N78 - Athy Southern Distributor Road [completed]

marno21 · 15-03-2016 4:26am #1

This scheme was included in the Capital Investment Plan

Tender went out today for ground investigation, meaning the route is surely now selected

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=97406&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

annfield1978 · 15-03-2016 5:01pm

Top Survey went out a week or two earlier so you can see the corridor under consideration

marno21 · 21-09-2017 7:46pm

Decision due from An Bord Pleanala in the next 3 weeks.

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/HA0050.htm

road_high · 22-09-2017 8:01pm

Shame they wouldn't just build a proper N78 bypass, this thing looks more an inner relief road and will be pretty much useless if and when it gets swamped by development.

marno21 · 13-10-2017 9:56pm

Decision on this to be published on Monday.

Middle Man · 13-10-2017 10:51pm

marno21 wrote: »

Decision on this to be published on Monday.

I think this has already been approved...

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/home/275885/an-bord-pleanala-approves-athy-distributor-route.html

rameire · 13-10-2017 11:10pm

The detail of what was decided was supposed to be released on Monday after the decision was made,
This info was released by Martin Heydon this morning.
But all people who made a submission were given the result today, and as a result, Thomas Redmond a County Councillor who made a submission, was able to release the details today, thankfully.
Now all that is required is funding.

marno21 · 13-10-2017 11:12pm

Middle Man wrote: »

I think this has already been approved...

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/home/275885/an-bord-pleanala-approves-athy-distributor-route.html

Cheers Man in the Middle.

Good to see another project get approval, hopefully funding can be found in the next year or two.

marno21 · 24-08-2018 12:18pm

Tenders for advance works to be published for this next week.

marno21 · 24-09-2019 10:26pm

Tender out for removal of rails along the route

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/154332/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

road_high · 26-09-2019 4:21pm

marno21 wrote: »

Tender out for removal of rails along the route

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/154332/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

Thinks a shame athy isn’t getting a proper bypass I’m not convinced of this relief road thing. Or the glacial pace it’s moving at

Last Stop · 26-09-2019 7:12pm

Athy has an AADT of around 5,000, it barely warrants this never mind a bypass considering some of the other bottlenecks around the country.
The distributor road will do an excellent job at taking through traffic off the Main Street and into a road which will be designed to cater for it.

road_high · 26-09-2019 9:00pm

Last Stop wrote: »

Athy has an AADT of around 5,000, it barely warrants this never mind a bypass considering some of the other bottlenecks around the country.
The distributor road will do an excellent job at taking through traffic off the Main Street and into a road which will be designed to cater for it.

Where’s the traffic counter saying that? All I can is one closer to Castlecomer and one out on the M9 link. These arent the same as in the town itself. Athy is choked with traffic daily

Last Stop · 26-09-2019 9:23pm

road_high wrote: »

Where’s the traffic counter saying that? All I can is one closer to Castlecomer and one out on the M9 link. These arent the same as in the town itself. Athy is choked with traffic daily

The counter to the south has an AADT of 3,000
The counter to the north has an AADT of 5,000
Neither of these would be justification for a bypass in terms of numbers for a start.
The distributor road will take any through traffic out of the town that doesn’t need to be there. If the town is choked because of local traffic well then a distributor road will have more of an impact than a bypass.
I really don’t see why Athy needs a bypass. I know it’s not a particularly nice town but where are people going from/to that need the bypass? The M9 took all the traffic that used to go this way as an alternative to N9 from Kilkenny.

road_high · 26-09-2019 9:30pm

Last Stop wrote: »

The counter to the south has an AADT of 3,000
The counter to the north has an AADT of 5,000
Neither of these would be justification for a bypass in terms of numbers for a start.
The distributor road will take any through traffic out of the town that doesn’t need to be there. If the town is choked because of local traffic well then a distributor road will have more of an impact than a bypass.
I really don’t see why Athy needs a bypass. I know it’s not a particularly nice town but where are people going from/to that need the bypass? The M9 took all the traffic that used to go this way as an alternative to N9 from Kilkenny.

