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

Link P, I think it is, which is the link from the Little Island east junction to LinkC, which goes to the M8N. Just from recent updates I believe C will be open a little before P.

Wish they'd open C, I wanted to use it tomorrow morning!

...

I don't like that on Link C, traffic from Little Island (left lane) is asked to merge into the right lane (N25). I'd prefer the right lane merge into the left. But it's understandable why they did it: N25 is the priority flow.

An Tánaiste Micheál Martin TD will carry out the official opening of the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade at a brief ceremony to take place on site on the morning of Monday the 12th of February 2024. Both Link P and Link C will then open to traffic before lunchtime on Monday the 12th.

Completion of the main works will be followed by a 3-year maintenance period during which the operation of the Interchange will be monitored. The contact email will remain in place and any queries/comments/concerns in relation to the Upgrade works should be addressed to roadconstruction@ccc-site.com.

Updates will continue to be issued over the coming period as may be appropriate with the next Update to be issued on Friday the 16th of February 2024.

How would everyone rate the build process? Personally I think it was very well managed and they got it done in good time. Apart from signage issues and what I think were some over-the-top 60 km/h limits I am happy with it overall.

How could go they do more than 1 lane from the M8 tunnel given the tunnel is only 2 lanes. It would be impossible without widening the tunnel itself.

The project was to upgrade the junction and not widen the tunnel though. A third bore would be required. I can’t imagine what the cost would be.

It was never going to sort out bottlenecks further along any routes but what it does do is prevent tailbacks or heavy traffic on one route causing gridlock with other routes as used to happen when all routes met at one roundabout.

In my experience traffic flow through the junction has improved noticeably the times I have used it but sometimes it just succeeds in getting you to the next tailback a little quicker.

Great question. I'd agree that the construction was handled very well overall. Particularly impressive was keeping all traffic flows open for 99% of the time with minor re-routing, very intrusive works were segmented and handled during the night-time lull, and traffic was rarely worse that it was before construction commenced. A huge achievement given the ongoing 80,000 or so vehicle movements per day. No doubt covid lockdowns and WFH helped, but nonetheless less it very successfully managed. Also, the sequencing of the never ending cycles of closure, demolition, construction, reopening of element after element was very impressive. I'm in awe of the brains that can put all that together.

Regarding the speed signage and very poor speed management this was quite disappointing. A lot of money was spent on the N40 VMS as part of the preliminary works, and this was not used to any great extent during construction. A lot of the time all it fit was to announce that it was raining. The actual speed limits in the construction area were fixed, very poorly enforced and signed by small cheap signs mounted on upright posts and €50 single sided stanchions. It had the feel of a county council project from the 70s. If 10% have been shaved off that over the top VMS, a variable speed regime could have been placed around the construction site allowing low speed limits when construction warranted it, and higher limits at weekends, with far more effective enforcement. I drove through there on numerous Saturdays and Sundays when there was little or no construction activity, and anybody driving in accordance with the 60km signs was passed on the right and left. Definitely a lesson to be learned here for future large scale in-situ projects.

Regarding the signage, it's woefully bad. Really awful. It should be redone from scratch. Fortunately that's not a major task, if the will and wit exist.

Regarding the design, time will tell. let's give it a few months to bed in.

But to answer your question, I'd rate the construction process very highly.

Well done project team, Dronehawk and everyone on this thread that made it a pleasure to follow over the past few years!

Yep and there likely won't ever be a third bore fore cars at this stage.

I was looking at aerial pictures of the tunnel at its opening and it was all green farmland. Now it's all urban, and I really don't think anyone expected that the city would grow the way it did. So the needs now are very different. Cars will possibly get to use the Eastern Gateway bridge but I think even that would be a mistake tbh. TLDR: very low chance of another tunnel with similar characteristics as the last.

Most definitely. Significant clearance over the Lee would be required to leave shipping underneath. This would mean that significant ramps would be needed on both sides in the lead up to the bridge. That would potentially complicate things especially with access from the Tivoli and Little Island sides.

It would almost certainly have 3 lanes in each direction if built today.

... if nothing at all is done to addess car-based commuting.