M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

Trick of the Tail

A motorway that ends at a roundabout, thats never going to be a Good Thing.

There's enough land there (the Waterford end) to create a more free-flowing junction with the N24, its a pity that wasn't thought of.

Andy.

fricatus

Roryhy wrote: »

The roundabout wont be as bad as a lot of people make out, its very big, so has a high capacity. Wait and see

Having seen how the Limerick traffic is handled now, I would have to agree.

Zoney wrote: »

Roryhy: It might be OK short term, but I would think it will be very congested in the long term, particularly when the economy picks up again. Of course, the junction will probably be revisited if there is an N24 upgrade, but it would have been preferable to arrange the junction in a final state that anticipates N24 upgrade.

Very true. That day won't come in the next few years, but I can imagine this becoming like the Kinsale Road roundabout in Cork within about 10 years' time. Remember that infrastructure, when it's built, opens up investment opportunities, gets more people in shopping, makes accessing work easier, etc. People in KK and Waterford who would never have taken a job in the other city will now be able to do so. Trade with Dublin will certainly improve likewise, and a low quality junction such as that one will be the first part of the new network to get congested.

jimbojazz

Was at the toll booth yesterday and asked the attendant if she knew when the Waterford - Knocktopher section would be open and she informed me that it now wouldn't be open until after christmas (hopefully) as the had encountered "foundation" problems.

road_high

jimbojazz wrote: »

Was at the toll booth yesterday and asked the attendant if she knew when the Waterford - Knocktopher section would be open and she informed me that it now wouldn't be open until after christmas (hopefully) as the had encountered "foundation" problems.

Hope that is not true. FFS we have waited long enough. How can it take 3 years to build 24 km of motorway ...
Actually it's due to open as far as outside Kilkenny (Danesfort) firstly as BAM hyave been so slow doing their section, Roadbridge have passed them out and have part of their section ready.

wellbutty

jimbojazz wrote: »

Was at the toll booth yesterday and asked the attendant if she knew when the Waterford - Knocktopher section would be open and she informed me that it now wouldn't be open until after christmas (hopefully) as the had encountered "foundation" problems.

Someone please tell me this is not true. How could they take so long to finish it, most of the structures were finished over a year ago and there has been very little traffic management on this project.

dougal

wellbutty wrote: »

Someone please tell me this is not true. How could they take so long to finish it, most of the structures were finished over a year ago and there has been very little traffic management on this project.

Sorry - it looks like it is true. I spoke to the Project office and they are saying January now.

jimbojazz

January at the earliest is what I've been told - Is the Carlow - Kilcullen section going to be open this month or is that just unfounded speculation as well

Star Spangler

jimbojazz wrote: »

January at the earliest is what I've been told - Is the Carlow - Kilcullen section going to be open this month or is that just unfounded speculation as well

As said previously, in August Roadbridge told me directly that they aim to have the motorway finished in November. Having cycled on the new motorway from the tie-in as far as the Priory I can say first-hand that there is no reasons to believe it will take any longer. When it actually opens is a decision for the NRA and Kildare County Council afaik.

serfboard

Star Spangler wrote: »

When it actually opens is a decision for the NRA and Kildare County Council afaik.

Not to mention the Minister's diary

dugganm07

Hope that is not true. FFS we have waited long enough. How can it take 3 years to build 24 km of motorway ...
Actually it's due to open as far as outside Kilkenny (Danesfort) firstly as BAM hyave been so slow doing their section, Roadbridge have passed them out and have part of their section ready.

Does anyone think its a disgrace that BAM rushed to get the waterford bypass finished a year ahead of schedule, and now looks likely that the waterford to knocktopher section of the m9 will finish almost a year late. It seems to me that they were in a hurry to get the toll bridge open and start taking in some cash at the cost of their section of m9 motorway.

serfboard

dugganm07 wrote: »

It seems to me that they were in a hurry to get the toll bridge open and start taking in some cash at the cost of their section of m9 motorway.

