M6 - Kilbeggan to Athlone

Tea drinker

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought that it was a legal (building regulations) requirement that all external lighting was low polluting.

we shall "see" ! I find some of the existing new stretch of motorway (particularly junctions) a bit too bright for my night adjusted eyes, and there is a LOT of light pollution from them, I dunno what regs they need to work to.

billbond4

The more light the better, so you can see the sign of the exit your taking.

Fecking signage in Ireland is piss-poor, I though the NRA got a few million this year to upgrade the signs around the county, I havent noticed any real change, except maybe putting a few new signs up in the same places where existing signs were, as apposed to maybe moving them to a better location. Wish they would get rid of those little 50/60kph signs,why dont they just put up normal size signs?

DVD-Lots

they have just about finished the line painting at the Athlone end, concrete barriers taken up to do this.

veryangryman

Question: Other than the gates, what is there to stop someone just using the Motorway at the moment? I see rumours abound that many have gone ahead and done same.

AM

veryangryman wrote: »

Question: Other than the gates, what is there to stop someone just using the Motorway at the moment? I see rumours abound that many have gone ahead and done same.

If you drive on a new road before it is opened then you won't be insured. As an aside, I wonder if anyone with specific off-road insurance would be ok!

As for the opening date, I don't mind anymore if it takes until late July. Any opening date before July 31st is a bonus. Traffic is at it's lightest then and in August. (Yeah, I'm sure some of you have horror stories about summer tailbacks but just think back to the guaranteed daily grind of getting into Athlone in the winter.)

Victor

AM wrote: »

If you drive on a new road before it is opened then you won't be insured.

I somehow doubt this. Racing would be another matter.

Of course there is the light matter of trespass and safety.

Carawaystick

can you trespass on public land? Usually steel piling type barriers used as they can be moved easily.

third party insurance has to cover you doing almost anything, driving carefully on a closed road would be almost definitely covered.

any how it's not Athlone, its Moate.....

120_Minutes

i'm off tomorrow and seriously considering going down for a goo. i'm only a stones throw from the clara interchange.

blast05

third party insurance has to cover you doing almost anything, driving carefully on a closed road would be almost definitely covered.

Don't think so. When cycling on it, i was stopped by a security van and informed that if i was hit, then no type of insurance of mine or others would cover me.

billbond4

Whats the different between driving on an unopened road and a private carpark say in dunnes? They are both private properties. I dont see how you Wouldnt be insured.

billbond4

billbond4 wrote: »

Whats the different between driving on an unopened road and a private carpark say in dunnes? They are both private properties. I dont see how you Wouldnt be insured.

There is a difference between public liability & trespasssers liability.

In a private car park the public are invited to access the area and the public are insured should an accident occur, trespassers don't have that privilage.

billbond4

Maybe, anyway you could say that a gate was open so you just drove on the road, you would be trepassing on the road "by accident"

Pittabang

this morning at Kilbeggan the access to the westbound carriage was unblocked and the signs were no longer covered. In other words if you were coming from Tullamore and heading to Galway you would be able to follow the signage and the road was unobstructed to gain access to the new road.

That said the concrete barriers we still in place further along to prevent Dublin drivers westbound continuing along the road !!

I suspect this was a mistake and is probably rectified since

Waiting for the "official" opening perhaps...

Pittabang

I just dont think I can wait any longer

blast05

I see from dirving past it early this morning that the entrance on to the motorway for heading east at the junction at the end of the Athlone by-pass has had the 120 kph signs removed and have been replaced with 100 kph ..... that answers that question so.
Also while the lines are all done at this junction, there are only cats eyes on the central white line so still some work to be done there.

pgbuachain

From the Athlone Advertiser
http://www.athloneadvertiser.ie/index.php?aid=7524

Current Publication Date: 20/06/2008

Opening end July, speed for at least the first few months will be 100kph.
New N6 will be open for business in just four weeks

By Maria Daly


The N6 Phase 2 Kilbeggan to Athlone dual carriageway is set to open ahead of schedule at the end of July. It has also been proposed to upgrade the dual carriageway to motorway status.

Once the section of road is opened and designated a motorway road, users will notice significant time saving on their journey from Athlone to Dublin. By eliminating traffic blackspots such as Moate and Kilbeggan, commuters can make the trip from Athlone to Dublin in just over one hour.
A spokesperson for the National Roads Authority agreed that there would be significant time savings for motorway users, “the old N6 had some major traffic congestion,” he said.

This section of the Dublin to Galway motorway was initially scheduled to open by spring 2009. It was then pushed forward to August 2008; however the section will now open at the end of July.

The Kilbeggan to Athlone road will initially be classed as a National Primary Road with the speed limit being placed at 100 km/hr. However the signposts on the route will be blue in preparation for its upgrade to a motorway. There is also a similar proposal to upgrade the dual carriageway to motorway status for the N6 Phase 1 from Kinnegad to Kilbeggan.
A spokesperson for the NRA confirmed that the re-authorization of the dual carriageway is currently being processed.

