M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

larryone

mfitzy wrote: »

Yes the Blackstairs and Wicklow mountains provide a lovely backdrop to the lush Barrow and Nore valleys! A lot of the other interurbans go through flat level midland type bogs, and are quite boring really.

Well, the M8 does have the Galtees and the Knockmealdowns, but you're right, the M9 will be a picturesque drive when it's completed.

weeslip

Hi,

I have been going over the plans but am not very familiar with some of the new areas the motorway will be traveling through.

I'm in Dublin (Citywest, Naas Road) three days a week. I'm coming from Wexford town, Enniscorthy, Bunclody, Tullow, Castledermot, M9 etc.

I am trying to figure out how much of the motorway i will be using , where i will be able to get on, is Carlow going to be the nearest on point i wonder.

Anybody with some (lots) more knowledge have any ideas roughly how much time i could be looking at saving.

Thanks for any help

fricatus

weeslip wrote: »

Hi,

I have been going over the plans but am not very familiar with some of the new areas the motorway will be traveling through.

I'm in Dublin (Citywest, Naas Road) three days a week. I'm coming from Wexford town, Enniscorthy, Bunclody, Tullow, Castledermot, M9 etc.

I am trying to figure out how much of the motorway i will be using , where i will be able to get on, is Carlow going to be the nearest on point i wonder.

Anybody with some (lots) more knowledge have any ideas roughly how much time i could be looking at saving.

Thanks for any help

Heading north, if you stay on the N80 after Bunclody (i.e. don't turn right towards Tullow), you'll eventually join the new M9 Carlow bypass. The motorway ends after around 5 miles and you have to turn off onto the old N9 going into Castledermot. However, you can see the new motorway being built going towards Dublin. As you continue past Castledermot and onto the existing M9 near Kilcullen, you can see the motorway being built.

Basically for your journey, it will replace the section of N9 between about Castledermot and Kilcullen.

fricatus

Lots of activity at two points now:

- there is a lot of machinery working now on the stretch between the M9/N24 Quarry roundabout and the Blackwater viaduct, which is the very end stretch of the motorway.

- heading north at Lukeswell bridge, just a few hundred metres before the big bridge carrying the M9 over the old road, if you look over to the right, you can see that some sort of tarmac layer is now in place. (Sorry, I don't know my CBM from my wearing courses... )

Road-Hog

Some new pictures on the Waterford City Council N25 Site....! Particularly around the suir bridge area

spacetweek

A while back some people were estimating M9 Powerstown-Waterford to open by August; is this still realistic?

Bards

spacetweek wrote: »

A while back some people were estimating M9 Powerstown-Waterford to open by August; is this still realistic?

never was going to be Powerstown (Southern end of Carlow Bypass) to Waterford opening by Aug 2009.

More than likely it will be Knocktopher to Waterford by September, and possibly as far as Danesford or perhaps Kilkenny depending on what Roadbridge have done on their section

emfifty

Road-Hog wrote: »

Some new pictures on the Waterford City Council N25 Site....! Particularly around the suir bridge area

excellent pics. the grannagh junction has the look of somethin american with the highway and all those cement pillars. this will look very slick when all is finished. ye waterfordians will be proud of your new infrastructure...(especially the suir bridge)

Chris_533976

Be embarassed of the link road between Grannagh and the M9 'junction' (roundabout) though

emfifty

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Be embarassed of the link road between Grannagh and the M9 'junction' (roundabout) though

sure. i agree with you there. i'm sure they will add free flow slips and the like over time when the traffic volumes increase.
it's not unusual to see roundabouts at the end of motorways. from memory there is a roundabout at the end of the (a)m4 at the entrance to gatwick airport!

