Limerick Transport

@THE_Chris wrote:

Ive emailed the NRA about the Rossbrien interchange, looking at all the pictures Ive seen, the Galway – Cork movement is left out. This is farcical, and I have emailed them asking whether this is true or not and for better pictures.

Rossbrien Interchange

Chris check out this interactive map. It’s pretty neat!

(1) First click the Galway/Shannon to Cork/Kerry route. Note the loop at the interchange

(2) Now select the Cork to Dublin route.

The same loop in two different directions? I know the map is only two dimensional but still I’m curious :confused: about it’s physical lay out.

See also Map of Rossbrien Interchange

Ennis Rd bus and cycle lanes kick in mid-July (Limerick Post)

THE INSTALLATION of new bus and cycle lanes on the Ennis Road have led to traffic gridlock and utter confusion.

So says Cllr Cormac Hurley, adding he has been inundated with calls from local residents and business people who are in the dark over operating hours on the new lanes.

However, a spokesman for Limerick County Council has called for patience, pointing out that the lanes, when operational from mid July, will see improvement. The lanes will operate at off-peak hours, from 10am until 3pm.

“The bus and cycle lanes are a continuation of a plan to link them up to St Nessan’s Road in Dooradoyle and the Dublin Road, from the Kilmurry to Groody Roundabout. However, the road works aren’t finished yet. Further works are currently underway at Caherdavin Cross. We will also be installing signage in the area to let people know the hours it will be in operation.

“The Ennis Road will work far better when the Southern Ring Road is completed and the tunnel is built. Bus Eireann will also be putting on extra routes and increased services. Buses run every 10 minutes along St Nessan’s Road and the bus lane is also used for taxis, hackneys and the emergency services – so it works very well. But we will have to wait until additional services are in place on the Ennis Road before the bus lanes are in operation full time”.

Cllr Hurley said that the lanes were all laid out, but there were no notices saying that they were operational or the times etc.

“People accessing estates in Caherdavin Lawn or businesses along the Ennis Road, especially car dealerships, were unsure about whether they were allowed to drive on the lanes. And they were getting caught up in huge traffic jams. Others are using it as a shortcut through traffic. There’s just confusion,” claimed Cllr Hurley.

Although many residents praised the ethos behind the bus and cycle lanes, they had reservations about space constraints on the Ennis Road for the lanes.

The Road’s Department spokesperson told the Post there will be increased access to businesses, because of more gaps in traffic, when the lanes are fully operational. Yellow boxes will also guarantee access into housing estates and dwellings.

“Businesses seem to be objecting more to cycle lanes as car dealers often park their transporters outside the dealership and roll on and off the cars from there. This is illegal anyway as it is a public road,” he stressed.

A spokesman for Limerick County Council has called for patience, pointing out that the lanes, when operational from mid July, will see improvement. The lanes will operate at off-peak hours, from 10am until 3pm.

What a farce Limerick County Council!:o Bus lanes were concepted for peak times! i.e. (07:00 to 10:00) and (15:00 to 19:00). Either install bus lanes properly or not at all! The whole point is to reward those who opt to use public transport where they leave their cars at home or outside the city centre, thus help reduce traffic congestion!

“The Ennis Road will work far better when the Southern Ring Road is completed and the tunnel is built.

Tunnel to be finished by the 17 Sept. 2010 i.e. three years time! 😮 The Spokesman’s melody must be don’t worry be happy ………

“People accessing estates in Caherdavin Lawn or businesses along the Ennis Road, especially car dealerships, were unsure about whether they were allowed to drive on the lanes. And they were getting caught up in huge traffic jams. Others are using it as a shortcut through traffic. There’s just confusion,” claimed Cllr Hurley.

It smacks like our provisional driving licence system scam! 😮

This clears things up about Rossbrien. This is blatently nicked from SABRE, thanks to Truvelo for making it.

@Tuborg wrote:

Yeah it was the last element to be secured beneath the river, the (actual) final segment is a much more straight forward affair connecting to the “cut and cover” section at the north portal.

Although it seems that the project is at an advanced stage, traffic tunnels are extremely complex beasts and the next stage, which is the fit-out is an extremely tedious process. The tunnel will also have to go through a rigourous programme of tests before being deemed safe. The Dublin Port Tunnel has been plagued by problems since its opening so they dont want to see a repeat here! Also the local emergency services will have to be specially trained to deal with any incidents that occur in the new tunnel, so theres a lot to consider!

The section from the new Rossbrien interchange to the Dock Road could conceivably open by next summer however there would be little point in doing so as all the traffic would have to exit at the chaotic Dock Road interchange. The sub-standard, lazy design of this interchange means its going to be a real nightmare and will definitely have to be re-visited in the near fuure! Why oh why do we have to be so short-sighted?:mad:

I agree – although it isnt quite as bad as the atrocious decision to not make a proper intersection on the Tipperary road junction with the main bypass dual carriageway.. the traffic lights cause serious tail backs at rush hour. Back in the mid 80s when the Shannon bridge was in planning the opportunity was there to make it a 4 lane bridge for – if I remember correctly an extra million pounds…

@Griff wrote:

I agree – although it isnt quite as bad as the atrocious decision to not make a proper intersection on the Tipperary road junction with the main bypass dual carriageway.. the traffic lights cause serious tail backs at rush hour. Back in the mid 80s when the Shannon bridge was in planning the opportunity was there to make it a 4 lane bridge for – if I remember correctly an extra million pounds…

Really? I think theres every chance it’ll be worse. Take a look at the attached diagram, there will be SIX arms on the cement factory roundabout.

1. Southern Ring On-Slip

2. N69 to City Centre

3. Southern Ring Off-Slip

4. Raheen Link Road

5. N69 to Foynes

6. Entrance to Irish Cement

Also as the current link to the Childers Road from the N20 and N7 will be closed off, the Dock Road interchange will became a primary access point to the city centre, especially for traffic coming from Cork and Kerry. Factor in existing volumes on the Dock Road, Irish Cement traffic and of course freight traffic heading to Foynes Port and you have all the ingredients of a fairly serious congestion problem!:mad:

On another matter , Apparently Limerick City Council are granting Planning for the re-designed boat club development by Sarsfield Bridge:confused:

@Tuborg wrote:

Really? I think theres every chance it’ll be worse. Take a look at the attached diagram, there will be SIX arms on the cement factory roundabout.

Also as the current link to the Childers Road from the N20 and N7 will be closed off, the Dock Road interchange will became a primary access point to the city centre, especially for traffic coming from Cork and Kerry. Factor in existing volumes on the Dock Road, Irish Cement traffic and of course freight traffic heading to Foynes Port and you have all the ingredients of a fairly serious congestion problem!:mad:

I remember seeing that, Turbog. But right now, it’s just further, clarifying to me, that is one planning disaster.

With the space provided, It’s looks absurb, they just threw two gigantic roundabouts and insert it into a straight forward Dumbell interchange?!

So imaginative:rolleyes:

Seriously been such a busy road, and so many junctions. It’s just hideous. It’s just not in anyway acceptable !
They could have at least have a half cloverleaf (loops on each arm of the mainline M18) with the local roads joining the N60 at grade, providing lefts in and offs. Would be suitable and much less hassel, than putting two gigantic dangerous roundabouts with all sorts of road converging onto it.

I want to know the man designing it. I’m serious. Could someone please send me in Pm if you have any details, thanks. I’m going to be onto him. Show him what a mess, this is and what a mess he is. Then show him the solution to this mess! 🙂

Seriously its awful to look at from the sky too!

Has the Opera Centre permission by the City Council been appealed to Bord Pleanala

@Griff wrote:

I find it hard to believe that the fit-out and commissioning work will take another 2 years based on the speed of progress to date and I wonder are they being conservative with the program in order to look good if its opened ahead of schedule.
@Tuborg wrote:

Although it seems that the project is at an advanced stage, traffic tunnels are extremely complex beasts and the next stage, which is the fit-out is an extremely tedious process. The tunnel will also have to go through a rigourous programme of tests before being deemed safe. The Dublin Port Tunnel has been plagued by problems since its opening so they dont want to see a repeat here! Also the local emergency services will have to be specially trained to deal with any incidents that occur in the new tunnel, so theres a lot to consider!

The section from the new Rossbrien interchange to the Dock Road could conceivably open by next summer however there would be little point in doing so as all the traffic would have to exit at the chaotic Dock Road interchange.

Listening to Tom King on Morning Ireland, one can only smile to hear that the tunnel project is on time and on budget which it is, but it can’t take too much fantasy of seeing this road be opened before its planned date . . . . . . . . toll charges! 😉

@vkid wrote:

Has anyone seen detailed plans? The station really needs work imo..

New Limerick bus station to get green light?(

I said I’d reply to this in the new thread. Below is an article from last Thursdays Limerick Leader on the oral hearing at City Hall.

Bus station relocation mooted in €5.5M plan

By Anne Sheridan

A contemporary two-storey bus station could be built to the left of Colbert Station within the next two years, if the €5.5 million development is given the green light by An Bord Pleanala.

Following the oral hearing by the board this week in City Hall, the national planning authority expect they will come to a decision on the development within a maximum of two months.

The application by Bus Eireann to rejuvenate the train station was partly in response to the Department of Transports sectoral plan 2006. However it is understood that Bus Eireann may also be reliant on the Department of Transport for a portion of the cost of the development which could determine when construction would begin.

Under the plans, the bus station would move from the right to the left hand side of Colbert Station (as viewed from Parnell Street) and the existing bus station would be converted into a car park.