Of course ... because they were financing it. That's what PPPs are about. In the case of the motorway, the government are financing it, so they don't have to rush. So long as they don't miss the deadline and incur late penalties, and since the government has removed early completion bonuses, why would they be in a hurry to finish early?

They won't miss the deadline because the deadlines are well within comfort zones for most projects.

Bards

dugganm07 wrote: »

Does anyone think its a disgrace that BAM rushed to get the waterford bypass finished a year ahead of schedule, and now looks likely that the waterford to knocktopher section of the m9 will finish almost a year late. It seems to me that they were in a hurry to get the toll bridge open and start taking in some cash at the cost of their section of m9 motorway.

They Didin't rush to get it finished, at the sod turning ceremony (CRG said) and in all the PPP brochures it said that the build was betwwen 36 & 42 months.

It is not their fault the the Govt in order to look good added on an extra 10 months

alpha2zulu

Re: Waterford-Knocktopher....
How are BAM getting away with such nonsense,practically a full year behind schedule-How are they going to spin themselves out of that fact?

Waterford-Mullinavat has being mostly lined and barriered for months at this stage as has the section about 1km north of Lukeswell as far as Knocktopher. When I got my last set of pics on the Mullinavat -Lukeswell section on the Oct bank holiday weekend, CBM at the very least was down on the entire stretch including the site of the past drainage issues at Mullinavat,so wouldent we be past the stage of encountering foundation problems?


If they put only half the push they put on the Waterford Bypass, the section would be done by now.

road_high

dougal wrote: »

Sorry - it looks like it is true. I spoke to the Project office and they are saying January now.

That's shocking. The opening keeps slipping on by...whoes to say come January it won't run longer?? I mean there are signs outside Ballyhale saying "opening Spring 2009". That's quite a while to drag something out.

Wild Bill

Not sure why folk are finding all this so "shocking"!

If the NRA have removed early completion bonuses then the commercial thing to do is finish on the day contracted and not a second earlier than you must. Especially as there no new projects to rush off to.

And regarding the tolled road; time is money - so of course they did the commercial thing and went as fast as possible.

BAM isn't a registered charity so far as I know. :cool:

road_high

Wild Bill wrote: »

Not sure why folk are finding all this so "shocking"!

If the NRA have removed early completion bonuses then the commercial thing to do is finish on the day contracted and not a second earlier than you must. Especially as there no new projects to rush off to.

And regarding the tolled road; time is money - so of course they did the commercial thing and went as fast as possible.

BAM isn't a registered charity so far as I know. :cool:

Nobody suggested they were and from the rate and way they work we can certainly see that for ourselves
It's just most people here view almost 3 years to build just 25 km of motorway a painstakingly slow pace considering the equipment at their disposal nowadays. They are getting well paid for their work and just think it is common courtesy to the taxpayers of this country that when they undertake a project and give a Spring 2009 completion date that they make every effort to adhere to this. The total lack of communciation from them (and Kilkenny coco as well) has been another major annoyance.

Chris_533976

I was down in Waterford today and was quite pleased to see (M9) signs floating around way to the south of the city A bit of forward thinking for a change.

Dilby

All blue signs at Mullaghmast Interchange (exit 3) have been put up over the last few days. Lights around the exit have also been finshed off. Athy Baltinglass Moone and Timolin are listed on the exit signs

Geogregor

Wild Bill wrote: »

Not sure why folk are finding all this so "shocking"!

If the NRA have removed early completion bonuses then the commercial thing to do is finish on the day contracted and not a second earlier than you must. Especially as there no new projects to rush off to.

And regarding the tolled road; time is money - so of course they did the commercial thing and went as fast as possible.

BAM isn't a registered charity so far as I know. :cool:

Even if there is no early completion bunus in the company interest is to finish as early as possible. You don't have to pay workers for longer period, your equipment is not tied up etc.
Even if there is no new project to move machines to it doesn't really matter as most of them are probably leased anyway. They can shorten lease agreements.
When Skanska finished one of the projects in Poland without early completion bonus, they explanation why they did it was about cost saving.

wellbutty

serfboard wrote: »

They won't miss the deadline because the deadlines are well within comfort zones for most projects.

