M6 - Athlone to Ballinasloe

kaizersoze

The Ballinasloe - Galway will be getting concrete I'd say.
The concrete barrier in this picture marks the start of the B-G scheme.

There's about 100 metres of it and the other end isn't sloped or finished so it looks like it'll be continuing. In that location the whole carriageway was laid as one, bar the final layer which was done after the barrier.

Edit: The other end.

KevR

Two seperate carriageways near Athenry:


Wide median near Oranmore/Carnmore (N18):


Hard to tell for the Galway-Ballinasloe scheme really.

highway-man

the ballinasloe scheme is laid as one from edge to edge only on the top two layer of blacktop this is to facilatate the driving through of the barrier posts as they could not be driven through the bottom two layers as well if they were all laid across the centre

Furet

Furet wrote: »

I'm also a little disturbed by the lack of landscaping progress - it's May after all. Very late and risky to start planting anything.

Hopefully the planting will be deferred until the autumn like it was on parts of the Athlone - Kilbeggan section last year.

The latest images from the Athlone end where it will tie in to the existing bypass.

View East looking at the temporary crossover.



View west, work has just started removing the existing embankment.

Amtmann

KevR wrote: »

I'm sure Furet can answer this - when a concrete barrier is being used, are the 2 carriageways laid totally as one (i.e - before the barrier goes in it looks a bit like one really wide single carriageway road)?

Almost always from what I've seen, except in circumstances where the motorway turns to take in a bend, in which case one carriageway will be wider than the other to accomodate better sightlines.

from what I've seen, Galway-Ballinasloe seems to have a narrow gap between the carriageways; I wonder if it could be steel barrier also. (Part of G-B has a wide gap and I'm almost sure that section will be wide median).

Let's hope for wide median and/or concrete barrier. I don't know how these metal barriers will fare if a juggernaut hits them, and headlights might be a nuisance.

Also, it really did look to me like they were laying the final surface. But with concrete barriers the final surface goes down after the barrier so I thought it must be the second to last layer. Must have been the final layer after all.

I think it was me that led you astray there!


So, we have signage up, which has in the past indicated that an opening is only about 8 weeks away. But landscaping is very unadvanced...It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. Keep the photos coming lads!

?Cee?view

Can I just add a big thanks here to all of you who are keeping us up to date and informed.

It's much appreciated.

highway-man

there is concrete barriers 30 meters either side of the pillers under bridges and everything else is steel barriers and yes it will withstand an artic lorry as it would have been designed with obvious traffic requirments of a motorway in mind

Amtmann

highway-man wrote: »

there is concrete barriers 30 meters either side of the pillers under bridges and everything else is steel barriers and yes it will withstand an artic lorry as it would have been designed with obvious traffic requirments of a motorway in mind

Highway-man, are you referring to the Galway to Ballinasloe scheme there?

BluntGuy

A curious one... that metal barrier.

Thanks for all the pictures guys...

Irish and Proud

BluntGuy wrote: »

A curious one... that metal barrier.

Thanks for all the pictures guys...

...yeah, the N2 Finglas - Ashbourne Dual Carriageway also has many sections where a double metal barrier is used, as do sections of the Naas Dual Carriageway!

Regards!

Sponge Bob

why is it concrete barrier near bridges not steel , out of interest

thanks for the pics lads, looks like maybe Juy opening for the races and builders holidays

KevR

Irish and Proud wrote: »

...yeah, the N2 Finglas - Ashbourne Dual Carriageway also has many sections where a double metal barrier is used, as do sections of the Naas Dual Carriageway!

Regards!

Where there is a double metal barrier is there light poles in the median in between the 2 barriers?

From what I've seen of the steel barrier in the UK, it's just a single barrier unless they have lighting in the median.

It does always strike that if you were to hit the barrier from the side which has the barrier poles covered by the gaurd rail there would be a lot less damage to your car than if you hit the barrier from the side where the barrier poles are exposed. On the covered side you would glide along the barrier or be deflected away but on the side where the poles are exposed you would be clipping the little poles which would be taking chunks out of your car.

A double barrier would probably be a bit better but I don't think the cost could be justified when there is no street light poles in the median.

Highway-Man: Do you know if it's a single or double steel barrier on the Athlone-Ballinasloe scheme?

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Where there is a double metal barrier is there light poles in the median in between the 2 barriers?

