M8 - Mitchelstown to Fermoy

Amtmann

Fair point. Still, looking at the route to Tipperary Town via Mitchelstown on Google Maps, the N24 seems preferable.

Also, Fermoy Bypass tie-in: rapid progress has been made here this past week. They'll probably start laying asphalt next Monday or Tuesday, which will finally unite the M8.

BluntGuy

Excellent to see such fantastic progress. May almost seems a dead cert at this stage.

Would have to agree with you Furet on that piece of signage: a little on the ropey side. J10 is the best option I would think.

Signage should be fully complete this month, and I expect a good 60%-70% of the final surfacing and lining to be done as well. The Fermoy Bypass tie-in also seems to be proceeding at a rapid pace and the final junction won't be as messy as I thought it might be (it will still bare the scars though - the southbound onslip is noticeably lower than the northbound offslip).

The real issue with signage of course; is how they indicate that the Fermoy Bypass is a toll motorway and the rest of the M8 is not. I'd recommend using the white "toll" patch found on the M50 - but at this stage, the signage has been ordered and most likely fabricated, so whatever's on the way is on the way.

I also wonder if we'll be getting emergency telephones on this scheme - and if we are, will they take the oppurtunity to install them from J7 - J12.

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

Signage should be fully complete this month, and I expect a good 60%-70% of the final surfacing and lining to be done as well.

By tomorrow evening, at least 40% of the entire scheme will have its final surface down. By the end of April it should be 100% lined. It seems unlikely the builders will take two weeks for Easter, but you never know.

I also wonder if we'll be getting emergency telephones on this scheme - and if we are, will they take the oppurtunity to install them from J7 - J12.

That seems like the ideal time to install the phones from the Cashel Bypass south to Carrigane. I'd say that the M-F will open with those phones like C-C did.

D'Peoples Voice

Re: opening date, when does the Dail break for summer,
surely they couldn't open the road with Minister Dempsey giving it his blessing:P

BluntGuy

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

Re: opening date, when does the Dail break for summer,
surely they couldn't open the road with Minister Dempsey giving it his blessing:P

You mean getting his name on the plaque and giving us the usual lame speech about "this road will put the heart back into the community... cut journey times by... shows the government's commitment to... etc."?

I'm sure even without Dempsey there, they'd somehow find a way to open it.

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

That seems like the ideal time to install the phones from the Cashel Bypass south to Carrigane. I'd say that the M-F will open with those phones like C-C did.

Well hopefully, they are an essential part of making motorways the safest roads in the country - not just things that can be easily discarded.

Amtmann

Those road opening speeches have become terribly hackneyed. Surely they could think of something better to say than the usual spiel.

I'd like them to commemorate the men who built the original N8 for instance, to refer to the history of the route, to commend the contractors for a job (hopefully) well done, and to use the occassion to give a decent press conference about the state of play with regard to the NDP, Transport 21, etc.

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

Well hopefully, they are an essential part of making motorways the safest roads in the country - not just things that can be easily discarded.

They are. Roll on the Kilworth service area too. Was heading north today, came out of the tunnel, went on the Glanmire Bypass and decided to take exit 17 to fill up in Watergrasshill. No petrol station there!

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

The real issue with signage of course; is how they indicate that the Fermoy Bypass is a toll motorway and the rest of the M8 is not. I'd recommend using the white "toll" patch found on the M50 - but at this stage, the signage has been ordered and most likely fabricated, so whatever's on the way is on the way.

Indeed it has been fabricated - and photographed.

I give you the new M8 junction 14 'Toll' signage:






If anyone wants more pictures of the ADS signage specifications close-up, then send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you on the photos.


There's a smashing valley alongside the southbound carriageway 2.5km north of junction 14:



This section is very straight and is downhill all the way. Jogging on it this evening, it sort of reminded me of the Glanmire Bypass without the sharpish turns. You could pick up ferocious speed on this stretch if you wanted to:

BluntGuy

Excellent pictures Furet. I am very happy with the signage.

If they'd just remove the god-awful "M8 (Toll)" rubbish it'd be perfect.

Amtmann

Yeah, it looks very well. Quite pleased with it myself.

BluntGuy

It's surprising, I expected them to have had something completely ridiculous and unclear that would've confused motorists. It's refreshing to see a good decision being made for once.

