M9 - Waterford motorway construction updates

road_high

yellow012 wrote: »

Yeah exactly, and I've heard from a good source that when the Athy - M9 link road is completed that section of the N78 (Athy - Kilcullen) will be downgraded to a non-national route with a 80kph speed limit.

I hope then in tandem the new Athy link road will be upgraded to be the new N78 and not just a mere R road (which is the plan as I've read it). If thats the case the N78 will just run between Kilkenny and Athy and after that just the R link to the M9.
That is how I understand the plans anyhow.

road_high

rameire wrote: »

hopefully it is a 100km/h road the whole way and has no 60km/h zones, the two wreck my head.

Does this link in somewhere to the Athy-Castledermot road? I think it's a fairly short runover to the M9 though, nothing like the distance between Athy and Kilcullen at present with those two annoying speed limits.

rameire

mfitzy wrote: »

Does this link in somewhere to the Athy-Castledermot road? I think it's a fairly short runover to the M9 though, nothing like the distance between Athy and Kilcullen at present with those two annoying speed limits.

http://www.n9-n10kilcullen-waterford.ie/EIS/pdf/Fig-03-31.pdf

the castledermot road is to the left of the roundabout,
the extra spot on the roundabout i think will facilitate at the moment an enterance into the suzuki showrooms,
but will later be the start of the athy inner relief road, which will then cross the castledermot road, and possible the southern ring road, if its ever built.

road_high

rameire wrote: »

http://www.n9-n10kilcullen-waterford.ie/EIS/pdf/Fig-03-31.pdf

the castledermot road is to the left of the roundabout,
the extra spot on the roundabout i think will facilitate at the moment an enterance into the suzuki showrooms,
but will later be the start of the athy inner relief road, which will then cross the castledermot road, and possible the southern ring road, if its ever built.

Oh yea I see it now. I was wondering. Must take a trip over and ahve a look some day. I was in Athy a few weeks ago at night and hadn't noticed anything at that point. The Athy business park is there as well I think.

rameire

mfitzy wrote: »

Does this link in somewhere to the Athy-Castledermot road? I think it's a fairly short runover to the M9 though, nothing like the distance between Athy and Kilcullen at present with those two annoying speed limits.

just did a quick calc with a piece of string.

its roughly 22km from athy to m9 junction at kilcullen.

based on the piece of string its 25.8km along the new link road to the kilcullen m9 junction.
but with most of the journey on the m9 at 120km/h speed and no 60km/h areas on the new link road it should be quicker.

road_high

rameire wrote: »

just did a quick calc with a piece of string.

its roughly 22km from athy to m9 junction at kilcullen.

based on the piece of string its 25.8km along the new link road to the kilcullen m9 junction.
but with most of the journey on the m9 at 120km/h speed and no 60km/h areas on the new link road it should be quicker.

What I figured. Plus throw in the ease and safety of the new road vs the old N78 (which has seen its' fair share of bad crashes), it is a no brainer .

This drawing gives an interseting overview of the layout between Athy and the M9;
http://www.n9-n10kilcullen-waterford.ie/EIS/pdf/Fig-01-6.pdf

johnbk

Went for a drive this morning on my way to work to check out progress between Kilkenny and Waterford . It looks like Ascon divided their section (Knocktopher-Waterfod) into three even sections Waterford to Mulinavat, Mulinavat to Hugginstown Fen and from here to Knocktopher. Two sections are substantially complete including concrete barrier, however very little is done in the middle section. Must of the structures are substantially complete but major earthworks are only starting! The two junctions they are building (Knocktopher and Mullinavat) are almost finished. If any one is passing the Mullinavat junction over the next few days it is worth a look as there is much activity there with great vantage points.

I think there is still a good chance that Powerstown to Knocktopher will be finished before Waterford to Knocktopher. Road bridge have substantial work done between Knocktopher and Dansford and this will certainly be ready along with the southern section of the M9. They haven’t as much done between Paulstown and Powerstown but this section is pretty flat and should be completed fairly rapidly when it starts.

fricatus

johnbk wrote: »

I think there is still a good chance that Powerstown to Knocktopher will be finished before Waterford to Knocktopher. Road bridge have substantial work done between Knocktopher and Dansford and this will certainly be ready along with the southern section of the M9. They haven’t as much done between Paulstown and Powerstown but this section is pretty flat and should be completed fairly rapidly when it starts.

