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

Geogregor

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Looks shockingly abandoned, especially compared to those Fermoy - Mitch pics, where they had a massive line of trucks.

Absolutely nothing happening in ANY of these pics

Sunday?

Rovi

Furet wrote: »

Yes, shockingly little activity. CRG are building the Waterford Bypass too. If and when that opens early, do you think they'll send the machinary and manpower up to Laois? Is Q4 2010 still achievable? I think it is, but certainly not unless they pick up the pace significantly.

It is worth bearing in mind, though, that my pictures only show the two legs of the scheme, so to speak. I didn't see the intersection, toll plaza, or any bit north-east of this. It's possible that that's where all the work is concentrated at the moment, though only Rovi can confirm this.

More bad news, I'm afraid.

Only for the rain lately, there'd be tumbleweed blowing though the northern leg.
Excepting the ESB foostering with some poles on Thursday, there's been absolutely no activity on this end all last week.

I got some pictures on Thursday, I'll post them up as soon as I get a chance.

Amtmann

Geogregor wrote: »

Sunday?

No Geogregor, believe us when we say that all is not well. Vast tracts of the scheme seem to have no work done on them for months at a time. This in itself is abnormal, and, when one combines the visible evidence with the rumours (such as approximately 200 workers let go, CRG tinkering with the contract lateness clause, etc.), it does not bode well for a Q3 or 4 2010 finish.

JupiterKid

Could there be major cash flow problems with the Portlaoise/Culahill/Castletown project? Progress on this scheme seems incredibly slow and can't just be down to really poor project management issues.

Has this been acknowledged by the NRA or in the media? Someone seems to be keeping quiet on this...:(

bk

So it looks like this scheme has ground to a halt. Really this should be investigated by a journalist. One of you guys should write an email to a journalist with an interest in the area of infrastructure and point him to this thread. It would make for a very interesting investigative story (do our journalists actually do that any more?)

Steviemak

With this section being tolled I expected it to be finished well ahead of schedule! Does anyone have any information on the penalty clauses for late delivery?

Its such a shame that this section has being allowed to suffer as it is so vital to the interurban project. Surely, the government should be on this.

Irish and Proud

Furet wrote: »

Yes, shockingly little activity. CRG are building the Waterford Bypass too. If and when that opens early, do you think they'll send the machinary and manpower up to Laois? Is Q4 2010 still achievable? I think it is, but certainly not unless they pick up the pace significantly.

It is worth bearing in mind, though, that my pictures only show the two legs of the scheme, so to speak. I didn't see the intersection, toll plaza, or any bit north-east of this. It's possible that that's where all the work is concentrated at the moment, though only Rovi can confirm this.

...yeah not much activity indeed, but TBH, the road is in a more advanced state than I thought - from what I was hearing, I thought there were only a few bits of excavation done. The bridges are also further on than I thought.

That said, I saw the pictures relating to the Waterford Bypass, and while the road itself is looking good, I'm very concerned about the verges - like nothing is done there while the road is almost finished - not good! Looking at the M8 pictures, it looks as if the slopes/verges are in before the road is even started - for good reason I think. The contractors for the M8 appear to be getting the heavy landscaping works (grading etc) out of the way in order to avoid subsequent damage to the road pavement thereafter.

For example, the M1 Drogheda Bypass (though still perfectly drivable at 120kph) looks uneven in places - this road was put in before the heavy landscaping work (which involved heavy machinery manoeuvring all over the final surface - complete with markings etc) which resulted in the pavement being re-surfaced in places - those sections must have been rendered unsatisfactory from a safety point of view. Hopefully, CRG might avoid using (and therefore damaging) the pavement by working backwards along the verges from the least accessible sections.

Anyway, hope the M7/M8 works pick up during the summer.

Regards!

PS. Many thanks for the photos and videos you posted - they're fantastic mate! :):)

Rovi

As I posted earlier, I got a few pictures last Thursday, February 5th.

The photos below are all from the section of the project between the existing N7 and the Mountrath/Abbeyleix road, the R430.

As before, I've stitched in small screengrabs from the EIS documents covering this particular section, with yellow arrows showing the location and direction of the camera in each instance; the photos were taken from the point at the tip of the arrow. Apologies for the middling quality of the photos, they were taken with a camera phone.



