N20 thread

invincibleirish

Chris_533976 wrote: »

I think they'll still push the roads as they're the governments happy little 'we are making progress' thing, unlike the HSE or the schools which you can sink any amount of money into and not see such a massive difference.

*sigh* unfortunately you may be right Chris, what a shame its come to this, our health and education services suffer at all levels, but hey general public your town got a bypass! is this what passes for good government for these days?

Chris_533976

limerickros wrote: »

2 points

Does anybody know when the works in and around Buttavent will be completed.

Secondly here is a copy of an email I received from the NRA regarding the N20

"Thank you for your email.

The Government's national transport infrastructure investment programme 'Transport 21' and the National Development Plan (NDP), 2007 - 2013, provide the policy framework for the Authority's activities for the development of the national roads network. Under these plans, the initial focus of the Authority's programme of works is concentrated on the completion of the five major inter-urban routes linking Dublin to Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Northern Ireland (via the M1) to motorway/high quality dual carriageway standard. The plans anticipate the completion of these strategic routes in their entirety by the end of 2010. Projects on these routes will, accordingly, receive priority for funding in the period to 2010, with the bulk of the remaining funding available being directed towards construction works on other routes to which we are already contractually committed or which require early attention, taking account of the specific provisions of Transport 21 and the NDP.



Having regard to the above, the timeframe for projects on other routes has not yet been determined. The provision of funding to advance the Mallow - Croom road scheme to construction will be kept under review taking account of the situation generally within the national roads programme, including demands on available finances arising from the specific objective to complete the major inter-urban routes."

The first paragraph of that is a standard copy/paste that the NRA send out. I dont mean to blow my own trumpet but my (guesswork) post above is probably more relevant than what they can email you.

What I do know is that the NRA realise that Mallow-Croom is in a **** state, but the governments insistence on the interurbans means it cant be done yet. West of Ireland political muscle is forcing the N18 through first, although I agree that both Gort and Clarinbridge need bypasses and doing only one of the two N18 schemes would be counterproductive as you'd be left with a traffic jam inducing 20km gap. Cork and Limerick dont seem to have the political muscle to push things in the same way.

BTW Cork Council demanded that the N22 Ballincollig - Ballyvourney (actually 2 schemes), N20 Cork - Limerick (2 schemes), N25 Carrigtwohill - Midleton (happening soon) and N25 Midleton - Youghal all go through immediately without delay. This is unreasonable to expect, but they have no idea how to push things properly.

N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom is going ahead fairly soon, its getting priority to the N20 Mallow - Croom, and I kind of agree. Mallow - Croom is bad but tolerable, Macroom has a bridge that cant take a lorry and a car at the same time and sections west of Macroom are just downright dangerous.

rekrow

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Cork and Limerick dont seem to have the political muscle to push things in the same way.

I think we are suffering from a case of far away fields being greener. I live in Galway and most people around here would think that both Limerick and Cork have got a better deal than Galway.

A few points for the Galway arguement.

1. Before the election last year the only NRA scheme for the whole of county Galway was the Loughrea bypass. 3kms of single carriageway with at level junctions.

2. The main reason the Athenry to Crusheen road is being built is because of pressure from the US companies in Galway complaining about access to Shannon.

3. As a percentage more of the N4/6 route is being built by private operators (50% approx) than for either the N7 or N8 (less than 25%). Tolls for a one way trip Gal/Dub will be about €6 vs about €4 for limerick and Cork.

4. Of the large urban centres Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Sligo, Kilkenny, Dundalk, Athlone, pick which one doesn't have a ring road/bypass and probably won't in 3 years time.

5. N7, N24, N20, and N18 out of Limerick have all seen improvements over the last few years. In fact of the national routes in Limerick only the stretch from Croom to the Cork border is very bad.

