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

road_high

Rows Grower wrote: »

Why is he wearing a helmet?

Technically he's on site i suppose. If he wasn't wearing one people would be asking him why not. Weird helmet though!

spacetweek

On the evidence of that video construction has started?

lawrencesummers

spacetweek wrote: »

On the evidence of that video construction has started?

On the evidence of that video they are trying to make it look like construction has started, but it takes more to one skip, a cement truck and one digger to build a road. Its probably fair to say that he knows he would have been hammered at the doors around mac room if it didn't look like work had started already, maybe by the skin of his teeth it has started in earnest.

Markcheese

Well ,contracts are signed and builders on site .. so it's gonna get done , I'm sure theres machines on site now just to be visible ..
If his number one political priority was the macroom bypass then thats a pretty damming indictment of Irish politics , yes he's from macroom but he's supposed to be there for the country ,
( And I realise that's how the public vote, there's a reason the Healy raes are do successful )

yerwanthere123

I wonder how long until things actually get going. I don't know what that site out the Millstreet road is supposed to look like but to me it seems they're only really getting it started, although maybe I'm wrong.

marno21

Very conveniently scheduled "road resurfacing"

https://twitter.com/Corkcoco/status/1221731522920820737

theguzman

marno21 wrote: »

Very conveniently scheduled "road resurfacing"

https://twitter.com/Corkcoco/status/1221731522920820737

The N22 coming from the Kerry side has effectively sank shortly after where the good road narrows before going into Ballyvourney, there is a tremendous hump which I wouldn't drive over at faster than 50km/h. I assume this is to address this issue and I would say this is not at all related to the Bypass Activity at all.

marno21

wrote:

Oh I know the hump well after rattling it once or twice. But it'll be good marketing to have roadworks in the area in the lead up and during the election, given the lack of obvious bypass related activity.

4 weeks also seems like an excessive amount of time for that hump. And these works were not allocated funds in the 2020 TII allocations either.

TeaPot918

I hit it at 80 every time and have great fun.

Rows Grower

marno21 wrote: »

Oh I know the hump well after rattling it once or twice. But it'll be good marketing to have roadworks in the area in the lead up and during the election, given the lack of obvious bypass related activity.

4 weeks also seems like an excessive amount of time for that hump. And these works were not allocated funds in the 2020 TII allocations either.

It's worse heading to Kerry I find as your starting to anticipate good road ahead, I've seen a lot of cars and bigger hitting the breaks after that dip.

They was a bit of work going on recently before it at the left hand side as your heading towards Cork, they might have been opening or examining drains connected to it.

They're hardly just going to fill the dip with a few shovels of tar hopefully.

Jesus lads we won't know ourselves when the bypass is open.

lawrencesummers

Macroom has a lot going for it, but because of the traffic it must put a lot of people off relocating to there, it’s commuting distance to Cork and the bypass will make it a far more attractive place to live in.

I’ve always been of the opinion that for the government to solve the housing problem infrastructure needs to be a major part of the solution. Bypassing macroom and making the town a far more attractive place to live will allow the town to thrive.

When you look at Midleton it is a town that has grown and become a great place to live.

aisling86

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Macroom has a lot going for it, but because of the traffic it must put a lot of people off relocating to there, it’s commuting distance to Cork and the bypass will make it a far more attractive place to live in.

I’ve always been of the opinion that for the government to solve the housing problem infrastructure needs to be a major part of the solution. Bypassing macroom and making the town a far more attractive place to live will allow the town to thrive.

When you look at Midleton it is a town that has grown and become a great place to live.

Prime example is a new estate being built in the town and all houses sold.

lawrencesummers

aisling86 wrote: »

Prime example is a new estate being built in the town and all houses sold.

There are a lot of houses along the Main Street that are or are least look empty and run down, removing the volumes of traffic will make these a lot more attractive, there will probably be a lot of renovation and modernisation of the old housing stock over the next few years.

hans aus dtschl

Plenty people are on this board bemoan the green party's hardline "no more roads" agenda, but some of the above posts can show you exactly what the problem is. This type of "commuter town" talk almost makes me agree with the "no more roads" stuff.

I'm delighted this road is going ahead, as I'll get to bypass Macroom safely. And it's fantastic for Macroom to get a bypass and allow it to grow. But please never as a "commuter town". I'd prefer to give local people the facilities to stay in and work from Macroom. It should be a proper town in its own right.

