M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

sonyair

From the Nenagh Guardian last week.
Take note of the words in red, nobody knows when it will open.

The Nenagh to Birdhill section of the new M7 is expected to be open to traffic in just over a fortnight, The Guardian learned this week.
It has also emerged that the entire stretch of the motorway between Nenagh and Limerick could open in April, barring any unforeseen problems.
Sources close to the construction of the new route told The Guardian that the development of the Nenagh-Birdhill stretch is practically complete and is due to open on February 18. However, they stressed that this date could still be subject to slight change – but it any event the stretch is expected to open “shortly”.
Newport Area councillors meeting in Nenagh on Monday last also confirmed that they had learned of reports that the Nenagh-Birdhill section is to open within a couple of weeks.

Tech3

There is no way in hell that the Nenagh bypass - Birdhill will open fully on Thursday. The tie in with the Nenagh bypass wont be finished this week. I drove from the N52 junction south a few km's on the new motorway looks amazing and is complete. I reckon they will open from Birdhill to that interchange though on Thursday, Loads of photos to upload

Deedsie

So where do you think will open Thursday? I am sorry but i couldnt really follow your post?

Tech3

Deedsie wrote: »

So where do you think will open Thursday? I am sorry but i couldnt really follow your post?

Birdhill up to J26 ramps but not under J26 itself. We will probably be forced back onto the two roundabouts on the bridge and north onto the Nenagh bypass. In other words all of it except the 500m south of the Nenagh bypass.
Photos to follow .....

Tech3

Near J26 the M7 is complete. Fencing is excellent too.

First five from 2 overbridges
[IMG][/img]





I took a spin on the M7 off the southbound ramp before noticing security. Sure enough when I came back down the wrong way on the carriageway they were heading south towards me!

Southbound ramp J26

Tech3

Going back down the wrong way on the southbound carriageway :eek:



ADS for J26


I reckon traffic will be forced off here when Birdhill to Nenagh will open on thursday and will have to get on the Nenagh bypass via the roundabouts and the current arrangement.


Here I'm heading up the wrong way on the southbound ramp off J26

Joey Joe-Joe Jr

Great photos! Thanks a lot. Looks like a pretty scenic route.

The nature of my job has changed over the past few months - I spent several years driving from Dublin to Limerick, Cork and Waterford on a regular basis. Was up and down to Galway once a week until the day before the last section was completed. Haven't had to go since.
Now that roads are finally coming together, I haven't been to Waterford for about a year, been to Limerick once in 8 months and I havent been to Cork since before Mitchelstown to Fermoy opened.

Might take the family on a roads based summer holiday this year!

Amtmann

Great stuff tech2. Landscaping looks spartan to say the least, but the road itself looks great.

lukejr

tech2 wrote: »

Birdhill up to J26 ramps but not under J26 itself. We will probably be forced back onto the two roundabouts on the bridge and north onto the Nenagh bypass. In other words all of it except the 500m south of the Nenagh bypass.

After driving this at the weekend I'd have to agree, would be really surprised if tie was finished in a week. Is it the railway bridge that is causing the delay?

Tech3

Furet wrote: »

Great stuff tech2. Landscaping looks spartan to say the least, but the road itself looks great.

The landscaping isint great but the scenery will make up for all of that. The road looks fantastic will give a review of it on Thursday. It will be hard to top the Ballinasloe-Galway scheme I drove today.

lukejr wrote: »

After driving this at the weekend I'd have to agree, would be really surprised if tie was finished in a week. Is it the railway bridge that is causing the delay?

I think that is still an issue but still there isint enough work being done on it. The original crash barrier is still on that last bit of road to be completed.

Deedsie

I hope it does open on Thursday. It looks ready to go as far a i can see.

clon

just e-mailed the project laison officer in the mid west roads office
Project Liaison Officer: John O'Brien
Phone (Office Hours): 061 633440
Email Address: jobrien@n7n2l.ie

and he has replied with the following answer, looks like J26 will have to be fully finished.


The road will not be opening on the 18th February as stated in the
Nenagh Guardian.