A landscaped garden is planned for the front of the station, where a car park is currently situated. An internal walkway would also connect the rail and bus station.

However Philip Jones, deputy planning officer with An Bord Pleanala questioned the necessity to have a Bus Eireann logo on the walkway, as he said the redesigned bus station was intended to be “sub-servient to Colbert Station and this was outlined to Bus Eireann as one of the main concerns regarding the development.

Michael Brady, Pascall & Watson Architects told the board: “We have set the building back as far as we can do while maintaining the link. He said the current station “is pretty much deficient” in relation to catering to the needs of those with visual and mobility impairments, but the new station should improve this situation.

He said studies had shown that it would not be possible to have a bus station where the loading bus bays are currently situated, and therefore, the location to the left of the station was identified as the best possible location.

However, under the plans, public car parking would be reduced from 330 spaces to 250 spaces.

Kieran Reeves, planning officer with Limerick City Council, said he regretted that Bus Eireann did not contact Iarnrod Eireann’s heritage officer in relation to Colbert Station whose heritage, Mr Reeves said, must be protected.

Mr. Jones also noted that the railings in front of Colbert Station were not factored into the model presented to the board, even though these must also be protected.

He said the board would also prefer that proposed bus shelters at the front of the station would not be used for advertising.

So it seems that the effect of the new development on the Protected Structure was a major concern for City Hall in addition to the possibility of the new layout impacting on the proposed orbital route. If this is approved I wonder will the finance be available to fund the project? Next Tuesdays Budget will give us an insight into the Governments commitment to continued infrastructural investment in these lean times!

History of Colbert Station (NIAH)

Colbert Station was constructed as the terminus of the Waterford and Limerick railway line for the Great Southern and Western Railway Company. Aristocratic and middle class interests prevented it from being constructed in the more fashionable parts of the City and it was thus built at the edge of the Victorian part of the Limerick City. It was designed by Sancton Wood (1815-1886), architect of Heuston Station, Dublin.

Designed in a restrained classical idiom, the building was designed to achieve a maximum presence on the street from which it is set back quite dramatically. Befitting its public use, the structure is faced with fine carved limestone detailing which is testimony to the craftsmanship and skill involved in its execution. The architectural qualities of the structure are somewhat marred by the front site car park and replacement metal railings which encloses the site from Parnell Street. The station is named after Con Colbert, the County Limerick man executed in 1916 following the Easter Rising.

Aswell as the Redevelopment of Colbert Station, I think the whole Parnell St/Davis St area needs rejuvenation to be kept in line with this development.
It really is one of the most depressing areas of the city and doesn’t resemble a gateway one bit.

Definitely. I’d recommend building a huge wall to one side so we don’t have to look at the poor people; and bulldozing Parnell Street so that those filthy foreigners with their insufficiently plasticky signage realize that they shouldn’t be selling goods at bargain prices so close to the city centre.

@shanekeane wrote:

Definitely. I’d recommend building a huge wall to one side so we don’t have to look at the poor people; and bulldozing Parnell Street so that those filthy foreigners with their insufficiently plasticky signage realize that they shouldn’t be selling goods at bargain prices so close to the city centre.

Language like “filthy foreigners” is a form incitement to hatred buddy! Stop polluting the Limerick threads!

Do take the trouble and read the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act, 1989.

The N7 Southern ring road and N20 are to be redesignated motorways under the latest list of reclassifications published by the NRA. Transport.ie for more

@CologneMike wrote:

Language like “filthy foreigners” is a form incitement to hatred buddy! Stop polluting the Limerick threads!

Do take the trouble and read the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act, 1989.

Well if my use of the term “filthy foreigners” wasn’t so obviously ironic then I might have something to worry about CologneMike. Now if we could only purge the forum of stupidity then we’d be making progress.

@shanekeane wrote:

Well if my use of the term “filthy foreigners” wasn’t so obviously ironic then I might have something to worry about CologneMike.

No, more like ridicule and sarcasm to be exact!

@shanekeane wrote:

Now if we could only purge the forum of stupidity then we’d be making progress.

Irony pure!

@darkman wrote:

The N7 Southern ring road and N20 are to be redesignated motorways under the latest list of reclassifications published by the NRA. Transport.ie for more

This has been mooted for some time now and its good to see it moving forward. It is a sensible move by the NRA as both these roads are easily up to motorway standard and the new motorway regulations will also protect them from inappropriate developments and lax planning controls. l presume the 2nd phase of the ring road will also be re-classified when complete!

N7 Brochure

N20 Brochure

Limerick may get first park-and-ride area at Annacotty

By Nick Rabbitts

DEVELOPERS are planning to construct a multi-million euro park-and-ride facility in Annacotty that would give parking space for more than 130 vehicles.

Work on the Dublin road site near Finnegan’s pub could commence as early as next year after Finbar Murphy and David Smiddy announced their intention to seek planning permission for the site from Limerick County Council.

The work would provide for the demolition of an existing single storey house – Montrose on the Dublin road – to be replaced by a two-storey park and ride facility, with 136 car parking spaces, as well as various facilities for customers including a restaurant, a garden centre, a tourist information centre, and a play area.

The plans, which would transform part of Annacotty, also include provision for a bank and a chemist and a games area.

Cllr Mary Jackman welcomed the development, but called on Bus Eireann to provide a more regular bus service from the area to the city.

“People are questioning the need for bus lanes (in Castletroy), because the bus services are not regular enough. There is no point in a park-and-ride facility if it is not constructively used. The bus services need to be more regular,” she told the Limerick Leader.

As the Limerick Leader went to press, neither Mr Murphy nor Mr Smiddy was available for comment.

As Cllr Jackman says, Bus Eireann will need to seriously improve their service if this proposed park and ride is to be viable!

This application also provides for what is essentially a mini motorway services station. As part of an overall national programme, the NRA are proposing a motorway services station at a yet to be identified location on the new M7 corridor between Limerick and Nenagh. Im not sure what they will make of this proposal!

One thing is certain though, a development like this (if approved) will not help traffic flow on the disastrous Annacotty interchange!:rolleyes:

08/1912

Demolition of an existing single storey house namely Montrose & the construction of 1). A 2 stroey Park & Ride facility providing 136 car parking spaces 2). A motorist services facility with a 2 storey amenity building consisting of ground floor containing a general entrance & circulation area, 24 hour toilet facility, a convenience retail unit, restaurant, cafe, financial services unit, a pharmacy & a plant room. The first floor contains a circulation/seating area, a games area, indoor play area, outdoor play area, business centre, tourist information, toilet area & staff facilities with site facilities to include petrol filling station with 6 pumps for light vehicles & 2 pumps for HGVs & associated in line fuelling, parking for 117 cars & 10 motorbikes, 1 automatic car wash, 2 landscaped picnic areas, 2 waste/recycling areas & a segregated parking area providing parking for 7 coaches & 17 HGVs. 3) A 2 storey garden centre b uilding with 25 parking spaces, service yard & external plant & hard landscaping displayarea. 4). ESB substation & switchroom. 5). Quick service/valet facility with 5 parking spaces. 6). Temporary advertising signage. 7). All ancillary site development works, landscaping & external lighting. 8). Amendments to existing site entrance to Finnegan’s on the R445, Dublin Road

“Montrose”, Carrowkeel, Annacotty.

Limerick City Council’s no to bus lane 😡

Limerick Leader By Nick Rabbitts

CONTROVERSIAL plans to introduce a bus lane from Raheen to the city centre appears unlikely to go ahead after city members unanimously accepted a proposal calling on the local authority to “withdraw and delete” the plans.

At yesterday afternoon’s council meeting, the proposal put forward by Independent councillor Pat Kennedy that the city authority reject plans for bus lanes to be introduced in Ballinacurra Road, O’Connell Avenue and Mulgrave Street into Roche’s Street, was passed without comment by city manager Tom Mackey, who had previously said he would use his executive powers to pass the plan.

Several city councillors have long campaigned for the rejection of the bus lanes, citing fears over safety and increased congestion.

Cllr Pat Kennedy, who proposed the motion in the city chamber, said:

“The provision of bus lanes would be totally out of character with the area, and as they contemplate only a short stretch of road, are totally unnecessary. These routes are very narrow, and amongst the oldest thoroughfares in Limerick.”

Fine Gael Cllr Maria Byrne, seconded the motion.

Labour’s Cllr Joe Leddin said he believes these routes are much better suited to bus lanes and said the rejection of the bus lanes in the other parts of the city are “a victory for common sense”.

See also Limerick City Council’s Green Routes

It’s funny actually, but if you look at the maps, the Co Council have all their bus lanes built.

The emerging preferred route corridor for the proposed M20 Limerick Cork motorway can be viewed here.

The project is being divided into 3 sections:

• Blarney – Mallow
• Mallow – Croom
• Croom- Attyflin

The only section likely to be completed in the near future is Mallow to Croom, however this is definitely the most urgent as it would take out the worst stretch of the existing N20. It is hoped construction could start in 2010.

I know this is a plannng forum but since the city council (with the connivance of adjacent councils) are determined to make a hames of the QBC’s I thought I would throw out some of my own ideas regarding light rail. A feasibility study for LRT in Limerick was promised in the programme for govt. but everyone in govt. (except the impotent Greens) has mysteriously forgotten about it. It wouldn’t cost the earth to carry one out.

I won’t go on about the route details, only to point out that all lines start at the train station, and this should be an absolute no brainer to anyone vaguely familiar with the principles of good urban planning and simililarly all terminate at suburban P&R’s.

