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

m17

All of the 50 sos phones on the m17 are gone live 25/09/17

joeKel73

yew_tree wrote: »

Anyone know the distance from Tuam to Dublin on the motorway?

199km from Tuam to the end of the M4

25km from Tuam to the M6, then 174km to the end of the M4. Add about 6km to get onto the M50.

marno21

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Huh?? Why would someone go all the way up to Tuam, pass J19, only to head back down the N83 to get to Claregalway??

That's exactly the point I'm trying to make

m17

yew_tree wrote: »

I agree...people in south Mayo will use Tuam to access Dublin via the new road. Many already do via Mountbellew or Oranmore. Personally I am only 18 mins drive to Tuam.

Anyone know the distance from Tuam to Dublin on the motorway?

It's 214kms form the kilmore roundabout to dublin

joeKel73

m17 wrote: »

It's 214kms form the kilmore roundabout to dublin

Where in Dublin do they measure to?

marno21

J o e wrote: »

Where in Dublin do they measure to?

The GPO

Kevwoody

J o e wrote: »

Where in Dublin do they measure to?

The GPO afaik

joeKel73

marno21 wrote: »

The GPO

Ah, yes that adds up. 25km to Rathmorrissy junction then 189km to GPO (Here maps).

tobdom

muddle84 wrote: »

A better option would be to improve the N5 up to Tulsk and improve the N61 from Tulsk to Athlone. Then you are diverting traffic from longford and onto a motorway all the way to Dublin.
From Google maps
Castlebar to Dublin via Longford: 234km, 2h59min
Castlebar to Dublin via Tulsk & Athlone: 251km 3h3min

and currently (pre Tuam bypass + M17 opening) Castlebar to Dublin via Tuam, Claregalway, M6 is 279km 3h16min - about 180km of this distance is motorway (bar the Athlone N-road which is still a dual-carriageway)

I think once the new roads open, you can likely knock maybe the 16 mins off that and I think even from around Castlebar it's worth (from a time/comfort perspective) going the M6 to avoid going through towns/villages where your potential for getting held up or meeting traffic backlogs are much greater. That'd be my opinion anyway.....

marno21

Remember as well that the N5 from Westport to Castlebar and Ballaghaderreen to east of Strokestown is being upgraded.

The only poor part that'll be left is between Termonbarry and Longford and the N4 which will likely be upgraded sooner rather than later.

tobdom

marno21 wrote: »

Remember as well that the N5 from Westport to Castlebar and Ballaghaderreen to east of Strokestown is being upgraded.

The only poor part that'll be left is between Termonbarry and Longford and the N4 which will likely be upgraded sooner rather than later.

Yea, but you're still looking at long distances of single-carriageway roads and in a lot of cases there are limited overtaking opportunities despite what would appear at 1st glance to be 'good roads'......

I say all of this as a previous frequent user of the N4/N5 (Achill <> Dublin) over many years and I certainly appreciated all of the incremental improvements that were made over those years, but as it stands, I would certainly be advocating the M17/M6 route from many parts Mayo once the new roads are open (this week!)

Benbecul97

This becomes an issue with the N83 in Tuam as Claregalway is signed for the N83, yet the best way to get to Claregalway is via the M17, especially when traffic coming northbound approaching Tuam could've used J19 on the M17 to access Claregalway instead of going all the way up to Tuam to head back down the N83.

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Huh?? Why would someone go all the way up to Tuam, pass J19, only to head back down the N83 to get to Claregalway??

marno21 wrote: »

That's exactly the point I'm trying to make

Ok, wasn't clear to me. Your earlier sentence was talking about 1) heading south from Tuam to Claregalway via N83 and 2) heading north from Rathmorrissy to Tuam via M17. Can't see an issue.

MayoSalmon

tobdom wrote: »

Yea, but you're still looking at long distances of single-carriageway roads and in a lot of cases there are limited overtaking opportunities despite what would appear at 1st glance to be 'good roads'......