Thanks johnbk, very informative.

All these delays are very disappointing. The project has been going around 25 months now, and there's a big sign up near Ballyhale saying that it's opening Spring 2009. I thought we were delivering these projects on time and within budget these days!

All the more so since the bit from Knocktopher northwards didn't get started until a full year after the Waterford-Knocktopher section.

road_high

Yea it's pretty disapointing to be honest. Especially seen as Asco built the Carlow bypass section very quickly.
I think road projects in Kilkenny must be cursed .

Are Ascon doing OK as a company I wonder? They seem to have scaled back since they started this section.

Bards

mfitzy wrote: »

Yea it's pretty disapointing to be honest. Especially seen as Asco built the Carlow bypass section very quickly.
I think road projects in Kilkenny must be cursed .

Are Ascon doing OK as a company I wonder? They seem to have scaled back since they started this section.

Part of Royal BAM group which is doing very well financially.

have to remember the terrain involving the carlow bypass is relatively flat compared to the Waterford to knocktopher section

johnbk

I wouldnt think that things are going bad for them, I just think they dont commit the same level of people and machines to their projects as Roadbridge/Sisk. Also they are very involved in the Waterford bypass and maybe as people come off that job they will move on to the M9 and the whole process will speed up?

fricatus

johnbk wrote: »

I wouldnt think that things are going bad for them, I just think they dont commit the same level of people and machines to their projects as Roadbridge/Sisk.

You may be right, but isn't there a target completion date in the contract, after which they incur penalties? Surely if the DoT has put up signs saying "Spring 2009", that that was based on some agreed (and legally enforceable) date?

johnbk wrote: »

Also they are very involved in the Waterford bypass and maybe as people come off that job they will move on to the M9 and the whole process will speed up?

The Waterford bypass and the new bridge are due to be completed in September or October I seem to recall someone saying. Surely the M9 Waterford-Knocktopher will be so far advanced at that stage, that any new personnel won't make a huge difference to the eventual opening date?

(Or maybe they'll be so far behind that it will )

Bards

fricatus wrote: »

You may be right, but isn't there a target completion date in the contract, after which they incur penalties? Surely if the DoT has put up signs saying "Spring 2009", that that was based on some agreed (and legally enforceable) date?




The Waterford bypass and the new bridge are due to be completed in September or October I seem to recall someone saying. Surely the M9 Waterford-Knocktopher will be so far advanced at that stage, that any new personnel won't make a huge difference to the eventual opening date?

(Or maybe they'll be so far behind that it will )

Both schemes are due to open at approximately the same time

road_high

Copy of email to KK County Council National roads co-ordinator. Reply was very short and sweet :P

*****************************************************

End of September is the expected opening.

JOE



Project Coordinator

---

Original Message

---

Hi there,

I just have a quick enquiry into relation to the M9 Waterford-Knocktopher section. I would like to know is there a possible opening date/month for this section of road. It has been in construction for over two years now and it appears there are several sections with large amounts of work left to be yet completed.

I look forward to your reply to my query.

Yours sincerely,

Mfitzy
******************************************************

fricatus

mfitzy wrote: »

End of September is the expected opening.

JOE

Project Coordinator

Nice one mfitzy... it will open just before the evenings get dark after work. I was not looking forward to another winter driving that horrible road with trucks' headlights only feet away.

Even if it's only open as far as Knocktopher initially, I can handle that.

johnbk

End of September opening is great news considering what I thought looked like alot of work still to do. I suppose most of the structures are substatially complete and the two junctions are almost finished.

road_high

fricatus wrote: »

Nice one mfitzy... it will open just before the evenings get dark after work. I was not looking forward to another winter driving that horrible road with trucks' headlights only feet away.

Even if it's only open as far as Knocktopher initially, I can handle that.

Well so he said anyhow. Not that there was much detail in the email other than that!
They seem to have stopped maintaining the current N9 of late (not that they ever did much anyhow!) so lets hope he is right.
Is there anybody here working on it/close to it?? Most of tyhe major stuff is indeed done at these stage including junctions and flyovers. Just that bit between Mullinavat and Hugginstown as has been pointed out.