Limerick has the population to support LRT but the population patterns around it are a mess. The question isn’t if but when in my view and no amount of farting around with bus corridors is going to enable Limerick to become the Gateway city the NSS says it must become if the west of the courntry is to develop properly. A plan should be drawn up and integrated with the city center strategic plan and the regeneration plans and favoured routes protected from future development. Certain locations can then be zoned for transit oriented developmet as for example the Hyde rd. area. The transit routes on my plan can for the most part be accomodated with exising surface rights of way, thus minimizing costs.

There are issues w/ the existing rail lines that limit their use in a suburban context. But again provided the stops are limited in number and passing loops are built in, these limitations can be overcome.

The Corbally side does not have a population density to support a light rail line or a stop on the existing line but I put one in anyway because peak period traffic in Corbally is horrendous. The waterbus idea has more going for it especially at peak times. Free parking as part of a package of incenitves & disincentives could make this work but other pickup points at the Irish estates and shannon banks would also help if they were feasible. The UL waterbus has already been mooted. A lock at the Park bridge though would slow traffic down considerably and I don’t have an answer to that one.

You can get back to your roads now fellas I’ve made my speech and spoke my mind …for the time being..

When you write about LRT for Limerick city I presume you would be talking about Trams like the LUAS in Dublin? I wonder would a population of just a 100.000 be enough to justify such a system?

Ideally the trams should criss-cross the city centre and I can only think of three destinations for them to serve i.e.

Route: Parkway (Valley) S.C. / University / Plassey Technological park.
Route: Crescent S.C. / Regional Hospital / Raheen Industrial estate.
Route: Ennis road / Maternity / Gaelic Grounds / Coonagh S.C.

In my opinion to run the city trams on the existing rail network would not achieve much.

• Colbert station is not central enough to the city centre.
• It is a cul-de-sac station.
• The university / Plassey Technological park are not served by it.
• The Ennis road area / Coonagh S.C. are also not served by it.
• The existing rail network runs only on the peripheral of the Raheen area.

That would mean to me that the trams would have to share the roads / streets with other vehicles to service these routes.

The street trams would then have the same congestion problems as the buses and worse when some incident blocks their way, it cannot overtake it like a bus can.

I think a bus system with QBCs would serve Limerick city better.

Light Rail Transit (LRT) is a sort of catch-all that might include elements of an on street tram system but may also include dedicated tunnels, elevated track sections etc. But yes I do mean something like the Luas only less ambitious in terms of civil engineering work to keep costs down. Something like what GLUAS propose http://www.gluas.com/ for Galway maybe. The last I heard around March this year, Noel Dempsey said there would be a feasibility study undertaken, beginning April, and the final report would be published in the middle of next year, so its a live issue as far as I’m concerned and deserves some attention.

As the GLUAS website points out Valenciennes in Northern France has a population of only 42,000 yet has embraced LRT and opened its first line in ’06 . More and more small to medium sized cities are looking at LRT, even cities that moth-balled tram systems in the 70’s. This ins not only because of their unrivalled payload capacities but because its become increasingly apparent that no other public transport system, even bus rapid transit systems (BRT) are able to attract the ridership of light rail. (In one North American study I came across from 2002 BRT systems (which are superior to QBCs) only succeeded in attracting 33% of their projected ridership whereas LRTs attracted 122% of theirs). That said I believe CIE were hoping to try BRT in Limerick and I’d like to see it in action. How theyll do this now though I don’t know as the council is not amenable to bus lanes in the city. They’re not a cheap alternative to LRT either http://www.politics.ie/transport/36340-light-rail-vs-bus-4.html

As I already pointed out the problem with Limerick is not the size of the population per se but the distribution of the population throughout the city. The population densities are probably too low to support a LUAS at this juncture which is why I’m not holding my breath about the feasibily study. The Colbert station area is a case in point. Railway stations are the heartbeat of a ciy. No large town can function without a properly functioning railway station. But look at the area around Colbert! The Hyde rd/Carey rd. area ought to be high density mixed use development attracting business into the city by now. Bear in mind most of this land is owned or controlled by the local authority and other public instituions. Instead it’s a wasteland of shoddy public housing and dereliction. The one good thing about this though is planners have a blank canvas to plan something like a LRT terminus on publicly owned land right next to the station. And thats why I’m in favour of producing a plan now before this land is finally sold off to the highest bidder for some short sighted gain.

I wasn’t suggesting running trams on the existing lines actually. I was thinking how a rail station at Moyress would work (this was included in the draft regeneration plan for Moyress) and figured in order for it to be viable there would need to be a regular service to the station which the Ennis-Limerick service could not fulfil since it only runs 8? times a day etc. The only solution to my mind would be a suburban rail service using DMUs with passing loops and additional stops to make it viable. This was just one solution in addition to waterbuses to help alleviate traffic and provide people with a viable public transport option in this part of the city.

The routes you suggest are much the same as the ones I put in the diagram except I’d probably opt for the alternative western route taking in Moylish rather than the Gaelic Grouds say. The city center is well served by these routes even interfering at one point with the planned orbital traffic flow system so I’m not sure what you getting at here.The more important point I felt was that all 3 lines should terminate w/ P&R faciliities at the edge of the city to soak up incoming traffic and terminate at the station (or vice versa). Combined with an improving commuter rail service to the city I think Limerick city centre & suburbia would open up completely and could become a model for sustainable urban public transport in Ireland.

Commuter Rail

Certainly there is great potential for a Dart type of commuter service to link the main towns with Limerick city. The present rail network infrastructure would facilitate most of it. In four decades time (2050) we would probably see a doubling of the population living in urban areas around the mid-west.

• Limerick 100.000 -> 200.000
• Ennis 25.000 -> 50.000
• Shannon 10.000 -> 20.000
• Nenagh 7.500 -> 15.000
• Thurles 7.500 -> 15.000
• Tipperary 5.000 -> 10.000
• Newcastle West 5.000 -> 10.000

With this type of critical mass one could operate a decent enough electric rail service (Dart) between these centres with stops at the numerous villages (P&R) along the way.

Gluas / Luas

The way we choose to live today in the city i.e. an ever expanding spawn of housing estates out into the country side just makes public transport in general unattractive and expensive to operate. I think we don’t live compact enough (i.e. apartments) to get the benefits from the economies of scale from such investments

I fear the motor car (electric) will remain the number one choice for commuting.

Colbert Station

The big question would be in which direction will the city centre expand?

• Down river: after a transfer of the docks to Foynes?
• Across the river: either side of Condell road?
• Towards: Kings Island / Clare Street (Park canal)?
• Outwards: Mulgrave Street?

Will the city council re-focus the expanding direction of the city centre towards the railway station?

Certainly the area around the station like you said, should have a high density mixed use to make it an attractive destination to travel to from outside the city. The nearby three story council flats on Hyde road don’t meet today’s standards or the boxed-in Jackman park is pretty much handicapped here to develop to its full potential as a soccer stadium.

Hyde Road

This road could have been the ideal direct link between the planned city centre orbital route and the Rosbrien interchange junction for Dublin, Waterford and Cork. Of course that would have meant re-locating a school and Young Munsters playing grounds.

Ennis-Limerick Commuter: Image by Kpmarek

I’ve been messing around with a route for a light rail/electric bus system for a while.

Link:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113341239231791236211.00044ec59976d67c1ad7e&z=12

I must admit to finding the proposals from the cllrs about having the bus lanes moved quite odd. Shouldn’t they first be proposing that the routes move and then look for the new lanes in those areas? They won’t of course because they would be opposed to the routes changing, so we were to follow their logic we would end up with bus lanes with no buses.

colognemike

The renovation of the Patrickswell to Charleville section of the old Great Southern will probably appear in the next NDP if not before. In addition to reducing the journey time on the Limerick-Cork line to just 1hr by some accounts it would also mean rail access to Limerick for Charleville, Bruree & Croom. The City Council would prefer people not to commute at all and to move to the city centre to work but I believe ‘total journey quality’ is the way to go wtih quality intercity/regional rail links serving train stations in cities, light rail networks serving the main spine(s) of cities and a range of buses from imps to double deckers radiating out from the centre and other strategic locations serving all the other neighbourhoods and areas of the city. Well planned quality public transport is imo the only way to attract owner occupiers esp. families into the c/cs because cars aren’t really an option in the middle of a city, at least not 2 per family. Many Londoners don’t have cars and don’t miss them.

I had a look at the city centre strategy yesterday and in fairness to the council they do recognise the land in the Hyde Park area is underutilized and ripe for development. What they intend doing about it to attract developers in is another thing. It ought to be a priority imo. The right sort of development there could also stimulate regeneration of the Georgian quarter .(v. important). It will need to dovetail in with the planned regeneration of B.Weston & Southill aswell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauban_(Freiburg)) ).

Dan
Interesting plan. Nice to know there’s somebody else in Limerick seriously thinking about this. I guess you’re opting for a tram-train solution. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go. The existing rail alignments skirt round the city and don’t really penetrate the heavily populated areas so I’m not sure if you’d get the ridership to make it viable here. Also I’m not a big fan of single track and passing loops (even though I suggested employing them myself) because they’d slow the system right down. Trams every 15 minutes! No other trains, like freight trains or future Cork intercity trains could use this piece of track with that kind of burden on the line. And you don’t have any route for the north of the river either. Why not?

