M7 - Nenagh to Limerick

L1011

Furet wrote: »

Think you mean between Cahir and Mitchelstown?

Erm. Yes, yes I do.

csd

Folks,

Here are some shots of the open sections of the M7 Nenagh - Limerick scheme, starting north of Nenagh and finishing at the (temporary) terminus at Birdhill.

Enjoy!

/csd

1. We start off at the northern end of the scheme, where the junction is being remodelled in conjunction with the M7 Castletown to Nenagh scheme.


2. Approaching J25, which was newly constructed as part of the upgrade of the Nenagh Bypass from S2 to D2M.


3. J25. I have to say the road felt quite tight here passing the truck, with the centre barrier seemingly very close. You definitely notice the narrower (3.5m) lane width on these newer projects.


4. Nenagh bypass. You'd never know this was once S2. Note the Euroroute marker on the RCS.


5. Approaching J26 on the Nenagh bypass.


6. J26, Nenagh south. They must still be working on the centre barrier, as the motorway was down to one lane here.


7. On the Nenagh - Birdhill section, straight after J26, we're now on Ireland's newest (from an opening perspective) motorway.


8. The road passes just north of the Silvermine mountains, so the scenery is quite good.


9. Garda enforcement bay.


10. Cutting.


11. Overpass.


12. Approaching the Birdhill junction, we have another one of these dangerous parking bays. The signage here seems to imply that you're not allowed get out of your vehicle.


13. Approaching J27 (Birdhill).


14. End of the road, for now. Until the problem of the collapsing sections across the bog is solved, the motorway ends here. Note the advisory speed limits, which have black borders rather than the red used by compulsory limits.


15. A short section of S2 links the motorway back to the old N7 at Birdhill.

larryone

tech2 wrote: »

I think it's only put on osm officially when the road is open to traffic. larryone is the man to talk about that stuff, you could PM him about the trace.

I think one of the other OSM contributors took care of it =0)
It's on the map now and tagged as construction
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.715&lon=-8.4648&zoom=13&layers=B000FTF

cnocbui

For the last couple of weeks, they have been working on the N7 where it passes under the M7.

It looks like they are lowering it in order to increase the clearance from 5.1 meters to a bit more.

Can't say I am too happy about that unless they have a foolproof way of draining the inevitable water trap.

I wish they would do something about removing all the 'temporary' speed limit signs along the N7 as there hasn't been any real reason for them to still be in place for the last 6-8 months.

Jumpy

Some photos of the unopened section.

mysterious

Hey would planting deep rooted trees alongside the unopened sections help. Surely this would naturally help keep the bog section more stable as while putting extra support in at the meantime?
Even I would voluntary do it, if there was enough people here up for tree planting.


I'm not sure of the engineering side things. But they need to make criss cross bars and not just concrete stand up collums to the rockbed. When the collums reach the surface to the road bed foundations, collums should be going horizontal on the ground like a timber support on the matresss of a bed. Then on the ridge there should be vertical columms put on top to stop the trenches or bedding from sinking.

But deep rooted trees is really good to stabiize sandy or really loose soil such as bogs.

The road is spectacular, its different to must of the other motorways it seems. Very up and down and the landscapes changes drastically. The old road is also a nice drive and is my favourite old "N7" route. From Castleconnel to Offaly border is a very pleasant drive.

daveharnett

csd wrote: »

3. J25. I have to say the road felt quite tight here passing the truck, with the centre barrier seemingly very close. You definitely notice the narrower (3.5m) lane width on these newer projects.

I like them. The narrower lanes plus the slightly intimidating barrier discourages messing about.

murphaph

mysterious wrote: »

Hey would planting deep rooted trees alongside the unopened sections help. Surely this would naturally help keep the bog section more stable as while putting extra support in at the meantime?
Even I would voluntary do it, if there was enough people here up for tree planting.


I'm not sure of the engineering side things. But they need to make criss cross bars and not just concrete stand up collums to the rockbed. When the collums reach the surface to the road bed foundations, collums should be going horizontal on the ground like a timber support on the matresss of a bed. Then on the ridge there should be vertical columms put on top to stop the trenches or bedding from sinking.

But deep rooted trees is really good to stabiize sandy or really loose soil such as bogs.

