M7/M8 Portlaoise-Castletown-Cullahill Motorway (incl. Abbeyleix Bypass)

Stark

There are people manning the toll bridge.

Typewriter

tinkerbell wrote: »

So on the new M7/M8 toll, my friend doesn't have a tag - will she be charged the usual way like on the M50 (pay before 8pm on following evening) or are there people there manning the toll bridge so you just hand them the toll moneys?

Thanks!

http://midlink.ie/gpage4.html

munchkin_utd

Stark wrote: »

There are people manning the toll bridge.

yaaaaay
A civilised tourist friendly toll bridge that takes REAL money!!!

no1beemerfan

Zuisse wrote: »

.....The northbound carriageway should be open by 4:15/30pm. The M7 runs from Portlaoise to Castletown bypassing Mountrath and Borris-in-Ossory..........

This baffles me.....Castletown is just out side Mountrath (about a mile) so why do they say it runs to Castletown but bypasses Borris when Borris is about 6 to 7 miles south of Castletown!! (Irish way of doing it I guess!!)

Anyways will be driving southbound from Newbridge to Roscrea later so looking forward to it but can't help thinking its going to be shifting the bottleneck from Mountrath to Borris in Ossory as when you have to come off the new M7, as well as going from two lanes to the slip road, you have (if I remember correctly) 3 roundabouts to go over to get back on the N7. Time will tell I suppose!

Amtmann

Northbound is open now according to the AA.

Happy motoring folks!

big mce

She's open northbound now! Just landed into Portlaoise.

Our man in Havana

It is open northbound, I was just up in Borris in Ossory.

The signs are still all blacked out advising where the motorway is save for 2 roadworks style electric signs on the approach to Borris. Very shoddy imho. Maybe that grey paint is a bitch to remove?

Jomcc

Some pics from M8 northbound...

Hogzy

Jaysus how come theres so much traffic in the second picture. Or is it just coincidence?

marmurr1916

Hogzy wrote: »

Jaysus how come theres so much traffic in the second picture. Or is it just coincidence?

If you think that's a lot of traffic you should see Scotland's M8 at the same time of day!

Hogzy

marmurr1916 wrote: »

If you think that's a lot of traffic you should see Scotland's M8 at the same time of day!

Its just kind of random. Seems like a traffic jam or something. Which is quite uncommon on our motorways... Bar one :rolleyes:

Jomcc

Hogzy wrote: »

Jaysus how come theres so much traffic in the second picture. Or is it just coincidence?

Coincidence........but I took it just to show something on it.

Other than that it was constant enough.

marmurr1916

Hogzy wrote: »

Its just kind of random. Seems like a traffic jam or something. Which is quite uncommon on our motorways... Bar one :rolleyes:

There's only 8 vehicles between the overbridge and the edge of the photo.

Most of them seem to be overtaking the camper-van and the car towing the horse-box.

That photo is a handy illustration of driving standards in Ireland. The camper-van is dangerously tailgating the car towing the horse-box, and the silver and black cars in the overtaking lane are also tailgating.

Hogzy wrote: »

Bar one :rolleyes:

In fairness, I don't think the M50 is any more congested than most similar motorways in cities of similar size.

Hogzy

marmurr1916 wrote: »

Most of them seem to be overtaking the camper-van and the car towing the horse-box.

Yeah maybe your right, But too me all the cars look really close together as if theyre tailgating each other. There cant be more than 2 feet between the camper and trailer!
Maybe its just the way the photo turned out

marmurr1916

Hogzy wrote: »

Yeah maybe your right, But too me all the cars look really close together as if theyre tailgating each other. There cant be more than 2 feet between the camper and trailer!
Maybe its just the way the photo turned out

That's what it looks like to me too. That camper-van driver is lucky we're not traffic cops!

Even if there's more room between him and the trailer, there's no way he's following the 2-second rule.