"Macroom as a commuter town" is almost an argument against building the bypass, if that's the result: it's not supposed to encourage more people to commute to Cork by car. We don't actually want people in cars commuting 80km round trips daily. That's not sustainable. It's double the distance Midleton is, with no railway and no prospect of a frequent bus service. We're in "Youghal as a commuter town" territory here (Youghal's a 100km round trip).

Where are they supposed to go when they get to Cork?

As I say, if encouraging long-distance commuters is the result then the "no more roads" talk starts to become accurate.

hans aus dtschl

lawrencesummers wrote: »

There are a lot of houses along the Main Street that are or are least look empty and run down, removing the volumes of traffic will make these a lot more attractive, there will probably be a lot of renovation and modernisation of the old housing stock over the next few years.

Yep it's quite shabby looking as you pass through, and most likely the high volume of traffic is causing that. It'd be lovely to see more proper urban development in town. But at the moment through traffic is choking the place up completely.

Midletons fortunes have really changed over the last 20 years. It used to be a bit of a kip but it's a lovely place to live now.
Similarly Fermoy is much improved these days.

lawrencesummers

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Yep it's quite shabby looking as you pass through, and most likely the high volume of traffic is causing that. It'd be lovely to see more proper urban development in town. But at the moment through traffic is choking the place up completely.

Midletons fortunes have really changed over the last 20 years. It used to be a bit of a kip but it's a lovely place to live now.
Similarly Fermoy is much improved these days.

Fermoy is another perfect example Alright, and with a decent road from cork to limerick places like Mallow, Charleville and buttevant could thrive as well, That’s what infrastructure brings and Midleton is the proof of that. Places like castlemartyr need bypassing as well. Watergrass hill is another Place that has grown Since being bypassed with a decent road nearby

As much as the government gets abuse about building houses I think they have made the mistake of not creating the right conditions for housing to be built, and infrastructure creates that.

lawrencesummers

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Plenty people are on this board bemoan the green party's hardline "no more roads" agenda, but some of the above posts can show you exactly what the problem is. This type of "commuter town" talk almost makes me agree with the "no more roads" stuff.

I'm delighted this road is going ahead, as I'll get to bypass Macroom safely. And it's fantastic for Macroom to get a bypass and allow it to grow. But please never as a "commuter town". I'd prefer to give local people the facilities to stay in and work from Macroom. It should be a proper town in its own right.

"Macroom as a commuter town" is almost an argument against building the bypass, if that's the result: it's not supposed to encourage more people to commute to Cork by car. We don't actually want people in cars commuting 80km round trips daily. That's not sustainable. It's double the distance Midleton is, with no railway and no prospect of a frequent bus service. We're in "Youghal as a commuter town" territory here (Youghal's a 100km round trip).

Where are they supposed to go when they get to Cork?

As I say, if encouraging long-distance commuters is the result then the "no more roads" talk starts to become accurate.

The other side to this argument is that when a town grows big enough it creates more options for local employment, and also more demand for public transport, the train line to Midleton was reopened because of the size of Midleton, towns like macroom should be looking for this kind of investment as well. The IDA can buy land and try to attract companies because of the infrastructure, population and relative proximity to airport, port etc.

Midleton has a big employer and attraction in the distillery which has run out of space. Macroom can work to attract or develop similar industry.

hans aus dtschl

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The other side to this argument is that when a town grows big enough it creates more options for local employment, and also more demand for public transport, the train line to Midleton was reopened because of the size of Midleton, towns like macroom should be looking for this kind of investment as well. The IDA can buy land and try to attract companies because of the infrastructure, population and relative proximity to airport, port etc.

Midleton has a big employer and attraction in the distillery which has run out of space. Macroom can work to attract or develop similar industry.

Oh I'm totally in favour of all of the above.
My only fear is with talk of encouraging a commuter town. The bypass is not to encourage expansion of the town or commuting to Cork, rather it's to allow it to revert to being a proper market town in its own right.

steeler j

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Plenty people are on this board bemoan the green party's hardline "no more roads" agenda, but some of the above posts can show you exactly what the problem is. This type of "commuter town" talk almost makes me agree with the "no more roads" stuff.

