Waterford Bridge open day

Dilbert75

From the way that news of the "open day" today was being discussed as fact in my workplace in Wexford this week, I'll be amazed if there aren't at least a couple of thousand people converging on the access roads today, expecting access. Security will have to be plentiful and prepared for it.

Psychedelic

National media today:

RTE
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1019/waterford.html
Indo
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bridge-bypasses-troubled-waters-1917571.html
Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1019/breaking4.htm
Examiner
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/waterford-bridge-to-open-months-ahead-of-schedule-430744.html

mike65

Hopefully the 9 pm news will show Damien getting lit up in the drizzle

jo06555

Looks like small distance across from pictures , i was expecting real long bridge , by looks of pics we wont even see water when driving over ANY idea when the M9 gonna be finished ,that im looking forward to , what will it be 1hr 40m to dublin???

road_high

jo06555 wrote: »

Looks like small distance across from pictures , i was expecting real long bridge , by looks of pics we wont even see water when driving over ANY idea when the M9 gonna be finished ,that im looking forward to , what will it be 1hr 40m to dublin???

2 stretches are pretty much imminent really;
Kilcullen-Carlow; there's a 10k charity run 7th November on this, but some poster on the Infrastructure forum indicating a date of 15th December. Hopefully it won't drag on that long

Danefort (outside Kilkenny)-Waterford due to open mid-Decmber also.

Danesfort-Carlow then is well advanced and should be open by Summer 2010.

With the whole M9 finished I'd say an hour and 25-30 mins perhaps is very realistic. All motorway non-stop (to Naas anyhow) at a constant 120 kmh it would be attainable. Bit of a change from waht has gone before on the N9

shapez

Might be of interest :rolleyes:

The toll charges are detailed below:

CLASS OF VEHICLE TOLL CHARGE
Motor Cycles € 1.00
Motor Cars € 1.90
Buses or Coaches € 3.40
Goods Vehicles not ex. 3,500 kgs € 3.40
Goods Vehicles ex. 3,500 kgs & having 2 or 3 axles € 4.80
Goods Vehicles ex. 3,500 kgs & 4 or more axles € 6.10

Asmodean

The as yet unnamed bridge is the longest in the State.

Waterford FTW

fabbydabby

They should have a competition to name it, like they did with that navy boat a few years back. The L.E. Megatron was my entry for that, but sadly it wasn't picked.

How about the Megatron Bridge?

wellbutty

I've posted some photos of today at the following links:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62602447&postcount=304
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62602485&postcount=305
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62602553&postcount=306

mikeym

Will the truckers use the bypass?

I reckon they shouldnt have to pay to use it and if they didnt it would take a lot of the trucks out of the city.

Poochie05

I drove from Cork to Wexford today but sadly the bridge was not open yet so I didn't get to try it yet. Was that what the masses of people queuing outside the Granville Hotel were waiting for? Judging by the crowd, I'd say they won't all get to see it before 5 pm.

thirtypence

is the tolling electronic or is there actual toll booths?

Stan Nangle

thirtypence wrote: »

is the tolling electronic or is there actual toll booths?

Both.

Black Dog

Traffic is now running smoothly it seems and has been for about an hour or so, since 6p.m. or thereabout.

Tolling is both electronic and cash.

Psychedelic

mikeym wrote: »

Will the truckers use the bypass?

I reckon they shouldnt have to pay to use it and if they didnt it would take a lot of the trucks out of the city.

Well the idea is that truckers will use the bypass. The toll charge won't come out of their pockets and taking the bridge will usually mean a reduction in their journey time and the distance they travel, which would also mean they spend less money on petrol/diesel.

Black Dog

The numbers visiting the bridge today were absolutely extraordinary and I was told that the queues on the Quay for the bus service to the bridge were huge.

JohnC.

Black Dog wrote: »

The numbers visiting the bridge today were absolutely extraordinary and I was told that the queues on the Quay for the bus service to the bridge were huge.

Sure was. I joined the queue at about 3:05 and 65 minutes later finally boarded a bus.

Unfortunately, I didn't being my camera when going to work this morning, so I only had my phone camera. But I still uploaded them here. Not great quality and it was quite dull when I was there.

jrd

Is the bridge lit up at night like the Drogheda Boyne bridge? The blue lighting on the Boyne Bridge really makes it spectacular looking .... this photo was the bridge from the brothers house a while back. Will take a few at the weekend.

Cabaal

I'd say it'll be lit up by I doubt they'll use nice blue lights

JohnC.

There was white lighting on it this morning.

Wilde_37

I drove it tonight - it is very impressive. I drove from Slieverue to Kilmeaden and it certainly will take a long time off the journey. The bridge was lit up as I approached and it looked spectacular. however, later I went into the city and went down by the brewery to have a look at the bridge and the lighting was very understated. In fact if you didn't know it was the bridge you would almost miss it. I expected that the cables themselves would show in the light. It might have been the weather or maybe they don't have it fully lit. But I would hope that from the city it would really stand out.