Road-Hog

mfitzy wrote: »

Well so he said anyhow. Not that there was much detail in the email other than that!
They seem to have stopped maintaining the current N9 of late (not that they ever did much anyhow!) so lets hope he is right.
Is there anybody here working on it/close to it?? Most of tyhe major stuff is indeed done at these stage including junctions and flyovers. Just that bit between Mullinavat and Hugginstown as has been pointed out.

From very good sources we will be lucky to see this section of motorway open by the end of the year. Most likely Feb/March of 2010.....

Munurty

Road-Hog wrote: »

From very good sources we will be lucky to see this section of motorway open by the end of the year. Most likely Feb/March of 2010.....

I'd definitly agree with this. Theres so much work still to do on the middle section. I heard theres a delay on the CBM and its not due to start anytime soon, then theres the surfacing and the central barrier to do.

yellow012

Was driving between Athy and Castledermot on the R418 and took some pics of the Kilcullen - Castledermot section of the M9, from where the road crosses over.
I can now see why they have brought forward the completion date for this section??
This is looking southbound.

This is northbound view.

This is a pic of the new Athy - M9 link road taken from the N78 just before the Texaco garage on your way into Athy. Not great quality and not much to see yet but good to see that they have started work on it.

Amtmann

You can see a series of regularly spaced white dots running along the centre of the motorway in the middle picture. These are drill holes and are used to align the concrete barrier, which can't be far away. Half of the M8 Mitchelstown to Fermoy section looked exactly like that as recently as February.

rameire

you got in there before me yellow,
was going to take some pics today but was too late and not much light.

hopefully i will take a few pics tomorrow,
of the m9 northern most tie in at kilcullen,
they seem to be working quite alot on this section lately.

the n9 new road to the n78 incl the new junction
and also more of the athy link road from close inspection.

johnbk

Went out for a drive on Sunday to take pictures of the M9 from Bennetsbridge to Waterford. The road is to a similar stage to the pictures of the Kilcullen section above. Tarred with no barrier from Bennetsbridge to Stoneyford on the Kings river. Last night it looked like the steel bridge sections for the lst span on the Kings river were delivered. From here to Knocktopher one side of the carriage way is nearly tarred while the other section should be laid over the next few weeks. As I've said in earlier posts things aren’t as good from here to Waterford. The final work is been carried out to the Knocktopher junction. The dumbbell roundabouts are currently getting their last surface layers and should be open this week. The carriageways over the junction can then be finished and joined up to Raodbriges section. Ascon have finished surfacing from Knocktopher to the scrap yard beside Hugginstown. From here there is very little excavation of the route done never mind CBM or drainage to the large bridge where the M9 crosses the existing n9 in Lukeswell. The road is laid out from here to Mullinavat but no CBM down yet. Mullinvat Junction is finished. They are currently excavating the site here. From Mullinavat to where the M9 re-crosses the N9 outside is tarred and the concrete barrier is in place. From here to the new junction at the Waterford bypass is laid out but no CBM in place yet. In all there is a huge amount of work still to do between Knocktopher and Waterford. However, I was impressed at the rate of work on the Waterford bypass. It should be open this year. The engineering around the new Granny junction and the cable stay bridge is incredible.

rameire

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



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



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



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



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




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



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



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

follow link for more pics.

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

Amtmann

What scheme do the first four photos show? That's very unadvanced, almost as unadvanced as the M7 Castletown to Nenagh scheme in places.

rameire

the first is the athy link road location athy.
the second third and fourth are the new n9 road that will split off the old n9 and join the n78

See attached overview:

Amtmann

Sorry, I mean is it the Kilcullen to Carlow scheme?

EDIT: it is that scheme I see. Great pics by the way.

rameire

Furet wrote: »

Sorry, I mean is it the Kilcullen to Carlow scheme?

yes

Amtmann

rameire wrote: »

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

Does anyone know when work on the tie-in proper will start?

rameire

Furet wrote: »

Does anyone know when work on the tie-in proper will start?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rameire/3488610009/sizes/l/

The link above shows them laying a hard core. This pic is just to the right of the pic you just quoted...