M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

alpha2zulu

Bards wrote: »

So will I

Count me in too...never took much interest in this thread until I had a stint of a daily commute to Kilkenny at 6am in the winter! Between ice,potholes,floods, and trucks on my side of the road coming around bends, it really is a case of taking your life in your hands.

I'd be more than happy to see the Army "test" out some C4 on the southern N9 section come this time next year:D

Dum_Dum

alpha2zulu wrote: »

I'd be more than happy to see the Army "test" out some C4 on the southern N9 section come this time next year:D

I think the N9 should be left alone untouched - why should KCC change the habit of a lifetime?

larryone

Todays traffic flow re-arrangements in Kilcullen have been mapped already. Wasn't me, another openstreetmap contributor beat me to it....

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.1186&lon=-6.75438&zoom=16&layers=B000FTF

sk8board

mfitzy wrote: »

Yea, the journey time between the end of Carlow bypass and Kilcullen should be shaved off nicely to around 15 mins or less. No longer will your speed be dicatated by that person in the Almera in front braking at oncoming traffic or convoys of HGVs etc.
Say at least 10 mins and thats not accounting for tailbacks in Castledermot itself. It's the busiest section of the N9 for sure.

10-15 mins will be the saving when the Carlow-Kilcullen section opens.

the motorway section is 28km, so expect to do it in 14mins at 120km on an open road.

It takes about 30min to do that section in the evenings, as I'll find out again this evening, and about 25min on a good day, depending on the slow-pokes going 20km below the speedlimit, and the queue into c-dermot.

(one thing the new motorway will rid us all of is those fools that try to pass as many cars as possible between kilcullen and c'dermot, for a net gain of perhaps 30 seconds. Gold '02 volvo s60, I'm looking at you)

jiggajt

Rabidlamb wrote: »

Went south tonight & the contraflow at the Kilcullen tie-in was moved onto the southbound section.
You get to drive on the new M9 for a few fleeting seconds.
You see the new M9 snaking away into the distance before you come back down the temporary off ramp.
Won't be long now :D:D.

If the tie in is the only thing that's incomplete i dont see why they couldnt remove a central barrier further down the new motorway return the contraflow traffic back to the other side and hey presto its open another month early?

placard

alpha2zulu wrote: »

Count me in too...never took much interest in this thread until I had a stint of a daily commute to Kilkenny at 6am in the winter! Between ice,potholes,floods, and trucks on my side of the road coming around bends, it really is a case of taking your life in your hands.

Me too.. I have no doubt that the new stretch of road will save lives.

Hopefully it will also open up the south east to the rest of the country and tourism in general. The biggest hope would be that it would put an end to allot of the small town bickering that goes on down around the county border between KK and WD(not that everybody participates but it does go on). In my opinion this is what has held the region back for so long.

placard

jiggajt wrote: »

If the tie in is the only thing that's incomplete i dont see why they couldnt remove a central barrier further down the new motorway return the contraflow traffic back to the other side and hey presto its open another month early?

There may be some more minor work to be done on the Carlow tie in also, Northbound in particular. Also not sure if the full stretch has line markings.

Roryhy

placard wrote: »

There may be some more minor work to be done on the Carlow tie in also, Northbound in particular. Also not sure if the full stretch has line markings.

I took pictures of the Carlow tie-in a few weeks back, only very minor work to be done. And as for lines, they could probably wrap all of them up in a day or two.

jiggajt

I guess we cant complain too much as they are ahead of schedule. I imagine they want to save the opening for the minister to be the first to drive it and cut the ribbon etc.. Plus i believe the NRDO has to inspect the entire road before opening.

Chris_533976

Anyone on here tempted to go for a sneaky drive with a camera??

shaymousse

Who is NRDO?

Bards

shaymousse wrote: »

Who is NRDO?

National Regional Design Offices

In this instane it will be KRDO (Kildare Regional Design Office)

road_high

So moving to the big opening, has any date been confirmed as such ?

rameire

from AA Roadwatch.

Kildare - The N9/N10 Kilcullen/Carlow scheme forms part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen/Waterford scheme, expected completion date in Sept 2010

Ha.

road_high

Really looking forward to this, will cut the KK to Dublin journey to just over an hour with motorway all the way from near Leighlinbridge..

Aard

According to OSM, the M9/M10 interchange will be a half-trumpet. Is this true? Would it have not made more sense to have a full trumpet, or do they expect traffic from Kilkenny to Waterford to go via the old N10 route?


[Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, I searched "M10" and "N10" and got nothing.]

fricatus

Aard wrote: »

According to OSM, the M9/M10 interchange will be a half-trumpet. Is this true? Would it have not made more sense to have a full trumpet, or do they expect traffic from Kilkenny to Waterford to go via the old N10 route?

This picture (thanks Munurty) should answer your question. Waterford-KK traffic will have a choice of two exits to use: J9 for most of KK, and J10 (in the picture below) for places like the Dublin Road and Hebron Road, as well as anywhere to the north of KK, like Ballyragget and Durrow.



