M6 - Ballinasloe to Galway

Chris_533976

KevR wrote: »

Going Eastbound on the existing N6 towards the new roundabout should be ok when the motorway opens because there will be a left turning free flow slip onto the motorway. All traffic using the motorway from this side will bypass the roundabout. It will be a different story from the other side though.

And loads of people going to Cork/Limerick (me included) will nip along to the Glenascaul junction, turn off, and fight to rejoin the old road at Oranmore

clon

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,16664,en.pdf

new newsletter for this scheme up on nra site now.

BluntGuy

They're still saying 4th Jan 2010.

Not quite as good as their last one, but gets the job done and gives a fairly solid indication as to what's completed and what's coming up.

ohnoigotsick

antoobrien wrote: »

You obviously don't use it coming out of town and out the Monivea Rd (R339) then. The only reason for lights there is to let people out of the industrial estates in Parkmore. Pre-traffic lights you didn't get out of Parkmore but you didn't get stopped suddenly in the middle of the roundabout either. Stopping traffic after a freeflow junction (which roundabouts are supposed to be) makes no sense at all.

As someone who lives out that way there has to be a better way of handling this junction.

i live and work in that area

stupid planning in the first place but pre traffic lights it could take 30 to 40 minutes to get down that half mile stretch of road - then you had people turning left and doing a u turn outside the school so it was a dangerous stretch and something had to be done.

i'm not from galway orginally but am up here a few years now - but i find there are too many roundabouts in this city (which the majority of peolple don't know how to drive on) so shock horror a roundabout gets clogged up.

anyway , this is off topic so i'll lave it at that

Chris_533976

Is it just me or does the big pic of the toll booth look Photoshopped?

Edit: Dismal newsletter.

Carawaystick

BluntGuy wrote: »

They're still saying 4th Jan 2010.

Not quite as good as their last one, but gets the job done and gives a fairly solid indication as to what's completed and what's coming up.

The NDP sign on the last page ses it won't be open until February at the earliest: Spring 2010.....

Roryhy

I think this is just to avoid saying Winter 2010 because that could mean beginning or end of 2010.

ohnoigotsick

at the doughiska tie in , in both directions the fast lanes have been closed with the hard shoulder now the second lane

Nath

Picture of tie in at Doughiska taken last Friday afternoon.

antoobrien

Carawaystick wrote: »

The NDP sign on the last page ses it won't be open until February at the earliest: Spring 2010.....

I think that's a picture of a sign that's been up at Doughiska for ages. This is in line with the NRA opening date of Q2 2010.

KevR

Nath wrote: »

Picture of tie in at Doughiska taken last Friday afternoon.

The sooner they get the streetlighting operational here the better! It's a bit disorientating driving through there at night with the dazzling floodlights. By rights the whole DC from Ballybrit to Oranmore should be lit because it's so busy and it's quite common to see (foolish) pedestrians and (foolish) cyclists in the hard shoulder. Very dangerous when it's dark..

Carawaystick

KevR wrote: »

The sooner they get the streetlighting operational here the better! It's a bit disorientating driving through there at night with the dazzling floodlights. By rights the whole DC from Ballybrit to Oranmore should be lit because it's so busy and it's quite common to see (foolish) pedestrians and (foolish) cyclists in the hard shoulder. Very dangerous when it's dark..

Have you no lights on your vehicle? You should only drive as fast as you can see to be clear.

KevR

Missed my point. Of course I have lights and have yet to have any accidents or near misses whilst driving in the dark so I guess my driving under darkness is up to standard. I'm saying that section of Dual Carriageway should be lit as it's very busy and the hard shoulder is used by pedestrians and cyclists. The lighting would no doubt make the road safer for everyone using it.

Sure seeing as everyone has lights on their car, there's no need for streetlighting anywhere in any situation...

Nath

Was browsing the Galway City Council website and came across this notice about the M6 roadworks at Doughiska. It's scheduled to last 12 weeks from the end of Aug so the junction should complete by the end of Nov.

http://www.galwaycity.ie/TopNews/MainBody,6103,en.html

serfboard

Got it on very good authority yesterday (sorry, can't say who) that the road will be completed in December.