6. 2 years ago I went to a funeral in Cork city centre on a friday evening on a summer bank holiday weekend. I breezed into Cork city centre with no major hold ups. Maybe that was a freak occurance, but I wouldn't go near Galway city centre on a Friday evening especially during the Summer.

I do think that there is political influence at work in the prioritisation of the roads (as I have stated in another post) and the road from Mallow to Croom should be done before Gort to Athenry (please stop saying the road will finish in Oranmore (see note) , it doesn't!!!). But please don't for one second think that Galway is getting an unfair advantage over other regions.

Note: General comment not you specifically Chris. NRA keep trying to say the road ends in Oranmore, when it is closer to Athenry. I think this will be a crucial deciding factor when commuter traffic in Galway decide whether or not to use this.

Zoney

rekrow:

At least Galway has the entire city within the City council area. Limerick really suffers through being half city, half county, with even a Co. Clare element. The city is a disaster in terms of planning, and a single local authority for the city would have far more clout nationally too.

rekrow wrote: »

4. Of the large urban centres Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Sligo, Kilkenny, Dundalk, Athlone, pick which one doesn't have a ring road/bypass and probably won't in 3 years time.

Pick one which doesn't have much out the other side of it. All the others are places you have to go through to get to the next major area. Galway is its own destination apart from people going to the countryside in the west. The current N18 between the N6 and N17 forms the only "bypass" that is essential for Galway in the sense of handling long distance traffic.

I've been in Galway, and traffic is bad and needs a ring road, but the point is that the above issue does distinguish Galway and put it further down the list than any of the other places you mention.

invincibleirish

rekrow wrote: »

6. 2 years ago I went to a funeral in Cork city centre on a friday evening on a summer bank holiday weekend. I breezed into Cork city centre with no major hold ups. Maybe that was a freak occurance, but I wouldn't go near Galway city centre on a Friday evening especially during the Summer.

this is the difference between tourist friendly Galway & Cork, Cork City is pretty quite in the summer time especially on a bank holiday weekend, everyone is on holidays (possibly in Galway), so it was not a freak occurence as such.
especially if you were coming into the city.

embraer170

Chris_533976 wrote: »

N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom is going ahead fairly soon, its getting priority to the N20 Mallow - Croom, and I kind of agree. Mallow - Croom is bad but tolerable, Macroom has a bridge that cant take a lorry and a car at the same time and sections west of Macroom are just downright dangerous.

What is fairly soon? What route was selected?

Victor

Zoney wrote: »

Pick one which doesn't have much out the other side of it. All the others are places you have to go through to get to the next major area. Galway is its own destination apart from people going to the countryside in the west. The current N18 between the N6 and N17 forms the only "bypass" that is essential for Galway in the sense of handling long distance traffic.

But won't someone think of the people who bought a house on the west side and work on the east side!

Chris_533976

...and all have to funnel down Bishop O Donnell Road!

33,000 AADT on a two lane curvy road with unsequenced traffic lights

E92

invincibleirish wrote: »

this is the difference between tourist friendly Galway & Cork, Cork City is pretty quite in the summer time especially on a bank holiday weekend, everyone is on holidays (possibly in Galway), so it was not a freak occurence as such.
especially if you were coming into the city.

Agreed. Cork in the summer is very quiet. In fairness we don't have real traffic problems when the schools are on holidays. Then again ever since Patricks St was closed on Monday the city has been a complete disaster in the evenings traffic wise. Merchant's Quay and Parnell Place are a nightmare.

1huge1

rekrow wrote: »

5. N7, N24, N20, and N18 out of Limerick have all seen improvements over the last few years. In fact of the national routes in Limerick only the stretch from Croom to the Cork border is very bad.