The road is spectacular, its different to must of the other motorways it seems. Very up and down and the landscapes changes drastically. The old road is also a nice drive and is my favourite old "N7" route. From Castleconnel to Offaly border is a very pleasant drive.

Isn't the soil very acidic or base in a bog, thus making tree planting more difficult as many species simply can't survive in the harsh conditions. Trees and vegetation in general are used to stabilise land quite often, but it might be more tricky here.

Sponge Bob

daveharnett wrote: »

I like them. The narrower lanes plus the slightly intimidating barrier discourages messing about.

The concrete barrier tends to intimidate the line hoggers too and they get in and stay in more than they would on Armco sections , any thoughts ???

Berty

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The concrete barrier tends to intimidate the line hoggers too and they get in and stay in more than they would on Armco sections , any thoughts ???

I have spent more hours than I care to remember driving from Beauvais in France to Eastern Paris and they have 100's of kms of central median barrier and driving along at the speed limit of 130kph right next to it is intimidating. It is truly just for overtaking and the French do not abide lane hogging.

mysterious

murphaph wrote: »

Isn't the soil very acidic or base in a bog, thus making tree planting more difficult as many species simply can't survive in the harsh conditions. Trees and vegetation in general are used to stabilise land quite often, but it might be more tricky here.

Surely there is some tree species that can withstand acidity. There is some hardy well adapted trees out there.

Even sticking 40 metre poles to the ground at either side of the motorway could help stabalize the soil.

lukejr

Berty wrote: »

I have spent more hours than I care to remember driving from Beauvais in France to Eastern Paris and they have 100's of kms of central median barrier and driving along at the speed limit of 130kph right next to it is intimidating. It is truly just for overtaking and the French do not abide lane hogging.

Have to agree, in France the overtaking lane is used for just that. Here in Ireland many just sit in the overtaking lane. Something the Europeans in general do too is put there indicator light on for over taking on the motorway and leave it on until they complete the maneuver. Hopefully the RSA will do an advert on motorway driving soon, I liked their round-about advert.

As for the tree planting, lots of species will grow in bog, Coillte are experts on this. Many bogs in Ireland were covered in forest over the past 80 years.

fresca

another option is for the garda traffic corp to take the approach i've seen in the uk, france, germany, etc....
they drive "flat-out" along the outside lane
the idea is to get everybody out of the overtaking lane...

spacetweek

fresca wrote: »

another option is for the garda traffic corp to take the approach i've seen in the uk, france, germany, etc....
they drive "flat-out" along the outside lane
the idea is to get everybody out of the overtaking lane...

Wouldn't that just set a bad example? Bombing it along like a nutter....

Better idea: Just drive along every now and then and pull over anyone not using indicator/hogging a lane. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Chris_5339762

TBH I much prefer driving next to the concrete than the armco.

If the worst happened and I clipped the concrete I'd slide along it or bounce off. If I hit the armco it' be a way worse accident.

knipex

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

TBH I much prefer driving next to the concrete than the armco.

If the worst happened and I clipped the concrete I'd slide along it or bounce off. If I hit the armco it' be a way worse accident.

True but the armco had a grass margin that gave you some room for forgiveness. That concrete barrier gives none.

Stark

There's usually a few inches of error space from what I recall. It's generally not a good idea driving into the grass margin at 120km/hr+ anyway. The additional risk of hitting the concrete barrier is all perceived imo.

lukejr

Has anyone been out at Annaholty bog lately to see if any work is being done on the problem section?

KevR

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

TBH I much prefer driving next to the concrete than the armco.

If the worst happened and I clipped the concrete I'd slide along it or bounce off. If I hit the armco it' be a way worse accident.

+1

knipex wrote: »

True but the armco had a grass margin that gave you some room for forgiveness. That concrete barrier gives none.

Apparently, grass margins are really dangerous for motorcyclists. If someone is travelling at speed on a motorbike and goes onto the soft margin then it's highly likely that they will loose control or their bike and come off it. Whether it's armco or concrete, I don't think we'll see anymore grass margins on narrow median motorways or DCs (loads of examples of concrete narrow medians with no soft margin and M6 Athlone-Ballinasloe is an example of new steel barrier narrow median). From now on, we'll probably only see grass margins on wide medians (e.g. - M6 Galway-Ballinasloe).