I'm delighted this road is going ahead, as I'll get to bypass Macroom safely. And it's fantastic for Macroom to get a bypass and allow it to grow. But please never as a "commuter town". I'd prefer to give local people the facilities to stay in and work from Macroom. It should be a proper town in its own right.

"Macroom as a commuter town" is almost an argument against building the bypass, if that's the result: it's not supposed to encourage more people to commute to Cork by car. We don't actually want people in cars commuting 80km round trips daily. That's not sustainable. It's double the distance Midleton is, with no railway and no prospect of a frequent bus service. We're in "Youghal as a commuter town" territory here (Youghal's a 100km round trip).

Where are they supposed to go when they get to Cork?

As I say, if encouraging long-distance commuters is the result then the "no more roads" talk starts to become accurate.

I doubt a lot of people would commute from macroom the bypass starts just past macroom ,if it was macroom to ovens getting done then u could see people connmute by car

Water John

A surprising number go west to work as well. Both to Ballyvourney and Killarney.

marno21

I passed the works west of Ballyvourney this morning, they are doing a fairly big job along the narrow stretch where the bumps are. Going all the way down to the roadbed and relaying it. There's a stop go in place with some lengthy delays, but the climbing lane heading west makes it easier to overtake the convoy of traffic.

aisling86

steeler j wrote: »

I doubt a lot of people would commute from macroom the bypass starts just past macroom ,if it was macroom to ovens getting done then u could see people connmute by car

I would say currently there is a large percentage commuting from macroom & surrounding areas to the city daily already. Myself included.

steeler j

aisling86 wrote: »

I would say currently there is a large percentage commuting from macroom & surrounding areas to the city daily already. Myself included.

I meant not many new people would

lawrencesummers

I know a lot of people from Kerry, around Killarney and kenmare, even as far as Tralee that commute weekdays to cork, they must be delighted, and then when you consider the experience that tourists have driving rental cars to Killarney it is long overdue.

steeler j

lawrencesummers wrote: »

I know a lot of people from Kerry, around Killarney and kenmare, even as far as Tralee that commute weekdays to cork, they must be delighted, and then when you consider the experience that tourists have driving rental cars to Killarney it is long overdue.

I was in Cork hospital with my dad a year ago and there was an old couple in their 70s and they were from dingle and were about to head off at 4 and I had pity on them because they were worried about the journey home ,this road will help a lot for people like them and others

lawrencesummers

steeler j wrote: »

I was in Cork hospital with my dad a year ago and there was an old couple in their 70s and they were from dingle and were about to head off at 4 and I had pity on them because they were worried about the journey home ,this road will help a lot for people like them and others

There is a bus that goes from Tralee to CUH regularly, it’s widely known as the cancer bus by its passengers.

I know someone from Killarney that was pregnant and because of the inherent danger of going into Tralee hospital with anything other than a small splinter they opted for cork maternity hospital. Day the baby decided to arrive it was very nearly born in macroom in bumper to bumper traffic.

Rows Grower

marno21 wrote: »

I passed the works west of Ballyvourney this morning, they are doing a fairly big job along the narrow stretch where the bumps are. Going all the way down to the roadbed and relaying it. There's a stop go in place with some lengthy delays, but the climbing lane heading west makes it easier to overtake the convoy of traffic.

I passed it today and back again this evening, the bump is gone now and they have planed back a few other separate areas as well. They went deep enough in some parts and had built it back up with drainage stone around 11am, about 6.30pm there was a couple of very big drainage pipes ready to be laid as well so it looks like they are doing a proper job on it.

I asked one of the lads working on it when were they going to be finished and he reckons they'll be out of there Friday week.

marno21

First evidence of works in place now at the Sullane Bridge on the R618 near the Mill. 50km/h limit in place, goal posts erected on the road near the power lines that cross the route, site cabin in place directly beside the road and a lone digger in place.

There's also VMS on the Mill Road at the Mill where the new N22 will cross the Mill Road, presumably advance warning of a lengthy closure on the way.

It was too dark for pics when I passed but I'll get some the next time I pass.

theguzman

This would really correlate with how they plan to just get the route around Macroom town built asap

Vilnian

I Drove across the whole N22 last weekend for the first time ever, it's great to see that this particular section is getting upgraded, the current state even made the N20 look decent after going through it afterwards, not that it doesn't need an upgrade, but that's for another thread to discuss.