Not a major point but I don't know what improvement your on about on the N24, that road is as terrible as always

Zoney

1huge1 wrote: »

Not a major point but I don't know what improvement your on about on the N24, that road is as terrible as always

The stretch out of Limerick got quite a rebuild a couple years back - it's grand now (wide two lane with hard shoulder) until past the first two villages (which have proper main street/traffic calming).

invincibleirish

Chris_533976 wrote: »

N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom is going ahead fairly soon, its getting priority to the N20 Mallow - Croom, and I kind of agree. Mallow - Croom is bad but tolerable, Macroom has a bridge that cant take a lorry and a car at the same time and sections west of Macroom are just downright dangerous.

is the N22 going to be Dual carriageway or wide 2 lane? over the years i've seen conflicting press reports.

on NRA.ie

This scheme will involve the construction of up to 21.5 km of new carriageway from Coolcour at the eastern side of the Macroom, to Ovens at the western end of the Ballincollig bypass. The Preferred Route has been selected

the western end of the Ballincollig bypass is getting 18k per day.

Chris_533976

Ive heard a ton of different reports too.

Latest (but possibly not correct) version I've heard is that it'll be dualled from Ballincollig to the other side of Macroom. But I heard that before the 2+2 splurge thats going on now. What with some very lightly trafficed roads up north being 2+2ed in the future, I would guess that this scheme will be HQDC to Macroom then 2+2 to Ballyvourney.

Chris_533976

A GOOD UPDATE FOR A CHANGE.

Cork RDO website ( www.corkrdo.ie ) has updated recently.

I quote ->

N20 - Cork Limerick Motorway Scheme

The Cork Limerick Motorway Scheme forms part of the Atlantic Corridor

Consultants have been appointed to bring this scheme to CPO/MO and EIS preliminary design stage. The scheme is at present divided into 3 sections:

* Blarney to Mallow including Mallow Bypass
* Mallow to Croom
* Croom to Patrickswell

The consultants are located in the new Castlelands Office building on the Cork side of Mallow (just off the old Cork Road) since mid -April 2008. These consultants will review all existing designs and proposals and bring the entire scheme to Motorway standard. Public consultations will take place in August and September 2008 to present the route options and preferred route corridor.



The contact telephone number for the new central office in Mallow is 022 70200.

The main contact names are as follows:

* Blarney to Mallow- Eileen McCarthy (Arup)
* Mallow to Croom- Matt Cunningham (PH McCarthy)
* Croom to Patrickswell – Barbara Grabis (PH McCarthy)



Other numbers and contact names:



Cork National Roads Office – Ger Patton 021 4821046

Mid-West National Roads Office – Ciaran Hegarty 061 496800

Note the good news regarding MOTORWAY ORDERS.

So this seems to be going ahead, as M, with public consultations in August and September 2008.

And this was updated in the last few days, so the economic downturn doesnt seem to be pushing this back any further.

Still no idea on construction start, but it'll be post 2010. In 2010 at the earliest.

E92

Looking forward to it, and quite possibly a Motorway as well:eek::D!

It'll be SO much faster to get to Limerick(and get out of it:D), I can't wait.

Could the NRA also upgrade the Dual Carriageway coming into Limerick to Motorway as well while they're at it please:)?

Speaking of which, when will we know about the N6/.../N9 being reclassified to the roads they should always have been now that the public consultation is long since done?

Chris_533976

No idea But the N20 into Limerick will probably be motorway as it is up to the task.

nordydan

Chris_533976 wrote: »

No idea But the N20 into Limerick will probably be motorway as it is up to the task.

Looks like the Adare Bypass will be the M21 as well according to the document. So a M20 from the planned Cork NRR to the Limerick SRR is very possible. Am I right in saying that the current N20/N21 would need to be moved northwards/southwards?? If southwards, it could perhaps form part of the Adare scheme (or be allowed for at least)

mysterious

nordydan wrote: »

Looks like the Adare Bypass will be the M21 as well according to the document. So a M20 from the planned Cork NRR to the Limerick SRR is very possible. Am I right in saying that the current N20/N21 would need to be moved northwards/southwards?? If southwards, it could perhaps form part of the Adare scheme (or be allowed for at least)

Hmmm that will be interesting as to how they will work this one out,

I.e separateing local trafiic and old road to build a new alignment for the motorway.