Amtmann

I have it on very good authority that the contractor is seeking an event of delay on the project to 15/02/10 (from 04/01/10).

BluntGuy

I can see this drifting into 2010 sadly.

2009 isn't shaping up to be quite as good for road-openings as we anticipated.

But, what a year for road-openings next year'll be! Not to de-rail the thread, not when I think about the sheer amount that'll be opening next year, it's simply amazing. :eek:

Anyway, to return to the topic at hand... a question: what, if any, provisions have been made for the future Galway bypass?

L1011

Bulge in the carriageways is about all I suspect they can do. Part of this scheme will have to torn up to build the GCOB, no matter what.

Chris_533976

Probably none, but the junction has been changed since the Ball-Galway was signed.

Originally the M6/GCOB junction was supposed to be a bloody dumbell, but thats been changed to a freeflow (minus M6 East to outer bypass west which wasnt needed anyway).

But there will still have to be a dig-up though.

JupiterKid

So it the western section of the Ballinasloe - Galway motorway wide/grassy median after all?

Does anyone think that the section bypassing Ballinasloe will open ahead of the rest of the scheme? It's the most urgently required part IMO.

kaizersoze

JupiterKid wrote: »

So it the western section of the Ballinasloe - Galway motorway wide/grassy median after all?

Does anyone think that the section bypassing Ballinasloe will open ahead of the rest of the scheme? It's the most urgently required part IMO.

No & no.:)

JupiterKid

JupiterKid wrote: »

So it the western section of the Ballinasloe - Galway motorway wide/grassy median after all?
.

Sounds like a bit of forward thinking! sonewhere to put a third lane if needed.

oddiot

MYOB wrote: »

Bulge in the carriageways is about all I suspect they can do. Part of this scheme will have to torn up to build the GCOB, no matter what.

A good example of bulging is where the M2 becomes the M22 in Northern Ireland... The M2 was to veer off towards Ballymena, but was never constructed, so it just suddenly becomes M22 after the bulge.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=54.741172,-6.204014&spn=0.030918,0.090895&t=h&z=14

It would be such a pity for the M6 not to have some allowance for the future bypass.

skelliser

pasesed by the junction at doughuisce yesterday, its coming along nicely, i reckon it will be finished by december.
This motorway will be the death nail for the train.
The GOBP is going to be a major issue. Just like the m50, the bypasses and the motorways its going to be 10 years behind demand.

Traffic is bad enough at doughuisce and ballybrit before this motorway, although a godsend, will only increase the problems in galway.

KevR

JupiterKid wrote: »

So it the western section of the Ballinasloe - Galway motorway wide/grassy median after all?

Between Rathmorissey and the future Galway Bypass junction will be wide median as far as I know. Not sure if it will be grassy wide median though..

Nath

Front page article of this weeks' Galway Advertiser is talking about an official opening on Jan 4th:

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/17368

Here is the text of the article:

Forty five new toll jobs when Dublin to Galway motorway opens on January 4
GALWAY ADVERTISER, OCTOBER 01, 2009.
Angry councillors vow to hold up traffic unless damaged local roads are repaired

By Declan Varley

The Galway to Dublin N6 motorway which has been under construction for the past 33 months will officially open in the first week of the new year.

Over the past few weeks, the number of crew working on the site has risen from 600 to 900 as they rush to prepare the massive motorway for its top surfacing which will begin in the next few weeks.

The new motorway which commences at a massive roundabout currently being constructed at Doughiska, will cut the Dublin to Galway journey time to just two hours and complete the first coast to coast motorway in this country.

However, angry county councillors told this week’s Galway County Council meeting that they will join in blockades to stop traffic using the motorway through parts of East Galway unless roads which have allegedly been damaged by the construction company building the road are repaired.

A sum of €1.5 million was set aside for this purpose but councillors and locals are sure that a sum in excess of €10 million will be needed to repair the damage caused to local roads which were used to service the west’s biggest ever construction site.