That said I certainly agree the route must come into contact w/ Colbet station and the city centre. There’s no way of avoiding Charlotte’s Quay either which is a pity because that pinch pont at Baal’s bridge won’t accomodate 2 lines of track (my plan) and heavy orbital road traffic as well.

What will the Hyde and Colbert station quarter become ?
Railway quarter?. This part of the city is ripe for development for sure. To be honest, This part of town, is crucial to have a good balance of prime building’s landmarks fronting onto colbert station. This is the frontage to the city for many commuter’s coming into the city by Rail and Bus. This part of town, needs investment to counter balance the Georgian and newly redeveloped blocks in town.

I notice that Catherine street is coming along now, and many derelict sites have got planning permission to redevelop many parts of this street. Is this street part of the Hyde road/Colbert station quarter. I’m excited to see the plans I must say.

Query, does anyone have any maps of the current road layout of the Inner ring road proposed that actually runs along Colbert station? How are they going to conjoined this with the new city quarter on this block:confused:

@Dan Sullivan wrote:

I’ve been messing around with a route for a light rail/electric bus system for a while.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113341239231791236211.00044ec59976d67c1ad7e&z=12

@jpsartre wrote:

Dan: There’s no way of avoiding Charlotte’s Quay either which is a pity because that pinch pont at Baal’s bridge won’t accomodate 2 lines of track (my plan) and heavy orbital road traffic as well.

Maybe a Schwebebahn ~ Suspension Tramway solution from Wuppertal (pop. 350.000) would be interesting for Dan’s proposal. Sure its visual impact would be way over the top, but cheaper than a metro and traffic congestion free!

The river route could look like this:

• Raheen Industrial Estate
• Mid-Western Regional Hospital Campus
• Crescent Shopping Centre
• Former Greenpark Race Course
• Mary Immaculate Training College
• Docklands Business Park / Proposed Re-development Of Ted Russell’s Docks
• Riverpoint / Along The Quays / Over Sarsfield’s Bridge
• Arthur’s Quay (City Centre)
• Suspended Over The River Abbey
• Suspended Over The Canal
• Through Rebogue
• Rarkway (Valley) Shopping Centre
• Castletroy Hotel
• University Campus
• Technological Park

Images below from © Peter Bosbach

@jpsartre wrote:

colognemike

The renovation of the Patrickswell to Charleville section of the old Great Southern will probably appear in the next NDP if not before. In addition to reducing the journey time on the Limerick-Cork line to just 1hr by some accounts it would also mean rail access to Limerick for Charleville, Bruree & Croom. The City Council would prefer people not to commute at all and to move to the city centre to work but I believe ‘total journey quality’ is the way to go wtih quality intercity/regional rail links serving train stations in cities, light rail networks serving the main spine(s) of cities and a range of buses from imps to double deckers radiating out from the centre and other strategic locations serving all the other neighbourhoods and areas of the city. Well planned quality public transport is imo the only way to attract owner occupiers esp. families into the c/cs because cars aren’t really an option in the middle of a city, at least not 2 per family. Many Londoners don’t have cars and don’t miss them.

I had a look at the city centre strategy yesterday and in fairness to the council they do recognise the land in the Hyde Park area is underutilized and ripe for development. What they intend doing about it to attract developers in is another thing. It ought to be a priority imo. The right sort of development there could also stimulate regeneration of the Georgian quarter .(v. important). It will need to dovetail in with the planned regeneration of B.Weston & Southill aswell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauban_(Freiburg)) ).

Dan
Interesting plan. Nice to know there’s somebody else in Limerick seriously thinking about this. I guess you’re opting for a tram-train solution. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go. The existing rail alignments skirt round the city and don’t really penetrate the heavily populated areas so I’m not sure if you’d get the ridership to make it viable here. Also I’m not a big fan of single track and passing loops (even though I suggested employing them myself) because they’d slow the system right down. Trams every 15 minutes! No other trains, like freight trains or future Cork intercity trains could use this piece of track with that kind of burden on the line. And you don’t have any route for the north of the river either. Why not?

That said I certainly agree the route must come into contact w/ Colbet station and the city centre. There’s no way of avoiding Charlotte’s Quay either which is a pity because that pinch pont at Baal’s bridge won’t accomodate 2 lines of track (my plan) and heavy orbital road traffic as well.

My idea is that the route should follow areas that would then be designated to allow for higher density development. To create the local population nodes that would make the service viable. Also while some of the route does go over existing train lines, those lines are not in use in many cases.

I’ve never seen that system in Wuppertal before. Its class. It’d be very interesting to see what modern engineering, architecture and technology could do when building a system like this to reduce visual impact.

@jpsartre wrote:

colognemike

The renovation of the Patrickswell to Charleville section of the old Great Southern will probably appear in the next NDP if not before. In addition to reducing the journey time on the Limerick-Cork line to just 1hr by some accounts it would also mean rail access to Limerick for Charleville, Bruree & Croom.

It’s gonna appear in the next NDP?
How certain is this?
It would be a great asset to Limerick as the route passes just by Raheen and other areas of the city.

But hasn’t most of that route been turned into a walkway for the People of Abbeyfeale and NCW???

A Direct service to Cork would be amazing but how likely is it that it would happen?
Slim to nothing in my opinion.

I read in the paper this week that St. John’s Pavillion is to be pulled down to make way for an orbital route through road.

Here’s a revised city centre LRT route map that avoids Charlotte’s Quay and locates the main terminus at Brown Thomas – no way of avoiding Mallow street though (which forms part of the orbital road route).

[ATTACH]8680[/ATTACH]

PoxyS.
In my view a direct line between Cork & Limerick will probably appear in the next NDP. The current plan runs till 2013 and Transport 21 till 2015 so you’re talking the bones of 10 years before the first sod is turned. I’m also assuming the economy picks up again sooner rather than later and there won’t be a great backlog of other infrastructural projects on the Minister’s desk.

The Regional Planning Guidelines (which inform the NSS, which in turn provides a framework for the NDP) for the South West Region said this back in ’04.

In view of the proximity and populations of the Cork and Limerick Gateways, the direct linking by rail of Cork and Limerick is an option for consideration, as critical mass increases. Rail connection between Cork-Mallow and Limerick is currently via Limerick junction, involving a change of trains.The Regional Authority proposes that a feasibility study be undertaken to examine the construction of a new rail link between Charleville and Patrickswell, thus directly linking Cork and Limerick. This strategy would have an additional benefit of adding to the overall viability of the proposed Western Rail Corridor, by making the route more direct and cutting journey times. It would also contribute to the revitalisation of the Limerick-Foynes line, by creating the potential for improved access for commuters to both Gateways and for freight traffic. The route for this proposal needs to be protected…

…both councils should consider the land use strategies, which could be adopted to make the economic case for reinstating this line and developing direct Cork-Limerick rail services. Some of these are already in place – for example, the CASP land use proposals from Midleton to Mallow – but similar integrated strategies are required right along the line. The adoption of such strategies would underpin the feasibility of reinstating direct Cork-Limerick rail services.

This was quickly followed by other spatial strategy related reports such as the Atlantic Gateways Iniative (’06) which also made a case for the line being reopened but only after more pressing infrastuctural deficits such as inadequate connectivity between the regional cities and the capital city were addressed.

The M20 will be the big stumbling block imo. Noel Dempsey recently said that the proposed Shannon-Limerick rail link had been a victim of improved road infrastructure in the region which made it much less viable than it otherwise would’ve been. (I assume he was referring to the toll road and tunnel etc.)

I also think we haven’t woken up to the future consequences of of total oil dependance in this country yet. When we do the investment focus will switch to rail as is already happening in most other industrialised countries.

Abbeyfeale is on the North Kerry line that terminated at Listowel(?). But the Charleville to Patrickswell alignment is in a no better state right now as far as I know.

@Griff wrote:

Can anyone direct me to where I can see how the new Motorway to Dublin ties in with the existing roundabout beyond Finnegans restaurant – its impossible to work out where traffic coming down the Newport road will meet the roundabout .

N7/M7 Newport Interchange (Annacotty)

I came across this image at the weekend and needless to say I’m not too impressed with the NRA’s solution for the Newport Interchange at Annacotty.

The interchange feeds onto one large roundabout which distributes the flow of traffic for three slipways of the new N7/M7 (i.e. Southbound diverge, Southbound merge, Northbound diverge) and a new re-aligned road (R-445 East) which serves the separated Northbound merge slipway.

The old N7 primary road (R-445 West) from the city and the original Newport road (R-503) also feed onto the roundabout.

It seems that the N7 / M7 will run under the roundabout.

One would think with all the land available outside the city that they could easily build an interchange on just one site. No instead they choose a spot in the middle of a cluster of one off bungalows and a very small housing estate thus restraining itself to separate the Northbound merge from the rest of the interchange proper.

No lessons learnt here from the flawed Ballysimon, Rossbrien and Dooradoyle interchanges! 😮

Yeah I’m afraid the NRA have bottled it once more, they simply cannot design motorway interchanges. Here they have gone for the bargain basement option, the one that handles traffic the least skillfully! What is the point in building such a basic interchange when the likelihood is that it will have to be upgraded with great difficulty and at huge expense in the not too distant future?:rolleyes:

Realistically, the only interchange that is up to the required spec on the Southern Ring Road is the tie-in with the N18. The Rossbrien interchange may be free-flow but crucially it is lacking two movements (N20 to Childers Road and N7 Southbound to Childers Road) which will have a knock-on impact on the substandard Newport, Ballysimon and Dock Road interchanges.

Unfortunately things arent going well on the Limerick – Nenagh project.

