M6 - Ballinasloe to Galway

KevR

It's 11 mins averaging at 120kmh on the motorway and going at the 80kmh speed limit on the link road.

I honestly have no idea how long it would take driving at 100kmh on the motorway; I have always driven at 120kmh as has pretty much everyone!

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

Haha not a hope. That would give people ideas of the route to avoid the toll when the rest would open

I see businesses in Drum/Ballydangan are crying over the lack of business now that M6 is open and even claiming that the old road is quicker.

Take the dummy out is all ill say to that.

You're probably right on that!

As for the old road being quicker, it is for me going west.
Because of where I live, I will never actually use this particular section of M6 if driving to/from home.

KevR

Was out around Junction 19 (the N18 Junction) this morning and got a few pictures. Some good progress here since my last visit. Some concrete barrier has been installed both sides of the junction. The N18 overbridge is a lot nearer completion, as are the 2 roundabouts for the dumbell junction. Signage poles installed at the junction and those plastic tubes for streetlighting columns have been installed also. There is a stop and go in place at the moment on the N18 to facilitate the tie in of the existing N18 to the new overbridge.

Click thumbnails for full size images.


First 3 are looking East from N18





N18 Overbridge



Looking West under the N18 Overbridge



Junction 19 Roundabout (Note the Aer Arann plane going in to land at Galway Airport in the first picture)







VMS on the Eastbound on-ramp for the M6 from J19. Not sure where the new bridge is..



Stop & Go on the N18



Posted in Commuting & Transport also.

Fozzie Bear

KevR wrote: »

Was out around Junction 19 (the N18 Junction) this morning and got a few pictures. Some good progress here since my last visit. Some concrete barrier has been installed both sides of the junction. The N18 overbridge is a lot nearer completion, as are the 2 roundabouts for the dumbell junction. Signage poles installed at the junction and those plastic tubes for streetlighting columns have been installed also. There is a stop and go in place at the moment on the N18 to facilitate the tie in of the existing N18 to the new overbridge.

Ya the stop and go has been there since last week, I pass through it a few times a week. They are flying through it now with the kerbing, tarmac and sign posts as you say already up. Can only be a matter of a week or so now until the bridge is fully opened up to traffic and they start to remove the old roadway.

Tech3

When do ye reckon the N18 overbridge will be open to traffic?

Emerate

Hi there, does anyone have any predictions of how long it will take to reach Loughrea and Ballinasloe from Athenry once the motorway is completed???? Planning a house move and location is really dependent on this motorway...thanks

Emerate

Emerate wrote: »

Hi there, does anyone have any predictions of how long it will take to reach Loughrea and Ballinasloe from Athenry once the motorway is completed???? Planning a house move and location is really dependent on this motorway...thanks

Depends on the start & end points, but make an assumption of travelling 2km per minute @120kmh along the motorway section and 3km every two minutes (80ish) along the other roads.

Should give you a fair ballpark for a journey in light traffic.

JupiterKid

Greaty pics KevR.:) A case of "a lot done, more to do" with this section...:pac:

Hmm - I notice a concrete barrier along the edge of the "median" on the first 2 photos. I though it was presumed that this section of M6 was going to be a wide median?

Delta Kilo

Emerate wrote: »

Hi there, does anyone have any predictions of how long it will take to reach Loughrea and Ballinasloe from Athenry once the motorway is completed???? Planning a house move and location is really dependent on this motorway...thanks

You may also want to consider that a toll plaza will be in between Ballinasloe and Athenry. It is believed that it will be ~€2.

Carawaystick

Deleted User wrote: »

Depends on the start & end points, but make an assumption of travelling 2km per minute @120kmh along the motorway section and 3km every two minutes (80ish) along the other roads.

Should give you a fair ballpark for a journey in light traffic.

I dunno the planned speed limit on the Loughrea link road, It's to be the N65 so should have a hundred limit but you never know.
That's 7 km long. eyeballing from this it's about 12 km to the Athenry junction, so ten to 12 minutes from the outskirts of Athenry to the outskirts of Loughrea.

KevR

tech2 wrote: »

When do ye reckon the N18 overbridge will be open to traffic?

Possibly another week or two. I'll go via the N18 on the way home the odd evening over the next couple of weeks to monitor progress. When it does open I'll try to get some pictures of the old N18 blocking the M6 mainline from the new overbridge before they demolish it.

Emerate wrote: »

Hi there, does anyone have any predictions of how long it will take to reach Loughrea and Ballinasloe from Athenry once the motorway is completed???? Planning a house move and location is really dependent on this motorway...thanks

Delta Kilo wrote: »

You may also want to consider that a toll plaza will be in between Ballinasloe and Athenry. It is believed that it will be ~€2.

