M6 - Athlone to Ballinasloe

Patrickhegart

veryangryman wrote: »

Probably missed my point. Not questioning the legality..questioned the sense

Why not, same as the few others who drove it in their car.

its going to be motorway next month so I wont be allowed to bring the tractor on it then, I stayed on the hard shoulder so didnt bother anyone. I wont have the chance to sit that high up with great visability in the car

joe9joe9

Where do you get onto the M6 from Athlone to Ballinasloe?
Someone said you have to get on at Kilmartins but I assume thats bull and that you can surely just get onto the old bypass and join it?

Also does anyone know how many toll bridges will be on the Athlone/Galway road when finished? Will it be possible to avoid them by hopping on/off the M6? If its a daily commute for someone then you'd be better off taking the old road (where traffic is bound to be quieter) than paying the toll 2 or 4 times a day.

kaizersoze

KevR wrote: »

Driving on it shortly - giddy!!

Neeeerrrrd.:p:D

kaizersoze

Patrickhegart wrote: »

and back, its a JD 6930 so it it aint a slouch

No slouch is right. That wasn't you I met heading towards Athlone pulling a tanker and 2 beacons on the roof?

veryangryman

joe9joe9 wrote: »

Where do you get onto the M6 from Athlone to Ballinasloe?
Someone said you have to get on at Kilmartins but I assume thats bull and that you can surely just get onto the old bypass and join it?

Also does anyone know how many toll bridges will be on the Athlone/Galway road when finished? Will it be possible to avoid them by hopping on/off the M6? If its a daily commute for someone then you'd be better off taking the old road (where traffic is bound to be quieter) than paying the toll 2 or 4 times a day.

Just one on the new scheme. You get off the road at West Ballinasloe Exit (when its ready) and continue on the old road rest of way

With Loughrea already bypassed, its not a bad alternative route barring the dangerous couple of miles between Aughrim and Loughrea

Of course if time is a factor then use the toll route

Patrickhegart

veryangryman wrote: »

Just one on the new scheme. You get off the road at West Ballinasloe Exit (when its ready) and continue on the old road rest of way

With Loughrea already bypassed, its not a bad alternative route barring the dangerous couple of miles between Aughrim and Loughrea

Of course if time is a factor then use the toll route

If you mean avoid the toll when its all open, your forgetting that they will reduce the speedlimit to 80kph and thick cun* of a cop based in Loughrea with the jeep will live on it 24hrs a day forcing you to use the motorway.

mackerski

I have now added this section of M6 to OpenStreetMap.

kaizersoze

veryangryman wrote: »

Drove it last night in torrential rain.

Maybe it was the dark and the weather and maybe it was the couple of women drivers who decided to brake suddenly (ill let them off as they getting used to the new stretch etc), but i find that road alot more dangerous than the rest of the M6 sections

Alot of curves, slopes etc. In these sort of conditions, 120KMPH speed limit would be pushing it.

Drove it in the heavy rain last night as well and anyone trying to do 120 (or even 100 at times) needed their head examined. The course of the road is fine, it was the visibility that was the problem.
Remember now, 120kmh is a limit, not a target.:p

KevR

My thoughts:

A totally different experience to any other motorway I've been on in Ireland. Usually with narrow medians we have concrete barriers which block your view of the other carriageway. Our motorways with steel barriers usually have a wide median. The steel barrier/narrow median is a nice change but I hope we don't see more of it on new motorways - concrete is safer.

The views of the countryside are so much better on the new road. The motorway boundary is lined with a nice wooden fence as opposed to the eye injuring grey stone walls on lining the old road.

Weather & visibility was good. I drove the whole length at 120kmh. Seems fine to me for that speed. There were some people passing me out (probably doing 130kmh/140kmh).

The drive is so much easier than on the old road. With the old road you would get people stopping in the road to make a right turn into a house/side road - not only did this cause delays but it was dangerous. No more stuck behind tractors/trucks doing 60kmh and it being impossible to overtake safely.

I wonder how it will affect Westbound traffic going through Ballinasloe. On the old road traffic would bunch up (because of a slow vehicle) and all arive in the town at the same time. With the new road it will be a more even spread of traffic arriving at the town. Might improve traffic a bit Westbound. Although it will be hard to judge with that new roundabout they have shamefully put on the N6 in the town to facilitate Aldi.

Patrickhegart

KevR wrote: »

The steel barrier/narrow median is a nice change but I hope we don't see more of it on new motorways - concrete is safer.
.

Plus you have all the retards coming against you with their dipped headlights on blinding you. Concrete mainly does a good job blocking this out.