Apparently only a skeleton staff have been working on the scheme since January. The motorway is being built by an Irish-Portugese joint venture (RAC Eire/ Bothair Hibernian) but issues have emerged over the non payment of local subcontractors. As a result, work has slowed right down and at the moment is unclear whether the road which was due to open in May will actually be completed at all this year!:mad:

I’ve managed to rob some photos from Furet at Boards.ie

The N-L scheme looking towards the tie-in with the Nenagh Bypass from the Limerick side.

The N-L scheme looking towards Limerick from just off the N7 past the Limerick end of the Nenagh Bypass.

The L-N scheme close to Birdhill looking towards Limerick.

The L-N scheme close to Birdhill looking towards Nenagh.

Park and Ride facility plans stalled

Limerick Leader 13 March 2009 By Nick Rabbitts

PLANS for Limerick’s first ever park and ride facility near Annacotty has stalled after the NRA objected to the proposals.

Last month, Limerick County Council gave the green light to the plans, which also provide for facilities including a restaurant, shops, a tourist information centre and a play area.

But following a written submission by the National Roads Authority, the case has been referred to An Bord Pleanala.

The NRA has said that granting the application will put the safety of that stretch of road at risk. 🙁

Tara Spain, NRA senior planning policy advisor, wrote: “In the opinion of the authority, the decision to grant runs counter to the objectives of protecting the carrying capacity, operational efficiency and safety of the national roads network.”

The authority also raised concerns on additional congestion in the area, and the number of facilities planned for the development – which will be named the Newport Interchange.

At the start of this year, Limerick city councillors were presented with a public transport feasibility study which investigated the possibility of introducing additional green routes in and out of the city.

The study will go to Transport Minister Noel Dempsey this summer.
And the NRA feels that until a report is given off the back of this, plans for a park and ride are “premature.”

“The authority is also aware that Limerick City Council is required to undertake a public transport feasibility study.

“It is considered that such a study must investigate, interalia, the provision of park and ride facilities in support of improved public transport options.

“Thus the proposed park and ride element of the permission granted by Limerick City Council in respect to this proposed development may be considered premature pending the completion of the Public Transport Feasibility study to inform a coherent strategy for the provision of park and ride facilities and sites in tandem with the provision of dedicated or improved public transport corridors,” Ms Spain wrote.

When the local planning authority granted permission to the development, they ruled out the building of a garden centre. 😮 But the NRA does not feel this goes far enough.

“While the authority supports the decision by Limerick County Council to omit the garden centre, it is the view of the authority that the range of facilities provided in a service area should be targeted solely at servicing the needs of the road user rather than endeavouring to attract additional custom through other facilities and thereby creating additional journeys on the network,” Ms Spain wrote.

Residents of Lisnagry also lodged objections to the plan, but these were considered invalid by the national planning authority.

An Bord Pleanala has until the end of June to make a ruling on the application.

The developers, David Murphy and Finbarr Smiddy, were not available for comment.

I think the Limerick County Council are hell bent on adding more potential havoc at the Newport Interchange. Is it not the remit of the NRA to decide where motorway services are located?

I agree with the NRA here. This ‘Park and Ride’ is nothing more than a shopping centre where the carpark is also used as a park and ride. It would attract extra cars into this area rather than take them off the road. The NRA has every right to object as it would seriously undermine the juction they are building at the moment. (which is inadequite anyway.)

I dont think any services are needed this close to the city. A pure park and ride facility could work though. It would add extra traffic to the junction, but it would also do a lot to reduce traffic in the city

A couple of years back the NRA belatedly announced the rollout of service areas along the main inter-urban routes.

Basically their plan is to have service areas at 50/60 km intervals on major roads. At the moment, the proposed locations along the M7 are outside Mountrath and at a location between Nenagh and Roscrea. It makes absolutely no sense to locate a service area this close to the city. There are 3 filling stations located a short distance away along with many other facilities.

Bus Eireann have already admitted anyway that they are not in a position to offer any increase in services along this route. Indeed I believe they are in process of reducing their Limerick fleet.:rolleyes:

Can somebody clarify something to me here.

Do the dinosaur county council want to build a monotrosity off the Newport interchange and have direct access to it.

That is not going to happen, No fucking way.

The Limerick Tunnel Spring newsletter is now available.

It looks likely that the first 5 km’s of the road (from Rossbrien to the Dock Road) could open this autumn. Laying of the road surface is set to begin in early summer.

The St Nessans Road overbridge should be open to traffic in the next week or 2, this will allow construction to begin on the SRR mainline underneath.

You would think that this partial opening would be a positive move but the traffic chaos at the Dock Road interchange dosent bear thinking about!:eek:

Limerick County Council ~ N21 ADARE BYPASS

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

CONSTRAINTS STUDY & ROUTE CORRIDOR OPTIONS

Limerick County Council announces that it is to revisit and review the Route Corridor Selection for the N21 Adare Bypass. Changes in national infrastructural policy along with the recent announcement of the Emerging Preferred Route for the M20 Cork to Limerick Motorway Scheme have led to the reevaluation of the original preferred route of the Adare Bypass.

As part of the review process, Limerick County Council will host a public consultation event – entitled “Adare Bypass: Constraints Study and Route Corridor Options” – in the Dunraven Arms Hotel, Adare on Thursday 2 April from 2.00pm to 8.00pm.

The current review once completed will result in an Emerging Preferred Route for Adare Bypass being announced in May 2009. Following completion of the relevant statutory procedures, it is anticipated that the construction of the Adare Bypass will commence as part of the overall M20 Cork to Limerick Motorway scheme.

It has long been an objective of Limerick County Council to bypass the town of Adare, removing through traffic from the town centre, improving journey times both locally and on the strategic National Road network, thereby promoting local and regional development.

In March 2005 following an extensive study, Limerick County Council announced the Preferred Route Corridor for the N21 Adare Bypass, the Black Route Option to the north of the town of Adare.

In the intervening years, changes in infrastructural policy have occurred in the development of the strategic National Road network. Following the publication of Transport 21, the Western Corridor, linking the west coast with Waterford via the N24, was replaced by the Atlantic Road Corridor, linking the west coast to Waterford via the N20 and the N25.

The M20 Cork to Limerick Motorway scheme forms an integral part of the Atlantic Road Corridor, and is a priority scheme under Transport 21 and the National Development Plan. In October 2008 the Emerging Preferred Route for the M20 Cork to Limerick Motorway Scheme was announced by Cork County Council.

The provision of the associated M20 infrastructure in the vicinity of Adare has necessitated a review of the N21 Adare Bypass route corridor selection process. It is now essential that Limerick County Council revisit and review the Route Corridor Selection for the N21 Adare Bypass in order to ensure that the most appropriate route option is taken forward to the statutory processes, and that the return on public investment is optimised.

In light of these new developments, Limerick County Council, in conjunction with the National Roads Authority (NRA) is working with consultants Jacobs Engineering to examine and develop route corridor options for a bypass of the town of Adare. A revised Constraints Study Area has been developed which extends further south and east of Adare than the 2004 Constraints Study Area.

A brochure outlining the constraints study area and route corridor options along with a questionnaire will be available at the public display on the 2nd April 2009 and then from Limerick County Council’s Mid West National Road Design Office in Lissanalta House, Dooradoyle. The brochure will then also be made available for viewing online at http://www.midwestroads.ie .

The closing date for submissions is Monday 20th April 2009.

For further information contact:

Mid West National Road Design Office,
Limerick County Council,
Lissanalta House, Dooradoyle, County Limerick

Telephone: 061 496 800; Fax: 061 583 150 Email: adare@midwestroads.ie Web

N21 Adare Bypass

New Preferred Route Corridor Selection: May 2009

Originally the northern route along the railway line was the preferred choice. Though it does make sense to integrate it with the planned M20 Limerick / Cork (Atlantic Corridor). That could mean the bypass would run south of Adare instead?

It would make more logic to bring the Adare M21 straight to the M20 just North of Croom and proceding directly west to the south of Adare. Leave the existing Patrickswell N20 junction for Adare and Croom traffic.

Building a Free flow futher Southwest would be more suited than a having a free flow just south of the Patrickswell interchange, that arrangement would make this section of road chaotic with weaving.

This is the cheapest and most econmical route IMO. Note this is simalar to the Porlaoise M7/M8 layout. It was not intentional. But I just don’t see the point in building the M20/M21 interchange just a km south of the existing N20 TOTO (as explained above) and then the N21 proceeding very close to Adare town with many crossing’s (including a rail bridge). The motoroway to motorway exist should be clearly much further southwest. Giving the M21 Adare bypass a more direct route inlign with the current M20. The current N21 bypass is to near and off the mark IMO. The advantages it would give, would make the Adare bypass have motorway restrictions and keep off road developments spriinging up. The Motorway motorway interchange is better located. The route I provided is much straighter and direct. The southern interchange should be fairly easily worked out, with the current regional road joining the N21. This can give acess to Adare town and the local road itself. The black dots are the best locations for interchanges.

P.S my map is not exactly on line for the M20 but close as I can get it to be from my memory of where the M20 goes by.. The M20 actually goes slighly more to the East near Croom on the map. So apolgies for my blunder there.

• Red dots, are overbridges, interchanges
• Black line – is preferred old route
• Blue line, is new route incoporated into M20

There is an excessive amount of overbridges and structures to be built on the Old preferred route. This was my favourable of routes, in the previous Adare route selection.

