more unpredictable. Not sure what major benefit it'll be when complete really.
Of course it goes back to old chestnut of building a bypass through the town in 1st place (so not really a bypass!)

blackwhite · 02-10-2020 9:55pm

dakar wrote: »

It should improve the traffic flow when it’s done, it was a fairly tedious junction layout beforehand with the N4, N15, N16 and local Rosses Point traffic converging at a cobbled together mishmash of junctions.

The roadworks are clogging the whole flow of traffic northbound along the mid block route as two lanes merge into one just south of Hughes’ Bridge and do seem to be taking a very long time.

Full description here:
https://www.sligococo.ie/N4-N15/

I’m not convinced it’s going to help matters. It’s going to end up with basically the same junctions - just with the elimination of the slip road for Cartron/Rosses Point. Hard to see how it improves anything on the traffic flows

shanec1928 · 02-10-2020 10:34pm

blackwhite wrote: »

I’m not convinced it’s going to help matters. It’s going to end up with basically the same junctions - just with the elimination of the slip road for Cartron/Rosses Point. Hard to see how it improves anything on the traffic flows

Exactly will still bottle neck around circle k.

05-10-2020 12:37pm

Another pic of the N4. I can't remember if I was looking north or south.

what_traffic · 05-10-2020 2:26pm

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

Another pic of the N4. I can't remember if I was looking north or south.

It is looking North based on hills in the distance (and direction of the sun)

serfboard · 05-10-2020 8:37pm

scooby77 wrote: »

Of course it goes back to old chestnut of building a bypass through the town in 1st place (so not really a bypass!)

Every time I go to Donegal, I fly along the fantastic dual carriageway only to come to a dead stop at the first of six sets of traffic lights, and I shake my fist in anger at the (clouds*) morons who didn't put in a proper bypass because the usual transport planning geniuses (local businesses who have no transport planning expertise) demanded that it be this way.

I also fire a curse or two at the gobsh1tes who didn't put in a GSJ at the Collooney junction (the R290 one), and who insisted at putting a roundabout in beside Summerhill college (Junction S4), when it was not necessary.

* Simpsons reference

veryangryman · 05-10-2020 9:43pm

serfboard wrote: »

Every time I go to Donegal, I fly along the fantastic dual carriageway only to come to a dead stop at the first of six sets of traffic lights, and I shake my fist in anger at the (clouds*) morons who didn't put in a proper bypass because the usual transport planning geniuses (local businesses who have no transport planning expertise) demanded that it be this way.

I also fire a curse or two at the gobsh1tes who didn't put in a GSJ at the Collooney junction (the R290 one), and who insisted at putting a roundabout in beside Summerhill college (Junction S4), when it was not necessary.

* Simpsons reference

The roundabout id imagine is to slow down traffic on approach to the hill and estates nearby

But yes how the fk does Sligo not have an actual bypass. Ots madness that it doesn't even get discussed

MY BAD · 05-10-2020 11:06pm

dakar wrote: »

It should improve the traffic flow when it’s done, it was a fairly tedious junction layout beforehand with the N4, N15, N16 and local Rosses Point traffic converging at a cobbled together mishmash of junctions.

The roadworks are clogging the whole flow of traffic northbound along the mid block route as two lanes merge into one just south of Hughes’ Bridge and do seem to be taking a very long time.

Full description here:
https://www.sligococo.ie/N4-N15/

I don't understand why they didn't do this project back when they working on Hughes bridge a few years ago.

Donegal Storm · 06-10-2020 12:27am

veryangryman wrote: »

The roundabout id imagine is to slow down traffic on approach to the hill and estates nearby

But yes how the fk does Sligo not have an actual bypass. Ots madness that it doesn't even get discussed

It does occasionally get discussed but like most major infrastructure for the NW it's permanently on the back burner :rolleyes:

To be fair this scheme will be a huge improvement but it's just one of many schemes badly needed

blackwhite · 06-10-2020 9:28am

veryangryman wrote: »

The roundabout id imagine is to slow down traffic on approach to the hill and estates nearby

But yes how the fk does Sligo not have an actual bypass. Ots madness that it doesn't even get discussed

Fairly sure there was a study done by the NRA during the Celtic Tiger that resulted in 3 proposed routes being identified for a western bypass.

Think that there's difficulties in that they have to try and avoid impacting on Carrowmore, Gibraltar Point and Carton Marsh due to various protected designations

L1011 · 06-10-2020 10:25am

More attention has been given recently to trying to get local traffic off the 'relief road' - the extra bridge and the distributor road to the West - than to a full bypass. Its basically not reappeared since the financial crisis.