I'd imagine the Adare bypass being a motorway it has traffic that no inter urban has at present. Shocking fact. The existing N20/N21 is fine at present, but much to tight to fit motorway type traffic there!

mysterious

invincibleirish wrote: »

is the N22 going to be Dual carriageway or wide 2 lane? over the years i've seen conflicting press reports.

on NRA.ie




the western end of the Ballincollig bypass is getting 18k per day.

This route will be wide lane or S2 most of its entire route. I've travelled this road a few years ago, its in dire state on some stretches, but freakishinly quiet on most parts except near Kilarney, Macroom and Ballincollig. So S2 is more than sufficient.

On a sidenote on sabre, I hear someone say that the M20 full blown motorway is a waste of money, but I hear them saying, M9 or M18 is needed.. BS from people never fails to amaze me..

ich_verschwinde

There was a way that the NRA could have saved alot of money in developing the Munster roads.
Instead of developing the N8 and the N7 out of Cork and Limerick why didnt they build a brand new (say 6 lane Motorway) from Cork to a point 30km southeast of Limerick .. (something that roughly follows the current Cork-Limerick Junction rail) . This road would then split into 2.. one road going to Limerick and the other (a 6 lane motorway)going to Dublin. . That means that the Cork/Dublin Cork/Limerick Road would be the same road for the first 100km or so. but they could have eliminated out an awful lot of work for themselves that way but merging the Cork/Limerick and Cork/Dublin routes into one!

They'd easily need 3 lanes on each side to carry the volumes.. but that cost would have been nothing compared to the price they're paying to develop the roads now seperately

anyway, its done now but it was just a thought :rolleyes:

ich_verschwinde

This is the motorway they should've built ..:rolleyes:

murphaph

mysterious wrote: »

This route will be wide lane or S2 most of its entire route.

Wide two lane has been abandoned to make way for type III DC (2+1) or type II (2+2). WS2 is not set to be used on any future projects due to a poor saftey record and existing WS2 is to be retrofitted with one of the dual carriageway types where possible.

murphaph

ich_verschwinde wrote: »

This is the motorway they should've built ..:rolleyes:

I used to be of a similar opinion but upon reflection I was wrong. That is the way they built motorways in GB-ie, feeding lots of traffic into D3 or D4 motorways as opposed to the continental (especially German) method of building a more dense network of D2 roads.

The key differences are redundancy and upgradability. A single incident on the M6 or M1 can grind north-south traffic to a halt if a carriageway has to close (spillage, accident etc.) in Britain whereas in Germany there are generally plenty of alternate Autobahn routes from point A to point B and the 1974 planned Autobahn network isn't even complete yet (eg, large gaps in the A4 etc.).

We will be glad of the network we are building in future.

nordydan

ich_verschwinde wrote: »

This is the motorway they should've built ..:rolleyes:

The mountain range alone would have forced the M8 along the existing route as far as Cahir. This makes it unappealing as a cork-limerick route. it could double up as a cork-waterford route however. Maybe...

invincibleirish

This thread is great except the fact that the project is awaiting financing in the post 2010 period. just like the N22, SRR Roundabouts, Cork North Ring Road and the N28 and the Dunkettle upgrade.

Now what gets priority?

Zoney

invincibleirish wrote: »

Now what gets priority?

TD and civil service salaries.

jank

I would have SRR Roundabouts, N28 (because of the docklands move), N20, Dunkettle upgrade, Northern Cork Ring Road and lastly N22.

Thats the prority i would have but its difficult to say what the NRA will do.

Sure they will all get finance in 2010.;)
But looking ahead to 2020 ish, these should all be done. Cork wont have a bad road network at all.
Now how about some rail!:D

ich_verschwinde

arent we supposed to get a Luas in Cork by 2020 aswell? wow, we'll have amazing infrastructure by then..