I say all of this as a previous frequent user of the N4/N5 (Achill <> Dublin) over many years and I certainly appreciated all of the incremental improvements that were made over those years, but as it stands, I would certainly be advocating the M17/M6 route from many parts Mayo once the new roads are open (this week!)

For safety yes but for speed no. Castlebar and anywhere east of it will most likely still be reached faster travelling the N4/N5

muddle84

tobdom wrote: »

marno21 wrote: »

Remember as well that the N5 from Westport to Castlebar and Ballaghaderreen to east of Strokestown is being upgraded.

The only poor part that'll be left is between Termonbarry and Longford and the N4 which will likely be upgraded sooner rather than later.

Yea, but you're still looking at long distances of single-carriageway roads and in a lot of cases there are limited overtaking opportunities despite what would appear at 1st glance to be 'good roads'......

I say all of this as a previous frequent user of the N4/N5 (Achill <> Dublin) over many years and I certainly appreciated all of the incremental improvements that were made over those years, but as it stands, I would certainly be advocating the M17/M6 route from many parts Mayo once the new roads are open (this week!)

Travelled the same route myself twice a week for many years. The improvements made since 2001 when I started that travelling is immense.

dubhthach

muddle84 wrote: »

A better option would be to improve the N5 up to Tulsk and improve the N61 from Tulsk to Athlone. Then you are diverting traffic from longford and onto a motorway all the way to Dublin. 
From Google maps
Castlebar to Dublin via Longford: 234km, 2h59min
Castlebar to Dublin via Tulsk & Athlone: 251km 3h3min

The problem is that Mayo <-> Tulsk goes through the site of Cruachan Aí, thence the reason they want to use a total new alignment well north of the current road.

road_high

marno21 wrote: »

Remember as well that the N5 from Westport to Castlebar and Ballaghaderreen to east of Strokestown is being upgraded.

The only poor part that'll be left is between Termonbarry and Longford and the N4 which will likely be upgraded sooner rather than later.

I don't think so? Isn't this a good wide standard S2? Might need a bit of sprucing up with surface/signs but from memory its a good road.

Paddystix

Looking forward to this opening, wonder how much traffic it will take away from town. Does be a nightmare trying to get out of estate on the Galway road in the mornings with the constant flow of traffic.

plodder

whitey1 wrote: »

Regarding the usage on this road....I was listening to Midwest and the presenter claimed that a lot of people from Mayo would use this new route as a way to get to Dublin.  Some Mayo people were already using that route and hopping on the Motorway outside Galway. With the Tuam and Claregalway bottlenecks now gone from the equation I can see how that may be an attractive route. Any thoughts?

I find google maps to be pretty accurate in its time estimates. So, I did a comparison between the two routes, assuming the new Mway section from Athenry to Tuam is about 25km. It puts the new route a few minutes faster to Westport and a few minutes slower to Castlebar. So, pretty similar, but then at times you could get held up in places like Rathowen , Ballinalack on the old N4, and if you have the possibility to put cruise control on, then you might prefer the longer stretch of motorway anyway.

Personally, I tend to travel the route a fair bit, but at off peak times. So, I find the mway stretches pretty boring. I'd say I'll stick with the old route mostly.

Truckermal

I normally go to Sligo once a year and guess what I'm going tomorrow and will be hitting Oranmore during rush hour FML....

marno21

road_high wrote: »

I don't think so? Isn't this a good wide standard S2? Might need a bit of sprucing up with surface/signs but from memory its a good road.

Didn't realise it was that good. Just a bypass of Termonbarry required so, including a new crossing of the River Shannon.

marno21

Benbecul97 wrote: »

This becomes an issue with the N83 in Tuam as Claregalway is signed for the N83, yet the best way to get to Claregalway is via the M17, especially when traffic coming northbound approaching Tuam could've used J19 on the M17 to access Claregalway instead of going all the way up to Tuam to head back down the N83.





