New M50 Toll Bridge

gurramok

How does one go about getting an Easypass ?

I have heard of it before but it hasnt been publicised on how to get one !
I use the M50 a few times a month, would come in handy

Strange enough though, that the new bridge i thought was built fairly quickly, astounding for certain construction projects in this country

Victor

Originally posted by gurramok
Strange enough though, that the new bridge i thought was built fairly quickly, astounding for certain construction projects in this country

(a) it's a small project (b) they had it all done before (c) they did the foundations at the same time they did the first bridge.

DMC

Originally posted by gurramok
How does one go about getting an Easypass ?

I have heard of it before but it hasnt been publicised on how to get one !
I use the M50 a few times a month, would come in handy

Strange enough though, that the new bridge i thought was built fairly quickly, astounding for certain construction projects in this country

www.eazypass.ie

All there.

DMC

From www.eazypass.ie ....

The bridge is the second highest in Ireland and forms a major link in the Dublin M50 motorway system to Dublin Airport. The bridge, which traverses the River Liffey at the Strawberry Beds, is 385 metres in length with its highest elevation above the river at 41.5 metres.

So where is the highest bridge in Ireland???

Victor

Originally posted by DMC
So where is the highest bridge in Ireland???

Technically some bridge across reservoirs might be higher.

A google indicates a planned bridge on the Waterford - New Ross Bypass will be higher. Some railway bridge might be high Chetwynd viaduct or on the Arklow - Wicklow line.

I did some googling and came up with these contender for the biggest irish bridges

Chetwynd Viaduct (90ft high and 500ft long.) http://www.messiaen.co.uk/images/bantry05.jpg

Ballydehob viaduct http://www.messiaen.co.uk/bantryrail/skib/pic6.htm

Kinsale Bridge

Nineteen Arches (Arklow)

Wexford Bridge (low level) - 383m long

Foyle Bridge Derry – 1.5km long

Boyne (Rail) Viaduct and Bridge (Drogheda) 98 feet high and 17,000 (perhaps 1,700?) feet long

Craigmore Viaduct (Bessbrook) variously 126-140 feet high (38.4 –42.7m) x 0.25 (400m) miles

Broadmeadow Bridge Swords (low level) - 320 metres long

I also found this wonderful discussion about the Youghal bridge (longish, but not very long) http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/index.html?http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0149/D.0149.195503080034.html

Of course several suspension (Cork footbridges) and cable stayed (Boyne motorway bridge – 95m, Luas Taney Bridge) bridges will have higher towers.

Victor

Eh, a bit late lads:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2003/09/21/story114289.html

New M50 bridge to open
21/09/2003 - 9:46:11 am

The second M50 bridge over the Liffey Valley is being opened today. The aim is for the bridge to reduce tailbacks on the country's most congested road.

The National Roads Authority says the new west-link bridge is an important part of plans to upgrade the M50 - it will double the capacity and should help alleviate the daily tailbacks.

The NRA says a lack of finance at the design stage resulted in the inadequate design. Since then there are about 500,000 more cars on the roads, adding to the problem.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/1543515?view=Eircomnet

€700m road plan after dismal failure of no-car day
From:The Irish Independent
Tuesday, 23rd September, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

A €700m plan to improve access to Dublin from all parts of the country is to be handed to the Government shortly.

It has been drawn up by the National Roads Authority in the hope of finally ending the capital's gridlock.

The news emerged yesterday as European Car Free Day provided the clearest possible evidence of how bad the problem has become.

Dublin joined hundreds of other cities and towns in an attempt to illustrate the value of leaving the car at home.

But the day was branded an unmitigated disaster with five-mile tailbacks developing along the M50 from the new €23m Westlink bridge - less than 24 hours after it was opened by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Traffic volumes were heavier than usual and Dublin Bus reported no increase in passengers despite offering free travel between 10am and 1pm.

Bus Eireann said its inter-city passengers using the M50 were stuck in delays of up to an hour because of the traffic build-up at the West Link.

The ambitious new plan involves extra lanes on the M50 and a series of multi-lane flyovers.

The proposals are due to get the green light from the board of the National Roads Authority (NRA), the Irish Independent has learned.

New lanes, stretching 30km along the M50 from Sandyford in south Dublin to Dublin airport on the northside, form a key part of the plan.

There will also be a series of flyover "spaghetti junction" links at the Red "Mad" Cow Roundabout, and other chronic interchange bottlenecks where the M50 meets the main roads from Belfast, Sligo, Galway, Cork and Limerick.

After being considered by the NRA board, the plan will go to the Government who will have to sanction the funding. The Government has already made it clear that up to €1.2bn will be available for national roads next year.

Under the blueprint, motorists coming from the Airport who want to go to Cork, for example, will have a dedicated flyover to avoid queueing through three sets of traffic lights at the Red Cow M50 junction.

Other "freeflow" flyovers are in the plan for the M1 Belfast-Dublin intersection with the M50 as these are the two worst bottlenecks.

Michael Tobin, NRA chief executive, said they hoped to have contractors on site within 1½ years of getting the green light with the entire project taking three years to complete.

"This will go a long way to relieving the congestion on the M50 and the interchanges," Mr Tobin told the Irish Independent.

Under the plan:

* There will be extra lanes on the M50.

* Motorists travelling south on the M1 from Belfast will be given a flyover to join the M50 and allow them to head in the Cork direction.

* Motorists heading from the Naas direction towards Dublin who want to turn right at the Red Cow Roundabout and drive towards south Dublin and beyond will have a flyover.

* Drivers who want to exit the M50 and head west will benefit from a new flyover.