N22 - Macroom to Ballyvourney (Macroom Bypass) [open to traffic]

AugustusMinimus

Isn’t the Western part of the scheme HQDC or will that only be the Ovens to Macroom section?

dmcsweeney

The roundabout in Coolcower is online, which I assume means that all traffic using the bypass will have to go through it. Won't this cause huge potentially dangerous traffic queues around the bad bends from the east? And I can also see EMC style queues from the west every morning with impatient drivers trying to merge last minute? Is there any better alternative?

hans aus dtschl

dmcsweeney wrote: »

The roundabout in Coolcower is online, which I assume means that all traffic using the bypass will have to go through it. Won't this cause huge potentially dangerous traffic queues around the bad bends from the east? And I can also see EMC style queues from the west every morning with impatient drivers trying to merge last minute? Is there any better alternative?

I don't see why that would happen?
On a 3-arm roundabout, the traffic from East would have right of way over the traffic from Macroom so should flow smoothly.
Traffic from West would only rarely be trying to get to the East side of Macroom, so wouldn't cut them off.

I don't think the problem you're referring to is the roundabout, but rather the fact that the section in the middle isn't being upgraded.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Isn’t the Western part of the scheme HQDC or will that only be the Ovens to Macroom section?

The entire Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme is 2+2. Macroom-Ovens will presumably be motorway

Cork Trucker

marno21 wrote: »

The entire Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme is 2+2. Macroom-Ovens will presumably be motorway

And no movement on this before 2027?

marno21

Cork Trucker wrote: »

And no movement on this before 2027?

No movement planned for years anyway; I’d be optimistic of it being picked up in the mid term review of the NDP or in the event of a change of Government.

The congestion between Macroom and Ovens especially around Farran along with the delays at EMC are getting quite severe

hans aus dtschl

marno21 wrote: »

The entire Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme is 2+2. Macroom-Ovens will presumably be motorway

Why 2+2 rather than M?
Would there really be much savings?

Cork Trucker

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Why 2+2 rather than M?
Would there really be much savings?

I’d prefer a motorway myself but would settle for 2+2. It’s bad enough they Alan O’Connor of the Green Party is complaining about this project

Cork Trucker

https://twitter.com/alanoc_green/status/1184755618407735296?s=21

hans aus dtschl

Cork Trucker wrote: »

I’d prefer a motorway myself but would settle for 2+2. It’s bad enough they Alan O’Connor of the Green Party is complaining about this project

I presume it's the same complaint many are making: government is calling for prioritisation of sustainable transport, but not funding it and funding the roads infrastructure projects.

The N22 is needed, the problem is lack of funding for most of the sustainable projects.

Cork Trucker

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

I presume it's the same complaint many are making: government is calling for prioritisation of sustainable transport, but not funding it and funding the roads infrastructure projects.

The N22 is needed, the problem is lack of funding for most of the sustainable projects.

Yeah I posted the tweet just before your comment

hans aus dtschl

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Yeah I posted the tweet just before your comment

Sorry, I didn't spot that.
Yes I think the greens are coming at this thing wrong. Most of the "missing" roads like N22 etc are badly needed. People should be knocking down the minister's door not in order to stall roads, but to demand progress on the other stalled schemes.

Opposition to N22, M20 etc won't wash well for voters who have been waiting for a long time for infrastructure. It's just constant excuses from councils, NTA and TII about why they don't have sustainable schemes moving, at the moment.
For instance there's a total of €9m allocated for cycling transport infrastructure for the entire country for the entire year, which is a crazy situation to find ourselves in: that's the angle to focus on IMO, not stalling the N22.

dmcsweeney

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

I don't see why that would happen?
On a 3-arm roundabout, the traffic from East would have right of way over the traffic from Macroom so should flow smoothly.
Traffic from West would only rarely be trying to get to the East side of Macroom, so wouldn't cut them off.

I don't think the problem you're referring to is the roundabout, but rather the fact that the section in the middle isn't being upgraded.

I hope you're right! The difficulty isn't the roundabout, it's the drivers using it...

hans aus dtschl

dmcsweeney wrote: »

I hope you're right! The difficulty isn't the roundabout, it's the drivers using it...

I hope I'm right too, or I'll be one of the people stuck in that traffic heading West!

AugustusMinimus

marno21 wrote: »

The entire Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme is 2+2. Macroom-Ovens will presumably be motorway

If Macroom is getting 2 junctions, then IMO it should be motorway to the western most junction and 2+2 there after.

The fall in speed limit where the 2+2 starts will cause traffic jams if traffic is high enough.

Water John

That's from West to East you are proposing? So 120 to 100 to 80 at Coolcower.

hans aus dtschl

Water John wrote: »

That's from West to East you are proposing? So 120 to 100 to 80 at Coolcower.

That's how I'm reading it too, and it makes sense.

I presume the 2+2 is preferred over a motorway to facilitate slow moving agri traffic and local traffic etc.
To me it seems a bit archaic to build such a high spec road and immediately limit the speeds it's capable of. I didn't think it was supposed to operate as a Macroom ring road, rather a long-distance route between Cork and Kerry.