Emerate, that's a very good point from Delta Kilo. If you move to Ballinasloe you would have to pay the toll when travelling from Ballinasloe to Athenry or Galway City. You would avoid the toll if travelling from Loughrea to Athenry or Galway. Also, Loughrea will be roughly 6 mins less of a drive from Athenry than Ballinasloe.

Athenry-Loughrea: 10-12 mins
Athenry-Ballinasloe: 18-20 mins (depending on traffic and queues for the toll).

The toll and extra fuel involved in travelling from Ballinasloe as opposed to Loughrea could add up to quite a bit over time.

JupiterKid wrote: »

Greaty pics KevR.:) A case of "a lot done, more to do" with this section...:pac:

Hmm - I notice a concrete barrier along the edge of the "median" on the first 2 photos. I though it was presumed that this section of M6 was going to be a wide median?

It looks like the barrier is right up to the edge of the Westbound carriageway but there will be a wide gap between the edge of the Eastbound carriageway and the concrete barrier.

I'm not sure why they did it this way as opposed to having the barrier in centre of the wide median. As it's done now, they will have to tear out the barrier when widening the road in future; but if it was in the centre of the median they could probably leave it.

Also, I presume it will be a soft median with grass and/or hedges but I'm not sure on that either.

mysterious

Is that N18 bridge the New Rathmorrisey overbridge

Also when is this open for completion mid 2010??

KevR

mysterious wrote: »

Is that N18 bridge the New Rathmorrisey overbridge

Also when is this open for completion mid 2010??

The N18 bridge in those pictures is the existing N18 where it crosses the M6. It's in between Oranmore and Carnmore. The Rathmorrisey bridge will be a lot closer to Athenry and when it gets built as the M18, the bridge in those photos and the rest of the 'old' N18 will get redesignated as an R road.

The latest contractor newsletter is still saying 4th of January 2010 for opening but I can't see them making that. I would guess mid-late Spring maybe. When I was out taking those pictures on Sunday I passed by the site at Doughiska and there was some work going on there. Also saw some worker enter the site at J19 in a 4X4 and head off Eastwards around the curve so there could have been work going on there too. Pretty encouraging that they're working on Sundays.

antoobrien

mysterious wrote: »

Is that N18 bridge the New Rathmorrisey overbridge

No this is the bridge crossing the road between Claregalway and Oranamore. It's a few hundred yards the Oranmore side of Carnmore Cross

mysterious wrote: »

Also when is this open for completion mid 2010??

According to the contractors newsletters, the plan has allways been to open it for 4/1/2010. Will this happen, doubtful even the contractors know.

BluntGuy

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hmm - I notice a concrete barrier along the edge of the "median" on the first 2 photos. I though it was presumed that this section of M6 was going to be a wide median?

Perhaps that is the point at which the narrow median becomes wide median.

serfboard

BluntGuy wrote: »

Perhaps that is the point at which the narrow median becomes wide median.

That could be the case. Most of the stretch westbound from this bridge was only added in at the end, because the Outer Bypass was supposed to tie in around here.

BluntGuy

serfboard wrote: »

That could be the case. Most of the stretch westbound from this bridge was only added in at the end, because the Outer Bypass was supposed to tie in around here.

Well, I'm not familiar with the road layout in the area.

All I know is that the large shot in this newsletter:

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,16124,en.pdf

Is not typical of one you'd see on recent narrow median schemes.

The first picture on this newsletter suggests even more-so:

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,16558,en.pdf

Perhaps they'll have a concrete barrier and wide median.

serfboard

BluntGuy wrote: »

All I know is that the large shot in this newsletter:

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,16124,en.pdf

Is not typical of one you'd see on recent narrow median schemes.

The first picture on this newsletter suggests even more-so:

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/ContractorsNewsletters/file,16558,en.pdf

Perhaps they'll have a concrete barrier and wide median.

I'm not disagreeing with you. What I am saying is that the section westbound after this bridge could well be narrow median since it was only added in at the end and had to be done "on the chape, boss". (Possibly narrow median terminating in an at-grade roundabout). It's only meant to be "temporary" until the Outer Bypass gets built. :rolleyes:

And indeed eastbound from this bridge, it definitely does look wide median. Those photos in the newsletter are taken from points much further east than this bridge.

KevR

From what I have seen it's wide median Westbound from the N18 bridge as far as the point where it will split off for the bypass, from the split to the Doughiska roundabout is narrow median. I think it's wide median Eastbound as far as Rathmorrisey.

Just to point out, West of J19 has not been redesignated to motorway. I can't understand why really. But sure we can have some car dealerships or the like with direct access onto what will no doubt be one of the busiest parts of the N/M6.

Chris_533976

Its because the Outer Bypass wont be motorway if it ever gets built, I think. I dunno, maybe its partly because if it was reclassified all the way to the roundabout and the M6 designation moves to the bypass, you'd potentially have some R road as motorway.

