M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

johnbk

Kilkenny link road being washed in preparation for final wear layer

johnbk

M9 North of Paulstown looking south

kieranb07

Seen the guys in the line painting trucks getting ready to go this morning at the danesfort junction on the northbound side... This is a good sign that it might not be to far away from opening...

Waterford26

what's the deadline anyway? should by done till august, no?

skodacb

I love driving the M9, though by and far has to be one of the most boring routes ever to drive, nothing much to look at while driving along it, anyway I was wondering if anyone noticed when coming off the bypass for the ORR, that the speed limit is 50mph all the way up to the old kilmeaden rd roundabout and going onto the city bypass its 40mph. As usual this country works absolute wonders:D

Silverado

Believe me, the whole driving population of Waterford is painfully aware of the ridiculous speed limits on the outer ring ring road.

Bards

skodacb wrote: »

I love driving the M9, though by and far has to be one of the most boring routes ever to drive, nothing much to look at while driving along it, anyway I was wondering if anyone noticed when coming off the bypass for the ORR, that the speed limit is 50mph all the way up to the old kilmeaden rd roundabout and going onto the city bypass its 40mph. As usual this country works absolute wonders:D

...and comming from the Old Kilmeaden Road Roundabout to the Waterford City Bypass (Western Link) the limit is an incredibly fast 50 KM/h - go figure

NedNew2

skodacb wrote: »

I love driving the M9, though by and far has to be one of the most boring routes ever to drive, nothing much to look at while driving along it, anyway I was wondering if anyone noticed when coming off the bypass for the ORR, that the speed limit is 50mph all the way up to the old kilmeaden rd roundabout and going onto the city bypass its 40mph. As usual this country works absolute wonders:D

Do you mean 80km/h and 60km/h ? It is painfully slow, these are just plain silly speed limits. Speed limits should be logical and realistic, then they might be respected.

How can the single carriageway Kilkenny ring-road be 100 km/h and the Waterford ORR dual carriageway be 60km/h??? Very sensible!

Wild Bill

skodacb wrote: »

I love driving the M9, though by and far has to be one of the most boring routes ever to drive, nothing much to look at while driving along it

I must protest! The M9 goes through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. IMNHO. :cool:

waterford1980

They are saying now that it will be mid - oct for motorway to be complete. they saying its ahead of schedule.

Very poor if you ask me considering Sept was the date it was meant to be complete so I can't understand where they saying ''its ahead of schedule''

W.B. Yeats

waterford1980 wrote: »

They are saying now that it will be mid - oct for motorway to be complete. they saying its ahead of schedule.

Very poor if you ask me considering Sept was the date it was meant to be complete so I can't understand where they saying ''its ahead of schedule''

Who are "they"

redalicat

waterford1980 wrote: »

They are saying now that it will be mid - oct for motorway to be complete. they saying its ahead of schedule.

Very poor if you ask me considering Sept was the date it was meant to be complete so I can't understand where they saying ''its ahead of schedule''

Sounds like usual political spin doctoring to me!:D

Aidan1

The M9 goes through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.

Agreed entirely.

Its still a little strange though - one of the best roads in the country (the sections of it I've driven have been much better that the M7/8 PPP bit for example) will also be one of the quietest.

waterford1980

W.B. Yeats wrote: »

Who are "they"

Sorry ''they'' are NRA, was in the Irish Sun yesterday, saying no money left for waterford to cork dual carriageway and it is to be scrapped for the time been and that the M9 would be complete in mid - Oct

Bards

waterford1980 wrote: »

Sorry ''they'' are NRA, was in the Irish Sun yesterday, saying no money left for waterford to cork dual carriageway and it is to be scrapped for the time been and that the M9 would be complete in mid - Oct

that's the "Official" end of contract date - not the opening date

johnbk

The M9 has the final wear surface completely laid from Powerstown in Carlow to Dansford in Kilkenny. Signs are up too, as is most of the crash barriers around signs. Lining is finished on the southbound carriage way and almost complete on the north bound carriage way. On Monday they started laying final wear surface on Kilkenny link. This should be finished in two weeks max. I don’t know if they will be stopping for Builder’s holidays. The M9 including Kilkenny link road will be finished easy IMO for the end of August.

Jayuu

Yes, I think we ought to be very careful about these "official" dates. In my opinion the NRA (or the contractor) tend to work out when the road will actually open and then set a date a couple of months later as the "official" date so that they can then claim the road opened "ahead of schedule". I wouldn't be surprised if this is open at the end of August.

It can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned. I travel regularly to Carrick-on-Suir from Dublin and the idea of having dual-carraigeway or motorway most of the way between both points will be great. I'll be leaving the motorway at Junction 10 in Knocktopher. I'd only have three sets of traffic lights to deal with on the entire route (M50/N32 roundabout, Newland's Cross and R697/N24 junction at Carrick-on-Suir).


A couple of questions about the link into Kilkenny.

Is this being built as a dual carraigeway in which case why has it not been designated as a motorway? Since one end originates and terminates from a motorway and there are no escape routes off it, it can't carry non-motorway traffic. So if it is dual carraigeway why is it being designated as an N route.

This link is going to be designated the N10 I assume. Is the old N10 going to redesignated as the R713 (as the section between Danesfort and Knocktopher has been) and is the section from the Kilkenny ring-road to Danesfort also going to be redesignated at the R713?