Chris_533976

jank wrote: »

I would have SRR Roundabouts, N28 (because of the docklands move), N20, Dunkettle upgrade, Northern Cork Ring Road and lastly N22.

Looking at the way projects are going, the N22 is at the top of the list (Ballyvourney - Macroom anyway), then either the SRRs or the N28, then the North Ring, then the N20 and finally the Dunkettle upgrade.

Thats guesswork tho, just looking at things and announcements and all that.

Bards

from http://www.irishtrucker.com/news/news_detail.asp?nid=2913
================================================

The Government has approved new Public Private Partnership funding in excess of €1 billion for the building of new national roads in the country.

In total, there is now enough funding in place for almost 200km of road and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has instructed the NRA to proceed with raising the private finance for the construction of two sections of the N20.

A spokesman for the NRA said: “The costs are with the vendor and the State does not have liabilities assurance. And you are freeing current revenue for other projects.”

Work on the N20 and the N17 are expected to begin in 2010 And will see significant development in the Atlantic road corridor linking Donegal to cork, via Galway and Limerick.

spacetweek

Bards wrote: »

from http://www.irishtrucker.com/news/news_detail.asp?nid=2913
================================================

The Government has approved new Public Private Partnership funding in excess of €1 billion for the building of new national roads in the country.

In total, there is now enough funding in place for almost 200km of road and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has instructed the NRA to proceed with raising the private finance for the construction of two sections of the N20.

A spokesman for the NRA said: “The costs are with the vendor and the State does not have liabilities assurance. And you are freeing current revenue for other projects.”

Work on the N20 and the N17 are expected to begin in 2010 And will see significant development in the Atlantic road corridor linking Donegal to cork, via Galway and Limerick.

The same news article in the Indo Motors section goes on to state that tolls will not be placed on any of these roads.

I'm glad they're getting the private sector to pay for the big projects (i.e. remaining motorways for Atlantic Corridor) and concentrating the rest of their resources on the two-laners and minor bypasses. Hopefully this will tie in with a general drop in the obscene funding levels the NRA get each year (2 billion now) so that we can pass the money over to public transport.We're still at a 70:30 split in favour of roads, it should be the other way around.

cjpm

Does anyone know where the proposed route corridors are from Rathduff to Mallow, i.e. east or west of the current N20??
Will the new road comprise of sections of the old upgraded or will it run parallel a few km to one side???

Chris, maybe you could enlighten me...you seem very knowledgable regarding road schemes??

Colm R

I would imagine that much of the road will be build along the current alignment with a few compulsory purchases. This road was rebuilt during the 80s and there has not been very many dwellings built along it. In fact a friend of mine had planning permission refused beside his parents house, about 200 meters back from the existing road because of whats planned for the road.


However, if its going to be a motorway, I suppose an alternative will have to be provided. Would the R619 and R579 suffice?

childoforpheus

cjpm wrote: »

Does anyone know where the proposed route corridors are from Rathduff to Mallow, i.e. east or west of the current N20??
Will the new road comprise of sections of the old upgraded or will it run parallel a few km to one side???

Chris, maybe you could enlighten me...you seem very knowledgable regarding road schemes??

As far as I know from Blarney to Rathduff will be upgraded and from Rathduff to Mallow will be off line. As far as I know it will go to the east of Rathduff and then somewhere between Rathduff and Mallow it will cross to the west side of he existing road. It will then terminate at New Twopothouse village. The entire route from Rathduff to Mallow would be offline.

cjpm

Any idea where i might find more detailed info about to the route and the proposed crossing point?? Has the preferred route been identified??

childoforpheus

Its still at the Feasibility Study stage at the moment (according to the NRA) but the Cork Road Design Office has consultants appointed to bring the scheme to CPO/MO and EIS stage. If you want more info I suggest you send the Cork Road Design Office an e-mail.

invincibleirish

let me just throw what a waste time it was making the N20 from Blarney-Mallow 2+1 a few years ago, i used to use the raof frequently and 2+1s flaws were hugely evident from day one.