EIS Sheet 1-16
1. On local road L-5675, on the northern side of the mainline, looking towards the mainline, with the new local overbridge on the right:


2. The same bridge, from the northern side of the mainline:


3. The same bridge, from the southern side of the mainline:


4. From the centre of the mainline, looking under the bridge towards Cork/Limerick:


5. From the centre of the mainline, looking towards Dublin/the toll plaza:


6. On local road L-5674, on the southern side of the mainline, looking towards the new local overbridge:


7. From the centre of the mainline, looking under the same bridge towards Dublin/the toll plaza:


8. Two views of the same bridge from the northern side of the mainline:




EIS Sheet 1-15
9. On the Mountrath/Abbeyleix road (R430), looking towards Mountrath:


10. The same site, from the side of the mainline:



EIS Sheet 1-18
11. On the edge of the existing N7, looking at the embankment leading up onto the new local overbridge:

This is the bridge that was allegedly going to be open to traffic this March, in order to facilitate work on the mainline underneath it, and to safeguard the health of the flagmen overseeing the site access; this looks like an impossibility to me.


On the particular day I took those photos, the only activity I saw was the ESB re-arranging some poles; I saw not a hint of activity anywhere to do with the project itself.
Certainly, nothing has happened where the project intersects the N7 for at least the last week.

I haven't had a chance to have a look at the site of the toll plaza lately, sorry about that.

Chris_533976

For a Thursday its utterly deserted

L1011

mysterious wrote: »

Your wrong again...........
Limerick to Nenagh bypass was first envisioned in 1997. It was to be the first motorway outside of Dublin at the time. .

M4 Leixlip-Maynooth-Kilcock scheme opened in 1994.
M1 Dunleer Bypass opened in 1993

First outside Dublin? Third, possibly...

Steviemak

MYOB wrote: »

M4 Leixlip-Maynooth-Kilcock scheme opened in 1994.
M1 Dunleer Bypass opened in 1993

First outside Dublin? Third, possibly...

Newbridge/Naas by-pass??

L1011

Steviemak wrote: »

Newbridge/Nass by-pass??

Never even thought of those!

Fifth then, as those were 1983 and 1993.

Rovi

Re. this picture I posted a few days ago:

Me wrote:

11. On the edge of the existing N7, looking at the embankment leading up onto the new local overbridge:

This is the bridge that was allegedly going to be open to traffic this March, in order to facilitate work on the mainline underneath it, and to safeguard the health of the flagmen overseeing the site access; this looks like an impossibility to me.

...there's been a flurry of activity there over the last few days, so perhaps they will get it into use soon; I'm still sceptical about it being this March though.

Amtmann

Someone on the Laois forum from Ballacolla posted that the NRA will no longer pay CRG an early completion bonus, and because (so they claim) CRG were seven months ahead of schedule before Christmas (I don't believe that for a second by the way), CRG have decided to take a month off.

Looking at it again, if they pumped men and machinery into the site from now onwards, they could have it done by next spring. I'm basing that on the progress made on the M-F scheme.

mysterious

MYOB wrote: »

M4 Leixlip-Maynooth-Kilcock scheme opened in 1994.
M1 Dunleer Bypass opened in 1993

First outside Dublin? Third, possibly...

Sorry I meant outside of Leinster...

mysterious

I passsed this scheme again yesterday.


Nothing done since I last passed.


It is not acceptable:mad: This government is really pissing me off.

Geogregor

mysterious wrote: »

I passsed this scheme again yesterday.


Nothing done since I last passed.


It is not acceptable:mad: This government is really pissing me off.

What it has to do with government? It is up to contractors to run project. If they finish before schedule they get bonus (I guess) and toll come earlier which is extra profit for company, if they are late they pay penalty.
Governments used to run constructions in communism, It wasn't very efficient
Maybe there are seasonal environmental restrictions (like with Suck bridge on M6) or weather issues. Difficult to judge based on few pictures and opinions of people who just drove by. Or maybe works are concentrated in places out of sight from main roads? There might be millions of reasons why construction is temporarily slower.
I think they have time up to Q4 2010. It is plenty of time to finish it.