Speaking to the Advertiser Niall Kennedy, senior executive engineer with the National Road Design Office, said that the Kilbeggan to Athlone dual carriageway will be fit for purpose by the end of July, but there will still be some snags to fix. “The road will be fit for purpose and open to traffic but there will still be the snag list to sort out,” he said.

According to Mr Kennedy the NRA are looking to upgrade the dual carriageway to a motorway and are awaiting a ministerial signature. “When it opens first the speed limit will be for a dual carriageway, but once we have approval the route will become a motorway.

“I hope everyone enjoys the new road and uses it safely,” he added.
The next step for the motorway is the completion of the Athlone to Ballinasloe stretch of the motorway. This project is due for completion by the end of 2009.
The largest part of the project, the Ballinasloe to Galway road, which takes in approximately 60km of road is scheduled to be completed by 2010. (Publication Date: 20/06/2008)

veryangryman

Just give us a definitive date! No more of this "End of July" bull****

PLEASE!!

I've just fired off an email to these people http://www.wccprojectoffice.ie/new/schemes.asp with a bit of luck, they'll respond.

edit

The Opening of this road to public traffic is currently scheduled to
take place on Wednesday afternoon 16th July 2008.

N6 Project Liaison Engineer

tubos

nice one!! Altho ughwas hoping it would be open a little sooner!!

Three weeks for cats eyes, ah well at least we have a date.

Tea drinker

Ah sugar, was hoping to do all my upcoming Athlone trips on it!

120_Minutes

workmen were changing/removing the large green roadsign on the current n6 on the way into kilmartins from moate at about 9.30 this evening.

Saw that as well, looks like they want to be sure everythings ready.

Noticed that all the signs on the roundabout (westbound) had been replaced.

blast05

Went for another spin this evening.....
Re the cats eyes - well if we take the road to be 28km and 6 lines of cats eyes (3 each way) then there is 168km of lines give or take. I reckon in total there are only ~15km of lines to be done, none of which are the bigger ones on the central borken line. Based on progress over the last few weeks then around 3 working days should comfotably do it as all the reflectors on the central crash barrier are also there.
Aside from that, there is about a 10 yards section that needs timber panels to be fitted (metal poles are there), about 30 manholes on the grass verges that need to have the lids out on, a 1 metre section of the central crash barrier to be replaced and a few hours of tidying up to do around the bridge over the river that flows through Kilbeggan and about 1 km section to be swept close to Kilbeggan.
Aside from all that i can not see a single thing that needs completing. I was again stopped by a security van and quizzed him re opening. He said it was originally supposed to be the 10th (despite another guy telling me end June) but is now the 16th as per D/bakers post. Now previously i was being cynical about the date having to suit politicians but if Noel Dempsey and/or Mary O'Rourke have had holidays planned for end June / early July then can anyone seriously see them changing their plans to allow the road open, or can anyone actually see the road opening without the being there ?

Tea drinker

Another great recon blast4.
I kinda believe the politicians want their day out on a day that suits them, but I guess there will need to be a final inspection carried out and some time after this to allow remedial works, and for those to be inspected.

Zube

blast05 wrote: »

if Noel Dempsey and/or Mary O'Rourke have had holidays planned for end June / early July then can anyone seriously see them changing their plans to allow the road open, or can anyone actually see the road opening without the being there ?

I think they usually open roads when they are ready, and stage an "official" opening later, when the VIPs are available.

I still see a fair number of trucks, diggers and mysterious machines beetling along the new road from the various overpasses. I think the work they are doing is mostly landscaping now, but if I were managing the project, I wouldn't want the road opened until I was sure that no more heavy machinery would be needed along the route to finish it.

blast05

I still see a fair number of trucks, diggers and mysterious machines beetling along the new road from the various overpasses.

I counted a total of 5 diggers along the route. I could not see a single thing that any of them would have left to do.
Forgot to mention re last night that there was a couple fo fire brigades and an ambulance crusing up and down the road. Some type of safety inspection for them i guess.
One other thing i forgot and puzzled me a little is the picture attached. Picture was taken about 2 weeks ago - there is now a simple gate blocking off this - its around halfway between Moate and Kilbeggan

GerardKeating

blast05 wrote: »

One other thing i forgot and puzzled me a little is the picture attached. Picture was taken about 2 weeks ago - there is now a simple gate blocking off this - its around halfway between Moate and Kilbeggan

One of two things like that on the Killbiggean-Kinnegead section, i assume some form of local or emergency access.

Zube

blast05 wrote: »

I counted a total of 5 diggers along the route. I could not see a single thing that any of them would have left to do.

From the bridge at Fardrum this morning I could see a digger working on the bank below, parked in the hard shoulder, and some sort of grading machine? on the westbound carriageway. From the Clara overpass I could see two tractors towing trailers, maybe of topsoil?