But I think it’s to much hassel skirting the N21 north of Adare when the Current M20 goes far south. Bear in mind, the Old N21 has to be upgraded. The M20M21 interchange is not in a suited location. I’d rather the M20/M21 placed in my new layout, And defer Adare and local N21 traffic exit at Patrickswell N20 interchange. This makes the route far more efficient and direct. The preferred old route, will cause urban sprawl around Adare also. I think the N21 incoporated into the M20 make’s more sense.

What are your views?

@CologneMike wrote:

N21 Adare Bypass

New Preferred Route Corridor Selection: May 2009

The local gombeen county councillors have been quick to react to this news, by calling for the NRA to be scrapped!:o

These are the same councillors who recently voted in favour of rezoning up to 200 acres of land surrounding the village for housing. They’re probably angry because this re-think scuppers their attempts to treat us to another exhibition of poor planning on lands opened up by the original bypass route!:rolleyes:

The reason behind the re-evaluation of the route is that it now looks likely that the Adare Bypass will be lumped in with the M20 Limerick – Cork PPP project. As part of this, a new free-flow junction between the M20/M21 or M20/N21 will be built to the south west of the existing Attyflin junction.

The Adare bypass is without question one of the most badly needed projects on the national road network. The fact that we still have Dual Carriageway volumes of traffic ploughing through the main street of a heritage town is absolutely pathetic!:rolleyes:

Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase II Construction (Dooradoyle)

The following pictures were taken by Zoney at boards.ie

View from Dooradoyle Road roundabout (Crescent shopping centre to the right)

View from Dooradoyle Road side of rbout (Dooradoyle Road has a link to N20 junction 1)

View of bridge from shopping centre car park, note the railway locomotive emerging from under the bridge – this is the Mungret line which has a level crossing on the existing St. Nessan’s Road (such as remains for the next couple of days). Nice timing. There is a slip off the ramp into the shopping centre carpark – just off frame to the left.

View of the southwest ramp. There is a bus bay just to the right, and the aforementioned slip is where the red car is. The dooradoyle roundabout is behind the vantage point of the photo. Note the temporary lane markings and studs for diverting both lanes of traffic over the complete half of the ramp.

View on existing St. Nessan’s Road of the bridge and diversion under. The northeastern bridge ramp sits right where the old road used to be – until last week the traffic was diverted to the left of this in the photo (while the initial diverting of Ballinacurra Creek and construction of the bridge took place). SRR still to be built under bridge once the traffic is diverted over it.

View of the SRR mainline taking form to the west – the Ballinacurra Creek is just on the left edge of the frame.

View of the bridge from the east, and the traffic diversion beneath – where the SRR mainline will be constructed. Mungret railway line is under the furthest span in the frame, the creek is in a culvert.

View of SRR mainline to the east.

Northeastern end of the bridge – there is a junction with the South Circular Road immediately left of the frame – complicating matters just a tad! The surface and pavement is pretty much entirely tied in on the northern side of the ramp – just left of frame.

M20 Cork-Limerick Motorway Scheme

Proposed Schedule

Emerging preferred route corridor consultation (October 2008)

Preliminary design of preferred scheme (March 2009)

What is the current status regarding the proposed route between Charleville and Patrickswell and its proposed junctions?

I have not heard much feedback (Limerick Leader) from the communities it is proposed to serve. Have they all given it the thumbs up?

I hope the Limerick County Councillors are aware of all pros and cons of this route!!!!!

From what I see on the map below the following junctions could have the following traffic patterns.

• Junction 7 Croom area (predominant direction Limerick)
• Junction 6 Charleville / Kilmallock areas (predominant direction Limerick)
• Junction 5 Charleville / Kilmallock areas (predominant direction Cork)

The M20 is now being progressed as a PPP, split up into 2 seperate projects (northern & southern sections). The preferred route is due to go on display in the next week or so.

Another major PPP scheme will be going out to tender pretty soon and if the money cant be secured for that project, then unfortunately things will look pretty bleak for the M20 aswell.

Fingers crossed!

On the midwest roads map, which option for the Adare bypass seems the most obvious, red, green or blue?

@dodgyman wrote:

On the midwest roads map, which option for the Adare bypass seems the most obvious, red, green or blue?

From what I make out the original option 1 (Black Route) looks the better choice for the N21 bypass. It seems the bypass options 2, 3 and 4 will only connect the N21 with the old N20 road and not directly with the M20. One would eventually get onto M20 at the Attyflin (Patrickswell) junction. The NRA illustrations need more detail!

Which route do you preferr yourself?

Limerick County Council is to revisit and review the Route Corridor Selection for the N21 Adare Bypass as a result of changes in national infrastructural policy along with the recent announcement of the Emerging Preferred Route for the M20 Cork – Limerick Motorway Scheme.

Option 1 (Black Route)
Commences west of Adare on the N21 at Garraunboy, then departs from the existing road heading north east, crossing the L-8025 and the Greanagh River, before crossing Blackabbey Road and the Limerick-Foynes railway line and
heading east across Kildimo Road, then crossing the River Maigue and the railway before continuing parallel to the railway line to tie-in to the N21 at Gorteen.

Option 2 (Green Route)
Commences west of Adare on the N21 at Rower Beg, then departs east, running parallel to the existing N21 before crossing the R519 and heading south east towards the townland of Boulabally, bridging the River Maigue. The route
continues eastward crossing both the L-1420 and L-8053 before tying into the N20 at Fanningstown.

Option 3 (Red Route)
Commences west of Adare on the N21 at Rower Beg, then departs from the existing road heading south, before turning east and crossing the R519.
The route then traverses the townlands of Graiguesparling and Boulabally, where it bridges the River Maigue. The route turns north eastward
crossing both the L-1420 and L-8053 local roads before tying into the N20 at Garranroe.

Option 4 (Blue Route)
Commences west of Adare on the N21 at Garraunboy, then departs from the existing road heading south east. The route crosses the R519 in the townland of Granard, before turning north eastward, crossing the River Maigue at Castleroberts and then the L-1420 before tying into the N20 at Fanningstown.

Well actually I live and work on one of these routes 🙁 . If the route I am on is chosen it will completely change everything for me I think. I would rather not say as to which route I am on as I want to hear everyone’s opinion. I don’t want biased opinions one way or the other. Just honest professional opinions please. Thanks.

The M21 Should not go at a right angle, whoever came up with these route options, needs to order a new brain and a pair of binoculars.

The green combined with My route on the previous page.

Looks like the RGB routes are joke routes and they plan to stick to the black (much the same as the previous non-M20 linked scheme).

Why would you put, the N21 route options at right angles to the N20 and N21? Are the planner’s this incapable of carrying out proper route selections.?

My route is the red/green combined, with a better curve towards the M20, as It should be. The new interchange would be Half way between Croom and the present N20/N21 interchange. The black route is fine, but there is a waste of an interchange with two beside each other. The M20/M21 interchange should be a single motorway/motorway interchange on a greenfield location half way between Croom and Patrickswell. There is no real benifet putting the motorway interchange right beside the existing one. That’s a pure waste.

Had to scribble on this, it looks better now. Had to colour out the sexy right angles.:rolleyes:

Can someone tell me who decided to put these route options in, they are laughable. Why would you build a pointless blue road snaking all over the place, and then join the N21 as if your going to head to foynes or something.:rolleyes:

Whichever route is chosen, the Adare bypass will commence at a new interchange with the proposed M20. Thankfully common sense appears to have prevailed and the two schemes will be constructed as part of the same contract. This is the reason why potential new routes for the bypass are being considered!

As we can see from the map, the new M20 follows the line of the existing Croom bypass, which will be widened from its current WS2 arrangement. Just before the end of the bypass it veers off on a new allignment, west of the existing N20 (where the green route begins). Once completed, the current N20 will be de-trunked to become a regional road (re-coloured in orange below).

The black and green routes are probably the most likely options. If I had to choose, I’d go for the original black route as it provides better access to the village. Option 4 (Blue) is a total non-runner!

@Tuborg wrote:

Whichever route is chosen, the Adare bypass will commence at a new interchange with the proposed M20.

Tuborg, looking at the map above yes, but they also write above that options 2, 3 and 4 of tying them into the N20 at Fanningstown / Garranroe. No direct mention of the M20. :confused:

@Tuborg wrote:

As we can see from the map, the new M20 follows the line of the existing Croom bypass, which will be widened from its current WS2 arrangement.

Is this definite that the existing Croom bypass will become part of the M20?

I took another look in at the Cork National Road Office and found this image with various routes from the proposal stage. Interestingly enough they show only a half grade seperated junction at Fanningstown.

However the so called “emerging preferred route corridor” for the M20 between Charleville and Patrickswell shows the Croom Junction at the southern end of the Croom Bypass.

There is a need here for more detailed maps denoting motorway / junction types / primary roads from Charleville to Limerick and Adare to Limerick.

• Triangle: Half Grade Separated Junction
• Hexagon: Free Flow Junction

@CologneMike wrote:

Tuborg, looking at the map above yes, but they also write above that options 2, 3 and 4 of tying them into the N20 at Fanningstown / Garranroe. No direct mention of the M20. :confused:

I wouldn’t take any notice of that. Of the three alternative routes, its only the red option that dosent connect directly with the M20 corridor. For some reason it terminates on a substandard, undulating part of the current N20 that is littered with private accesses etc. It makes absolutely no sense and I’ve no idea why they included it!:confused:

Realistically, the route options map hints at what we already know, that the new M20/N21 interchange will be built just to the south west of the current Attyflin junction. You can basically see the parameters of it mapped out already. My take on it is attached below.

