M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

Ed_

Wild Bill wrote: »

Bit confused here .

Kilmeaden bypass is the N25, not the M9? Which is opening when? I'd suggest the Kilcullen to Carlow stretch of the M9 will open within 6 months; apart from that I'm confused.

But it links up with the Waterford City bypass. In effect the bypass begins at Kilmeaden. That is how i see it anyway

fricatus

Wild Bill wrote: »

Bit confused here .

Kilmeaden bypass is the N25, not the M9? Which is opening when? I'd suggest the Kilcullen to Carlow stretch of the M9 will open within 6 months; apart from that I'm confused.

There is no Kilmeaden bypass as such. Kilmeaden will be bypassed as part of the Waterford city bypass project (N25), as will the likes of Slieverue and Ferrybank.

That road is due to open by the end of October, by the looks of it.

The M9 on the other hand, looks like being further delayed, possibly into Q1, 2010.

The confusion probably arises because:
a) the N25 contract includes the realignment of the N9 from practically the city centre out to a small stretch at the beginning of the new motorway at Dunkitt.
b) work on the two has been ongoing all over Waterford and south Kilkenny for the past two years, so it "feels" like it's all the one road, which of course it isn't.

Bards

fricatus wrote: »

There is no Kilmeaden bypass as such. Kilmeaden will be bypassed as part of the Waterford city bypass project (N25), as will the likes of Slieverue and Ferrybank.

That road is due to open by the end of October, by the looks of it.

The M9 on the other hand, looks like being further delayed, possibly into Q1, 2010.

The confusion probably arises because:
a) the N25 contract includes the realignment of the N9 from practically the city centre out to a small stretch at the beginning of the new motorway at Dunkitt.
b) work on the two has been ongoing all over Waterford and south Kilkenny for the past two years, so it "feels" like it's all the one road, which of course it isn't.

Just to echo Fricatus words and put them into a picture. the following clearly shows the delineation between the two schemes

http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/WaterfordCityCouncil/N25WaterfordCityBypass/Map,16429,en.pdf

Wild Bill

Wow! That scheme looks more like a centipede than a single line!

fricatus

Wild Bill wrote: »

Wow! That scheme looks more like a centipede than a single line!

Hehe, yeah, basically anywhere you go on the west or north side of the city, there are bits of new road waiting to be opened. People are genuinely confused as to which bit leads to where, so I would expect confusion on day 1, with people heading to the wrong destinations all over the place.

Just as long as they don't head the wrong way down an off-ramp, it doesn't matter - although I wouldn't trust Waterford or Kilkenny drivers... and don't get me started on the Wexicans and the Tippsters!

hit_it_strong

Has anyone worked out how long the completed M9 will take off the trip from Dublin to Waterford?

It is 154km from the Red Cow Roundabout to the bridge in Waterford. Google Maps currently puts this at about 2 hours, 6 minutes and I've found it to be fairly accurate as long as traffic isn't too bad.

I'd imagine it will put this some about 1 hour, 20 minutes...

tramor

Yes, about 1 hour 20 mins should be the journey time. And easy driving. We will all have to get cruise control on our cars.

Bards

hit_it_strong wrote: »

Has anyone worked out how long the completed M9 will take off the trip from Dublin to Waterford?

It is 154km from the Red Cow Roundabout to the bridge in Waterford. Google Maps currently puts this at about 2 hours, 6 minutes and I've found it to be fairly accurate as long as traffic isn't too bad.

I'd imagine it will put this some about 1 hour, 20 minutes...

about 60 minutes in savings, not bad considering it is the shortest of the MIU's - shows just how bad the existing N9 is!!

Dum_Dum

Bards wrote: »

about 60 minutes in savings, not bad considering it is the shortest of the MIU's - shows just how bad the existing N9 is!!

It disgusts me how long it was left to rack and ruin.

fricatus

Dum_Dum wrote: »

It disgusts me how long it was left to rack and ruin.