KevR

But if the redesignated it the whole way to Doughiska now, then some of the Bypass would have motorway restrictions (a good thing in my opinion). Not only would the road between J19 and Doughiska be protected from inappropriate development but some of the Bypass would be too.

Also, there are plenty of alternative routes for restricted traffic between Oranmore and Doughiska/The City so there's no good reason for them to be on the new road. Restricted traffic will have plenty of alternatives to the Bypass also so if there were restrictions on part of it, it would be a bit more difficult for them to use it which wouln't be any harm.

kaizersoze

serfboard wrote:

The first picture on this newsletter suggests even more-so:

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartn...e,16558,en.pdf

The pic deceptive. That section isn't a wide median.

Svalbard

So any update on when it'll be open? Before march 2010???? *fingers crossed*

Fozzie Bear

KevR wrote: »

.... Pretty encouraging that they're working on Sundays.

I was driving out of Galway last night towards Oranmore at 11.45pm. There was a lot of work still going on at Dougishka where the new roundabout will eventually be between Western Motors and the Galway Clinic. Bulldozers, Graders, Rollers all going with lights on. Good to see alright that its not just a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday job!

Mind you I would not fancy trying to get some sleep if I were sick in the Clinic at that hour.

sillymoo

So if I am traveling from Dublin to Loughrea when the new Ballinasloe - Athenry section opens, will I have to get off the motorway at Ballinasloe to avoid paying the toll?

This will make driving from Dublin to Galway an expensive trip.

ohnoigotsick

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

I was driving out of Galway last night towards Oranmore at 11.45pm. There was a lot of work still going on at Dougishka where the new roundabout will eventually be between Western Motors and the Galway Clinic. Bulldozers, Graders, Rollers all going with lights on. Good to see alright that its not just a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday job!

Mind you I would not fancy trying to get some sleep if I were sick in the Clinic at that hour.

i live right beside that so will keep an eye on that

KevR

sillymoo wrote: »

So if I am traveling from Dublin to Loughrea when the new Ballinasloe - Athenry section opens, will I have to get off the motorway at Ballinasloe to avoid paying the toll?

This will make driving from Dublin to Galway an expensive trip.

Yes you would have to exit the motorway at the West Ballinasloe junction to avoid the toll.

I don't think you will save any money by trying to avoid this toll. I think the old route between Ballinasloe and Galway is 7/8km longer than the new route so that's extra fuel. Also, there will be more slowing down and speeding up on the old road for towns/villages and roundabouts along the way - this is not as fuel effecient as driving at a steady speed on a motorway.

If driving from Dublin to Galway then it might be more worthwhile dodging the M4 toll, as we're guessing the M6 toll won't be as expensive and I don't think there's as much, if any, extra distance involved (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

serfboard

sillymoo wrote: »

So if I am traveling from Dublin to Loughrea when the new Ballinasloe - Athenry section opens, will I have to get off the motorway at Ballinasloe to avoid paying the toll?

KevR wrote: »

Yes you would have to exit the motorway at the West Ballinasloe junction to avoid the toll.

I don't think you will save any money by trying to avoid this toll. I think the old route between Ballinasloe and Galway is 7/8km longer than the new route so that's extra fuel. Also, there will be more slowing down and speeding up on the old road for towns/villages and roundabouts along the way - this is not as fuel effecient as driving at a steady speed on a motorway.

If driving from Dublin to Galway then it might be more worthwhile dodging the M4 toll, as we're guessing the M6 toll won't be as expensive and I don't think there's as much, if any, extra distance involved (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

If you're driving from Dublin to Galway, it's better to use the motorway, but the poster will be driving from Dublin to Loughrea. In that case, your journey might actually be longer on the motorway, and given that the old road will be quieter (if only on an 80K road) you may indeed be better off avoiding the toll. The only town on the way is Kilreekil.

KevR

Sorry, missed the bit about Loughrea .

Yeah, get off at Junction 15 (Ballinasloe West) and use the old road to Loughrea. You won't have to pay the toll and the distance will be shorter than using the motorway.

Carawaystick

serfboard wrote: »

If you're driving from Dublin to Galway, it's better to use the motorway, but the poster will be driving from Dublin to Loughrea. In that case, your journey might actually be longer on the motorway, and given that the old road will be quieter (if only on an 80K road) you may indeed be better off avoiding the toll. The only town on the way is Kilreekil.

I'd say also that the B'sloe - Loughrea road will get some 100km/h limits on it, there'll be some pressure on the councillors as the N65 and N66 have some dreadful quality sections and the ton limit.
The WS2 at Aughrim and the new N65 section from the end of the current N65 and probably from Kilreekil to Cappataggle.
Maybe not immediately but after a while I'd say.