@CologneMike wrote:

Is this definite that the existing Croom bypass will become part of the M20?

The Croom bypass (see attached) opened in the Summer of 2001. It was built as a wide 2 lane road, a format that the NRA have since abandoned. There is certainly scope to widen the bypass to motorway although the existing bridges will be problematic.You’d squeeze a D2 carriageway under them but you would probably have to lose the hard shoulder! A similar scenario occurs on the recently upgraded Nenagh bypass.

@CologneMike wrote:

I took another look in at the Cork National Road Office and found this image with various routes from the proposal stage. Interestingly enough they show only a half grade seperated junction at Fanningstown.

However the so called “emerging preferred route corridor” for the M20 between Charleville and Patrickswell shows the Croom Junction at the southern end of the Croom Bypass.

There is a need here for more detailed maps denoting motorway / junction types / primary roads from Charleville to Limerick and Adare to Limerick.

The current Croom junction is a compact LILO (left in, left out) at the beginning of the bypass. Upgrading this would be troublesome enough so I wouldn’t be surprised if a new junction at another location is being considered.

I attended one of the public consultations back in October I think it was and I spoke briefly to an NRA official. He basically explained that detailed plans of junctions etc wont be available until the Motorway Order is published sometime during the Summer!:( I would be particularly interested to see the plans for the new M20/N21 interchange, Im guessing it will have limited access?

Croom bypass image courtesy of Chris 533976

In my opinion the green route is by far the best. It connects with both (old) N20 and future M20, and is shortest.

In order of optimality, the other three are:
– Red (separate junctions needed for M20 and N20)
– Black (too close to the town)
– Blue (far too circuitous route)

Just a follow up to the bus lane farce from the planning thread.:rolleyes:

Deadlock on transport plan halted city funding (Limerick Leader)

LIMERICK missed out on a Government fund of €20m over the last five years because of a deadlock over public transport in the city, according to local election candidate for the Green Party, James Nix.
Councillors in Limerick failed to reach agreement on an appropriate new bus route plan for the city, meaning the council could not avail of a Government fund to improve public transport in all gateway cities, according to Mr Nix.

The proposed installation of green routes in suburbs around the city has been at the core of disagreements between councillors and the council itself over the last five years.

This week, the Green Party launched an alternative transport plan to those which have been proposed – and argued over by sitting councillors – in recent years. Mr Nix said that if agreement can be reached by the council, the Department of Transport will prioritise the city when allocating funds.

“The funding is available to Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford,” explained the Green candidate. “The Department is aware that Limerick has not drawn down this funding and so will have them top of their list once a proper public transport plan is adopted by the council.

“Our new plan, instead of focusing on introducing bus lanes in the suburbs, concentrates on the city centre and works its way out. We need to enable public transport to take the space of vehicles drawn out of the city with the opening of the new tunnel under the Shannon next year.”

Mr Nix says he started working with the Roads Department in Limerick City Council as early as last March on an alternative plan for Limerick that would include “simple yet effective measures”.

Among the list of Green recommendations is traffic light priority for buses, better lane usage and an enhancement programme to reduce journey times for public transport on a number of routes, specifically between Limerick’s Maternity Hospital and Brown Thomas on O’Connell Street.

“We need to design a network with high-frequency, well-known routes in parallel with smaller buses providing more dedicated services,” Mr Nix continued.

“Turning away a multi-million euro sum year after year for failing to agree a plan is not a situation we can allow to continue. With many families shedding second cars and coming to rely more and more on public transport, as well as an ageing population, workable public transport is needed more every day.”

Can’t they not just agglomerate Limerick city into one council. Its the only way for the city to prosper, its becoming an embarresment. The planning of this city is going to actually affect the monopoly greed no gooders in the end. They are so greedy they dont see it yet.

Where is the Green T.D minister Gormly on this Issue. if they cant expand the whole city into one authority yet, They should push for Castlettoy and UL into the city for fuck sake like. It’s just hideous at this stage. Limerick country would still benefiet as they can then focus on building around NWC as Limerick nexts biggest urban area. Seriously lets be a bit more logical here. All I can see is the whole Midwest suffering if the councilors let the city go divided any longer on the planning development front in years to come if not already. We are starting to see chaos already with public transport bus lanes. These kind of issues dont happen in other cities.

It’s actually a joke.

Agreement reached on mid-west infrastructure masterplan (Irish Examiner)

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

AGREEMENT has been reached on the drafting of a masterplan for the long-term infrastructure development of Counties Clare, North Tipperary, Limerick city and Co Limerick.

Limerick City Council, acting on behalf of the mid-west’s regional and local authorities, has reached agreement with civil engineering consultants, Mott MacDonald Pettit, to prepare the framework document for guiding future residential, commercial and industrial development in the mid-west region.

Called the Mid-West Area Strategic Plan (MWASP), it will have a significant bearing on the development of the region’s transportation infrastructure over the next 30 years. Supported by the Department of Transport and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Limerick City Council will act as lead authority for the project on behalf of the Mid-West Regional Authority, Clare County Council, Limerick County Council and North Tipperary County Council.

Limerick City manager Tom Mackey said: “It is important to develop a planning, land use and transportation strategy for the region to help it compete nationally and internationally. The strategy output will integrate transport and land use planning in the mid-west while embracing the sustainable philosophy, and planning for the region’s current and future need.”

Regional authority director Liam Conneally said: “The output of the strategy is not intended to be an ‘end-state’, but rather the first substantial step in a 30-year strategy that will shape the future of the mid-west.

“During the recent economic boom much development has been developer-led whereby strategic locations have been land banked for potential future development. This study, however, is plan-led whereby the regional and local authorities identify locations deemed suitable for sustainable development. Furthermore, the strategy will feed into mid-west regional planning guidelines and will particularly inform the Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary county development plans and the Limerick City Plan, which are presently under review.”

Mr Conneally explained the strategy would provide the mid-west authorities with evidence-based cases to justify undertaking large-scale planning and transportation projects.

He said: “The study will include a traffic model examining the impact of all new developments on the road and rail transportation network. The regional and local authorities will be able to use the model to determine the potential impacts of any large scale commercial, retail or employment creation proposals on the existing transportation network in the areas concerned and provide vital information on infrastructure upgrades necessary to accommodate such projects.

“Ultimately, the model will contribute to the sustainable economic development of the mid-west, as well as maximise the proper use of local, regional and national road, rail and other transport networks.” Tom O’Connor, managing director of Mott MacDonald Pettit, said the development of a strategic plan for the region would ensure the balanced growth of the region.

“During the recent economic boom much development has been developer-led whereby strategic locations have been land banked for potential future development. This study, however, is plan-led whereby the regional and local authorities identify locations deemed suitable for sustainable development.”

Maybe the present downturn is a “blessing in disguise” as far as planning is concerned! The local authorities have now a little breathing space to catch up with what the developers did and now they must plan in a coherent way for the good of the Mid-West.

N21 Adare Bypass Emerging Preferred Route Corridor

I cant believe they’re going with the blue option! An absolutely baffling decision!:eek:

@dave123 wrote:

Limerick country would still benefiet as they can then focus on building around NWC as Limerick nexts biggest urban area. Seriously lets be a bit more logical here. All I can see is the whole Midwest suffering if the councilors let the city go divided any longer on the planning development front in years to come if not already. We are starting to see chaos already with public transport bus lanes. These kind of issues dont happen in other cities.

It’s actually a joke.

I agree. In the medium/longer term, County Limerick would prosper more despite not including the city environs – a city under a single authority would provide a greater economic hub for the county. The current situation is in fact holding back the county as well as the city.

N21 Abbeyfeale to Adare Road Improvement Scheme

Anybody got an up to date status on this project?

@CologneMike wrote:

N21 Abbeyfeale to Adare Road Improvement Scheme

Anybody got an up to date status on this project?

Seen as the NRA have done away with un-segregated wide single lane roads, it will be interesting to see what they come up with for this project. Theres talk that it will be a 2+2 road, i.e. dual 2 lane with central barrier, narrow hard shoulder and compact left in/left out junctions.

Some might consider this to be overkill but then again the N21 is an important access route to the south west aswell as a key tourist route. Constructing it to this standard would also mean it would be future-proofed for many decades to come.

Unfortunately though, as bad as the current N21 is (and it is truly shocking in parts) and despite the fact that bypasses of Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale are sorely needed,there is little chance of this scheme going anywhere in the next 5 years! As the Country is basically broke, very few new projects will be going ahead over the next couple of years. Projects like this one, which are not very high on the NRA’s priority list, look like being pushed back until post 2014.:(

M7 Nenagh – Limerick update

This project was due to be completed last month however some well documented issues with the contractor late last year have slowed things down. A section of extremely boggy land near Daly’s Cross has also complicated matters, a large number of piles have had to be driven into the ground for stabilisation purposes.

All going well, the road should now open in November/December. It looks like its going to be a pretty scenic drive.:)

Photos taken by tech2 at boards.ie

Taken from the overbridge near Dromin

Taken from the R504 overbridge near Birdhill

Overbridge, south of Daly’s Cross

Underbridge south of that overbridge, the piles can be seen

Looking northbound towards Nenagh

Upgraded Nenagh bypass

@Tuborg wrote:

Seen as the NRA have done away with un-segregated wide single lane roads, it will be interesting to see what they come up with for this project. Theres talk that it will be a 2+2 road, i.e. dual 2 lane with central barrier, narrow hard shoulder and compact left in/left out junctions.

