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

Toto Wolfcastle

I had a dream that I was stuck in traffic in Abbeyleix last night. I think I miss it already.

Wild Bill

I know there is a problem with tiles today but a word of thanks to the folk up update the open street map so quickly and accurately.

Amtmann

Despite first-day cavalcade, I squeak inside three hours for Dublin-Cork trip

The final section of the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway opened yesterday. The 41km M7/M8 scheme cost €491 million.
Photograph: Jason Clarke
The M8 will cut journey times but you could be left short by lack of services on the route, writes TIM O'BRIEN

IT IS true – Dublin to Cork in under three hours.

Okay, two hours and 58 minutes from Dublin’s Red Cow to Cork’s Dunkettle interchange and it did not match the “two hours and 20 minutes” which the National Roads Authority said should be possible.

But the journey was completed on a Friday afternoon when the sudden opening of the new Portlaoise to Cullahill section of the M8 unleashed what looked like a tidal wave of traffic which at times seems to fill the motorway ahead of us all the way to Cork.

Early in the day I set the clock to zero at the Red Cow. In two minutes we had stopped at a red light at Newlands Cross. The next 20km of triple carriageway, one of the highest specification roads in the State, is not a motorway, but a national route with a speed limit of 100 km/h.

This stretch of road, with its filling stations offering food and restrooms provides the last “at road” services between Dublin and Cork.

About 15 minutes out from the Red Cow we enter the motorway proper, the road reducing to two lanes and the permitted maximum increasing to 120km/h.

Traffic is light and the journey uneventful as the motorway passes Kildare, the Curragh and Newbridge.

At junction 17 for Portlaoise we have travelled about 79km in 45 minutes and past the “old” Cork junction through Abbeyleix and Durrow.

As it is early and the new road is not open we stop the clock.

At the opening ceremony Taoiseach Brian Cowen praised Mary White of the Abbeyleix Tidy Towns Committee who he says managed in just four minutes on television “to name every business in Abbeyleix”.

There is a wait after the speeches while the road is cleared by gardaÍ and at about 3.30pm we are back at junction 17. We restart the clock and at the toll plaza cars are queuing five deep.

The electronic tag allows us to use the express lane and NRA spokesman Seán ONeill later explains that that “level of service” agreements with operator the Celtic Roads Group mean that if queues build up, the barriers must be opened letting cars through free.

We arrive at the M7/M8 junction. We calculate this is 55 minutes from the Red Cow if we had travelled continuously.

From here for another 14 kilometres crowds line the overbridges to see the traffic on the new road, after three years of construction.

We pass the Goul river and traffic slows considerably, the first of a number of seemingly inexplicable slows on the remainder of the journey.

The new road including the toll plaza has taken 28 minutes to traverse, from the Portlaoise junction 17 to the tie-in with the existing motorway at Cullahill. We calculate it is 73 minutes from the Red Cow.

South of Cullahill the traffic increases, perhaps because we are now on motorway which has been open since 2008 and we have been joined by the “old” Cork road.

As we cross the river Blackwater we calculate it is 160 minutes from the Red Cow. Fourteen kilometres later we pass the Fermoy toll which deducts €1.90 and about 13 kilometres on we are at the Dunkettle interchange.

By the clock we have travelled for 178 minutes. We could do better on a different day.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0529/1224271392202.html

Strange it took him almost 3 hours...

D.L.R.

The next 20km of triple carriageway, one of the highest specification roads in the State, is not a motorway, but a national route with a speed limit of 100 km/h.

"Triple carriageway"? Can I drive my apple tart on that? They won't let me on the quadruple carriageway M50

CrowdedHouse

I'm not a road 'enthusiast' but that 'triple carriageway' is annoying me...:mad:

jd

Me too. Email sent to author.. (link above article)

Tech3

RTÉ should have got a clat on the head also for putting up on the teletext earlier titled "the final section of M7 opens later today". Enraged me so it did. Just goes to show much research is done before throwing up an article on it.