Maybe I'm being too idealistic, but it just feels like a wasted opportunity and I'd worry about the usual "ring road" issues. The way Fermoy and Rathcormac were bypassed was done well, I'd prefer to see the same here.

AugustusMinimus

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

That's how I'm reading it too, and it makes sense.

I presume the 2+2 is preferred over a motorway to facilitate slow moving agri traffic and local traffic etc.
To me it seems a bit archaic to build such a high spec road and immediately limit the speeds it's capable of. I didn't think it was supposed to operate as a Macroom ring road, rather a long-distance route between Cork and Kerry.

Maybe I'm being too idealistic, but it just feels like a wasted opportunity and I'd worry about the usual "ring road" issues. The way Fermoy and Rathcormac were bypassed was done well, I'd prefer to see the same here.

Fermoy needs a second bridge though and it’s shocking how the M8 has no access to the N72. It would have been very easy to have N72 to M8 south access but they thought against it.

With no access to the M8, all N72 traffic has to go through the town centre.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

If Macroom is getting 2 junctions, then IMO it should be motorway to the western most junction and 2+2 there after.

The fall in speed limit where the 2+2 starts will cause traffic jams if traffic is high enough.

Open to correction here but as far as I remember

The original plan was dual carriageway from Ovens to the Millstreet Road (Macroom West) and wide single west of there. When wide single was superseded by 2+2 it became HQDC from Ovens to Millstreet Road and 2+2 west of there.

When the recession came, Macroom-Ovens went in the bin and it became 2+2 from Macroom East to Ballyvourney

marno21

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Why 2+2 rather than M?
Would there really be much savings?

Cost saving. Lower design speed meaning lesser requirement for horizontal and vertical curve radii, less landtake, lesser specced junctions etc.

West of Macroom there is no need at all for motorway. Even the requirement for DC was questioned by An Bord Pleanala, but it makes sense to future proof it.

Cork Trucker

tonc76 wrote: »

https://www.towardszero.vic.gov.au/news/articles/flexible-barriers-how-they-work-and-the-cheese-cutter-myth#Information For Motorcyclists

The "cheese wire" story is a myth as per the link above. The safety barrier posts are the real issue when impacted and products are available such as http://www.barriersystemsinc.com/dr46-motorcycle-safety to provide protection for motorcyclists in the event if a collision. In saying that coming off a bike at say 100 km/h is always going to have serious consequences no matter what the barrier type is.

No issue with your links, here are mine in relation to that Garda, coments mention the "cheese wire" as well

https://www.thejournal.ie/garda-motorcyclist-injured-after-coming-off-bike-3630973-Oct2017/

Roadrunner99

When will the contractors be appointed?

Apogee

Irish Times wrote:

Work will commence within weeks on the long awaited €280 million Macroom bypass, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed has said. Mr Creed confirmed this weekend that a contractor has been appointed by Cork County Council on behalf of Transport Infrastructure Ireland for the project and he expects work to commence shortly on the 22km stretch of motorway. “I expect that the contractor will start establishing compounds for machinery and offices and so forth within weeks and the construction will flow straight from that with a three and a half year construction time frame for the job,” he said.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/work-to-start-within-weeks-on-280-million-macroom-bypass-says-minister-1.4057019

spacetweek

Apogee wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/work-to-start-within-weeks-on-280-million-macroom-bypass-says-minister-1.4057019

Bonus points to the journalist for referring to it as a motorway

marno21

Cork RDO wrote:

Contract Award

Cork County Council has awarded the construction contract for the N22 Ballyvourney Macroom Road Development Scheme following approval of funding from the Government and TII. The construction contract has been awarded to a Joint Venture of Jons Civil Engineering Company Ltd and John Cradock Ltd. This follows a competitive tender process with tenders received on the 28th June 2019. Formal contract signing will follow in the coming weeks and construction is expected to commence shortly thereafter. The construction period is expected to take up to 3.5 years.

It will provide a 22 km road improvement from the Cork side of Macroom, bypassing the Town of Macroom, the villages of, Baile Mhic Íre and Baile Bhuirne, the infamous Ballyvourney bends, and finishing on the improved section of the N22, just west of Baile Mhic Íre itself and before the County bounds with Kerry

Confirmation of award to Jons/John Craddock JV.

Cork Trucker

marno21 wrote: »

Confirmation of award to Jons/John Craddock JV.

Are they quick enough to get started in general?

KOR101

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111292007&postcount=872 :):):)

serfboard

KOR101 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111292007&postcount=872 :):):)

annfield1978 seems to be very well informed, to be sure.

marno21

serfboard wrote: »

annfield1978 seems to be very well informed, to be sure.

Absolutely. Very grateful for the insight so we are.

Cork Trucker

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/County-Engineer-Cork-to-Kerry-N22-most-dangerous-road-in-the-country-c07ad069-7619-48f1-a4ce-df0ed66697c7-ds

County Engineer: 'Cork to Kerry N22 most dangerous road in the country'