Tech3

Patrickhegart wrote: »

Plus you have all the retards coming against you with their dipped headlights on blinding you. Concrete mainly does a good job blocking this out.

Dipped headlights are not blinding. Full beams are and fogs. Anyway on the concrete crashbarrier lights can be seen on the other carriageway very often with sightline curves on the motorway so it doesnt make much of a difference.

Kev where did you hear that Gort-Crusheen will have Armco for the median?

veryangryman

Twice now ive seen morons going the wrong direction from Tuam Exit onto the Motorway.

I know the layout has changed but fekcs sake its fricking signposted WELL in advance.

Some old guy :rolleyes: got onto motorway westbound, decided hed gone wrong way and (possibly being stingy on petrol) did a u-turn as opposed to driving to Ballinasloe to turn around.

Side issue: Do you think that the 20KM gap between exits is a bit much for some like this old idiot. Perhaps an exit close to Cornafulla/Ballydangan...yes i know it lowers its function as a high-speed motorway, but still...

Amtmann

Patrickhegart wrote: »

Why not, same as the few others who drove it in their car.

its going to be motorway next month so I wont be allowed to bring the tractor on it then, I stayed on the hard shoulder so didnt bother anyone. I wont have the chance to sit that high up with great visability in the car

Do you know the rules of the road at all? That's not a hard shoulder - it's an emergency lane. The solid gold line is a clue. And it is illegal for you to drive there. Stay off it in your tractor and do everyone a favour.

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

Do you know the rules of the road at all? That's not a hard shoulder - it's an emergency lane. The solid gold line is a clue. And it is illegal for you to drive there. Stay off it in your tractor and do everyone a favour.

ha ha classic post!!! Get on the old N6 with your tractor and trailer.

Aidan1

As a former tractor driver, I can only agree with Furet. It's dangerous and unfair to other road users.

But the point needs to be made that the law is still slightly unclear here on the subject of tractors on Motorways. There is a 50kph minimum speed limit on Motorways, but many modern tractors can do that speed - the 6930 young Mr Hegarty was driving can even do 60kph, depending on the gearbox and the willingness of the local John Deere mechanics to be creative with their laptop. But Agricultural tractors have speed limits of 30kph (even though it is very seldom enforced) - so there is an obvious difficulty. The Department of Transport is conducting a review of the legislation governing Agricultural machinery on the road - ideally it will suggest that any work vehicle be barred from using Motorways.

Amtmann

Someone needs to update the junction grid on the M6 wikipedia page.

L1011

Patrickhegart wrote: »

Plus you have all the retards coming against you with their dipped headlights on blinding you. Concrete mainly does a good job blocking this out.

Dipped headlights are not blinding unless they are incorrectly set up or you have a serious eye problem. In anyway dim conditions its advisable to have your dips on, indeed mine are never off.

KevR

Patrickhegart wrote: »

Plus you have all the retards coming against you with their dipped headlights on blinding you. Concrete mainly does a good job blocking this out.

Forgot to say in my other post - someone driving in lane 1 on the other carriageway; their lights affect you almost the same as someone coming against you on a single carriageway, although they're not as close to you so it's not as bad. Someone in lane 2 on the other carriageway; the steel railing is of similar height to an average car's lights so the railing (partially at least) blocks you from seeing their light beam directly.

However on inclines and declines light from cars on the other carriageway can flick through the barrier pillars/support collumns. This is a bit annoying.

Dipped headlights are fine, full headlights are blinding. Some people don't realise that you have to dip your headlights for oncoming traffic even on Dual Carriageways/Motorways. With a concrete barrier you there are some occasions where you might not even realise there is oncoming traffic because the barrier blocks their car and their lights from your view. But whenever you do see that there is oncoming traffic, you should dip your headlights.

tech2 wrote: »

Kev where did you hear that Gort-Crusheen will have Armco for the median?

Someone posted it on here a while back. We might get a indication for ourselves when they start laying the carriageways. If the 2 carriageways are laid in the one go as one really wide carriageway then it will more than likely be concrete barrier. If the 2 carriageways are laid seperately, with a narrow gap between them, then it could end up being steel barrier like Athlone-Ballinsloe.

veryangryman wrote: »

Side issue: Do you think that the 20KM gap between exits is a bit much for some like this old idiot. Perhaps an exit close to Cornafulla/Ballydangan...yes i know it lowers its function as a high-speed motorway, but still...

Was thinking about the 20km myself also. Anyone else think it would be a good idea to put a "Last exit for 20km" sign before the Tuam Rd junction Westbound? Rather than putting another exit in.. At least people would be warned to have enough fuel to make it to the next junction.

kaizersoze

veryangryman wrote: »

Side issue: Do you think that the 20KM gap between exits is a bit much for some like this old idiot. Perhaps an exit close to Cornafulla/Ballydangan...yes i know it lowers its function as a high-speed motorway, but still...

