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

m17

M17 part two annagh hill footbridge looking towards rathmorrissyannagh hill footbridge looking towards tuambrockagh looking towards rathmorrissybrockagh looking towards tuambauilpuil looking towards rathmorrissybauilpuil looking towards tuamcloonkeen north looking towards rathmorrissycloonkeen north looking towards tuamcloondarone looking towards rathmorrissycloondarone looking towards tuamkilleelaun looking towards rathmorrissykilleelaun looking towards tuamthe kilmore roundaboutthat is it the m17 is now complete with 10 flyovers,1 footbridge,1 accommodation flyover at a cost of 260 million brilliant job to the guys at roadbridge/sisk it's been some journey the last 31 month's

BelfastVanMan

Your drone must have clocked up some air miles by now! :-D

glineli

Some journey for you too M17, thanks a million for the updates

m17

The m17 5kms form tuam let's hope we won't be driving at this speed come the 6th of Octoberaccess to the ponds

m17

It's a pity rathmorissy wasn't like this near Berlin

Roadfan

m17 wrote: »

It's a pity rathmorissy wasn't like this near Berlin

Vorsprung Durch tecknik as they say in Germany......

wotzgoingon

Any drone shot of Rathmorissy similar to that shot in Germany?

m17

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Any drone shot of Rathmorissy similar to that shot in Germany?

RATHMORRISSY 17/07/17

That German style cloverleaf would have fitted!

m17

The tuam bypass 28/08/17

Chris_5339762

Cloverleafs are awful because of weaving. I wouldn't want them here. Sure, I don't like Rathmorrisey anymore than others on here (3 level stacks are dreadful if they get busy), but cloverleafs are also bad.

Anything 'better' would have been very expensive.

Aontachtoir

m17 wrote: »

The tuam bypass 28/08/17

Only 100 or so kilometres of N17 left to upgrade then! :D

marno21

Aontachtoir wrote: »

Only 100 or so kilometres of N17 left to upgrade then! :D

Less than 100, I think the N4 approach to Sligo is ok for now

Claremorris - Knock will be a cheap upgrade, the other 80/85km will be the major stumbling block.

The Limerick-Sligo trip has seen some change since this time 20 years ago. Limerick itself, Shannon, Newmarket on Fergus, Clarecastle, Ennis, Barefield, Crusheen, Gort, Ardrahan, Labane, Kilcolgan, Clarinbridge, Oranmore, Claregalway, Tuam, Claremorris, Knock, Collooney, Ballisodare and Sligo itself all bypassed.

ELCAT2009

Just heard on 8am Galway Bay fm news that Sean Canney has announced that the official opening of the motorway will be 27th September!
Happy Days are not too far away !!! Here is the link: http://galwaybayfm.ie/gort-tuam-motorway-open-ahead-schedule-next-month/

sentient_6

Will be interesting to see the difference it makes to the traffic situation in tuam, claregalway, clarinbridge etc.

End of the M6 could turn even more chaotic in the mornings though, I imagine no forward thinking or planning has gone into that? Are they going to do anything with the Briarhill lights sequence for example?

A longer right turning lane is being built at Briarhill.

flazio

The sensible thing to do in my opinion is signpost exit 19 as the route to Parkmore and work the light sequences at Carnmore cross and the top of road into Parkmore in favour of traffic coming from that direction.

Benbecul97

m17 wrote: »

It's a pity rathmorissy wasn't like this near Berlin

Couldn't be having cloverleaf interchanges here - we like out roundabouts too much!:D

marno21

flazio wrote: »

The sensible thing to do in my opinion is signpost exit 19 as the route to Parkmore and work the light sequences at Carnmore cross and the top of road into Parkmore in favour of traffic coming from that direction.

This could be an idea (even unofficially as a way to avoid the traffic) as traffic will be reduced on the now detrunked N18

Benbecul97

ELCAT2009 wrote: »

Just heard on 8am Galway Bay fm news that Sean Canney has announced that the official opening of the motorway will be 27th September!
Happy Days are not too far away !!! Here is the link: http://galwaybayfm.ie/gort-tuam-motorway-open-ahead-schedule-next-month/

Fantastic news!! It will be open just in time for the All-Ireland Hurling/Football final replay on September 30th!!

@M17: you never told us this opening - you're slipping up!! I'm joking!!

Benbecul97

sentient_6 wrote: »

Will be interesting to see the difference it makes to the traffic situation in tuam, claregalway, clarinbridge etc.

End of the M6 could turn even more chaotic in the mornings though, I imagine no forward thinking or planning has gone into that? Are they going to do anything with the Briarhill lights sequence for example?

Will turn!

Benbecul97

flazio wrote: »

The sensible thing to do in my opinion is signpost exit 19 as the route to Parkmore and work the light sequences at Carnmore cross and the top of road into Parkmore in favour of traffic coming from that direction.

Are some existing M6 commuters going to Parkmore not already doing this?

m17

So another 28 days and this sign will be gone forever

sentient_6

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Will turn!

Ya, ultimately surely it's just moving a load a traffic faster towards a bottleneck at briarhill.

Sam Russell

m17 wrote: »

RATHMORRISSY 17/07/17

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Couldn't be having cloverleaf interchanges here - we like out roundabouts too much!:D

The Rathmorrissy roundabout performs the function of the cloverleaf. Every vehicle presenting at the roundabout is going 270 degrees around it. Meeting a vehicle coming onto the roundabout has to give way to one on the roundabout, but both know where the other is going - unlike a traditional roundabout.

On the cloverleaf, there are two strips of road where the leaves merge, and vehicles must cross over, with no priority saving the normal rules. The crossover distance is quite limited and is at a higher speed.

Given the lower traffic levels, the Rathmorrisey design wins in my book. The bridge costs on the cloverleaf looks higher, (twice the span and three times the width- to my eye) with the feeder roads about two to three times the length.

Rathmorrisey could have been made freeflow by a change in road marking and maybe wider lanes, better approach angles, on the roundabout.

joedomvince

Sept opening now on Connacht Tribine http://connachttribune.ie/gort-to-tuam-motorway-to-open-ahead-of-schedule-next-month-000/

m17

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Fantastic news!! It will be open just in time for the All-Ireland Hurling/Football final replay on September 30th!!

@M17: you never told us this opening - you're slipping up!! I'm joking!!

After 2 and half years of hard work a man is entitled to a morning off,I just hope that future road forums will be as good as this one

firemansam4

ELCAT2009 wrote:

Just heard on 8am Galway Bay fm news that Sean Canney has announced that the official opening of the motorway will be 27th September! Happy Days are not too far away !!! Here is the link:

Darn, down in Kerry for a break for a few days from Donegal, this would have made our 6 hour journey home a little shorter, looks like we will miss the opening by a few weeks!

m17

RATHMORRISSY 30/10/1509/08/17

sentient_6

sentient_6 wrote: »

End of the M6 could turn even more chaotic in the mornings though, I imagine no forward thinking or planning has gone into that?

Yeah, you'd think it would be a good spot for the starting point of an outer bypass of Galway city which could be used to disperse the traffic efficiently around the environs.