Ooooh, don't go there!!! :rolleyes:

At least now when I have visitors arriving on my doorstep with a shocked look on their face after the nightmare of Thomastown/Jerpoint and the white-knuckle ride near Mullinavat, I can say "the motorway is being built - next time you visit it might well be open!"

placard

From the pics posted on this thread the Mullinavat section is in need of allot of work but it is only a small part of the Waterford to Knocktopher section. Is it the only section that looks like that?

I've seen sections like that being completed in a couple of months. If it is the only section like that then I don't see why it wouldn't be finished before the end of the year.

Roryhy

i've been thinking that way myself, they can really move when they knuckle down and concentrate on one section. What really brings that home for me is seeing the daily progress on the tie in on the m9 at Kilcullen, progress is scary fast. I realise also that there are drainage issues at Mullinavat so it may not be quite as straight forward to the trained eye.

placard

I just googled the soil characteristics for Mullinavat area.. low and behold

Peaty Gleys Acidic:
..because of their acid and poorly drained characteristics, have a low potential for forestry and agriculture. They support wet heathland and rough grassland communities.

guess they probably knew about this when/before work commenced on the project. :P

Zoney

Dum_Dum wrote: »

It disgusts me how long it was left to rack and ruin.

From what I've seen of it (I haven't been on it), it looks like it will be substandard for even an R road.

N20 Limerick-Cork at least now has a decent surface on the Croom-Mallow sections (albeit bumpy through Buttevant).

Current N7 has poor road surface between Roscrea and Portlaoise, but at least the entirity of the existing Limerick-Nenagh road (which will likely be a busy R road) got properly resurfaced and fixed up.

Has the current N9 had any work at all done on it - even to provide a proper surface on the windy bits?

Sully

Rough surface applied just outside Mullinavat in recent weeks anyway. Those loose chippings.

Zoney

Sully - that is pants. Even some secondary routes like the N69 and N86 although narrow and winding now have a proper surface on them. (Mind you the N85 is still abysmal).

spacetweek

Google maps now showing M9 Waterford-Knocktopher. WTF?? N25 Waterford bypass not shown, despite being the next to open, several months before M9.

placard

spacetweek wrote: »

Google maps now showing M9 Waterford-Knocktopher.

Hmm.. I wonder have sat nav maps been updated too!! Might be a few confused tourists on either end of the yet to open M9!!!

AFAIR the Carlow bypass wasn't included on Google maps until a couple of weeks after it was open to traffic.

fricatus

spacetweek wrote: »

Google maps now showing M9 Waterford-Knocktopher. WTF?? N25 Waterford bypass not shown, despite being the next to open, several months before M9.

Haha!!! That is hilarious! It's like "fantasy Google Maps" rather than the real version!

Note too, that they've made a balls of the southern tie-in. It should start at the realigned N24, but they've put an imaginary roundabout on the existing N9 near Milltown Cross (Kilmacow vicinity), where the M9 will actually cross overhead the existing road.

Tech3

Zoney wrote: »

From what I've seen of it (I haven't been on it), it looks like it will be substandard for even an R road.

N20 Limerick-Cork at least now has a decent surface on the Croom-Mallow sections (albeit bumpy through Buttevant).

Current N7 has poor road surface between Roscrea and Portlaoise, but at least the entirity of the existing Limerick-Nenagh road (which will likely be a busy R road) got properly resurfaced and fixed up.

Has the current N9 had any work at all done on it - even to provide a proper surface on the windy bits?

If anyone drives the N21 they will see that the climbing lane section south of Newcastle West got resurfaced lately by loose chippings, a disgrace for a national primary road.

Amtmann

Poor old Google! For all its resources and power it continues to get the most basic things wrong - the road is shown as green as well. Nenagh to Limerick is shown as a complete green road also, while the M8 is depicted erroneously throughout.

fricatus

Zoney wrote: »

Has the current N9 had any work at all done on it - even to provide a proper surface on the windy bits?

Only on short stretches here and there. It really is an abysmal road. I think you have to drive it more than once so that it sinks in.

And while I don't mean to mock your question, it's funny that you refer to "the windy bits"! Many other roads, like the old N11 or N20 are basically decent roads with windy stretches. However the N9 is essentially a windy road with only two real straight stretches south of Paulstown.