So what is the ADDT through the town itself? I live fairly close by and avoid athy like the plague if I can. I despise these half arsed cheap options that merely move from one part of a town to another rather than out of the environs properly

Last Stop · 26-09-2019 9:39pm

road_high wrote: »

So what is the ADDT through the town itself? I live fairly close by and avoid athy like the plague if I can. I despise these half arsed cheap options that merely move from one part of a town to another rather than out of the environs properly

The AADT for through traffic is presumably somewhere between 3-5k.
What benefit is a bypass going to have over this road? The problem with Athy isn’t through traffic, it’s local traffic. A bypass won’t solve that but a distributor road will.

marno21 · 26-03-2020 12:25am

Kildare County Council have started the tender process for the construction of the 3.4km Athy Southern Distributor Road

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/164878/0/0?returnUrl=ctm/Supplier/publictenders&b=ETENDERS_SIMPLE

marno21 · 23-05-2020 11:11pm

2nd tender notice has appeared

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders/ViewNotice/230655

Stan27 · 19-08-2020 9:39pm

Any update?

Kevtherev1 · 06-04-2021 11:20am

Notice of Kildare County Council for Athy Southern Distributor Road for May 4th 2021 to May 3rd 2022. Closure of athy canal side to facilitate construction of Distributor road. Is this the start of construction or has it already begun

https://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/TemporaryRoadClosure-NoticeofIntention-CanalSideAthy.html

Stan27 · 04-08-2021 8:23am

Anyone know its progress?

road_high · 08-08-2021 9:08pm

Very little from anything I’ve seen. Seemed to have stalked completely. Not surprising with an idiot like Martin Heydi

rameire · 15-10-2021 11:03am

Athy Southern Distributor road has got the green light.

Hopefully will start within the next month.

BAM have the contract.

https://twitter.com/CiaranMather1/status/1448285382475460616

cargo · 11-01-2022 1:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118022896#Comment_118022896

Did BAM get out on the ground before the end of 2021 with this?

They spoke of been on site shortly after contract signing but no dates given for start or end in anything I've read. https://www.bam.com/en/press/press-releases/2021/10/kildare-county-council-awards-contract-for-athy-distributor-road

Looks a fairly easy build other than a new river crossing. There was already prelim work done on this from what i can see (removing old structures / asbestos etc) so should progress rapidly once they put a digger on site.

rameire · 11-01-2022 1:48pm

Unfortunately I don't know, I have moved away from Athy so not on top of local activity anymore.

There seems to be radio silence on social platforms regarding it especially from the local Politicians.

@Pablod May have an idea if they see this.

road_high · 12-01-2022 2:10am

passed through athy a few weeks and didn’t see a thing going on. Usually that prat Martin Heydon TD would be going on about it if anything was happening

rameire · 01-02-2022 10:00am

A Tweet from CISIreland advising that BAM have commenced construction on the Athy Distributer Road.

https://twitter.com/CISireland/status/1488433188913307654

Pablod · 03-02-2022 11:23pm

Yes, @rameire

They are on site about 3-4 weeks and they have started clearing (A LOT OF CLEARING) either side of the R417 along the old railway line,

Will try grab pics over next few days and throw up

silver2020 · 03-02-2022 11:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118578925#Comment_118578925

I won't believe it until I see the proof 😃😃😃

I remember going to the peerless rug company on a school trip (md's son was in my class) and there was talk about how the "soon to be started" bypass would make things better and that they had been waiting a few years by then.

That was circa 1980

So photos or I won't believe it 😃

Pablod · 04-02-2022 11:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118579045#Comment_118579045

Fair enough.... i'll have to go get photos now....

I know PICs or GTFO 😂🤣

Pablod · 11-02-2022 8:35pm

Here you go folks @rameire @silver2020

Few brief pics over last few days on Athy-Carlow road (R417) by old railway line along the back of the Rugby grounds

the last pic is from the R418 Castledermot road where they have just started works last few days to join up with R417

FreedomOfSpeechAndChoice · 17-02-2022 12:55pm

Looks like we have our new "M17" for this thread.