If that is the case then what is the ring-road being designated as? Currently its the N77 to the point where the old N10 reaches the ring-road and it becomes the N76 after the old N10 leaves the ring-road. One would assume that its still going to be designated as an N route as it would make no sense to downgrade a part of the ring-road to an R route.

Finally one hopes that when all of this comes to pass Kilkenny County Council (or is there a city council) will put new signs on the ring-road. The ones that are there at the moment are terrible with badly designed M9 stickers placed randomly over the old N10 route markers in places and not in others. Hopefully redesignations will lead to new properly designed signage.

mojor

waterford1980 wrote: »

Sorry ''they'' are NRA, was in the Irish Sun yesterday, saying no money left for waterford to cork dual carriageway and it is to be scrapped for the time been and that the M9 would be complete in mid - Oct

On the subject of projects being scrapped because of lack of funds and also "quiet roads", one of the projects I was amazed to see still getting the green light and being called a vital piece of infrastructure is the "Atlantic Corridor", a motorway linking Waterford to Donegal. Pardon my ignorance but is there really a need for this road?

Stark

Well it's definitely not going to be all motorway if it gets built, despite what the Independent article said. Mostly 2+2. Even that I think is barely justifiable, there are other routes that should be prioritized imo. Like I would prefer to see the N22 get an upgrade before the N25 gets an upgrade.

Silverado

I would have thought that the Newlands Cross upgrade - to eliminate the traffic lights - is the most pressing road project to be still completed. Last I heard it was out to tender. Does anyone know if there is any more progress?

The M9 will be a brilliant roadway when it is completed but it is a shame to be stuck in a massive traffic jam created by the Newlands Cross lights at the end of it.

Bards

Stark wrote: »

Well it's definitely not going to be all motorway if it gets built, despite what the Independent article said. Mostly 2+2. Even that I think is barely justifiable, there are other routes that should be prioritized imo. Like I would prefer to see the N22 get an upgrade before the N25 gets an upgrade.

I also would prefer to see the N24 (Waterford - Limerick Road) get an upgrade before the N25 which for the most part is adequate.

this to me is the missing piece of the jigsaw for a country wide High Quality Road network linking not just the cities to Dublin but also to each other.

murphaph

Bards wrote: »

I also would prefer to see the N24 (Waterford - Limerick Road) get an upgrade before the N25 which for the most part is adequate.

this to me is the missing piece of the jigsaw for a country wide High Quality Road network linking not just the cities to Dublin but also to each other.

M20 is surely a higher priority in this regard.

Stark

Well, the M20 is already part of the Atlantic Corridor. I would regard the Cork - Galway section of the Atlantic Corridor as important. Everything else shouldn't be given priority just by virtue of being part of the Atlantic Corridor scheme, there are other routes that are more important imo.

Bards

murphaph wrote: »

M20 is surely a higher priority in this regard.

Once the M20 is done of course;)

Sully

Never fear, Sully is here. Always keeping an eye on the thread and iv asked for an update on how its looking time wise.

Kevin,

The main contractor is taking the builder’s holiday. Roadstone who are doing the surfacing will be on site next week. Holgate who are installing the safety barrier are working right through—these are the items that are on the critical path. Surfacing on the main line is substantially complete leaving just the two link roads to be finished. Taking that into account and the paperwork—snagging, Road Safety Audit, rail Safety etc-we are trying to agree an opening date around mid Sept.

Regards,

jd

Jayuu wrote: »

A couple of questions about the link into Kilkenny.

Is this being built as a dual carraigeway in which case why has it not been designated as a motorway? Since one end originates and terminates from a motorway and there are no escape routes off it, it can't carry non-motorway traffic. So if it is dual carraigeway why is it being designated as an N route.

Even if it was a single carriageway with "no escape routes off it" it would have to be designated a motorway

Jayuu

jd wrote: »

Even if it was a single carriageway with "no escape routes off it" it would have to be designated a motorway

Well that's what I thought, but I'm sure I read somewhere (can't remember where though!) that its not being designated as motorway. That's why I'm confused about it. Anybody got definite information on this?

bodun

Sully wrote: »

Never fear, Sully is here. Always keeping an eye on the thread and iv asked for an update on how its looking time wise.

I wonder if Kilkenny and Waterford get to this years all ireland would it be ready for the 1st Sunday in September?

Brabus

bodun wrote: »

I wonder if Kilkenny and Waterford get to this years all ireland would it be ready for the 1st Sunday in September?

You never know, if they both get to the final, then maybe a bit of pressure could be applied to the powers that be to get that last section open in time.
Wouldn't it be a great timing for it.
Though it would only be a slim hope but here's keeping fingers crossed that it might happen.

PS I heard on a local radio news that there is to be an announcement sometime this week on the actual opening date, but please don't shoot the messenger if it doesn't happen this week!!

hi5

jd wrote: »

Even if it was a single carriageway with "no escape routes off it" it would have to be designated a motorway

Isnt it the N10, It will be like an extra long slip Road,with every second car doing three point turns.
I'm amazed at the amount of cars I see at powerstown and Danesfort trying to enter the motorway on the exit ramp,they came off that way so that must be the way back:eek:wouldnt think of reading the big blue signs:mad: