M8 motorway (general thread)

Carawaystick

d'Oh
link removed..... twas from last year.

Amtmann

^^ No worries. The new newsletter is overdue though. I'm keen to see what it'll say when it appears.

netwhizkid

Drove the M8 from Mitchelstown to its current end at Cullahill today for the first time and was both impressed and disappointed, I was impressed at the speed it allowed me to get so far up the country and how it was not so busy so was an easy drive.

Things that did not impress me were how it was twisty enough and there seemed to be pulls and dips. They should have cut it straighter and levelled it more. Also around the Cahir Junction there is two traveller halting sites on two sides of the road and the appeared to be accessing it from the Motorway:eek: How is the tolerated?? I also saw no breakdown telephones and there was quite a bit of debris (mostly blowouts) scattered spontaneously but out of the laneways, do we have any Highway maintenance that gives a run up and down the motorways to clean up such nasties?

The M8 serves Cork quite well but as a Kerry person who had to access it through the disaster that is Baradubh-Rathmore-Mallow-Mitchelstown-M8 with some improvements the road could easily be given alot of traffic from South Kerry and West Cork if a new road was constructed from Mitchelstown to Killarney giving Kerry proper road access to the Capital then.

Alternatively If the Ballvourney-Macroom project was done to Motorway spec it would allow for all the south west to access the motorway via Cork's south ring but I doubt it could handle the pressure, with the new north ring yes.

Zoney

netwhizkid: when the M7 is complete and Castleisland bypass on N21 - even with the N21 having some projects pending, it will be good access to Dublin for North Kerry at least via Limerick. Assuming they aren't going through Adare at peak times.

netwhizkid

Zoney wrote: »

netwhizkid: when the M7 is complete and Castleisland bypass on N21 - even with the N21 having some projects pending, it will be good access to Dublin for North Kerry at least via Limerick. Assuming they aren't going through Adare at peak times.

Yeah, but people in SW Kerry and SE Kerry and the entire of West and South Cork are left practically isolated Motorway wise, there should be a spur to either Killarney, Kenmare or Bantry to serve these areas, I am a firm believer in Motorways and Car transportation and believe no one should be around more than 50 miles from a Motorway or a max or one hours driving.

Amtmann

netwhizkid wrote: »

I am a firm believer in Motorways and Car transportation and believe no one should be around more than 50 miles from a Motorway or a max or one hours driving.

Then, with respect, you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Enbee

netwhizkid wrote: »

...I am a firm believer in Motorways and Car transportation and believe no one should be around more than 50 miles from a Motorway or a max or one hours driving.

I believe the long term aim for the German autobahn network was to expand it until everybody was within 50km (I think) of an autobahn. Seventy years on that aim has yet to be fully achieved and that's in a country with a higher population density and a longer period of economic growth.

Surely most parts of Kerry will have adequate access to Dublin and be better served regionally via the N21 and N22 to Limerick and Cork? An upgrade of the N72 is one hell of a long way off.

If the network was expanded so everybody was within 50 miles of a motorway or DC then (just off the top of my head) I can imagine that you'd see an N5 DC from Longford or Boyle to Castlebar and an N2 DC from Ardee to the border before any major route length construction happened from Killarney to Mitchelstown.

D'Peoples Voice

netwhizkid wrote: »

no one should be around more than 50 miles from a Motorway.

completely agree, if you had of said

no motorway should be around more than 50 miles from anyone

I'd have said you clearly know nothing about sustainability.

Carawaystick

netwhizkid wrote: »

Drove the M8 from Mitchelstown to its current end at Cullahill today for the first time and was both impressed and disappointed, I was impressed at the speed it allowed me to get so far up the country and how it was not so busy so was an easy drive.

Things that did not impress me were how it was twisty enough and there seemed to be pulls and dips. They should have cut it straighter and levelled it more.

Modern motorway designs are not dead straight anymore to involve the driver in the drive more to prevent driver fatigue. This can be seen best on the 2 sections of the M4. The old free section has very few bends while the new section is more curvy.

It also is cheaper to roll with the terrain.

Amtmann

Does anyone know how junction 7 is shaping up? Are the new slips open yet?

Carawaystick

Furet wrote: »

Does anyone know how junction 7 is shaping up? Are the new slips open yet?