KevR

My god, is he calling a 3+3 lane DC a Triple Carriageway? I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

KevR

Surprised the new section isn't on OpenStreetMap yet..

cc

well, now we just have to wait for newlands to be done then we'll have continous motorway/DC from Cork and Limerick all the way to the border and beyond....amazing to think only a few years ago there wasn't any blue road sings outside leinster.

cc

KevR wrote: »

Surprised the new section isn't on OpenStreetMap yet..

if you zoom right in on one of the base layer options its there already

Amtmann

Some witty doggerel I came across on the PRoC website.

The Dublin Road

Stuck behind a slurry truck
On the road into Fermoy
Market day in Mitchelstown,
Starting to get annoyed
A checkpoint coming in to Chair
looking for The Border Fox
Finally get to Cashel
With its unimpressive Rock.

Will we stop in Ath na nUrlainn?
Make some jokes about the hurling?
Only if we're champions still
Otherwise it's Culahill

A tractor leads us in to Durrow
There's a funeral in Abbeyleix
And it looks like a Bus has broken down
Just outside Portlaoise
The kids are fighting by Monsterevin
Still we'll make Kildare by half eleven

I know we'll soon pick up the pace
The dual-carraigeway starts at Nass!
So five hours and a half all told
Will they ever fix that bloody road.

Danno

Photos from Durrow... http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=368667907793

mariaod

hi,

Could anyone tell me how do i get on the motorway from abbeyleix.

I am travelling from carlow to cork and not sure what to do now when i hit abbeyleix.

Thanks alot

Our man in Havana

mariaod wrote: »

hi,

Could anyone tell me how do i get on the motorway from abbeyleix.

I am travelling from carlow to cork and not sure what to do now when i hit abbeyleix.

Thanks alot

Turn left at the lights and take the next right towards Ballacolla and Rathdowney (R433). Go straight thru Ballacolla and 2 km later you will come on Junction 3 of the M8. Take the first exit at the first roundabout towards Cork.

Danno

Coming from Carlow via The Swan and Spink, turn left at the lights, go south towards Durrow, but veer off right onto the Rathdowney/Ballacolla R433 road at the bottom of Main Street. Go though Ballacolla and you will meet the M8 roundabout at Manor Stone around 3 miles outside the village towards Rathdowney. You will alos avoid paying ther toll

Amtmann

mariaod wrote: »

hi,

Could anyone tell me how do i get on the motorway from abbeyleix.

I am travelling from carlow to cork and not sure what to do now when i hit abbeyleix.

Thanks alot

Maria,

Once you reach Abbeyleix you can either take the old road to Urlingford and join the M8 there, or you can take the R433 at Abbeyleix and join the M8, toll free, at junction 3 and head south to Cork that way. Take the new motorway to see what you think would be my advice!

IrlJidel

KevR wrote: »

Surprised the new section isn't on OpenStreetMap yet..

The underlying data was updated on Friday between 13:00 and 14:30.

There seems to be a problem with the default Mapnik base layer not updating.

However, the new sections are visible on osmarender layer at zoom 12 and higher.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.0025&lon=-7.3415&zoom=12&layers=0B00FTF

road_high

Great to see the N77 repalce the old N8 between Portlaoiase and Durrow. A very sensible redesignation indeed.

Amtmann

I can't help but feel that a partial N80 bypass of Portlaoise should have been constructed as part of this scheme, going from M7 junction 18 west of Portlaoise to North of Portlaoise.

road_high

I don't see how that journey could still take nearly 3 hours..all motorway (almost). A little over 2 hours at/around the speed limit. Article clearly coutesy of Drving Miss Daisy . How far is it, about 250 kms?

Our man in Havana

It was written by a Mr. Sunday Driver.

freighter

mariaod wrote: »

hi,

Could anyone tell me how do i get on the motorway from abbeyleix.

I am travelling from carlow to cork and not sure what to do now when i hit abbeyleix.

Thanks alot

I know its off topic but would it not be shorter to go carlow clonmel cahir to m8..