Ok, wasn't clear to me. Your earlier sentence was talking about 1) heading south from Tuam to Claregalway via N83 and 2) heading north from Rathmorrissy to Tuam via M17. Can't see an issue.

Claregalway should be signed ONLY via the M17 in Tuam, as it is the correct way to get there. If Claregalway is signed via the M17, the N83 becomes a useless national route as it serves 0 destinations.

This is the level of nonsense we have to deal with due to whingers in Galway County Council only moaning about the M17 because they get extra maintenance costs for these feeder routes to one off houses. The existing N17 has no national relevance after this new motorway opens and should be signed as such. The new motorway is designed to discourage traffic from the old N17 not encourage it.

m17

M6 junction 19 (18/12/09-24/09/17) eastbound25/09/17

youngblood

Would love to know the drive time from those going from Dublin to ennis?
What time savings can be made with this new road? etc

I wonder just how many tourists have been misled by those new signs pointing to a road that isn't yet open.

JCX BXC

youngblood wrote: »

Would love to know the drive time from those going from Dublin to ennis?
What time savings can be made with this new road? etc

Go via Limerick?

youngblood

JCX BXC wrote: »

Go via Limerick?

Shoulda said midlands!

Hespy

I've witnessed a few loops being made of the roundabouts at kiltiernan in the last few weeks. The black plastic wraps didn't hold up too well!

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I wonder just how many tourists have been misled by those new signs pointing to a road that isn't yet open.

Quackster

youngblood wrote: »

Would love to know the drive time from those going from Dublin to ennis?
What time savings can be made with this new road? etc

From the centre of Ennis to the centre of Dublin, the distance is almost exactly the same whether you choose to take the M6 or M7. Any time saving taking the M6 will be from reduced congestion, particularly during the M7 widening roadworks.

JupiterKid

marno21 wrote: »

Didn't realise it was that good. Just a bypass of Termonbarry required so, including a new crossing of the River Shannon.

I don't think a Termonbarry bypass is a big priority. It's not a bottleneck. And much of the N5 between Longford and Termonbarry was upgraded over 40 years ago when the village of Clondara was bypassed.

whitey1

tobdom wrote: »

muddle84 wrote: »

A better option would be to improve the N5 up to Tulsk and improve the N61 from Tulsk to Athlone. Then you are diverting traffic from longford and onto a motorway all the way to Dublin.
From Google maps
Castlebar to Dublin via Longford: 234km, 2h59min
Castlebar to Dublin via Tulsk & Athlone: 251km 3h3min

and currently (pre Tuam bypass + M17 opening) Castlebar to Dublin via Tuam, Claregalway, M6 is 279km 3h16min - about 180km of this distance is motorway (bar the Athlone N-road which is still a dual-carriageway)

I think once the new roads open, you can likely knock maybe the 16 mins off that and I think even from around Castlebar it's worth (from a time/comfort perspective) going the M6 to avoid going through towns/villages where your potential for getting held up or meeting traffic backlogs are much greater. That'd be my opinion anyway.....

This highway is being portrayed as some as a white elephant with detractors saying that there will be very low usership. I think it could get a large Mayo following as a new route to Dublin

From Castlebar to the new on-ramp in Tuam is about 40 mins (taking it real handy) and clear sailing all the way to Dublin from there on the Motorway. Even though it may seem like a wash, there are much fewer opportunities to get tied up going this new way, than there would be going up the N5 through Ballaghadereen and Strokestown.

So if we assume ny logic is sound, would it not make sense that any Mayo traveller who goes through Castlebar on the way to Dublin could benefit from this new route.....Louisburgh, Westport, Newport, Achill etc.

So apart from the time differentials between the various routes, there is also the convenience factor of travelling on the motorway...eg rest areas, service areas, lighting, emergency services.

Given the weather in the West of Ireland, I think there is a greater liklihood of delays travelling on the N5 on a wet day rather than going on the Motorway