N25/N30 - New Ross Bypass [open to traffic]

Hibernicis

NedNew2 wrote: »

There were (and still are) two railway bridges over the old Ross-Waterford road at acute angles. There was chaos and lengthy delays whenever a lorry met another at these bridges.

I used to drive that road regularly on the my way from Cork to Dublin (to avoid Naas, Newbridge, Monastrevin, Portlaoise Fermoy, Mitchelstown, and all the other bottlenecks on the old N7). I well remember the standoffs under one of those bridges, seeing one artic having to give way to another, then plead with the drivers behind him to back up enough to allow him to reverse sufficiently to allow the oncoming artic to proceed. It was the kind of thing you expected to read about the following Wednesday in the local weekly rag. This was actually going through my head yesterday as I walked over the bridge and looked down on the Pink Rock road.

A different era.

Hibernicis

gman2k wrote: »

I heard some of the volunteer marshalls were allowed to drive across the bridge after the event yesterday.

According to the announcer on the tannoy, one of the groups providing marshals was the Wexford Sports and Classic Car Club - They had a few of their cars lined up near the starting line. More power to them if they did get the chance to drive the route, it was well deserved. They were on site for four or five hours and spent a lot of it standing still on a pretty cold day. And they were cheerful and pleasant throughout.

Hibernicis

alta stare wrote: »

Yeah it is narrow alright it was the first thing i noticed when i got on it. I did not walk the rest of the road only the bridge, is the rest of the road that narrow aswell?

No. There are hard shoulders, though these are of variable/inconsistent width.

josip

Hibernicis wrote: »

I used to drive that road regularly on the my way from Cork to Dublin (to avoid Naas, Newbridge, Monastrevin, Portlaoise Fermoy, Mitchelstown, and all the other bottlenecks on the old N7). I well remember the standoffs under one of those bridges, seeing one artic having to give way to another, then plead with the drivers behind him to back up enough to allow him to reverse sufficiently to allow the oncoming artic to proceed. It was the kind of thing you expected to read about the following Wednesday in the local weekly rag. This was actually going through my head yesterday as I walked over the bridge and looked down on the Pink Rock road.

A different era.

The two bridges were Annaghs Bridge and what I always knew as The County Road Bridge. I think others might have called it the Ballyverneen Bridge. Of the two, the County Road Bridge was the worst for lorry drivers because from both sides they had to sweep before they could see through. Whereas Annaghs Bridge it was straightish in from one side and one lorry could see and wait.

In between the 2 bridges you had the hamburger lady in a "lay by" by the Pink Rock. She was an enterprising German woman who lived directly across on the other side of the river and she'd drive a caravan via Ross every day to serve burgers to motorists. In those days the river used to come all the way into the road and was even more scenic than it is today.

The shipping channel was also beside the road on that side of the river. That was before the Dutch came along and straightened the river, as the Dutch are wont to do.

But not before the Celtic Linen van went off the road one icy morning where the new bridge is now and down the sheer bank. Saved by a few strong trees that held the van before it got to the water.

road_high

Those railway bridges remind a lot of the ones on the old N9 between Ballyhale and Mullinavat but even narrower. Another desperate stretch of road in Co. Kilkenny now thankfully bypassed. I don't think a modern Arctic would physically fit under that second one. Which must have been a nightmare for foreign trucks especially that may not have been familiar with this "national" road! And this went on until the early 90s? Dear God!

josip

The port of Ross was used by a lot of car manufacturers back in the 80s for landing their cars. There was a long running strike in Waterford port so New Ross was a convenient alternative.

The car transports couldn't fit under those bridges so they used to have to go up around the back of Albatros and head on towards Glenmore that way.

Anyone who wants to, can Google Street map it to see what it was like.






Unlike the road around the Pink Rock, it's as wide now as it was then.

alta stare

josip wrote: »

The two bridges were Annaghs Bridge and what I always knew as The County Road Bridge. I think others might have called it the Ballyverneen Bridge. Of the two, the County Road Bridge was the worst for lorry drivers because from both sides they had to sweep before they could see through. Whereas Annaghs Bridge it was straightish in from one side and one lorry could see and wait.

In between the 2 bridges you had the hamburger lady in a "lay by" by the Pink Rock. She was an enterprising German woman who lived directly across on the other side of the river and she'd drive a caravan via Ross every day to serve burgers to motorists. In those days the river used to come all the way into the road and was even more scenic than it is today.

The shipping channel was also beside the road on that side of the river. That was before the Dutch came along and straightened the river, as the Dutch are wont to do.

But not before the Celtic Linen van went off the road one icy morning where the new bridge is now and down the sheer bank. Saved by a few strong trees that held the van before it got to the water.

These old stories about how it was are great to read. Glad it isnt like that anymore though

BowWow

MichealD wrote: »

Slightly off topic but the new overpass bridge in the centre of this photo is to facilitate the New Ross to Waterford city greenway (The Kilkenny Greenway) project currently under construction. Its a 24km route along the old railway line.

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

BelfastVanMan

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

I was genuinely wondering this, myself..

bodun

josip wrote: »

Aye, ever since the monks cursed the town.

Yea, the curse was apparently that the river would take 3 people a year and many years it did just that unfortunately. Can't wait to get down home again for a spin across the bridge. We did a lot of galavanting and divilment around the pink rock when younger, little did we know that this would ever happen!

Tigerbaby

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

Well, it did back in the late 60's when I went to Knock on the pilgrimage train !