Amtmann

freighter wrote: »

I know its off topic but would it not be shorter to go carlow clonmel cahir to m8..

No way. Not with the N76. That used to be the best way, but not anymore.

Our man in Havana

The N76 is lethal.

GeneHunt

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Finally did anyone find the new section going southbound at portlaoise very bumpy?

Drove on the new section last night, I notice a few bumpy places going north bound - one that stands one for me is on the M8 just after going through the tunnel under the M7.

Great road otherwise, with the cruise control set at 126km/h (from the sat nav screen;)), I got from J8 (M8) to J10 (M7) in 53 minutes (135kms). I would usually just about get to join the M7 at J17 at 55 minutes. I had to slow down a little for the toll plaza, however the express lane for the toll plaza seems to react much faster that other toll plazas.

Speaking of bumps, when you’re driving on the mainline (mostly on the M8 I’ve noticed this), inside or outside lane have a bump where the on-ramps from junctions join the mainline. The best example of this is junction 7 north bound. About two weeks ago I was on the Cashel by-pass and I caught up to an articulated lorry passing another an articulated lorry just as they both pass each other they pass the on-ramp from junction 7, the top of both lorries nearly clipped each other:eek:, why are the on-ramps build like this, is it for drainage reasons or what?

IrlJidel

IrlJidel wrote: »

The underlying data was updated on Friday between 13:00 and 14:30.

There seems to be a problem with the default Mapnik base layer not updating.

If you prefer the Mapnik layer, you can view the M7/M8 on the Irish OSM tile server. This is updated every morning. This site is normally used for our work-in-progess map of the world as-gaeilge.

http://www.technomancy.org/openirishmap/?zoom=10&lat=52.92491&lon=-7.38417&layers=BFTFF

However, the new sections are visible on osmarender layer at zoom 12 and higher.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.0025&lon=-7.3415&zoom=12&layers=0B00FTF

GeneHunt

Furet wrote: »

No way. Not with the N76. That used to be the best way, but not anymore.

+1 totally agree the N76 is a bitch of a road and then the Clonmel ring road:( (as the Churchill ad goes "Ooh no")....
The Carlow - Abbeyleix road (R430) is a small price to pay for a motorway drive to Cork.:cool:

Chris_5339762

GeneHunt wrote: »

Great road otherwise, with the cruise control set at 126km/h (from the sat nav screen;)), I got from J8 (M8) to J10 (M7) in 53 minutes (135kms).

That doesnt make sense

roosterman71

I came from Athlone to Roscrea last night via Portlaoise just to drive the new road. I was all giddy with excitement (new roads shouldn't excite people like that I think ). Anyway, once in Portlaoise I head out towards the M7 and the old roundabout for Cork. I fly around it, and down the M7 towards the tie in. Pity it was dark as I couldn't really figure out where the old road was.

I noticed the new black top and knew I had hit the new road. Tried to figure out in my mind the geography of the area, and managed to correctly guess the old N7 overbridge. Flew through the toll and motored on towards the Borris exit. I didn't really know the area until I got to the interchange.
The big neon sign said "Welcome to Irelands newest motorway" greeted me here. How nice. I knew where I was now and tried to see the houses in the nighttime. I thought the road wasn't that smooth. And it certainly isn't when compared with the M6 from Ballinasloe to Galway. Traffic wasn't too bad at 11 pm. And there was no one going under the 120km/h speedlimit.

It took me 30 minutes longer to get to Roscrea, and more petrol. But it was worth it.

Then, this morning I headed for Leitrim for a bit of business. My father came along for the trip, and on the way back we said we'd go do a few things in Portlaoise. I wanted to show him the new road on the way home. He was all nostalgic. "Oh look, theres Xs house". He was amazed that a few years ago there was nothing there. As we go closer to our house I could here in his voice that he was a little upset. No doubt thinking back to how the fields were green, and the roads quiet. Now its replaced and dissected by a new motorway. Having said that, he's happy enough to see the constant stream of vehicles and noise cease past his house. Times have changed. And for the better.