It is a long way between junctions alright. The gap between junctions after Ballinasloe is even longer. It's ~26kms from J15 (Ballinasloe west) to J16 (Carrowkeel), plus you get stung for the toll if you miss your exit.

Chris_533976

The Ballinasloe - Galway one is so long to force people to use the toll, which is bang slap in the middle.

Although in fairness, its passing through absolute wilderness for 99% of its route so it doesnt really matter Its a really boring area to look at, but it'll really be an interesting drive as the area is so deserted. There isnt really much one off housing even.

Carawaystick

Where is there to serve with a Junction? somewhere with a population of more than a hundred and fifty even?

Delta Kilo

There is a red 306 abandoned on the emergency lane westbound of the new section. Surprised it hasn't been moved yet.

Chris_533976

Oh BTW the junction for the Loughrea Link Road is full access onto the local network as well.

By 'local' we mean "fields".

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

Someone needs to update the junction grid on the M6 wikipedia page.

Done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M6_motorway_(Ireland)#Junctions

Edit: If somebody wants to tell me the layout of the M18 junctions, I'll make a junction grid for that as well.

flazio

Hmm not so sure about the time savings on this road, was behind a Bus
Eireann bus heading east bound for Athlone, as we were leaving Ballinasloe the bus pulls in to it's stop at Dubarry, I drive on and turn for the motorway, I join the motorway and drive at around 80mph. Approaching the bridge where the old N6 crosses I see a Bus Eireann bus crossing. The same one?
Also has some farmer got permission for a cow crossing bridge? After the above mentioned bridge there is a bridge where the fencing has all metal sheeting on it rather then the usual mesh. Also are the yellow posted armco significant for something?

L1011

Private access overbridges are usually negotiated as part of the CPO rather than built by the farmers themselves, seeing as they cost a LOT of money to build. They're common enough, there's even one (out of use) on the Naas Bypass - we've been doing them since the first motorway!

KevR

Delta Kilo wrote: »

There is a red 306 abandoned on the emergency lane westbound of the new section. Surprised it hasn't been moved yet.

Saw that on Saturday evening, it's still there this morning..

flazio wrote: »

Hmm not so sure about the time savings on this road, was behind a Bus
Also are the yellow posted armco significant for something?

I presume that the small yellow posted sections are removable for contra-flows.

Another thing - I have driven on it 4 times now and haven't spotted any traffic counter on it. I usually notice them..

kaizersoze

flazio wrote: »

Hmm not so sure about the time savings on this road, was behind a Bus
Eireann bus heading east bound for Athlone, as we were leaving Ballinasloe the bus pulls in to it's stop at Dubarry, I drive on and turn for the motorway, I join the motorway and drive at around 80mph. Approaching the bridge where the old N6 crosses I see a Bus Eireann bus crossing. The same one?
Also has some farmer got permission for a cow crossing bridge? After the above mentioned bridge there is a bridge where the fencing has all metal sheeting on it rather then the usual mesh. Also are the yellow posted armco significant for something?

Maybe not the same bus but maybe it was. With virtually no traffic on the old N6 (still at 100kph btw) they probably make good time now. The bulk of the time saving seems to be from the crossover into Athlone. All I know is that on the old road it took ~20 mins to get to Athlone. It now takes ~11.

That overbridge isn't a cow crossing, it's a local road crossing. Don't know why they used metal sheeting instead of mesh. It's the Ardkeenan overbridge.

The Armco sections with the yellow support posts are removable. The supports are bolted down as opposed to driven into the road. Could be used for contra-flow, as KevR said, but mainly for maintenance. They save maintenance crews having to the far end of the motorway to access the other carriageway.

@KevR, I didn't notice a traffic counter either. Would they need one on such a short stretch with only a junction at either end?

KevR

I thought they might have put one in considering there is one on the old road. It would have been good to see numbers using the new road and see what is still using the old road. Also, it would be interesting to see if the uptake on the new road will increase once Galway-Ballinasloe opens.

PS - Just looking at traffic count data for the old road now and traffic is up slightly so far this year compared to 2008 and 2007. Interesting given the recession. Talking to some Athlone people who said they reckon the bypass got busier when the M6 joined up at the Eastern end - people are joining/branching off the N/M6 at a more Westerly point.

KevR

Delta Kilo wrote: »

There is a red 306 abandoned on the emergency lane westbound of the new section. Surprised it hasn't been moved yet.

Was gone this evening.