Chris_533976

Yeah but this is different. A trumpet with the N24 and a second trumpet connecting the M9 to the N25 east of Grannagh would have made so much more sense than the traffic jam and developer friendly roundabout and link road that they built. In no other country (except maybe Holland) would such a ridiculous arrangement have been built.

road_high

There are a lot of signs put up around Crookstown area (end of Moone-Timolin bypass0 on the current N9 to do with local businesses protesting about the effect of the new road taking their business. They want a link road built apparently.
My understanding is that there is already such a link road under construction off the M9 to meet the current N9 to the junction with the R747 road. I presume they want something in addfition to this road?

murphaph

mfitzy wrote: »

There are a lot of signs put up around Crookstown area (end of Moone-Timolin bypass0 on the current N9 to do with local businesses protesting about the effect of the new road taking their business. They want a link road built apparently.
My understanding is that there is already such a link road under construction off the M9 to meet the current N9 to the junction with the R747 road. I presume they want something in addfition to this road?

If your business model is dependent on intercity traffic passing by your doorstep then you haven't got a sustainable business model. These jokers need to realise that the roads don't exist to bring them business.

BluntGuy

murphaph wrote: »

If your business model is dependent on intercity traffic passing by your doorstep then you haven't got a sustainable business model. These jokers need to realise that the roads don't exist to bring them business.

I'm sure some of these people are the same locals who were whinging to get the bypasses in the first place.

Can't have cake and eat it.

road_high

murphaph wrote: »

If your business model is dependent on intercity traffic passing by your doorstep then you haven't got a sustainable business model. These jokers need to realise that the roads don't exist to bring them business.

True but I do ahve a certain sympathy for them at the same time. They have invested in their businesses over the years.
What I don't understand is in the case of the M9, there IS a link road being built, is their argument that this is insufficient?

Road-Hog

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Yeah but this is different. A trumpet with the N24 and a second trumpet connecting the M9 to the N25 east of Grannagh would have made so much more sense than the traffic jam and developer friendly roundabout and link road that they built. In no other country (except maybe Holland) would such a ridiculous arrangement have been built.

Chris, can you elaborate on what you mean by trumpet? what is your baisis for the prediction of traffic jams at teh end of the M9? To make a proper assessment you'd really have to look at the models and predicted traffic volumes, somehow I dont' think that a 'red-cow' type scenario will develop at Grannagh

Chris_533976

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/reference/interchanges/trumpet.shtml

Thats a trumpet

I know the junctions that are being built were designed back in 1999, and I'm quite sure that the day this lot opens there will only be a minor traffic jam. But with the roundabout looking almost designed to have industrial estates tacked onto it, it wont be the same 10 years down the road.

It is absolutey inexcusable for there not to be a direct freeflow connection between the M9 and N25.

BluntGuy

Chris_533976 wrote: »

It is absolutey inexcusable for there not to be a direct freeflow connection between the M9 and N25.

The best they can do (cheaply) is provide a free-flow connection from the M9 to the N24 link road, bypassing the first roundabout, and provide a free-flow connection from the N24 link road to the N25 heading westbound.

Other movements will be a complete mess to try and sort out. Having all free-flow movements would require two more levels of grade seperation.

Road-Hog

Chris_533976 wrote: »

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/reference/interchanges/trumpet.shtml

Thats a trumpet

I know the junctions that are being built were designed back in 1999, and I'm quite sure that the day this lot opens there will only be a minor traffic jam. But with the roundabout looking almost designed to have industrial estates tacked onto it, it wont be the same 10 years down the road.

It is absolutey inexcusable for there not to be a direct freeflow connection between the M9 and N25.

The Mooncoin Bypass is scheduled to connect into the roundabout at the start/end of the M9, which will link up with the present piltown/fiddown bypass, which will make it a 4 exit roundabout. Still not sure how you can say that the roundabout 'is almost will have industrial estates' tacked onto it? Still think it will be a long time before this roundabout will need to be upgraded to a grade-seperated/free flowing type!

spacetweek

Road-Hog wrote: »

The Mooncoin Bypass is scheduled to connect into the roundabout at the start/end of the M9, which will link up with the present piltown/fiddown bypass, which will make it a 4 exit roundabout. Still not sure how you can say that the roundabout 'is almost will have industrial estates' tacked onto it? Still think it will be a long time before this roundabout will need to be upgraded to a grade-seperated/free flowing type!

Yea I dunno where you could locate industrial developments. You couldn't have them accessible from the M9 and the roundabouts will be busy linking up other movements. The estates would be better off down near the port or along the southern ring road.