Also remember visiting Annaghs Castle as a child on our bikes. And the "mile tunnel" rite of passage.

FishOnABike

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

Tigerbaby wrote: »

Well, it did back in the late 60's when I went to Knock on the pilgrimage train !

Also remember visiting Annaghs Castle as a child on our bikes. And the "mile tunnel" rite of passage.

Time travel?

Tigerbaby

I was referencing the old railway bridges on the old N25.
Totally missed the "new bridge" post.

apologies.

Cookiemunster

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt it. Railway lines like straight lines and low gradients. This bridge has neither. Nor does it have the space to accommodate both rail and motor vehicles.

blackwhite

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

It's extremely unlikely for the line to ever be re-instated so unlikely that the question of it carrying a train was even considered.

Even if it was considered at the planning stage, the increased costs of having a bridge to railway standard would have been difficult to justify in the plans - given the low probability of it ever actually being needed.

BowWow

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt it. Railway lines like straight lines and low gradients. This bridge has neither. Nor does it have the space to accommodate both rail and motor vehicles.

We're not talking about the river bridge, but the greenway bridge across the access road to the river bridge. Post 2312.

Pictures here - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112294727&postcount=2281

josip

With all due respect, we're more likely to colonise Mars than reopen the New Ross railway line as a rail line
There is zero business case for it that I can think of.
Albatross kept it open for the last 15-20 years of its existence.

BowWow

josip wrote: »

we're more likely to colonise Mars than reopen the railway line as a rail line

Isn't that what they said about Phase 1 of the western rail corridor?

josip

BowWow wrote: »

Isn't that what they said about Phase 1 of the western rail corridor?

The only thing that ex goods line had in common with the Western Rail corridor, was that it terminated in "Little Limerick" as New Ross was referred to by some at the time.

loyatemu

From the scheme website:

Around 29 structures including:

The landmark River Barrow crossing will connect Pink Point in County Kilkenny and Stokestown in County Wexford. This Extrados type bridge, at 900m, will be the longest bridge in Ireland and the longest bridge of this type in the world.
3 local road overbridges, one at Camlin, one at Arnestown and one at Lacken
A railway overbridge at Ballyverneen, where the bypass intersects with a closed railway line
Seven local road under bridges, one at Ballyverneen, one at Stokestown, one over the R733 in Landscape (part of the grade separated junction), one at Creakan upper, 1 at Ballymacar and 2 at Lacken.
3 Retaining Wall structures adjacent to the LS-7513 Ballyverneen and the R733 at Camlin
And other minor structures such as 13 accommodation underpasses, structural and non-structural culverts, sign gantries and environmental barriers

this would seem to imply that it is a railway bridge. Irish Rail tend to guard the integrity of their lines, even if they're disused (at least from 3rd parties, not so much from their own indifference). I think the New Ross branch is still classed as an engineering siding, even though it's been impassible for 20+ years. Didn't the M17 include structures for the Tuam railway, which has been out of action for a similar period of time.

m17

The barrow crossing 28/01/20 (pic fb)

47 hours 43 mins 37 secs to opening

Hibernicis

BowWow wrote: »

Is that new bridge able to take the weight of a train? If the railway was ever to be re-instated. Genuine question.

The “Railway”bridge from the Glenmore roundabout side on Sunday last.

I’m not qualified to say if it would take the weight of a train, but it certainly appears to be a lot more substantial than most other pedestrian/cycle over bridges I’ve seen. 

Chris_5339762

alta stare wrote: »

These old stories about how it was are great to read. Glad it isnt like that anymore though

This is another classic, slightly off topic.


Before the Conwy tunnel was built on the Holyhead to Wales/England road, the town of Conwy was one of the worst bottlenecks, even with its one way system.


Yes, artics went through this.


https://goo.gl/maps/9YH9S55CMKyTUHZu7


https://goo.gl/maps/8xRgAi8aQ1JQwNCG8

alta stare

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

This is another classic, slightly off topic.


Before the Conwy tunnel was built on the Holyhead to Wales/England road, the town of Conwy was one of the worst bottlenecks, even with its one way system.


Yes, artics went through this.


https://goo.gl/maps/9YH9S55CMKyTUHZu7


https://goo.gl/maps/8xRgAi8aQ1JQwNCG8

That's tight alright

kravmaga

So its only 24 hrs or so from the opening, I presume Shane Roass will cut the ribbon or will it be local TD's from the area.

Looks like a very impressive piece of infrastructure

gman2k

kravmaga wrote:

So its only 24 hrs or so from the opening, I presume Shane Roass will cut the ribbon or will it be local TD's from the area.

It's meant to be Leo.

Andrew33

gman2k wrote: »

It's meant to be Leo.

He’d go to the opening of an envelope if he thought he’d get media coverage.

alta stare

Will the road not be open to traffic shortly after Leo opens it? Wasnt that what happened with the Enniscorthy bypass? It was scheduled to open the following day after the offical opening but i thought i heard it actually was opened to traffic that evening.

amber69

alta stare wrote: »

Will the road not be open to traffic shortly after Leo opens it? Wasnt that what happened with the Enniscorthy bypass? It was scheduled to open the following day after the offical opening but i thought i heard it actually was opened to traffic that evening.

Scheduled for traffic from midday Thursday I think. I won't be able to get there until next week.

blindsider

Going Friday...!!! [Excited now!!]