This week, Cllr Michael Mullins said that some of the roads look like “scenes from a warzone,” and have been left in an appalling state. He said that he is afraid that the funding will not be approved to put this right before the road opens.

“€1.5million is just a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed for this,” he said, adding that it is the Galway County Council which will get the fallout from this unease among locals, even though the building contract is between the NRA and the N6 Construction company.

He was supported by Cllr Dermot Connolly who said that there has not been any commitment from N6 to repair the roads, while Cllr Tomas Mannion said that the roads are left in a bad state and “here they are talking about an opening date.”

Cllr Mogie Maher said that the claims of locals who have had vehicles damaged have been largely ignored, while Cllr Bridie Willers said that the damage caused has been ”disgraceful”.

Cllr Jim Cuddy said it was an insult and that the Council should not allow it to be open until the repairs have been carried out.

John Morgan, Director of Services in the Council’s Roads and Transportation Unit, said that the €1.5 million figure was just this year’s allocation and that he hoped more would be released in 2010. He pointed out that N6 has the contract to operate the road for 30 years, so it will not be walking away from the issue.

Despite the wet summer, construction crews have continued at pace on the 56 km stretch from Doughiska to Ballinasloe

The majority of the 56km motorway has already been paved to binder-course layer and in the coming weeks, all vehicles and work will have to be completed before the top layer (known as the wearing course) is applied.

The M6 Galway to Ballinasloe motorway extends from Doughiska to the townland of Tulrush, east of Ballinasloe. It consists of 56km of motorway with a 7km single carriageway link from Carrowkeel to Loughrea, as well as 25km of realigned side roads.

Construction started in early 2007 and involved the excavation of 3.73 million cubic metres of cut material and the placing of 6.34 million cubic metres of fill material.

During this phase, the traffic of heavy goods vehicles to the site was extensive, much to the annoyance of residents along the routes to the site.

The contract involved the construction of 41 road bridges, three railway bridges, and eight river bridges. Ninety-five per cent of the work on these has been completed. There are a further 45 mammal underpasses on the scheme, to allow farmers and animals to cross the route without endangering their lives or the lives of road users.

Between Galway and Ballinasloe, there will be one toll plaza and this structure (pictured here) is located at Cappataggle. Between Galway and Dublin, users should pass through two toll booths with an average cost of €10 per return journey between Galway and the capital.

This booth will create 45 new positions, all of which are hoped to be filled from the locality.

The motorway was constructed as part of a PPP (Public Private Partnership) so will be in the ownership of N6 Concession Ltd for a period of 30 years, starting on January 4, 2010.

serfboard

Galway Advertiser wrote:

... an average cost of €10 per return journey between Galway and the capital.

Oh great! Does that mean they're going to be giving out free petrol/diesel at the toll booths?

Unless you have to take the car, GoBus, Citylink and Bus Eireann will do well out of this. GoBus in particular - they'll go motorway all the way for €20 per return journey and that includes the fuel ...

westtip

serfboard wrote: »

Oh great! Does that mean they're going to be giving out free petrol/diesel at the toll booths?

Unless you have to take the car, GoBus, Citylink and Bus Eireann will do well out of this. GoBus in particular - they'll go motorway all the way for €20 per return journey and that includes the fuel ...

And I believe Gobus is only ten each way at all times unlike the train when the ten euro is an off peak fare only. I guess the bus is going to be quicker than the train as well with the motorway taking the more direct route and being non stop with bus lanes on the N4 into Dublin. Irish rail will be struggling on this route when the motorway opens is my guess.

smashingred

I wonder will gobus run any other routes when the Inter Urbans are all finished at the end of 2010?
Like you said Irish Rail are going to have alot of problems in the coming years.
I'm not sure Dublin-Galway is on the train but I'm guessing it's over 50 Euro (assuming you don't have a Usit Card, Faircard).
Can't compete with Gobus-10 euro each way & a journey time of 2 hours 45 mins.

Chris_533976

I wouldnt believe the Advertiser at all, they probably just cut and pasted half of the latest newsletter and gumpf off the NRA website. They are known for apalling journalism and they probably didnt investigate anything at all.