NRA = FAIL.

Zoney

invincibleirish wrote: »

let me just throw what a waste time it was making the N20 from Blarney-Mallow 2+1 a few years ago, i used to use the raof frequently and 2+1s flaws were hugely evident from day one.

NRA = FAIL.

The NRA have made plenty of mistakes, but would the 2+1 flaws have been evident without the <b>trials</b> such as on the N20. The N20 one was probably chosen to test how 2+1 worked out on a stretch with lots of junctions (as a contrast to the nice straight 2+1 stretch on the N24 for example).

And, following these initial attempts at 2+1, they have decided to go with 2+2 (two lane dual carriageway with wire barrier and without hard shoulders), rather than intrasigently sticking to their guns.

I think the only fair criticism is that only one brand new 2+1 build should have been undertaken to start with, rather than the handful we now have such as on N24 and N4. It was probably necessary to try out at least one though, as well as a couple retrofits to different types of existing road stretches.

Chris_533976

cjpm wrote: »

Does anyone know where the proposed route corridors are from Rathduff to Mallow, i.e. east or west of the current N20??
Will the new road comprise of sections of the old upgraded or will it run parallel a few km to one side???

Chris, maybe you could enlighten me...you seem very knowledgable regarding road schemes??

Got your PM

All I know about this one at the moment is that it'll be online upgrade from Cork to Rathduff and then offline DC from there to the north of Newtwopothouse where it'll tie in with the Mallow - Croom scheme. However, I dont know what exact changes there'll be as they are now going to do this as motorway instead of all purpose dual. That means for the online bits, there'll have to be a slightly wider area of CPO, as an alternative route has to be provided.

I have a basic (and old) map of the Mallow - Croom section but nothing from Cork - Mallow. My guess is that'll it'll go east of Rathduf, but thats all I can tell by guesswork. I'd also say it'll go west of Mallow with a junction to the south of Mallow (where it crosses the current road) but thats only utter guesswork, looking at the general terrain and a sensible spot to chuck a junction.

There are public consultations soon tho, not sure when/where, but this is off the Cork RDO website. Worth your while ringing them up and having a chat, I'm sure they'll understand.

Consultants have been appointed to bring this scheme to CPO/MO and EIS preliminary design stage. The scheme is at present divided into 3 sections:

1. Blarney to Mallow including Mallow Bypass
2. Mallow to Croom
3. Croom to Patrickswell


The consultants are located in the new Castlelands Office building on the Cork side of Mallow (just off the old Cork Road) since mid -April 2008. These consultants will review all existing designs and proposals and bring the entire scheme to Motorway standard. Public consultations will take place in August and September 2008 to present the route options and preferred route corridor.

The contact telephone number for the new central office in Mallow is 022 70200.
The main contact names are as follows:

* Blarney to Mallow- Eileen McCarthy (Arup)
* Mallow to Croom- Matt Cunningham (PH McCarthy)
* Croom to Patrickswell – Barbara Grabis (PH McCarthy)


Other numbers and contact names:
Cork National Roads Office – Ger Patton 021 4821046
Mid-West National Roads Office – Ciaran Hegarty 061 496800


Dated 16th of April 2008

http://www.corkrdo.ie/n20_cork_limerick_motorway_scheme_current_stage.php

Hope that helps


Ok I made a quick map. Mallow - Croom is a rough copy from an old map I have (but I may change a bit due to motorway geometry). Cork - Rathduff is ok, Rathduff - Mallow is absolute guesswork from me. But it seems a reasonably sensible route and it'll be interesting to see how it reflects reality.

