N9 Castledermot to Kilcullen -when will it open?

tomtraubert

Folks, rumours on the ground are not accurate. WRT to information ring Kildare County Council's National Roads Design Office, they administer the contract for the NRA so they are the right people to ask. The NRA website says Q4 2010 for opening. That is the contract completion date. The contractor can open early if he wants to provided the NRA are satisfied as to the completeness of the job. The section from Mullamast - Athy will not be done before March 2010. The traffic management at Kilcullen could theoretically stay in place till a couple of days before opening. The rumours on the ground are coming from the Contractor's staff probably. They would know when they could open it, not when the NRA would be satisfied to open it. There's more to it than meets the eye. Trust me.

steelbar

Why would they join up the raods and put all the signs up of it isnt going to be opened untill Q4 2010?

mcaul

My GUESS is 16th - they normally always pick mid week and they may want it open before Christmas for best publicity.

tombull82

it had better be the 16th or i'm just going to start using it with or without barriers removed. can't wait, best christmas present ever.

toe_knee

looking through some other threads it seems to be the 17th or 18th. The 18th is kind of ruled out because a part of the Galway motorway is opening on that day so the ould Minister will be busy

tombull82

toe_knee wrote: »

looking through some other threads it seems to be the 17th or 18th. The 18th is kind of ruled out because a part of the Galway motorway is opening on that day so the ould Minister will be busy

Yeah unlikely to do 2 openings in the same week without OT been paid.:D

flamegrill

Does anyone know the actual date or not? Just wondering like, wouldn't they've given an estimate better than Q4 2010 just for the sake of good publicity?

sk8board

I don't think its the 16th, or any date this month. The 16th is just 6 days time. No way in hell they'll open such a crucial by-pass without creating some suspense ahead of the ribbon cuting, plus the minister is already engaged that week, so they DEFINITELY won't use 2 sets of brownie points in the one week.

then you're into the week of christmas day, and that gets messy. mid-Jan perhaps; first good news story for the dept of transport in 2010 etc etc

people here seem to think they should open the road just because its ready

politics and construction are far too linked for such logical thinking.

kildareash

I've heard two completely different reasons as to why the road won't open next week.
One is that KCC don't want it to be opened as they don't have the funds to salt the road if it freezes, the other is that the link road from Mullaghmast interchange to Athy has to be completed before the road can open.
Driving through Castledermot on the way home from Dublin last night, I noticed that they were ploughing up parts of Main Street...as they weren't working last nite, I can only presume their holding up the traffic even further during the day. What a nightmare!

jiggajt

sk8board wrote: »

people here seem to think they should open the road just because its ready

politics and construction are far too linked for such logical thinking.

And what happens if there is a fatal accident on the old section of road in the mean time?

testicle

jiggajt wrote: »

And what happens if there is a fatal accident on the old section of road in the mean time?

Someone will die.

foggy_lad

The mind surely boggles at the sheer incompetance of the decision to do the much needed work in castledermot this week and not let it wait until the new motorway is opened for traffic from carlow. Also this work should be done at night when it would be done much faster and would be less dangerous and less intrusive for residents of the village and also for the thousands of motorists stuck in the logjam each hour.

This type of incompetance is costing the country millions as time is money and it costs to have busses trucks etc stuck for hours in traffic especially when it can be so easily avoided!

ShayK1

foggy_lad wrote: »

The mind surely boggles at the sheer incompetance of the decision to do the much needed work in castledermot this week and not let it wait until the new motorway is opened for traffic from carlow. Also this work should be done at night when it would be done much faster and would be less dangerous and less intrusive for residents of the village and also for the thousands of motorists stuck in the logjam each hour.

This type of incompetance is costing the country millions as time is money and it costs to have busses trucks etc stuck for hours in traffic especially when it can be so easily avoided!

How would doing it at night get it done faster?
And how do you thing the residents would feel about having machines going outside their houses all night when they're trying to sleep?

steelbar

foggy_lad wrote: »

The mind surely boggles at the sheer incompetance of the decision to do the much needed work in castledermot this week and not let it wait until the new motorway is opened for traffic from carlow. Also this work should be done at night when it would be done much faster and would be less dangerous and less intrusive for residents of the village and also for the thousands of motorists stuck in the logjam each hour.

