Clare's first motorway about to become a reality

Claregirl

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

Weather the speed limit has changed to 120kph or not yet, those blue signs just wanna make you put the pedal to the metal!

Takes me 12-15 minutes to get to Shannon doing 120kph as a opposed to 18-20 for 100kph.

Have noticed that if I floor it to 130-140kph I get there in 10 minutes or less.

I remember one night I made it back from Limerick in 15 minutes, that was doing ludicrious speed!

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

Anyone who speeds in a built up area deserves to be caught.

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

That stretch of road is particulary dangerous, as it goes down a hill, passed a big housing estate entrance, into a bend up a hill! No one should be doing more than 60Kmh max on it.

Split personality??:rolleyes:

drunken_munky52

Claregirl wrote: »

Split personality??:rolleyes:

Its a motorway lassie, calm down. Straight wide road, ever hear of the Autobans? I said anyone in a built up area should get caught. What I dont agree with in the previous statements is crouching tiger hidden gaurd shooting fish in a barrel on a dual carraige way. Ever see a road safety ad with a motorway on it? Thats coz I cant remeber the last time I heard death on one. They all happen on those bendy ice rink bog roads and in urban areas.

Claregirl

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

Its a motorway lassie, calm down.

First off don't tell me to calm down:mad: I'm perfectly calm:D

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

I remember one night I made it back from Limerick in 15 minutes, that was doing ludicrious speed!

It's not the roads that are the problem it's the moron's behind the wheel! If anything there should be more garda checkpoints on the N/M 18.

Taken from the RSA "The main causes of death and injury on Irish roads remain speeding, drink driving and non-wearing of seat-belts"

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

Thats coz I cant remeber the last time I heard death on one. They all happen on those bendy ice rink bog roads and in urban areas.

In 2006, almost 3,300 people died on the motorway networks in the European Union. I take your point that motorways are safer than rural roads but it's still the nut behind the wheel responsible for the majority of road deaths.

Dr Kamikazi

Checkpoints on Dual Carriageway.
Pure laziness by the cops, I know where and when they will be there, they're regular as clockwork.
Meaning at the right time you can do 140 km/h no problem.
Backroads:
Anything goes, how fast is your car, how far are you willing to push it.
Once got caught for speeding, 4 years ago because a cop got lost and was checking for speed on the Kilrush road.
Do up to 1000 km a week and mostly very fast.
Cops under the bridge before the Shannon turnoff and sometimes hide on the on ramp to the Dual Carriageway. Mostly during the day and always in the same 3 spots.
Once you know that, you can put the foot down quite safely.

fryup

so has anyone been on this motorway yet, whats it like??

and just to clarify, where does it start & finish??

Tech3

fryup wrote: »

so has anyone been on this motorway yet, whats it like??

and just to clarify, where does it start & finish??

It wont be motorway until 28th of August. 100km/hr speed limit applies until then. It starts at the Shannon Junction and ends at Barefield. Next year when Gort-Crusheen is completed it will end at Gort.

Any news on the M17/M18 Gort-Tuam motorway going ahead next year? Its planned to be in construction Q4 2010 through a PPP mechanism but its a shadow toll meaning the Government will be repaying the costs luckily not the road user. I havnt heard much about it lately?

bowsie casey

tech2 wrote: »

Any news on the M17/M18 Gort-Tuam motorway going ahead next year?

Is that not in two sections ? I know the Gort-Oranmore section got delayed for a year at budget time...

pappyodaniel

tech2 wrote: »

It wont be motorway until 28th of August. 100km/hr speed limit applies until then. It starts at the Shannon Junction and ends at Barefield. Next year when Gort-Crusheen is completed it will end at Gort.

Any news on the M17/M18 Gort-Tuam motorway going ahead next year? Its planned to be in construction Q4 2010 through a PPP mechanism but its a shadow toll meaning the Government will be repaying the costs luckily not the road user. I havnt heard much about it lately?

Imagine gettin done for travelling between 100km-120km on the 27th August, I for one would be sickened!

Clareman

I wonder if the defense "But the signs were blue, I thought I was on a motorway" would work.....

golden

Clareman wrote: »

I wonder if the defense "But the signs were blue, I thought I was on a motorway" would work.....

I like your thinking but think unfortunately that would not work pity!! They would soon point out the 100km signs that are still in place.

drunken_munky52

Just thought there... I cant find any indication that they are going to upgrade that wonky, paddy the plasterer stretch of the N18 between Limerick and Shannon!