All junctions are guesswork too.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112802807239951951301.00044f52962a002abdedc

invincibleirish

Zoney wrote: »

The NRA have made plenty of mistakes, but would the 2+1 flaws have been evident without the <b>trials</b> such as on the N20. The N20 one was probably chosen to test how 2+1 worked out on a stretch with lots of junctions (as a contrast to the nice straight 2+1 stretch on the N24 for example).

And, following these initial attempts at 2+1, they have decided to go with 2+2 (two lane dual carriageway with wire barrier and without hard shoulders), rather than intrasigently sticking to their guns.

I think the only fair criticism is that only one brand new 2+1 build should have been undertaken to start with, rather than the handful we now have such as on N24 and N4. It was probably necessary to try out at least one though, as well as a couple retrofits to different types of existing road stretches.

I think the mistake was in designating the Mallow - Blarney N20 as a 2+1 when its AADTs were always going to suggest it it would get DC/M status in the not too distance future, 2+1 was out of date before it was even implemented.

2+1 could still be used for the minor N & R roads, its a handy solution surely to have in the case of other options like DC being too costly, the N71 in West Cork could be 2+1 for instance.

Carawaystick

Is this N20 not part of the Atlantic route thingamy from T21? surely plans were made before the unveiling of that fine plan ( with Guaranteed funding 34 billion [count 'em]) Transport 21?

The issue with the 2+1 is the fact it's too short, stopping well south of Mallow. there's only about 2 or 3 passing places northbound.

corktina

there are a lot more issues than that...ie some of the double lane sections are DOWNHILL meaning that slow vehicles in the OTHER direction cannot be overtaken as they toil UPHILL.....but the biggest factor against this section is the ignorant stupid Irish drivers (and others no doubt) who drive dead slow throught the single bits and then put their foot down on the double OR hog the outside lane to prevent anyway overtaking OR who take AGES to pass one lorry so that noone else gets by it OR who leave their move to the last momnet and end up in the cross-hatched section..... I could go on (and on and on)

but by far the biggest gripe is that the money spent could have put two lanes in either direction (except at junctions) for very little extra effort (there is loads of room all along that stretch.

Final whinge...WHY was it considered necessary to have that barrier in the centre when further along that road there are three lane sections with no barrier...

God I hate that road....i usually travel to Cork over Nadd summit instead....quicker although an awful road...

cjpm

Thanks for the map Chris, it seems a very logical route esp sinc the new dump is being built to the east of Rathduff...

I would imagine that it would be possible for the new scheme to cross the existing N20 (+ rail line) approx at the "Lissard" place name on your Google Map. At that location the new N20 would be almost at a right angle to the existing N20 and the rail line thus reducing the bridge works required...

I might give the NRDO a shout at some stage to see if i can get any info, i wouldn't hold my breath though!!

invincibleirish

What about the rail line, will there be provisions for say P&R sites & future proofing the rail line and its alignment along the new N20?

Chris_533976

Blarney P&R I think? There'll be a new station there eventually and I think a P&R to go along with it.

invincibleirish

Ah Chris, ever the font of knowledge when i have questions to be answered, how do you do it you jammy dodger?

Chris_533976

I have too much time on my hands

Colm R

I think the city council are anxious for the county conucil and IE to build the P&R at Blarney. Once complete, the city can move ahead with making QBC out of the Blackpool bypass.

childoforpheus

http://www.corkrdo.ie/n20_cork_limerick_motorway_scheme_publications.php
Got a copy of this brochure in the door today. Looks like the upgrade to motorway is being taken seiously. I know its a good bit off construction yet but its good to see some progress. The routes look pretty good too and good to see the M20/N21 Junction looks like its going to be free flow.

loyatemu

is there a case for directing Cork-Limerick traffic up the M8 and then via a new road from Mitchelstown to the N24 (which itself could be dualled into Limerick)?

don't know the area well but purely from a lines-on-a-map perspective it seems plausible.