I understand your anger with government but in this case it is unjustified.

mysterious

Geogregor wrote: »

What it has to do with government? It is up to contractors to run project. If they finish before schedule they get bonus (I guess) and toll come earlier which is extra profit for company, if they are late they pay penalty.
Governments used to run constructions in communism, It wasn't very efficient
Maybe there are seasonal environmental restrictions (like with Suck bridge on M6) or weather issues. Difficult to judge based on few pictures and opinions of people who just drove by. Or maybe works are concentrated in places out of sight from main roads? There might be millions of reasons why construction is temporarily slower.
I think they have time up to Q4 2010. It is plenty of time to finish it.

I understand your anger with government but in this case it is unjustified.

It started in jan 07...

Geogregor

mysterious wrote: »

It started in jan 07...

Construction itself? Or it was just choice of contractor?
Did they have to design the bridges or they got ready detailed construction project from NRA?

Even assuming there is delay it is rather contractor's / managing company's fault, not the government's

Amtmann

The contract was signed in June 2007. With most schemes construction works physically start within a few days of that event - the M18 Gort to Crusheen being the latest in a line of such examples. However, with the M7/M8 scheme this was not the case, as outlined here: http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,11116,en.pdf

It seems large scale construction works did not begin in earnest until Q1 2008: http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,14420,en.pdf

I am beginning to think, Geogregor, that you are right. Perhaps we have been spoiled and have grown too accustomed to projects finishing many months ahead of schedule. However, I'll repeat here what I've said on the Laois forum:

the speculation that you see on this thread and elsewhere is the result of very bad Public Relations management by CRG. The M7/M8 scheme is the only Transport 21 PPP project that does not have a dedicated, up-to-date website - unlike the Shannon Tunnel and Waterford Bypass works. In addition, the quarterly newsletters released by CRG for the M7/M8 scheme contain little detail; but one has referred to setbacks and delays. So you see, when in a time of recession works come to a stop on a massive construction site with no explanation given to the public whatsoever, of course people will speculate. It's up to the company to keep people informed. It's in CRG's interest to do so.

Sponge Bob

Geogregor is of course correct. It is the contractors responsibility in all cases.

Some of them are better funded than others :cool:

Amtmann

I have received information privately about the scheme.

Contrary to all the negative speculation which some of us (myself included) have engaged in on this thread, the M7/M8 project is reported not to be in any jeopardy and is making steady progress. The scheme is actually on target, even if it doesn't seem to be at the moment. There have been no significant lay-offs; hopefully we can expect to receive better public information in the future.

marmurr1916

Great news!

Hopefully 'on target' means that it'll be finished before the end of 2010 which is the official and final deadline for all the Major Inter Urban routes (M6, M7, M8, M9) currently under construction to be completed.

Of course, these routes (and the M1) were all initially supposed to have been completed by the end of 2006.

Still, what difference has the three or four years delay made?

It's not as if there's been a massive economic crash or anything...

ForiegnNational

Not having travelled the road since October last year, I (briefly) saw a huge amount of change at the Cullahill end of the scheme. There are huge earthworks away in the distance leading towards Rathdowney.

In addition, several over-bridges were visible, river culvert work had been completed and the base foundation layer built up level over the culverts.

From seeing the progress on the rest of the scheme over the years, this section seems to be progressing as quickly as the rest of the M8 project (IMHO).

Amtmann

ForiegnNational wrote: »

From seeing the progress on the rest of the scheme over the years, this section seems to be progressing as quickly as the rest of the M8 project (IMHO).

:eek:

Rovi

There's certainly a mad flurry of activity at the moment on the N7 overbridge between Mountrath and Portlaoise.

Amtmann

They'll have it open soon so. Excellent.

Chris_533976

Can someone please post a pic of some hard work actually being carried out on this scheme You know a digger doing some digging or something like that.

Irish and Proud

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Can someone please post a pic of some hard work actually being carried out on this scheme You know a digger doing some digging or something like that.

PLEASE DO NOT USE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ON M7/M8 SITE

SUCH ACTIVITY MAY AFFECT CONSTRUCTION PERSONEL -
A RARE AND LOCALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES

:D:D:D:D

Regards!

mysterious

Oh I agree, might even cause MAJOR distractions to the such great progress here when people start flashing, it will make driving JCB very difficult and awkard.. No sarcasm intended. But geee, it's sooooooooo moving on here, taking photos, is just a big no no, it will create such problems in the progress would it not?