The people who built this scheme deserve to be commended. Such a fast pace of construction is simply amazing. Now of course I will reserve final judgement until I've driven the stretch but it seems better than C-M. At least the verges aren't a completely embarrassing wobbly mess like a lot of the C-M scheme, so that's a start.

Amtmann

All in all, it's quite a straight route, and yes, it seems well built. I was very impressed this evening with the stretches I display above. The photographs that show crazy bends are extremely verisimilitudinous, with the high zoom being the cause of the distortions. The route was well chosen. Plenty of work still do on the northbound carriageway though.

BluntGuy

The other point of note is that this route runs very close to the old N8 between J13 and J14. You can pretty much see it the entire way. And it seems relatively straight and level, at least for that stretch.

Btw, where would you imagine the Kilworth MSA will be?

Amtmann

I don't know, but you'd have to say at the back of the army base where the asphalt plant is now. Quite keen to see the EIS. I hope Mr Corbett raises no objections!

I have received no reply to my NRA email by the way, save an acknowledgement saying a reply is being prepared.

BluntGuy

I got no reply full stop.

They must be sick of me - asking questions that can't be answered with a lazy glance over their policy documents.

Amtmann

Davy

Furet wrote: »

Furet wrote: »

good difference in 6 days

BluntGuy

A few observations:

I notice at J12, things are coming along nicely, not only are all the signage poles up - but it seems they have everything in the correct positions too - "End Of Motorway" signage isn't at the start of the off-ramp. There is an ADS up as well and the cantilever has been erected (though no signage).

Also, I recall seeing street lights on the southbound side of the junction (the new bit). I'll have to double-check, but if there are street lights, then it will mean that the southbound side of the junction will be much better lit than the northbound.

I'm sure Furet will have some kind of update on J14 at some stage this week or next week, but at Carrigane there is truly nothing to be done except some signage, final surfacing and lining.

Amtmann

I couldn't stop at J14 today with all the Easter traffic. But I did manage to photograph the new cantilever:



I also had a chance to film some lining works at Carrigane:

It's clear that the Fermoy Bypass tie-in is for all intents and purposes done. An asphalt paver is parked up under the bridge and I'd say the majority of surfacing will be complete by the end of next week.

BluntGuy

Thanks for that update Furet.

Road-lining doesn't exactly look amazingly fun.

That's a very good picture you took actually - you may want to consider uploading it to Wikipedia.

Amtmann

Done.

BluntGuy

Cheers.

I'll find a good page to put that on.

Amtmann

Incidentally, here is a video of the present N8 from close to junction 12 to the future junction 13 via the Mitchelstown Relief Road. Since the relief road opened in 2006 there have been several serious crashes and one fatality that I know of.

The "northern half" of the Mitchelstown-Fermoy M8 scheme will replace this section. Indeed, it is mostly here that the new timesaving will be made. While this section currently takes almost nine minutes to clear, once the M8 opens you will be able to go from junction 12 to junction 13 in about three minutes.
In addition, you can see quite clearly from 6:30 - 6:57 that a lot of cars continue to go straight through Mitchelstown, avoiding the relief road entirely.

Here is a video of the current N8 from junction 13 to the Fermoy Bypass startpoint at junction 14. The "southern half" of the M-F M8 scheme will replace this. Again, a decent timesaving will be made here, though not as significant as that made by the northern half.

corktina

ther relief road is quite unusual as it has a 100k speed limit Dublin-bound and 80k cork bound

BluntGuy

The Relief Road is too long-winded and has too many frustrating roundabouts. That said, it works perfectly as a connection from the M8 to the N73 (N72 to Mallow) and that's exactly what it'll become at the end of May.

And yes, I think you'll easily shave buckets of time off your journey here...

ecdl07

It's opening on the 22nd of May.

Amtmann

ecdl07 wrote: »

It's opening on the 22nd of May.

That's a week earlier than I heard. Excellent news if true! Where did you hear that?

kaizersoze

Furet wrote: »

I also had a chance to film some lining works at Carrigane:

It looks like the lines are appearing from the leg of the walkers trousers.:D

Sorry.:o

Everything looks good to go there.

ecdl07

It was in today's Irish Examiner.