From what I've seen of the steel barrier in the UK, it's just a single barrier unless they have lighting in the median.

It does always strike that if you were to hit the barrier from the side which has the barrier poles covered by the gaurd rail there would be a lot less damage to your car than if you hit the barrier from the side where the barrier poles are exposed.

ALL barriers in the UK have the poles covered by a guard rail!

The single barriers have guard rails both sides.

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

ALL barriers in the UK have the poles covered by a guard rail!

The single barriers have guard rails both sides.

Hmm, I'm almost certain that some sections of the M6 between Manchester and Birmingham have a single steel barrier with a gaurd rail only on one side (obviously no median street lights in these sections) - that's where I had the thought about a car being a bit more damaged if hitting from the ungaurded side rather than the gaurded one.

Although, I definitely would agree that the vast majority of motorways in the UK with steel barrier have either a double barrier or single barrier with gaurd rail on both sides.

I wonder what they will use on Athlone-Ballinasloe..

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Hmm, I'm almost certain that some sections of the M6 between Manchester and Birmingham have a single steel barrier with a gaurd rail only on one side (obviously no median street lights in these sections) - that's where I had the thought about a car being a bit more damaged if hitting from the ungaurded side rather than the gaurded one.

[OT] surely that would be illegal![/OT]

There is a short section of M6 just east of the Kilmartin junction that's twin barrier, but only on the curve.

Maybe only the curvatious sections of the Ballinasloe - Athlone M6 will get them.

flazio

Thing is though surely the roads going to be a bit tight if you have one vehicle coming one way on the overtaking lane, and another vehicle, say an Artic truck with a bit of an overhang. That over hang is going to be in the other lane isn't it?

KevR

**** sake! Sitting in the car now waiting for the rain to stop. Pulled in on the way home to have a quick look from one of the overbridges. Of course it started bucketing down as soon as I got out of the car.

KevR

The rain stopped eventually and I managed to get a couple of snaps. They're not as good as Kaizersoze's pictures but I may aswell post all the same.

Taken from an overbridge a few kms East of Ballinasloe. Click thumbnails for full size images.

Looking East:


Looking West:


The overbridge road:

Traffic on it already I see...
Thats the Moore road, I recognise it, about half way along.

KevR

Think that car belonged to a guy who was doing what looked like a small bit of lanscaping work on the embankment.

Plenty of trucks coming and going from the batching plant also.

kaizersoze

6 Km heading west from Tonvey overbridge, through junction 14 and part of N6 link road. Ending at Ard Carn roundabout on Shannonbridge road.

Apologies for the piss poor quality. Done with a hand held phone and the sun going down. Hopefully I'll get something better over the weekend.

Edit: Balls:( Why am I only getting a white box?
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaoyOxEJ-wc

Tech3

kaizersoze wrote: »

6 Km heading west from Tonvey overbridge, through junction 14 and part of N6 link road. Ending at Ard Carn roundabout on Shannonbridge road.

Edit: Balls:( Why am I only getting a white box?
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaoyOxEJ-wc

click the youtube sign and put this into it: WaoyOxEJ-wc

kaizersoze

tech2 wrote: »

click the youtube sign and put this into it: WaoyOxEJ-wc

Good man. Ta.:o

Armco started. Double sided.



Garda ramp (I presume) on westbound carriageway at Tonvey overbridge.

BluntGuy

Yes, I was thinking it would have to be a double-barrier. Single-barrier would not have been nearly enough.

Still, it looks a little bit horrible without the wide median.

EDIT: Why did they go for this design btw?

kaizersoze

Right. Got a clear run on Sunday.:)
Got to about 1km from the tie in at the Athlone end.

10/05/09. M6 Ballinasloe to Athlone. Video at double speed. Actual drive time - 17 mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvSgb6YY_lk

Lots still to be done. Only the first 2kms at the Ballinasloe end has got the top layer of asphalt.

Amtmann

Love it! Excellent video Kaizer.

murphaph

Why is Armco being used?

It's going to look quite british with armco and a paved median.

highway-man

less expensive to construct i would expect

veryangryman

Another question for all...

What is happenign with the former westbound Tuam slip road and the surrounding land? I regularly see activity there, flattening the land etc.

Am i to expect an ALDI opening there soon or something? Monksland could use one.... Nearest discount store is the one in town and since circa 30% of Athlone live around Monksland/Baylough/Belnamula/, it would be a no brainer for them to make a few more quid.