Stark wrote: »

There's usually a few inches of error space from what I recall. It's generally not a good idea driving into the grass margin at 120km/hr+ anyway. The additional risk of hitting the concrete barrier is all perceived imo.

It is all perceived. It's safer to hit concrete in every type of vehicle. Some people think steel barriers are safer because the steel bends to absorb some of the impact while concrete barriers are fully solid objects.

The step shape of concrete barriers means that if you hit one from a shallow angle, your wheels will bounce off the bottom of the barrier which is wider than the top and the body of your vehicle won't touch the upper part part of the barrier (so no major damage and you should be able to continue on your journey); steel barriers are not in a step shape and the body of your car will get torn to fúck if you hit it at a shallow angle and slide along the barrier.

If you hit a concrete barrier at a more acute angle, the nose of your car will slide up along the barrier which is narrower at the top. The wheels of your car will then hit the middle of the barrier and your suspension will absorb some of the impact. With a steel barrier you could break through the barrier and crossover onto the other side if you hit it at an acute angle.

Jumpy

lukejr wrote: »

Has anyone been out at Annaholty bog lately to see if any work is being done on the problem section?

Yes, and No.

Deedsie

Jumpy wrote: »

Yes, and No.

Could you elaborate on that at all? Any news would be appreciated on this project.

Jumpy

Its still the same as it was at the damaged area. There are more concrete posts on the ground but none that I have seen sunk. They are doing gardening along the sides though.
A lots of gravel being thrown about by the trucks coming out of the rests along the side so they are there often enough, but no visible work done on the central section.
Its not abandoned, but I am no road builder so I cant comment too much.

fresca

Hi Jumpy,
Next time you're down that way, would you be able to take a photo, please & thanks?
f

Jumpy wrote: »

Its still the same as it was at the damaged area. There are more concrete posts on the ground but none that I have seen sunk. They are doing gardening along the sides though.
A lots of gravel being thrown about by the trucks coming out of the rests along the side so they are there often enough, but no visible work done on the central section.
Its not abandoned, but I am no road builder so I cant comment too much.

Jumpy

fresca wrote: »

Hi Jumpy,
Next time you're down that way, would you be able to take a photo, please & thanks?
f

Just the damaged area? there are some already at the start of the thread, its exactly how it is now.

Jumpy

Sorry I meant several pages back. God I had no idea the thread had become this big.

The start of the thread is when it was just being built

mysterious

Jumpy wrote: »

Its still the same as it was at the damaged area. There are more concrete posts on the ground but none that I have seen sunk. They are doing gardening along the sides though.
A lots of gravel being thrown about by the trucks coming out of the rests along the side so they are there often enough, but no visible work done on the central section.
Its not abandoned, but I am no road builder so I cant comment too much.

I think they should throw, rocks building waste, concrete, scraps of wood and what not either side and dig it into the bog itself in the meantime. They would put more pillars either side of it, and put horizontal rows deep under the foundation like a matress support under the bed. I would say at least 2/4 metres under the foundation.
Then plant some kind of trees that help stabalize the bog itself.


The point is, while they come up with a solution, they could be doing other things to keep progress and be making the bog more stable.

clon

M7 Limerick to Birdhill to open in 3 months time on this weeks online Nenagh Guardian. See page 3 on link below.That makes it some time in July.Fingers crossed.http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/NenaghGuardian/

Deedsie

clon wrote: »

M7 Limerick to Birdhill to open in 3 months time on this weeks online Nenagh Guardian. See page 3 on link below.That makes it some time in July.Fingers crossed.http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/NenaghGuardian/

Excellent news if its true. I suppose we'll know if they start working on the problem area in the next couple of weeks. I really hope they have found a solution to the problem.

dergside

clon wrote: »

M7 Limerick to Birdhill to open in 3 months time on this weeks online Nenagh Guardian. See page 3 on link below.That makes it some time in July.Fingers crossed.http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/NenaghGuardian/

The only part (not!) that would make me sceptical about this is that the acknowledged source of the information is a political one!

Unless that political source has qualifications and experience in civil engineering, and specialist knowledge of bog road construction techniques, then I'd take the information with a blood pressure raising sized pinch of salt!

clon

It was the senior roads engineer from North Tipperary County Council that stated the road would be open in three months.It was the politicians who stated the obvious that it would cost millions more to finish.