And wait for the "ahead of schedule and on budget" propaganda when it opens :rolleyes:

emfifty

Dilby wrote: »

All blue signs at Mullaghmast Interchange (exit 3) have been put up over the last few days. Lights around the exit have also been finshed off. Athy Baltinglass Moone and Timolin are listed on the exit signs

any chance of some pictures of these signs??
interesting to see whether exit 2 will also be signed for athy...

Dilby

Exit 3 is signposted for Athy with N78 beside it so i presume the link road will be redesignated once open. Still alot of work to do on the link though. Will try get some pictures in the daylight tomorrow

dugganm07

Not sure why folk are finding all this so "shocking"!

If the NRA have removed early completion bonuses then the commercial thing to do is finish on the day contracted and not a second earlier than you must. Especially as there no new projects to rush off to.

And regarding the tolled road; time is money - so of course they did the commercial thing and went as fast as possible.

BAM isn't a registered charity so far as I know.

But they didnt finish it on the day contracted. It was due to be finished in spring of this year. By the time the road is opened it will be almost 10 months late!! Exactly the same amount of time the waterford bypass was ahead of schedule. It just shows how much respect they have for the people who pay tax in this country. Roadbridge are a far superior construction company.

Wild Bill

dugganm07 wrote: »

It just shows how much respect they have for the people who pay tax in this country. Roadbridge are a far superior construction company.

Regardless of the "supposed" completion date it seems fairly obvious the contracted date wasn't Spring 2009. And the woozy notion of "respect for the taxpayer" ain't something I ever seen in a contract!

deiseman21

http://www.upthedeise.com/waterfordmessageboard/viewtopic.php?t=10916

fricatus

deiseman21 wrote: »

http://www.upthedeise.com/waterfordmessageboard/viewtopic.php?t=10916

Something else, isn't it? :rolleyes:

Tells ya all ya need to know about Ireland's "infrastructure". That's the main midwest-south-east rail line crossing the main road between our 1st and 5th cities.

To think that there were people up to recently saying that the MIUs were unnecessary... :rolleyes:

Roll on the M9 - it can't come quickly enough!

NedNew

I did the 10km run today in order to have a look at the first 5km of motorway from the tie-in at Carlow North northwards. Everything looks finished except for the directional signage which hasn't been placed yet on the gantries. The views of the countryside are nice (but not overly special). There are reflectors on the central barriers.

Here are some pictures.

The second picture shows the motorway ending in 575m, this is placed on the main carriageway about 50m before the start of the exit (southbound) for Carlow North at the tie-in. Surely it is wrong to have this on the mainline?

Amtmann

Fair play to you Ned. I've never seen an end of motorway with 575m on it before! Also, good to see the tidy barrier alignment under the bridges, redolent of the M8 M-F scheme.

road_high

fricatus wrote: »

Something else, isn't it? :rolleyes:

Tells ya all ya need to know about Ireland's "infrastructure". That's the main midwest-south-east rail line crossing the main road between our 1st and 5th cities.

To think that there were people up to recently saying that the MIUs were unnecessary... :rolleyes:

Roll on the M9 - it can't come quickly enough!

....and there's another 3 of the same archaic bridges further up this "National Primary". And another on the way into Kilkenny on the N10 so the new M9/N10 will bypass 4 of these. They are lethal in wet weather especially like we have now, water just gathers beneath them. Lukeswell one is notorious for that.
And how could I forget there is another before Paulstown on the N10. Kilkenny is a great county if you are into old railway bridges!

road_high

NedNew wrote: »

I did the 10km run today in order to have a look at the first 5km of motorway from the tie-in at Carlow North northwards. Everything looks finished except for the directional signage which hasn't been placed yet on the gantries. The views of the countryside are nice (but not overly special). There are reflectors on the central barriers.

Here are some pictures.

The second picture shows the motorway ending in 575m, this is placed on the main carriageway about 50m before the start of the exit (southbound) for Carlow North at the tie-in. Surely it is wrong to have this on the mainline?

Any mention of the grand opening date at all Ned on the run?