John O'Brien

---

Original Message

---

Sent: 15 February 2010 15:32
To: John O'Brien
Subject: nenagh to birdhill

Hello John
Is the nenagh to birdhill section of the M7 opening this coming
Thursday 18th February 2010, as stated in the nenagh guardian?

fresca

clon wrote: »

... looks like J26 will have to be fully finished...

how long do you think J26 will require?
days or weeks?

thanks.

clon

2 to 3 weeks should finish it out but the way this contractor has been working God only knows.

emfifty

clon wrote: »

2 to 3 weeks should finish it out but the way this contractor has been working God only knows.

looks at this stage they are going to wait and open the full road in april rather than on a piecemeal basis.

fresca

emfifty wrote: »

looks at this stage they are going to wait and open the full road in april rather than on a piecemeal basis.

If they wait long enough, they could open limerick - portlaoise all at once.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

mysterious

This is a national embarrassement.

clon

found this on limerick county council website, they have a temp. work speed limit on the birdhill interchange and birdhill link road which suggests that there is going to be a partial opening soon, the order kicked in from the 11th Feb 2010.

http://www.lcc.ie/Public_Notices/Road_Traffic_Act_2004+Temporary_Speed_Limits.htm

-Corkie-

Why the hell couldnt they have all this work done when they were fcuking about below in the bog. Really nenagh to birdhill could have been open last year as that had nothing to do with the bog. I would say if a fella knew the truth their is other reasons more than the bog of gloom/doom. I hope to god that this is the last project bothar hibernian undertake in this country.:mad:

mysterious

malcox wrote: »

Why the hell couldnt they have all this work done when they were fcuking about below in the bog. Really nenagh to birdhill could have been open last year as that had nothing to do with the bog. I would say if a fella knew the truth their is other reasons more than the bog of gloom/doom. I hope to god that this is the last project bothar hibernian undertake in this country.:mad:

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they found something that was classified and made sure it was uncovered and taken away before the constractors could get back to the job. Excuses after excuses. It should of been opened two years ago. The M7 only goes through 2miles of bog not 25 miles. There is no way in hell the contractor didnt know that the bog was 36metres deep its complete utter bollocks.

Even after all this comotion they still took another year to finish the bog of doom section (that is only 2miles bear in mind) and they still haven't finished it.

Shakes head, its like oh it's another month, and another month goes by and its still not ready. What are they up too.

Can anyone tell us?

Irish and Proud

mysterious wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they found something that was classified and made sure it was uncovered and taken away before the constractors could get back to the job. Excuses after excuses. It should of been opened two years ago. The M7 only goes through 2miles of bog not 25 miles. There is no way in hell the contractor didnt know that the bog was 36metres deep its complete utter bollocks.

Even after all this comotion they still took another year to finish the bog of doom section (that is only 2miles bear in mind) and they still haven't finished it.

Shakes head, its like oh it's another month, and another month goes by and its still not ready. What are they up too.

Can anyone tell us?

...is it even 2 miles??? Thought there was just a mere 1km of bog. However, I think you might be right - it's a load of bull IMO! If the bog was such a problem, why couldn't the road be completed from Nenagh to Birdhill, thereby reducing costs of site security etc.

Yeah, doesn't quite wash with me either!!! :mad:

Regards!

lukejr

clon wrote: »

2 to 3 weeks should finish it out but the way this contractor has been working God only knows.

Have to agree, they were still working on the railway bridge last week. Ideally they need to get that finished first. Then surface and finish each hard-shoulder and direct traffic onto it each side, and then up/down their own slip-road, not the current merged mess. Once traffic is on the hard shoulder they can finish off the tie-in and complete the section.

They are taking their time though, why this wasn't finished before the December opening is beyond me.

zoostorm

malcox wrote: »

Thats no harm thats a dangerous road with very little oppourtunity to overtake a slow moving vehicle. The borrisakane to athlone road should be a good road as it goes up the middle of the country. Tis a good livley road though youll make good time on it:)

You'd want to try it with a half load of milk, it'd be "fairly lively". Offaly co co have a policy of throwing cold tar into wet potholes, co co pops would do the same job

fresca

mysterious wrote: »

This reminds me when they found Noahs ark, in mount Arafat. When it was found, it was covered up so no one would know about it. To much truth takes the power away. The power to keep us distracted in utter complete bull****.

the truth is out there....

i'm not so sure mysterious... as in... i'm not so sure that this government would actually be capable of covering up a major find of some sort....
in this country, surely, somebody would know somebody who would say something...

i'm more inclined to think that it is just complete & utter incompetence!