This type of incompetance is costing the country millions as time is money and it costs to have busses trucks etc stuck for hours in traffic especially when it can be so easily avoided!

I reckon the KCC have money left and if they dont use it before the year is out they wil lose it.

Ever notice how all the new roads signs go up at the end of the year?

road_high

I blame KE county council..anywhere south of Kilcullen does not register on the radar for them I think. If it was up around the north of the county I bet anyhting this road would be pushed through for opening by now.
I think it shows sheer contempt for motorists to allow these works before the M9 opens fully. Absolutely disgraceful imo.

foggy_lad

Doing the roadworks at night would get them done faster as the workers could get the job done without having to worry about the sheer number of drivers that disregard road signs and it would benefit the residents by not blocking up their village every day for a week as long as they can endure a couple of nights of machinery noise.

Also this would be cheaper for the council even taking overtime into account especially if they paid contractors to do the work!

emfifty

spoke with NRA today and they are 'hoping to have Kilcullen to Carlow open either on the 17th or 21st of December, depending on final sign off with contractrors. If this does not happen it may slip into first week of Jan but they are trying to have it open before christmas'.

regards,:)

trustno1

kildareash wrote: »

Driving through Castledermot on the way home from Dublin last night, I noticed that they were ploughing up parts of Main Street...as they weren't working last nite, I can only presume their holding up the traffic even further during the day. What a nightmare!

Can I ask a stupid question... WHY are they digging it up - again?.. they always seem to be digging Castledermot up.. are they looking for something they lost the last time they dug it up?!.. it just beggars belief!!

Villain

They aren't digging it up they are laying new tar on the bad patches of the road.

sk8board

re the resurfacing of Castledermot, I imagine they are spending this years resurfacing budget, as perhaps they won't have the allocation for that specific work in '10. If they don't spend it this month they won't be given it next year, and god knows castledermot needs resurfacing
they're not doing it at night cause they don't have the over-time budget.

so in a twisted way, its explainable.

Nead21

trustno1 wrote: »

Can I ask a stupid question... WHY are they digging it up - again?.. they always seem to be digging Castledermot up.. are they looking for something they lost the last time they dug it up?!.. it just beggars belief!!

yeah and its not as if anytime they dig it up they make it any better!

counting the days till the new road opens!

trustno1

Nead21 wrote: »

yeah and its not as if anytime they dig it up they make it any better!

Exactly!!..

Villain

I was speaking to the contractors today and the road will be open before Christmas they are just waiting on the NRA to give a date but it will be open before Christmas.

racso1975

I swear to allah people if ye have built my hopes up of this road opening before xmas and it does not i will hunt each and everyone of ya's and release a jihad on all






*Note to mods: Joke no intention of hunting anybody down...ish or doing a jihad thingy

Don1

No, just inciting racial hatred!

But seriously, I hope I can afford to fuel to go for a blast on it when it does open.

Gonna go for 150! Em, kmph, yeah, those! Er, sorry, 130!

Villain

racso1975 wrote: »

I swear to allah people if ye have built my hopes up of this road opening before xmas and it does not i will hunt each and everyone of ya's and release a jihad on all






*Note to mods: Joke no intention of hunting anybody down...ish or doing a jihad thingy

lol no bother I live and DIE by my word

racso1975

could possibly be like the carlow bypass when it first opened and be restricted to 100kph. The guards had a field day with that speed gun was like shooting fish in a barrel!!!!

Don1

Take the plates off first and just keep driving!


That is all joking of course...........

slimjimmc

racso1975 wrote: »

could possibly be like the carlow bypass when it first opened and be restricted to 100kph. The guards had a field day with that speed gun was like shooting fish in a barrel!!!!

I don't think so. The reason that the section around Carlow was restricted to 100kmh was because at the time it opened it was legally the N9 HQDC. The law designating it as the 120kmh M9 motorway was enacted shortly afterwards and applies to the entire scheme.

kwalshe

racso1975 wrote: »

could possibly be like the carlow bypass when it first opened and be restricted to 100kph. The guards had a field day with that speed gun was like shooting fish in a barrel!!!!

they did but the cases were thrown out in the courts.