M17/M18 - Gort to Tuam [open to traffic]

m17

M18 1.5kms form gort 10/08/1522/11/16as you can see these pics where taken 15 month's apart work is still very slow compared to the m17

m17

medoc wrote: »

Were there any design changes made to take into account the flooding?

The motorway was raised in part's form kilternan to gort and extra drainage was put in place

m17

The last bridge on the m18 at gortroe 1.5kms south of rathmorrisy beams now in place 24/11/16

medoc

m17 wrote: »

The motorway was raised in part's form kilternan to gort and extra drainage was put in place

Though it probably looked worse as they were at foundation levels rather than finished levels its good they raised the road in those locations. Lucky it happened so early in construction.

sosndt

NDT

m17

The m17 at cloonkeen north 22/08/16

java

m17 wrote: »

Speculation on whether tuam bypass will open early as stand-alone

Sorry to lighten the tone, but thought this might be some interest. Some sad news - the County Council exec mentioned here passed away suddenly during the week.

http://connachttribune.ie/senior-county-council-official-passes-away-057/

spacetweek

paul2013 wrote: »

Question for you all. The road to Clarinbridge will still be used after the M18 decides to be opened as can you imagine the carnage on Junction 19 on the M6 , It will be like going through Claregalway once again with serious delays. The only time I'll see a benefit to the M6 is when Galway city is bypassed!

As for the Rathmorrissey Junction 18 on the M6/M18 and Junction 1 on the M17 do the expect traffic from Tuam to drive down Athenry to go to Galway and Gort traffic to drive to Athenry to go to Galway? Lets just say that traffic will not be doing this because that's why there is such a poor uptake of the Western Rail Corridor part 1 . This is coming from a person who used to live on the N18 outside Gort.

They will do that, it'll be faster especially Tuam-Galway.

godskitchen

spacetweek wrote: »

They will do that, it'll be faster especially Tuam-Galway.

Even if it wasn't faster, for me personally, I would still take the motorway. Anything to avoid Tuam and Clairegalway.

Even if there was no traffic on the current N17 and I had the road to myself, I would still take the motorway.

I fully intend to never drive through any of the bypassed towns ever again.

WildWater

serfboard wrote: »

Minister (Shane Ross, God help us) won't want to keep opening bits of it.

Maybe not but he may like to see his name on plaque before he is turfed out of office. Will he still be minister for transport in Feb 18? I wouldn't bet on it.

m17

godskitchen wrote: »

Even if it wasn't faster, for me personally, I would still take the motorway. Anything to avoid Tuam and Clairegalway.

Even if there was no traffic on the current N17 and I had the road to myself, I would still take the motorway.

I fully intend to never drive through any of the bypassed towns ever again.

That's all very well but when you come to the coolagh roundabout,you might think differently that's going to became the new claregalway

ronnie3585

Absolutely fantastic thread M17! Thanks for all your photos and contributions. I do a bit of flying and try to have a look at the road whenever I'm up. It's really being built at pace, even a break of a few weeks reveals big changes!

Mars Bar

If the N17 is downgraded to 80km/h then I will be definitely using the motorway.

m17

Mars Bar wrote: »

If the N17 is downgraded to 80km/h then I will be definitely using the motorway.

The n17 will become the n83 when the m17 opens,so it will still be 100km/h

m17

The m17/m18 flyover 15/01/16The m17/m18 flyover at rathmorissy 25/11/16

godskitchen

m17 wrote: »

That's all very well but when you come to the coolagh roundabout,you might think differently that's going to became the new claregalway

Thankfully I dont often go to Galway. I will be heading down the M18 after the M17.

I can see your point though, it will be a bottle neck.

m17

The m17 at ballybanagher corofin looking towards rathmorissy 27/11/16looking towards tuam

m17

Rockprossing at Sheeaunpark 24/11/16

m17

Annagh hill 27/02/1527/11/16

m17

The tuam bypass 27/11/16the flyover at kilcloghanspoles in placeballygaddy road flyover

road_high

Those sections look like they could open by the Spring?

m17

road_high wrote: »

Those sections look like they could open by the Spring?

Since the whole scheme is being built under a legal contract,it seems unlikely as the contract would have to be amended,the bypass will be ready by easter 17,but will have to wait until the whole project is complete

road_high

m17 wrote: »

Since the whole scheme is being built under a legal contract,it seems unlikely as the contract would have to be amended,the bypass will be ready by easter 17,but will have to wait until the whole project is complete

All the other m-ways opened in sections and there wasn't a problem I don't think. I remember the M9 had one full section and part of another opened at the same time and both were under different contractors. So hopefully that won't be the case!

m17

The m17 at cloonkeen north 28/02/1528/11/16

marno21

Perhaps Sean Canney may take credit for early opening of the Tuam BP seeing as his Western Rail Corridor plan is going rapidly down the toilet?

Will surely happen anyway, they wouldn't be making such rapid progress on the Tuam BP unless they were going opening it early.

Cookiemunster

road_high wrote: »

All the other m-ways opened in sections and there wasn't a problem I don't think. I remember the M9 had one full section and part of another opened at the same time and both were under different contractors. So hopefully that won't be the case!

Those motorways were built in sections and that's why the opened that way.
The M9 was built under 5 different schemes over a number of years. The M17/18 is a single scheme.
AFAIK the only scheme that had a partial opening was the M7 Limerick to Nenagh due to the subsidence issues at the Annaholty bog which delayed the full opening by a year.

road_high

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Those motorways were built in sections and that's why the opened that way.
The M9 was built under 5 different schemes over a number of years. The M17/18 is a single scheme.
AFAIK the only scheme that had a partial opening was the M7 Limerick to Nenagh due to the subsidence issues at the Annaholty bog which delayed the full opening by a year.

Knocktopher to Waterford was built by Ascon/BAM, Carlow to Knocktopher was Roadbridge...part of the later opened (i.e KK to Waterford) all as one section in March 2010! (The part between Danefort-Knocktopher opened first and with the Ascon/BAM part).

Cookiemunster

road_high wrote: »

Knocktopher to Waterford was built by Ascon/BAM, Carlow to Knocktopher was Roadbridge...part of the later opened (i.e KK to Waterford) all as one section in March 2010! (The part between Danefort-Knocktopher opened first and with the Ascon/BAM part).

Fair enough. I think the issue here though is that its a PPP which no part of the M9 was. Direct Route will maintain the road for (I think) 30 years after opening so will want to open it all together.

m17

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Fair enough. I think the issue here though is that its a PPP which no part of the M9 was. Direct Route will maintain the road for (I think) 30 years after opening so will want to open it all together.

you're not far off it's 25 years

Carawaystick

That looks like the maintenance time is from the road opening time. I thought other schemes had a cut off time for maintenance payments, and they payments started from road opening, so there's the incentive to open sooner.

The present arrangement makes the Tuam bypass more of a negotiation, especially as the lads on the M18 will want a cut of any early payments...