Thanks for the pics.

cgcsb · 17-02-2022 8:05pm

Would be great to get the trucks out. The town centre needs serious remodeling with a big central pedestrianised space.

road_high · 17-02-2022 8:11pm

Great to see this one get underway after many decades of talking

Pablod · 07-06-2022 10:54pm

Another quick update folks...

One of the local photographers took some drone footage yesterday

(hopefully link appears OK below)

Szeremeta Rafal - New Road progress | Facebook

road_high · 08-06-2022 10:12pm

Looks to be plenty going on anyhow. Saw plenty of progress and site works off the train and also on the Castledermot road. Also lights on the Castlecomer road- big project but it should be very worthwhile

road_high · 08-06-2022 10:19pm

Are the junctions going to be roundabouts? I’d hate to see traffic lights tbh

KrisW1001 · 09-06-2022 8:57am

There will be a new roundabouts at ends, but drawings have the intermediate junctions as at-grade, light controlled crossings: this is an urban relief road, not a bypass.

From the planning application:

3.4km of urban arterial road (Type 3 single carriageway), incorporating pedestrian and cycle facilities;
Two new roundabouts – one on the N78 Kilkenny Road south-west of Athy town centre and one on the R418 Castledermot Road south-east of the town;
One connection to an existing roundabout – N78/M9 link road / R418 Kilcullen Road east of Athy town centre;
Two signalised cross-roads junctions, at Fortbarrington Road and at the R417 Carlow Road, both incorporating right turning lanes and pedestrian/cycle crossings;
One river bridge with an 80m single span over the River Barrow;
One railway bridge over the Dublin-Waterford railway line

Pablod · 12-09-2022 3:26pm

Hopefully you'll be able to view this ok....

Quick drone footage of progress from R418 side down back of Rugby grounds...

https://www.facebook.com/CouncillorMarkLeigh/videos/637594297707074

rameire · 12-09-2022 4:10pm

Thanks Pablo, its looking good to see it progressing. I might buy you a pint at the end of the month.

great to see everybody out whinging on Facemuck as well.

Pablod · 26-09-2022 7:07pm

More photos from local Senator

Some of the photos to shut the FB wingers up about the road not being wide enough... 🤣

https://www.facebook.com/mark.wall.1272/posts/pfbid02sTCKqYBmcSypAHiV64r635NmJFvGtVwwoWk5VxAoHkUKBpsXAtsXWoi4uyEqxsX8l

hgj · 13-05-2023 3:00pm

Hi everyone,

What do you think it will happen in terms of noise levels this new roads sections to close neighborhoods like Corran, Dún Brinn or Coneyboro? Something to concern about it? Thanks.

road_high · 14-08-2023 11:58pm

Seems to be progressing well. Roundabout at the castlecomer road end completed now

ffocused · 18-10-2023 8:03pm

https://kildare-nationalist.ie/2023/10/17/athy-ring-road-to-open-in-two-weeks/

rameire · 18-10-2023 8:49pm

Nice to see it opening soon.

road_high · 29-10-2023 11:14pm

Should make a big difference- if you’re travelling from north Kilkenny to Dublin direction I wonder will it make the N78 more convenient than joining the M9 further south and saving some kms

rameire · 31-10-2023 5:12pm

Should be open around 7pm today.

All the lads have been out for their photoshoot.

road_high · 31-10-2023 8:24pm

Those photo opps piss me off as we have to wait around for days or even weeks to got their narcissistic diaries as taxpayers paying for the schemes…

But let’s stay positive and this should be a great scheme- is the N78 to be redesignated to the new road?

road_high · 01-11-2023 6:46pm

Anyone tried the new relief road yet?

spacetweek · 03-11-2023 10:43pm

https://kildare-nationalist.ie/2023/10/31/athy-bypass-finally-opens-after-63-years/

Thread title updated.

JVince · 03-11-2023 11:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121322116#Comment_121322116

I suspect the photo is fake :)

I'll have to drive to athy to see it before I believe it.

N78 - Athy Southern Distributor Road [completed]

Comments

https://kildare-nationalist.ie/2023/10/17/athy-ring-road-to-open-in-two-weeks/