TBH guys although I agree the N9/N24/N25 setup is sh1te, we're talking about miniscule traffic levels (16,000 AADT or thereabouts) so major congestion seems unlikely for a long time.

rameire

i will hopefully get updated pics tomorrow of the area around kilcullen, for the m9, n9, and athy link road in athy.
its one month on from the last lot of photos, might do this every month till the end.

just from driving by everyday, they seem to have done a good bit of work on the northern end of the m9 including the bridge structure, and also the new n9 junction, the link road in athy seems to have not progressed at all, so it could be a case of spot the difference with the new photo, and the only difference being there wont be any puddles.

rameire

New pics taken today,
new pics are ontop of old pics,
so new first, old second.

may

april

new athy link road looking South East,
area is beside where new athy roundabout will be located.

may

april

area overlooking where new N9 road will meet the N78.
the N78 is roughly 70 yards past the road sign.



april

New N9 road looking south east towards current N9, above photo is from the same spot but looking in opposite direction.



april

New N9 road from the current N9 looking North West at Kilcullen area.



april

New M9 road looking North towards current M9 and future tie in at Kilcullen.




april

Tie in area of New M9 with current N9 at Kilcullen.



april

New structure over new M9, where local road will cross motorway and Join the N9.



follow link for more pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rameire/sets/72157617431856739/ April pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rameire/sets/72157618891111601/ May Pics

rameire

may

april

New M9 road looking South West towards previous picture, structure can be seen in the background. location is same as 2 pics above.

amd just one more pic, this will be the new N9, N78 junction,
may

yellow012

Top man, excellent work Rameire, please keep it up.

road_high

Cheers for those Rameire. Athy link road seems least advanced. Does anybody know for certain whether this will carry the N78 tag or R747 (I think)??

W.B. Yeats

Looks like the section- Kilcullen to Carlow won't be open til sometime in November
There is a 10km race scheduled for November. I'm presuming this will be before the motorway is opened as I can't imagine them closing a motorway for a road race

fricatus

Electronic signs near Grannagh today say "New Road Layout 9 June".

Anyone any idea what's changing on Tuesday? Will we be going back to using the old N9 between the two little "fried egg" roundabouts (the N24/N9 one and the N9/Kilmacow Road one)?

That's the only thing I can think of, but it looks like there is still a ton of work to be done to get the road into shape down there. It looks like it's been destroyed by all the building work for the N9 and M25 flyovers.

cargo

I was heading southbound on the Carlow bypass Thursday evening around 8.30pm and there was a 2 truck convoy of large steel structures getting a garda escort who then performed a rolling block coming to the end of the bypass (tie in at Powerstown dump) and the 2 trucks took the two massive beams into the site there.

A further kilometre or so along towards Kilkenny, just over the trees I could see a large crane getting ready to lift something so they may have been the beams for the bridge to cross the Barrow there. Although the crane did seem to be alone and beams like that would probably need a support crane for manoeuvring also.

Thought I could make out a Thompson Engineering logo on one of the support vans so they are probably involved in the construction / placing of the beams. They are based in Carlow so a handy local job for them

Bards

fricatus wrote: »

Electronic signs near Grannagh today say "New Road Layout 9 June".

Anyone any idea what's changing on Tuesday? Will we be going back to using the old N9 between the two little "fried egg" roundabouts (the N24/N9 one and the N9/Kilmacow Road one)?

That's the only thing I can think of, but it looks like there is still a ton of work to be done to get the road into shape down there. It looks like it's been destroyed by all the building work for the N9 and M25 flyovers.

From http://www.waterfordcity.ie/n25bypass/news.htm

"The temporary diversion of Kilkenny and Dublin bound traffic via the existing N24 will remain in place until the deck and parapets of structures No’s 18,19,20 are in place which is envisaged to be mid June 2009."

hi5

cargo wrote: »

Thought I could make out a Thompson Engineering logo on one of the support vans so they are probably involved in the construction / placing of the beams. They are based in Carlow so a handy local job for them

Thompson Engineering are working on the bridge at Bennettsbridge for the last few weeks so that would make sense.