The Word Is Bor

lukejr wrote: »

They are taking their time though, why this wasn't finished before the December opening is beyond me.

For the section between Nenagh and Birdhil I would put the lack of progress down to the contractor's incompetence/inability to manage his works.

For the tie in section at the western end of the Nenagh bypass there is a third party involved, which is a well known problem on D&B/PPP contracts, Irish Rail. IR have to approve the design of every structure over/under their infrastructure. They are notoriously slow to approve the designs, whether that is down to the designer not designing the works in accordance with IR's specs is open to debate, but anywhere IR have to be consulted/accommodated there are problems.

For the bog sections, could we please not entertain the hysterical rantings of stargate/time portals/holy stone of clonrickert, it is down pure and simple to the contractor/designer inexperience/poor management/risk taking. I'm sure they have attempted to claim (unsuccessfully) for an extension of time and/or additional costs associated with these works which has hampered their ability to build the road and further remedial works. I'd suggest that they grossly underestimated the cost of the entire works and therefore were struggling badly once things started to go pearshaped. The true reasons for the delays/cost overruns etc. won't be made know until the concilliation, but most probably, the arbitration process is over.

AlanD

If there was a significant archaeological find, why would the "powers that be" want to keep it from us?

Finds don't tend to be reported, but when they are significant enough, they always are, but not as headlines. Over the years, there has always been reportings of significant finds, but unless the reader is interested, they skip over the story.

Hiding anything of significance from an ancient time would gain no political traction and political needs would be the only reason things get brushed under the carpet.

Although your hypothesis is interesting, it may be based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence. To add some credence, get in touch with a national paper journalist and get the story out there. Find some evidence. That's how you get your words on to paper.

Personally, I think the delays are down to money, mismanagement and poor planning. As with pretty much every delay there ever is in anything. However, my opinion is based solely on anecdotal stories and not based on the slightest bit of fact.

sonyair

So will the NENAGH TO BIRDHILL motorway open tomorrow

place your bets now

clon

clon wrote: »

just e-mailed the project laison officer in the mid west roads office
Project Liaison Officer: John O'Brien
Phone (Office Hours): 061 633440
Email Address: jobrien@n7n2l.ie

and he has replied with the following answer, looks like J26 will have to be fully finished.


The road will not be opening on the 18th February as stated in the
Nenagh Guardian.

John O'Brien

---

Original Message

---

Sent: 15 February 2010 15:32
To: John O'Brien
Subject: nenagh to birdhill

Hello John
Is the nenagh to birdhill section of the M7 opening this coming
Thursday 18th February 2010, as stated in the nenagh guardian?

already answered, keep your money no road opening tomorrow.

Amtmann

mysterious wrote: »

You tell me why they didnt expose Noahs ark or E.T presence on earth. Ok I will tell you, because you don't get off your arse to find out yourself.

So why didn't you get off your own arse, go down there, and take loads of photos for us all to see as soon as you smelled a rat? Surely, for something as big as this, you'd make the effort to expose the truth. And while you were looking for bird races, angelics, Noah's Ark and the fifth dimension, we here would have been perfectly content to watch the engineering solution to the bog unfold via your photographs.

BluntGuy

mysterious wrote: »

We are a very dumb society to be truthful. We don't ever think, oxamine, wonder or even believe this stuff.

[insert conspiracy theories here]

The real world is out there and most of you know feck all about it.

They will keep feeding you with the "bog of doom" the real funny part to all this, you all keep lapping up to it.:p

I agree with bits of what you say, I seriously question other parts of what you say... but while this is all very interesting, this stuff has little to do with the topic at hand.

I'll leave the existing posts there for the sake of anyone's curiosity but any further off-topic posts will be deleted, and further off-topicness after that may lead to... other things.

But let's not try and go there.

Back to discussing the actual scheme... don't forget we have an off-topic thread if you want to bring this stuff up. If you want me to move the posts there so you can continue the discussion, feel free to ask.