When the tunnel is finished and the N7 finally ties up with it just yonder Coonagh, there will be a nice stretch for a few metres and then that rollercoaster, until you meet the Drumline interchange.

Does any body know if that stretch is due for an overhaul anytime soon? They would need to build it all the way copying what they did at Drumlime, i.e. turn one lane of the existing dual carraige way into an access road for the houses and somehow squeeze new lanes in... an engineering nightmare I would say.

firesidechat

I just checked NRA and Limerick and Clare council sites ,there is no mention of any alteration to that route,It's only a few years since they redone all the safety barriers on that road.Three strands of streched wire
acting as a safety barrier.It has not been greeted afectionaly with the motorbike community,If i was a biker i couldn't see myself been too fond of it either.

Run_to_da_hills

firesidechat wrote: »

I just checked NRA and Limerick and Clare council sites ,there is no mention of any alteration to that route,It's only a few years since they redone all the safety barriers on that road.Three strands of streched wire acting as a safety barrier.It has not been greeted afectionaly with the motorbike community,If i was a biker i couldn't see myself been too fond of it either.

There was never any safety barriers fitted on this stretch of road. What you are referring to are the deadly "cheese graters" or cable barriers that were fitted about three years ago. These have the ability to decapitate or severely mame motorcyclists that are unfortunate to collide with them.

Clareman

I don't think there's any plan to upgrade that route, even if it was upgraded there isn't a suitable alternative route (which is needed if you want to have a motorway) so that won't be happening any time soon

Ludo

Seriously doubt this route will be upgraded any time soon either. The MIL lives near Setrights and their drive way opens directly onto the dual carraige-way. There are quite a few houses like that around there so no way can they make it a 120 zone.
We even tried to get the driveway moved so it would open onto the back road (to Sixmilebridge) as this would be a lot safer than coming out directly onto the DC but were refused permission for this as they didn't want entrances on this road...madness.

JupiterKid

Apart from the early 1990s Bunratty bypass, most of the N18 DC between Limerick and Shannon was built about 30 years ago, when roads standards were much lower than today.

It would be ideal to have it upgraded, but frankly there are other sections of our road network in much more pressing need of investment at the moment.

ktc1

The guards had a speed trap on the Ennis to Limerick side this morning at the overpass before the Shannon exit. It seems a bit petty with the impending change.

Dr Kamikazi

The Gards always have a speedcheck at that overpass.
Pretty much once a week. Always in the same spot.
But also beware that they sometimes sit on various "on" ramps along the DC, so you won't see them until they've clocked you and it's too late.
Where they never, ever sit, is on those specially built elevated spots, that where designed with this purpose in mind. And any backroad, where anything goes.

drunken_munky52

Dr Kamikazi wrote: »

The Gards always have a speedcheck at that overpass.
Pretty much once a week. Always in the same spot.
But also beware that they sometimes sit on various "on" ramps along the DC, so you won't see them until they've clocked you and it's too late.
Where they never, ever sit, is on those specially built elevated spots, that where designed with this purpose in mind. And any backroad, where anything goes.

Coming from Limerick one day, I spotted them on the opposite side up the ramp of the Dromoland junction, with the car turned on the hard shoulder so the shade sitting in the passenger seat could point the gun down on unsuspecting traffic going towards Limerick.

Also got a fright one day as I passed the Sixmilebridge junction goind towards Limerick. They were pulled into the gate of a field, didnt notice them until I was right on top of them. Luckily I was not going more the 100 at the time.

fergusman

Dr Kamikazi wrote: »

The Gards always have a speedcheck at that overpass.
Pretty much once a week. Always in the same spot.
But also beware that they sometimes sit on various "on" ramps along the DC, so you won't see them until they've clocked you and it's too late.
Where they never, ever sit, is on those specially built elevated spots, that where designed with this purpose in mind. And any backroad, where anything goes.

afaik, and I'm open to correction on this but on motorways legally they are only supposed to use the specially designed ramps to conduct stationary speedchecks
Its a safety issue.

Anyone else heard this?

firesidechat

*gets the old brain into gear*
You are correct.
Motorways are designed in such a manner that you can travel at speeds
of 120kmh without any distractions other than you'r fellow motorists.
Gardai may only conduct speed checks at the designated areas.