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

from_atozinc

kinda off topic, heading to Donegal tomorrow from Athenry.

North of Tuam, and to Shammer, what is the better quality road, n 17 or n 83 ?

Middle Man

from_atozinc wrote: »

kinda off topic, heading to Donegal tomorrow from Athenry.

North of Tuam, and to Shammer, what is the better quality road, n 17 or n 83 ?

N17 by far I'd say (Claremorris and Knock are bypassed) - N83 via Ballyhaunis is shorter though.

godskitchen

Wow, that drive on the wrong carriageway.....

I seem to recall a couple of weeks ago some debate in here over the need for the "Turn back now" type signs.

I guess we need more?

Middle Man

godskitchen wrote: »

Wow, that drive on the wrong carriageway.....

I seem to recall a couple of weeks ago some debate in here over the need for the "Turn back now" type signs.

I guess we need more?

...more revoked driver licenses you mean!

Roadfan

godskitchen wrote: »

Wow, that drive on the wrong carriageway.....

I seem to recall a couple of weeks ago some debate in here over the need for the "Turn back now" type signs.

I guess we need more?

Damn right we do. I'm taking we actually have such signs on that project? If we don't think I'll be putting off my maiden voyage for a while

Muahahaha

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Did I see someone driving the wrong way?

It was probably former Fianna Fail TD Jim McDaid giving the road a try out

Butter

m17 wrote: »

close call on the tuam bypass near the ballygaddy road flyoverhttps://youtu.be/8lczoQQeMcQ

I don't believe it. I drove on it for the first time today and remember thinking ''I wounder how long before someone drives on the wrong side of the road on the new rural dual carriageway''.

Well that's my answer! A day.

Butter

godskitchen wrote: »

Wow, that drive on the wrong carriageway.....

I seem to recall a couple of weeks ago some debate in here over the need for the "Turn back now" type signs.

I guess we need more?

''Turn back now to the nearest Garda station and surrender your licence'' signs would be more appropriate.

Roadfan

Butter wrote: »

I don't believe it. I drove on it for the first time today and remember thinking ''I wounder how long before someone drives on the wrong side of the road on the new rural dual carriageway''.

Well that's my answer! A day.

Yes and as you say rural. It has happened before on another road with fatal consequences. Elderly person turning around on road and travelling until colliding with artic I think. Car in that video seemed to be going at a fair clip though so wouldnt think driver was that old. Dont know where that leaves us though. The driver in the video can't have remained blissfully unaware of what he or she was doing unless assumed oncoming traffic was flashing just to say hello. If he or she has learned a lesson are there others out there who haven't? As I said relevant authorities should be made aware of this.

java

marno21 wrote: »

Yep, someone going northbound on the southbound carriageway.

I saw the same thing earlier Wed afternoon, shortly after it opened. We were going south, they came towards us and turned into Ballygaddy junction. Still can't figure out how they managed to be on the wrong side. I thought maybe it was a Direct Route staff. Scary!

java

I just want to add to the chorus of thanks. It has been an amazing thread to follow. Thanks M17 and everyone who contributed to the build progress.

I had the pleasure of my first (of many!) Tuam to Dublin motorway drive last night. Looking forward to the journey in daylight!

m17

The start of the tuam bypass 30/09/17

TheBigGreen

Will be driving from Cork to Galway this evening, wonderful!

G1032

m17 wrote: »

The start of the tuam bypass 30/09/17

That's tomorrow

Mr Velo

m17 wrote: »

The start of the tuam bypass 30/09/17

You travelling in that Delorean again M17?

Roadfan

Mr Velo wrote: »

You travelling in that Delorean again M17?

Can I borrow the De Lorean? Want to see at what time tomorrow someone will be driving the wrong way

m17

The m17 at sheeaunpark 30/01/1730/09/17

Garfin

flazio wrote: »

On my way to work this morning at 6:45 am from the end of the N6 to the Briarhill junction I didn't notice any extra traffic. I head for Mervue while others are turning for Parkmore. Perhaps the extension to the right filter lane could be the reason. Tried the new road by turning south to Gort then driving the whole way up to Tuam.
Firstly, that turn off from the roundabout to the M18 is sharp.
Secondly looks like a truck must have missed the Garda only sign for what I presume is a specially designed check point lay-by going north bound on the M18 as the barrier into the lay-by is already mangled. Overall nice road, well built but I would have to agree that a bit of street lighting around the roundabout would aid navigation for those coming off red eye flights from Shannon.

This is off the Irish Rigs Facebook page:

Just a note about the so called M17 Gort to Tuam motorway I was on it this morning.. there is nowhere to stop as in lay-bys what's new there says you.. there is 2 large Lay-bys for the RSA one in each direction with barriers across them painted white and kinda red and totally invisible.. and when I was coming back down this morning a Van had ploughed into the barrier taking the bonnet clean off the van and the poor man could have taken his head off .. he was naturally doing about 100 km when he hit the barrier.. the NRA would want to be waking up to this sort of safety crap 💩 that we all have to put up with.. the motorway only opened yesterday and I was on it at 630 this morning and I could see that this was going to happen.. why is it that these so called road engineering experts can't see this ..

Roadfan

java wrote: »

I saw the same thing earlier Wed afternoon, shortly after it opened. We were going south, they came towards us and turned into Ballygaddy junction. Still can't figure out how they managed to be on the wrong side. I thought maybe it was a Direct Route staff. Scary!