As regards any work being done on it, I can remember only two schemes ever being built (I'm travelling the road since 1988 or so).

One was the Bolton Hill - Moone - Timolin bit north of Castledermot (though this may have been built in two stages)

The other was a tiny realignment near Thomastown back around 1991. Certainly there has been no real money put into the southern half of the road at all, ever, as far as I can see. It seems to have been abandoned for quarter of a century or more, simple as that. People speculate as to the reasons, but the bottom line is that the neglect of the N9 has been an utter disgrace. It has undoubtedly done untold damage to Waterford and the south east.

The new M9 will hopefully undo some of that damage...

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

Poor old Google! For all its resources and power it continues to get the most basic things wrong - the road is shown as green as well. Nenagh to Limerick is shown as a complete green road also, while the M8 is depicted erroneously throughout.

Clearly getting some of their info from the NRA website -a poor reflection on both them and the NRA it must be said.

We must find who supplies google with their maps - because these issues need fixing - the AA route planner tool relies on Google Maps.

L1011

BluntGuy wrote: »

Clearly getting some of their info from the NRA website -a poor reflection on both them and the NRA it must be said.

We must find who supplies google with their maps - because these issues need fixing - the AA route planner tool relies on Google Maps.

Tele Altas. Not hard to find, its in the corner of every page!

Tele Altas maps are known (see GPS forum) for being updated quick and being extremely inaccurate. Navteq are slower and more accurate - my "2010" map has no Red Cow, no Cashel-Cullahill or Mitchelstown-Fermoy for instance.

I've 2010.10, must check if its the newest actually...

Chris_533976

And yet Openstreetmap has these new roads within days of opening and will be the only online mapping service for months, possibly years, to have all the motorways CORRECT.

L1011

Chris_533976 wrote: »

And yet Openstreetmap has these new roads within days of opening and will be the only online mapping service for months, possibly years, to have all the motorways CORRECT.

admittedly, if Navteq or Tele-Atlas let you directly modify their DB they'd get POIs of "yore ma" placed everywhere, roads that don't exist put in by crayon fantasists, etc, etc.

rameire

two pics from this morning while on my way home.
they are laying down the hard core.
enjoy.

road_high

fricatus wrote: »

Only on short stretches here and there. It really is an abysmal road. I think you have to drive it more than once so that it sinks in.

And while I don't mean to mock your question, it's funny that you refer to "the windy bits"! Many other roads, like the old N11 or N20 are basically decent roads with windy stretches. However the N9 is essentially a windy road with only two real straight stretches south of Paulstown.

As regards any work being done on it, I can remember only two schemes ever being built (I'm travelling the road since 1988 or so).

One was the Bolton Hill - Moone - Timolin bit north of Castledermot (though this may have been built in two stages)

The other was a tiny realignment near Thomastown back around 1991. Certainly there has been no real money put into the southern half of the road at all, ever, as far as I can see. It seems to have been abandoned for quarter of a century or more, simple as that. People speculate as to the reasons, but the bottom line is that the neglect of the N9 has been an utter disgrace. It has undoubtedly done untold damage to Waterford and the south east.

The new M9 will hopefully undo some of that damage...

North of Gowran the N9 is not too bad for much of it, though they're are some
pretty poorsections around Castledermot and Crookstown.
However south of Gowran it is truly appalling and of a far worse standard than comparable N8/7/6/4 etc. Sections are downright dangerous with twice the average collision rate for such roads. Such a pity the contractor was such a disaster considering how badly needed the new road is. Anybody driving it every day must be so frustrated, especially looking out the lovely new SAFE motorway alongside them, and they cannot drive it thanks to BAM :rolleyes:
I hope they get some nice fat penalties but I guess that is wishful thinking...

tramor

Thanks, Rameire. I drove past on Saturday morning and thought the dark surface was tar. I could only see it just over the mounds of earth, and had to keep one eye on the road. Needless to say I could hardly believe progress was so rapid in just one week. Still, hardcore down is very rapid progress. Keep the photos coming!

duffman13

Anyone got the dates when the Kilcullen to Carlow section is due to open looks fairly ready bar the slip roads.