There were lots of cars on the route tonight and most were just going from one end to the other. I left at each of the exits to see how the supply roads were laid out. The roundabout at Kilmeaden, where it all ends, came up very fast and thankfully I was expecting it. I might have missed the signs telling me I was coming to the end of the duel carriageway - if they were there. At the other end I was surprised that there didn't appear to be any sign for Waterford. Belview, New Ross and Rosslare were all posted. The junction at Grannagh was impressive but there are lots of roundabouts and it will take a while to get used to the junctions.

Of course some people are still trying to get used to the idea of a roundabout anywhere. One person in front of me took a wrong turn on the roundabout and started to enter the slip road on to the new road - then thought better of it and reversed back at me and continued around the roundabout. I made allowances for the first day!!!

On the way back through the toll plaze the second time - I decided to use the express lane - as I have a tag. I expected to have to slow down a lot but long before I got to the barrier the light went green and the barrier raised. Nice.

Can't wait until the M9 joins it.

Junior

Drove it this morning from kilmeaden, couple of things that struck me, speed limit is only 100kmh, no cyclists allowed and why did we go for barriers on this day and age.

jimbojazz

Drove it myself last night and very impressed.

A couple of points though:-

Was a bit disappointed with the bridge lighting as another poster said very understated compared with Boyne Bridge.

The lighting coming to the slip roads is not great

Also saw several people misjudge the actual slip roads themselves - myself included at the exit for the Dublin road - almost took this instead of going straight on i.e. the slip seems a bit far out on the road (if that makes sense)

Just a few points but overall a lovely drive

merlante

Went for a drive on it last night around 10:30pm. Took me ages to actually find the road, having headed out the Dublin road and nearly ending up in Kilmacow, but hey it was dark! The road was going over my head everywhere but I couldn't find how to get onto it.

Anyway, it's a great stretch of road to drive on, plenty of twists and turns and dips, which I wasn't expecting, but quality-wise a perfect road. In the dark I found it difficult to find the slip roads, as another poster said, and in particular I didn't see the lane disappear coming onto the bridge from the north side until the last minute, which was slightly worrying. It was dead late last night, with only one toll booth open. I went from Ferrybank, over the bridge, turned off at the exit for Waterford on the western link, turned back and went out to the Cork end of the dual-carriageway and then came back in to Waterford via the Western link. I was overawed by the whole experience to be honest. Very hard to believe that such a magnificent piece of infrastructure has been built around Waterford. Makes the ORR look mickey mouse in comparison. You'd wonder how such things can be built around a city while nothing like the same level of investment is occurring within the city itself. How we can have such fantastic road infrastructure costing half a billion but we can't manage to get the WIT upgraded, the WRH A&E upgraded, the Newgate shopping centre built, the north quays rejuvinated, and so on. Fantastic to see though and I'm not complaining one bit!

On another note, I drive to work from the Quay, out the Bilberry rd, then the Carrickpherish and Old Kilmeaden roads, by the western link. This is/was a common route for trucks going to Cork/industrial estate so I can see straight away if the bypass is being used or not. Today, I was behind 3 trucks on that route that had come from Ferrybank over Rice bridge and were ahead of me until the old Kilmeaden rd. roundabout on the ORR. Two of these truck took a left, towards Cork and the old N25, whilst (incredibly if you forget the 6 euro charge) the other truck swung a right along the western link towards the bypass. So all three we more than likely bound for Cork but none of them used the bypass -- except the third truck, which used the bypass beyond the toll point, and was willing to do N9, Rice bridge, Bilberry rd., Carrickpherish rd., Old Kilmeaden rd. and western link rather than pay the 6 euro by going directly onto the bypass at Ferrybank.

So unless, the (old) Cork rd., Bridge st. and Bilberry rd. (very popular with trucks!) are closed off to HGVs, then I'm not sure how many of them will use the bypass when they have to pay the 6 euro.

Shazforgrub

yeah the lighting was pretty impressive this morning, its a fantastic structure, my only problem is having to go all the way in to the new (I think its the Redbridge roundabout?) roundabout just to come back again and head up the N9. I drive up and down to Carlow everyday and I usually cross the Suir in town in the morning and in Fiddown in the evening, and I think I'll be sticking to that for the time being, its definatly not worth 20 quid a week for the measly 5-10 minutes a day I'll save.

Cabaal

I normally take the old Kilmeaden road from the IDA but decided to atleast go onto some of the new road as far as Kilmeaden this evening.

Not much faster but its nice to be able to atleast have the chance to pass out idiots who normally do 40km on the old Kilmeaden road. Also nice not to have to dodge 16,000 pot holes

risingsuns

Took a spin on it last night, was well impressed. Agree re the lighting tho, it could be better okay.

Trick of the Tail

So, aside from the silly 'Cat Flap' moniker, any suggestions for a name for the bridge?

I vote for The Viking Bridge, in deference to the Viking settlement discovered during its construction.

A.

Asmodean

Hmm I like that, has a nice ring to it.

mike65

It'll end up having some bland name that is not location specific lest the Burghers of Kilkenny town be offended