To save anyone else the bother just to say I've been on to TII. Emailed them following a phone call. At least they know now if they didn't already. Maybe someone in the general vicinity might mention to Gardai in Tuam

Kevwoody

Roadfan wrote: »

To save anyone else the bother just to say I've been on to TII. Emailed them following a phone call. At least they know now if they didn't already. Maybe someone in the general vicinity might mention to Gardai in Tuam

I was passing on of the exits on the M18 section yesterday heading north, and at the bottom of the slip road a car was actually stopped with their indicator on to join the motorway. It was an elderly couple probably out to see the new road. I slowed down because there was a car hurtling down the ramp towards them at 100kph + that actually had to stop behind them!
It's scary thinking that some drivers on new motorways simply don't understand how they work, you could have 50 signs saying Turn Back and they still wouldn't cop on.

Kevwoody

Garfin wrote: »

This is off the Irish Rigs Facebook page:

Just a note about the so called M17 Gort to Tuam motorway I was on it this morning.. there is nowhere to stop as in lay-bys what's new there says you.. there is 2 large Lay-bys for the RSA one in each direction with barriers across them painted white and kinda red and totally invisible.. and when I was coming back down this morning a Van had ploughed into the barrier taking the bonnet clean off the van and the poor man could have taken his head off .. he was naturally doing about 100 km when he hit the barrier.. the NRA would want to be waking up to this sort of safety crap 💩 that we all have to put up with.. the motorway only opened yesterday and I was on it at 630 this morning and I could see that this was going to happen.. why is it that these so called road engineering experts can't see this ..

Realistically how often do the Gardai and RSA use those lay-bys?
They should be open 24/7 and if the Gardai need them, motorway maintenance services should be putting up a few temporary work signs while it's being used.

Roadfan

Kevwoody wrote: »

I was passing on of the exits on the M18 section yesterday heading north, and at the bottom of the slip road a car was actually stopped with their indicator on to join the motorway. It was an elderly couple probably out to see the new road. I slowed down because there was a car hurtling down the ramp towards them at 100kph + that actually had to stop behind them!
It's scary thinking that some drivers on new motorways simply don't understand how they work, you could have 50 signs saying Turn Back and they still wouldn't cop on.

No harm to make everyone aware of each incident. In case anyone wants to contact TII direct email is info@mtcc.ie

godskitchen

If the reported problems are true, heads need to roll.

This is basic, basic stuff. We have been building roads for a long time, surely by now they should know "if it can happen, it will happen".

Spiller78

Kevwoody wrote: »

Realistically how often do the Gardai and RSA use those lay-bys?
They should be open 24/7 and if the Gardai need them, motorway maintenance services should be putting up a few temporary work signs while it's being used.

I saw that man at about 9:30 yesterday. Bonnett clean off the van and barrier in the verge. The poor fella must have got an awful fright. The Gardai inforcement area / lay-by on the Tuam side now has a few extra cones in front of it. That should sort it.😠

km79

Firstly
Thanks to the main contributors for all the photos on this brilliant thread
Been watching it for over a year and it was fantastic

Now for a question
How long before this road is added to google maps and is there anyway to contact them to speed it up

Kevwoody

Spiller78 wrote: »

I saw that man at about 9:30 yesterday. Bonnett clean off the van and barrier in the verge. The poor fella must have got an awful fright. The Gardai inforcement area / lay-by on the Tuam side now has a few extra cones in front of it. That should sort it.😠

He has to take the blame also, I passed the lay by yesterday and it's not as if the barrier is invisible. Poor reaction imo.

mrmanire

Kevwoody wrote: »

Spiller78 wrote: »

I saw that man at about 9:30 yesterday. Bonnett clean off the van and barrier in the verge.  The poor fella must have got an awful fright. The Gardai inforcement area / lay-by on the Tuam side now has a few extra cones in front of it. That should sort it.😠

He has to take the blame also, I passed the lay by yesterday and it's not as if the barrier is invisible. Poor reaction imo.

It's an unfortunate accident but I definitely think the driver here is to blame. You should be reducing speed markedly when pulling into one of those laybyes and should assume nothing when on the road. It's not as if the RSA laybyes are uncommon on the motorway network either. Sounds like he was very lucky. 
The amount of stupidity you notice on the roads never ceases to amaze me. I met a cyclist cycling up the ramp towards me when joining the M50 one day.

sw64

Apple maps has Tuam Bypass on it now but not the motorways.

joeKel73

km79 wrote: »

Now for a question
How long before this road is added to google maps and is there anyway to contact them to speed it up

They seem to take anywhere from days to months.

There is a feedback link in the bottom right of the web maps where you can report a missing road. I reported it yesterday but I'm sure they're aware it exists! They'll probably use user location data to do most of the mapping so they'll be collecting that now.

Pete_Cavan

From the sounds of it, I'd say the driver spotted the lay by and thought I'll stop there for whatever reason, just veered off the road and into the barrier, probably didn't have much time to slow down. We shouldn't be encouraging people to pull off a motorway at a whim, just provide proper MSAs with adequate signposting. There should be no need to stop on a motorway anyway, people should be planning their journey. We really need to up our driving standards, particularly in relation to motorways.