N6 - Athlone Bypass Upgrade works

KevR

Tremelo wrote: »

Thanks for the pics Kev. Been a while since we had a few of those

I would taken a photo looking Westbound as well had I not been walking home from the train station (35 min walk) with a big heavy bag..

whyulittle

I'll get some.

whyulittle

Click through for larger images. J9 is there as well, not much to see there yet though.

J10, Looking West




J10, Looking East

whyulittle

And a crop of the work approaching J10.

That centre piece of tarmac appears to be the temporary crossover for the next contraflow.

flazio

Was it my imagination or was there ever any barriers between the rail over bridge and the Shannon bridge east bound on the left, it's only just struck me how easily a vehicle that has lost control could end up in a big river with very little hope of rescue.

Zubeneschamali

The barrier started a short distance back from the Shannon bridge. You could drive right off the embankment and fly into a field, but I don't think you could reach the river withough going through a barrier. Check out Google Street View here and here.

flazio

The stone fence in your first link has been removed entirely and the edge is now completely open as far as where the metal barrier starts in your second picture where they have replaced that with a stronger barrier. There is still a bit of potential for a nasty accident if a car falls off the carrigeway, and while the possibility of ending up in the drink is small enough, the field a car will fall into is prone to flooding in the winter so IMO any piece of raised carrigeway should have barriers on the sides to stop any out of control vehicles falling off over the edge regardless of what's over the edge.

veryangryman

Why arent traffic diverted onto J11 for the latest works. Only J9 is suffering here. I see the cops in keeping it flowing (which in fairness is working quite good sofar) but surely diverting those who dont know the local roads onto the Coosan roads would be overall better for all.

Say let eastbound traffic use J11, westbound J9?

whyulittle

For those of you who have travelled it, but never seen it!

This is the Athlone Bypass Bridge over the Shannon. As you can see in the second pic, there were road guys in working under it on the Roscommon side.

Zubeneschamali

veryangryman wrote: »

Why arent traffic diverted onto J11 for the latest works.

It is. 7 pm yesterday, there was a big electric sign diverting Eastbound "Athlone Town Centre" traffic off at J11, and sending them up through Arcadia to the Ballymahon road.

veryangryman

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

It is. 7 pm yesterday, there was a big electric sign diverting Eastbound "Athlone Town Centre" traffic off at J11, and sending them up through Arcadia to the Ballymahon road.

Yeah i spotted that this morning. Who says my good ideas dont go un-noticed.

Lets see how it all unfolds Friday.

Alot of eejits this morning in lane 1 queing about 2 miles short of where the 1 lane merge is. i felt like a king as i cruised past them all and jumped in at the bridge

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

Yeah i spotted that this morning. Who says my good ideas dont go un-noticed.

Lets see how it all unfolds Friday.

Alot of eejits this morning in lane 1 queing about 2 miles short of where the 1 lane merge is. i felt like a king as i cruised past them all and jumped in at the bridge

Some people will never understand the logic of zip merging, even if you advertised it.

whyulittle

I just noticed there today that they have removed the big 50 km/h signs from J8, and moved them further along to J9.

So you can now do 100 km/h along a section where there is no work going on.

hmmmmm....sensible......

veryangryman

whyulittle wrote: »

I just noticed there today that they have removed the big 50 km/h signs from J8, and moved them further along to J9.

So you can now do 100 km/h along a section where there is no work going on.

hmmmmm....sensible......

Was anyone really taking that seriously? Been doing ~100 on most sections where there is not a car in front of me.

Without enforcement, why bother wasting precious seconds of your life on meaningless limits.

I say this as one of 99% of people who do similar. The only time we slow down is for tractor drivers and/or Grannies in front

ardmacha

Without enforcement, why bother wasting precious seconds of your life on meaningless limits.

You are a banker, perhaps.

Oh_Noes

Could someone sum up exactly what the situation is now? I've had a week off and have to get back on it tomorrow. Been avoiding it like to the plague for just runs around town and the like.

Also, I hate to be a pain I'd be grateful for a summary of what the junctions are called (J8, J13 etc) I live in the town so have always just had informal names for them. Cheers.

whyulittle

J8 is Kilmartins
J9 is Garrycastle
J10 is Ballymahon Road
J11 is Coosan / B&Q
J12 is Roscommon Road
J13 is Monksland / Elan

Everything is open at the minute, bar:

Eastbound on-ramp at Coosan / B&Q, and eastbound off-ramp at the Ballymahon Road.

Jimbojimbo

Does anyone know of a sensible bypass route to avoid the N6 roadworks going from Dublin to Galway. I don't mind skirting around the town, if the delays can be avoided.

Jimbojimbo

Jimbojimbo wrote: »

Does anyone know of a sensible bypass route to avoid the N6 roadworks going from Dublin to Galway. I don't mind skirting around the town, if the delays can be avoided.

Not really, the congestion is only for peak periods, just been through a few minutes ago and no delays at all.

To avoid that section of road would involve going a very long way off route the next river crossings are about 20 miles away.

Jimbojimbo

I travel at peak times, thru Atlone at c5.30-6.00 pm. Are none of the bypasses, even tho 20 miles, worth doing?

EAFC_rdfl

Jimbojimbo wrote: »

I travel at peak times, thru Atlone at c5.30-6.00 pm. Are none of the bypasses, even tho 20 miles, worth doing?

this is the only route that would maybe give comparable journey time if the delay at athlone is about 20minutes. not the greatest roads in the world though
moate - ballinasloe via shannonbridge

KevR

Junction 10 [Sunday, 17/04/2011]

Click thumbnails for full size images

Looking East:


Looking West:

veryangryman

Jimbojimbo wrote: »

Does anyone know of a sensible bypass route to avoid the N6 roadworks going from Dublin to Galway. I don't mind skirting around the town, if the delays can be avoided.

When will you people learn...

The delay will be 10 minutes at most at rush hour. There is NO, i repeat NO faster route. Next time you drive and see that central barrier on the M4/M6/N6, remember that it is there so that you can drive fast. The roadworks are for ~2KM. Even on a Friday, its not worth avoiding them. Time this if you dont believe me.

These DCs cost alot of your and my money and are fantastic quality - you really should use them - get your moneys worth.

Harrocks

Quick ? Can you exit onto the n55 cavan road coming from tullamore direction towards athlone on the n6 bypass or is it closed on this side.

Harrocks

Harrocks wrote: »

Quick ? Can you exit onto the n55 cavan road coming from tullamore direction towards athlone on the n6 bypass or is it closed on this side.

Westbound that junction is open.

But the missus just had to do the loop to Roscommon as the Monklands exit is closed for some unexpected reason... she was :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

whyulittle

They've been digging some little trenches across on the westbound carraigeway. On-ramp at the Cova was closed the other night too.

whyulittle

I noticed there tonight that the J10 off-ramp is back open, and no contra-flow in operation. The last update had it re-opening on the 29th.

The VMS at the J10 on-ramp says that is closing for two weeks only from the 28th. When passing around Garrycaslte yesterday or today, it looked like they have the next contra-flow area paved and ready to go.

formerly scottish paddy

Does anyone know if this section of the N6 is to be reclassed as motorway when the upgrade work is finished?

formerly scottish paddy

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Does anyone know if this section of the N6 is to be reclassed as motorway when the upgrade work is finished?

No, it will remain an "N" road, there are no suitable alternative routes for non-motorway traffic.