Is that at Cashel?
I'll be down on Friday if no answer before then.

Irish and Proud

Furet wrote: »

Does anyone know how junction 7 is shaping up? Are the new slips open yet?

I think that's Junction 8 - according to openstreetmap yesterday (a great resource I must say - very up to date! - unlike google maps or live maps (now called 'bing')!)

Regards!

mackerski

Irish and Proud wrote: »

I think that's Junction 8 - according to openstreetmap yesterday (a great resource I must say - very up to date! - unlike google maps or live maps (now called 'bing')!)

Regards!

Thanks - that junction was partly my work. GPS owners - please get mapping or at the very least contributing track logs. Help us get full coverage down to the last boreen and track!

KevR

mackerski wrote: »

Thanks - that junction was partly my work. GPS owners - please get mapping or at the very least contributing track logs. Help us get full coverage down to the last boreen and track!

My old man is on holidays at the moment and has his SatNav with him but when he gets back I'll borrow his and try to do a bit of mapping (if there's anything near me not already mapped).

Out of curiosity, if someone traces a new route and updates OSM, could someone else download this trace and update their SatNav with it?

larryone

I drove past those new sliproads last week heading out the fethard road, they're certainly geting there, but lots more to do. I've been doing alof of mapping recently on OSM, around some areas of Limreick, Cork, Wicklow, Kildare... My obsession with cartography is growing deeper.

mackerski

KevR wrote: »

Out of curiosity, if someone traces a new route and updates OSM, could someone else download this trace and update their SatNav with it?

Depends on the type of unit. For Garmin, yes you can. It's not quite plug and play, but I can help anybody who's interested. I already need to create an update for another boardsie who asked me ages ago

Amtmann

The M8 wikipedia page has been expanded to reflect redesignation. I've also uploaded a new photo to the Jack Lynch tunnel page to show the new signage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_motorway_(Ireland)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Lynch_Tunnel#Tunnel_operation

Amtmann

I seek your opinions: the M8 wikipedia article currently states that the construction dates of the M8 range from 2003 (Cashel Bypass start of construction) to 2010. However, should this be changed to 1985 to reflect the turning of the sod for the Glanmire Bypass?

murphaph

Furet wrote: »

I seek your opinions: the M8 wikipedia article currently states that the construction dates of the M8 range from 2003 (Cashel Bypass start of construction) to 2010. However, should this be changed to 1985 to reflect the turning of the sod for the Glanmire Bypass?

IMO, yes.

Amtmann

Agreed. I think we should also build a stand alone M18 article. I'll have a go at starting it off.

Chris_533976

No updates, but anyone got any pics of the Fermoy Blackwater viaduct?? I drove under it today and thought that it was more impressive from underneath than when you drive over it. And I've seen no pics from underneath (Fermoy - Lismore road).

Amtmann

Taken from the SanminaSCI carpark on the Rathhealy Road, Fermoy (i.e. the R666).

Chris_533976

Thanks Its probably the 'reasonably big structure' least mentioned in the motorway network.

Amtmann

It's not a very handsome structure. The concrete is all of a different consistency.

spacetweek

Furet wrote: »

It's not a very handsome structure. The concrete is all of a different consistency.

It looks absolutely amazing.

L1011

Theres 'reasonably big structures' on the N-network that are also not really mentioned and far more "landmark" - the N15 Cathleens Falls bridge with its double deck for instance. The ones that do get mentioned/remembered are generally the tolled ones - Westlink, Boyne viaduct, etc!

Hogzy

MYOB wrote: »

the N15 Cathleens Falls bridge with its double deck

Any pics of this?

L1011

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/NR/rdonlyres/2715B075-151F-41D8-B121-8291F3AF1959/0/bshannonbridge.jpg off the Donegal CC website is all I can find. The pedestrian bridge runs through the structure, underneath the road deck. The road running over the bridge is basically dual carriageway, centre barrier with two lanes on one side and one massive lane with a H/S on the other - its realistically going to end up being reformatted to 2+2 for the Atlantic Corridor.

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

Taken from the SanminaSCI carpark on the Rathhealy Road, Fermoy (i.e. the R666).

Wow fantastic shot just only after looking at it. There is also a big viaduct on the M7 N-L aswell.

Tech3

Hogzy wrote: »

Any pics of this?

Some on boards:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055001537