The second and third overtaking cars aren't much better either.

roosterman71

I'm very happy this is open now. It will mean the road I live on will be so much quieter. And it brings to an end alot of the heavy machinery and work that was going on near my house.

On the down side though, until the Nenagh section is open I'll have thousands of vehicles a day looking down onto my farm that was sliced in two by the new R435. I remember when this was all being planned telling a friend that "in a few years, there will be a road there the height of those trees". He wouldn't believe me. Personally its a bit sad to see this monster link road split my farm. But on the other hand, the compensation I received was reinvested into the farm to improve the land quality, and make things a bit easier. Without the road, that wouldn't have happened.

So all in all, I'm delighted its finished. It looks a great job. And I'll put up with the onlookers for the next 12/18 months while the next section is done.

Aidan1

Most of them seem to be overtaking the camper-van and the car towing the horse-box.

Odds are the Kuga is doing about 100 kmh, and everyone else is stacked up behind him ...

This is an important day. The two largest cities in the State are finally linked by motorway. Ten years there were very few people who believed that it would ever happen. And now it has.

In June 2001, from city centre to city centre could easily take over 5 and a half hours. Glad those days are over.

Our man in Havana

Who/what does J2 of the M8 serve?

Zuisse

Just driven it. What a joy not trying to find some back road to avoid Abbeyleix on a Friday.
The toll plaza has some number recognition system that seems to identify the type of vehicle you're driving based upon your reg no. Impressive but as I have a commercial jeep I got charged LGV rate instead of car rate.
If so, maybe they'll be using this to track tax dodgers etc too

Amtmann

I make the M8 at:

* Glanmire Bypass, 6 km
* Watergrasshill Bypass, 13 km
* Cashel Bypass, 7 km
* Fermoy Bypass, 17 km
* Cashel - Mitchelstown, 37 km
* Cashel - Cullahill, 40 km
* Mitchelstown - Fermoy, 16 km
* Cullahill - Portlaoise, 13 km

...to be 149 km long. Is this correct?

jack presley

So for a cheapskate like me, where do you come off if you're heading for Limerick and don't fancy paying the toll for 10km?

roosterman71

Portlaoise

Our man in Havana

Tbh there is no real benefit for local traffic from Borris and Rathdowney. They will continue to use the free options.

Amtmann

Haddockman wrote: »

Tbh there is no real benefit for local traffic from Borris and Rathdowney. They will continue to use the free options.

That in itself is a benefit - the old roads are now better as they are far, far quieter. The benefit is one of improved quality of life.

MidlandsM

Furet wrote: »

That in itself is a benefit - the old roads are now better as they are far, far quieter. The benefit is one of improved quality of life.

+1 x 10000000 , and the roads round here have been totally RE SURFACED - and are now in great condition, a real benefit for the suspension on my vehicles.

Our man in Havana

They need to fix the R433 in Tipperary now. The road from the Laois border to Templemore is atrocious.

KevR

Good to see RTE giving the completion of an Inter-Urban the recognition it deserves. Decent coverage on the news just now, certainly much better than the coverage when the Dublin to Galway Inter-Urban was completed. Reporter: "Red Cow Roundabout" - it's not a roundabout anymore!!!

Road looks really good.

MidlandsM

Haddockman wrote: »

They need to fix the R433 in Tipperary now. The road from the Laois border to Templemore is atrocious.

+1, some mess.:(

Amtmann

KevR wrote: »

Good to see RTE giving the completion of an Inter-Urban the recognition it deserves. Decent coverage on the news just now, certainly much better than the coverage when the Dublin to Galway Inter-Urban was completed. Reporter: "Red Cow Roundabout" - it's not a roundabout anymore!!!

Road looks really good.

Could someone Youtube it? Can't watch it properly in Germany.

Toto Wolfcastle

I drove from Glanmire to Clonsilla in 15-20 minutes less than the shortest time I've ever driven that journey.

New road ftw! \o/