There's a link in this post to Munurty's other excellent aerial pictures.

Aard

I've managed to find the answer to my question: it will be a full trumpet.
It's under "Dunbell Junction" (Junction 8, not 10, btw) here: http://www.n9-n10kilcullen-waterford.ie/eiswp/drawings1.htm

road_high

Makes total sense. A lot of traffic will want to head that side of Kilkenny and also heading further towards the Midlands and onto the N77 vice versa. Not everybody will be Dublin bound.

fricatus

mfitzy wrote: »

Makes total sense. A lot of traffic will want to head that side of Kilkenny and also heading further towards the Midlands and onto the N77 vice versa. Not everybody will be Dublin bound.

Very true...

Now if only they would do something about that ridiculous Dublin-only junction between the M9 and M7. It's supposed to be a motorway network, not just a bunch of feeder routes for Dublin.

road_high

fricatus wrote: »

Very true...

Now if only they would do something about that ridiculous Dublin-only junction between the M9 and M7. It's supposed to be a motorway network, not just a bunch of feeder routes for Dublin.

I know. I often like to head over to say Kildare or Newbridge but usually end up going cross country on back and R roads where as if the junction with the M7 was properly designed I would not have to. The opening of the rest of the M9 will only highlight this folly futher. It was an "all roads lead to Dublin" mentality I guess.

biffoman

fricatus wrote: »

Very true...

Now if only they would do something about that ridiculous Dublin-only junction between the M9 and M7. It's supposed to be a motorway network, not just a bunch of feeder routes for Dublin.

i agree with you.i think the only time that there will be a slip for m7 w from m9 n will be when or if the leinster orbital motorway is constructed.its at this intersection that it will begin.

Sponge Bob

That will be one painful upgrade if they ever do it .

It is also possible the Leinster orbital will start nearer Naas so an N9 - N7 westbound tie in would be a good start and not that disruptive , same with the N8 to M7 . Only Kilkenny gets a proper trumpet junction unlike the Cork and Limerick traffic . That is daft

biffoman

Sponge Bob wrote: »

That will be one painful upgrade if they ever do it .

It is also possible the Leinster orbital will start nearer Naas so an N9 - N7 westbound tie in would be a good start and not that disruptive , same with the N8 to M7 . Only Kilkenny gets a proper trumpet junction unlike the Cork and Limerick traffic . That is daft

The planning behind junctions on the road network in this country is daft.Its like there's a unwritten rule...Dont build it proper,first time so it will cause a fortune upgrading in ten years time.Oh and traffic will have to crawl around deverions or take alternative routes to avoid the god almighty mess that was created by our competant road planners.one example of a "whoops we got it wrong" m50.

road_high

10k Fun run this Saturday 7th on the M9 Carlow-Kilcullen section.
I wonder will it open soon afterwards or will we have to wait til December?

NedNew

mfitzy wrote: »

10k Fun run this Saturday 7th on the M9 Carlow-Kilcullen section.
I wonder will it open soon afterwards or will we have to wait til December?

I'll be doing this run so I will keep an eye out for how finished everything looks (although we'll only be covering 5k of the 27k).

Coming north on the M9 Carlow bypass at the weekend there is still no appearance of new signs being put up for the new Carlow-Kilcullen section. Of course I'll have a better look this weekend.

road_high

NedNew wrote: »

I'll be doing this run so I will keep an eye out for how finished everything looks (although we'll only be covering 5k of the 27k).

Coming north on the M9 Carlow bypass at the weekend there is still no appearance of new signs being put up for the new Carlow-Kilcullen section. Of course I'll have a better look this weekend.

Guess the signs are the very last part of the road to be put in place. Would be nice to see this open ASAP.

Wild Bill

fricatus wrote: »

Very true...

Now if only they would do something about that ridiculous Dublin-only junction between the M9 and M7. It's supposed to be a motorway network, not just a bunch of feeder routes for Dublin.

Hmmm. And the traffic split at the M9 heading north would be what....50 to 1 Dublin v Newbridge...or more if you discount local traffic which ain't supposed to be using the M-way system? :cool:

All roads lead to Ballycumber too - but very few folk drive there. Nobody builds motorways on routes that take less than 2,000 vehicles per day. 'Cept maybe the M8 in Tipperary . Or the M6 Athlone - Ballinasloe. Or maybe the M9 near Knocktopher :pac:.

Wild Bill

Wild Bill wrote: »

Nobody builds motorways on routes that take less than 2,000 vehicles per day. 'Cept maybe the M8 in Tipperary . Or the M6 Athlone - Ballinasloe. Or maybe the M9 near Knocktopher :pac:.

http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N06-14.htm
The average beteen Ballinasloe and Athlone is around 12k

http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N09-5.htm
At Mullinavat - 6.5K

http://www.nra.ie/NetworkManagement/TrafficCounts/TrafficCounterData/html/N17-16.htm
At Claregalway - 23k (four months observations rather than nine above)

Chris_533976

Thats a record, has to be. 7k for a motorway