N8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange [open to traffic]

They’ll be creating a final bridge for the N25 West to M8 north movement alongside the new M8 mainline bridge.

The N8 east to glounthaune slip will pass under it. There isn’t much to do to open this slip. A bit more excavation of the old M8 and then just laying down done surface.

Fantastic footage. Between Dronehawk and the on-site team, we’re getting fantastic coverage of goings on.

By the way, very little more to do to have the N8 east to Glounthaune slip opened up. Could see this opening within a month.

If you look at his non-roads videos, he does some eyewatering stuff. Think railway tunnels on the Greenways and ships in Cork Harbour! Very skilled drone operator for sure.

If you look at the southbound camera, you can now see they've dug a big hole to the northwest of the tunnel, where the N40(E) to Tivoli slip will be. I've wondered why this wasn't prioritised, as it would be the simplest of all of them to build. But I wonder will they use it for temporary diversions, like make the roundabout more oblong under the N25W to M8N bridge that has appeared next to the tunnel.

The videos really capture the scale of this. It really is a feat of engineering getting all of this done in such a restricted space whilst keeping traffic flowing and with a railway line to deal with as well.

Looking at last video does anybody know if there are plans to open Link U (Cork to M8 Dublin) early? It looks fairly very well advanced from what I see. Surely it would make sense to move that traffic as soon as possible just to start generating benefits from the upgrade.

Opening the week of 18 April according to update email. First new movement to open which is great.

Early opening would be great. Every bit of traffic coming off that roundabout is a positive.

The slip to Glounthaune will soon follow hopefully.

I think the roundabout works might have been unrelated to the Interchange project, as it was done by Co-Co Roads department and their team were not integrated with the Interchange teams.

I sometimes saw traffic build-up Eastbound towards that roundabout in the evenings but nothing significant. Whatever about traffic management, beg buttons and islands are a very low quality solution for pedestrians and cyclists. I personally don't use them when cycling through there and I know nobody that does.

The Co-Co roads department team were told very clearly that it was low quality solution, but they felt it was the best they could achieve. Remember that this was designed a few years ago when there was basically no money available for walking and cycling. Because there wasn't a good enough "business case" (not my words, but the head of the NTA). Sometimes things change for the better, I guess!

Nah they'll probably do something dumb/intelligent like designate one lane of the Tivoli DC as a bus lane. But yeah, I agree that the Dunkettle Roundabout lights could be an issue.

Only good thing is that traffic for the east side of the river in Glanmire will likely use the new junction east of the interchange, so won't have to face those lights.

For a long time I have been expecting Tivoli to become a bus lane and single-lane road. The justification for 100kmh dual carriageway has really seeped away, with the new traffic lights and interchange works. You now have a 60/50kmh zone at one side, and a traffic light then 60/80 kmh zone at the other end. Then the 100kmh stretch is all within the city has no hard shoulder, has premises directly accessing the road and has a footpath! I understand why it WAS 100kmh, but at this point I think the low-tech idea of a bus lane might be appropriate.

I think the Council plans for a active transport on the corridor are for long-distance detour along the shoreline. Not ideal as a primary route really. But we're all a bit off-topic now.

Anyone have any inside knowledge on Link U opening?

Newsletter stated that Link U is opening to traffic this afternoon