Overkill or not, we need purpose built national roads for cars, trucks, buses. National roads that just evolved in ad hoc manner from the days of the horse drawn cart are not acceptable from a road safety point of view. Its ridiculous to see trucks driving along the hard shoulder to allow other road users pass.

@Tuborg wrote:

As the Country is basically broke, very few new projects will be going ahead over the next couple of years. Projects like this one, which are not very high on the NRA’s priority list, look like being pushed back until post 2014.:(

True, in the meantime all the planning, the locating of the route, etc, etc can be done now for this section of the N21. So when funds are available there should be no other obstacles in its way.

Another article that no one mentioned regarding the city’s brilliant bus service.

Limerick bus services to be slashed
12 June 2009

By David Hurley

BUS services across the city will be severely impacted by cost-cutting measures which are set to be rolled out by Bus Eireann in the coming weeks.
The Limerick Leader has learned that up to 30 bus drivers will lose their jobs when proposals to downgrade services and remove dozens of buses from the fleet in Limerick are implemented.

Services on all city routes will be reduced as part of the plan and only the Castletroy, Caherdavin and Raheen services will continue to operate after 7 o’Clock at night.

Bus Eireann spokesman, Andrew McLindon, declined to comment on what he described as speculation ahead of any formal announcement by the company. “The majority of the changes will involve either reductions in the frequency of a service or a change in its route. Some services that are not economically viable in the current economic environment will be withdrawn,” he said.

Mr McLindon said Bus Eireann had lost €1m in Limerick last year due to traffic congestion and he urged the newly elected members of Limerick City Council to address the issues of bus lanes as a matter of priority.

“If we had bus lanes in place then we might have been able to do other things with our services,” he said.

Cllr Orla McLoughlin, who was elected for the first time at the weekend, is outraged at the imminent cuts. “It is devastating and it is wiping out a crucial service in the city, people are actually struggling at the moment to get to work or to get across the city and now they are going to have to pay for taxi and the whole business of running the city is being left to wreck and ruin and I want to put this on the agenda at City Hall,” she said.

SIPTU has entered negotiations with Bus Eireann and a deadline of June 19 has been set for agreement to be reached. It is right across the county, it is a cost containment exercise and they are going through which routes and which grades of drivers they can cut,” said one union source.

Services to and from Shannon, Charleville, Doon, Glin and Coonagh will also be affected by the cost-cutting measures.

@PoxyShamrock wrote:

Another article that no one mentioned regarding the city’s brilliant bus service.

so basically the third largest city in the country with over 100,000 with next to no public transportation system is further going to decrease the only public transportation system to only 3 routes after 7? i also read that Limerick has the least amount of busses per head of population out of any other city in the country..thats a joke.

also on the discussion of the city boundary, apparently killarney has a bigger boundary than Limerick city boundary (prior to coonagh extension) and galways is over 4 times the area of Limericks, and if Limerick was to get an extension to the same area as galways then there would be just under 120,000 in Limerick..if this is true then something serious has to be done to get limerick back onto the map again as 3rd most economically important urban area..not 4th or 5th

@PoxyShamrock wrote:

Another article that no one mentioned regarding the city’s brilliant bus service.

Limerick bus services to be slashed

Mr McLindon said Bus Eireann had lost €1m in Limerick last year due to traffic congestion and he urged the newly elected members of Limerick City Council to address the issues of bus lanes as a matter of priority.

“If we had bus lanes in place 😮 then we might have been able to do other things with our services,” he said.

So the local elections are now behind us. Will see if this lot can roll out the badly needed bus lanes along O’Connell Avenue, Ennis Road and Mulgrave Street.

By the way progressive Galway City Council have installed bus lanes years ago!

@CologneMike wrote:

So the local elections are now behind us. Will see if this lot can roll out the badly needed bus lanes along O’Connell Avenue, Ennis Road and Mulgrave Street.

By the way progressive Galway City Council have installed bus lanes years ago!

HA!

There’ll be no bus lane next or near O’Connell Avenue now that Maria “Nimby” Byrne has been re-elected.

By all means put a bus lane on the Condell Road (because it was needed so badly :rolleyes:) but just don’t go near her territory.

@PoxyShamrock wrote:

HA!

There’ll be no bus lane next or near O’Connell Avenue now that Maria “Nimby” Byrne has been re-elected.

By all means put a bus lane on the Condell Road (because it was needed so badly :rolleyes:) but just don’t go near her territory.

I was surprised that she got re-elected in the first place but even more so by the fact that she seemed to get a very solid vote. No doubt her anti bus-lane stance bought her a lot of support from the O’ Connell Avenue residents in particular!:rolleyes:

People give on about the undeniably crap bus service here but when improvements like this are proposed, they cry foul. You cant have it both ways!

Limerick Green Bus Route gets go ahead (Live95fm)

It’s all systems go for a 1.2 million euro green route on Mulgrave Street in Limerick city.
Local residents and businesses had objected to the introduction of a bus lane on the in-bound section of the street but have now reached agreement with Limerick City Council after receiving a number of assurances.

They want 10 houses at St Dympna’s Terrace bypassed and disc parking for residents outside the peak-time bus lane hours.

Half a million euro in funding has also been approved by the Department of Transport for a green route from the Maternity Hospital to Sarsfield Bridge 😮 on the Ennis Road and €150,000 has been granted to allow the Childers Road project enter the design phase.

Director of Services at Limerick City Council Pat Dromey says the Green Routes will provide a lot of added value to the areas involved.

New Limerick bus lane to cost €1,700 per metre (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

A PROPOSED bus lane stretching less than 300 metres into the city is to cost a massive €500,000, or almost €1,700 per metre, new figures from Limerick City Council show.
At yesterday’s council meeting, members were shown plans for new bus lanes after the Department of Transport approved funding for the scheme.

And while a route from Mulgrave Street into the Cathedral Street junction is to cost €1.2m, with the widening of Childers Road set to cost €150,000, there was shock after it was revealed a short section of road from the maternity hospital to Sarsfield Bridge will cost half a million euro.

According to a document presented to councillors yesterday, the green route – which will be widely used by services starting their journey to Shannon Airport – will include new pedestrian crossing facilities, improved quality bus stops and new public street lighting.

But Independent councillor Kathleen Leddin was left concerned at the price tag on the proposal – and she also said that the size of buses coming down the Ennis Road were hampering the provision of a more convenient bus service.

“These buses are huge and ponderous. :confused: People here should talk to Bus Eireann and make sure we get smaller buses. 😮 Whatever people say, there needs to be some input to give people a smaller bus model, which is convenient and sustainable for the area.”

Elsewhere, following talks with business owners and residents of Mulgrave Street – some of whom were in the council chamber yesterday – new plans were unveiled for a bus lane on this stretch, eight months after the Council agreed to “withdraw and delete” plans for the route.

However, councillors have already called for a section of this route, which runs from the Pike to the Cathedral Street junction, to be deleted from the new plans.

And there have also been concerns expressed as to whether Bus Eireann will have enough staff to service the route after the Limerick Chronicle revealed the embattled state bus provider was to axe 30 jobs in the city.

Progressive city councilors and their patchwork public transport policies. :rolleyes:

Limerick national roads will turn into motorways (Limerick Leader)

By Mike Dwane

THREE “new” motorways in the Limerick area are set to open by the end of August, according to the Department of Transport.

It’s not a matter of the National Roads Authority completing projects in record time as the roads are already built. But using powers under the Roads Act of 2007, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has at the stroke of a pen designated almost 300km of national primary roads and dual carriageways as motorways.

It means that the speed limit on roads around Limerick increases from 100kph to 120kph except for where a special speed limit applies, such as the 50kph speed limit approaching the Rosbrien interchange to facilitate construction work there.

The roads include the 8.5km Limerick Southern Ring Road (Phase One) from Annacotty to Rosbrien; and the 5km section of the main road to Cork (N20) as far as Attyflin/Patrickswell.

The section of the N18 from Shannon to Galway (It should read Ennis?) has also been designated as a motorway although construction between Limerick and Shannon to facilitate the Limerick Tunnel project means the 100kph limit remains in force here.

Sean O’Neill, NRA, told the Limerick Leader that these roads have all been completed to “high quality dual carriageway standard” by the contractors appointed by the Authority.

“In terms of the road engineering and the quality of the design, there is no difference between a high quality dual carriageway and a motorway. It is only a legal distinction,” said Mr O’Neill, explaining the legalities related to restrictions of particular road users and the maximum allowable speed.

Minister Dempsey’s move means that the above roads will be off limits from August 28 for learner drivers, vehicles with engines under 50cc, vehicles not capable of a speed of 50 kph, pedestrians and cyclists.

Speaking on Monday, Minister Dempsey said: “By declaring these sections of road to be motorways, it will create uniformity of speed limits across major sections of the national network and protect this major public investment from inappropriate development. The primary function of a national motorway network is to allow people, goods and services to travel safely and efficiently throughout the country.”

@CologneMike wrote:

Limerick national roads will turn into motorways (Limerick Leader)

August 28th is the date the redesignations will come into effect. Hopefully phase 2 of the Southern Ring will also be given motorway status once it opens or soon afterwards.

Blue signs have been erected (a tad early) on the Loughmore junction near Dell. This will become J2 of the newly created M20 although by my reckoning it should be J3?

Photo courtesy of Zoney

I would say this is J3 as well.

Limerick Tunnel Update

Summer 2009 Newsletter

The stretch between Rossbrien and the Dock Road has really begun to take shape over the last 6 weeks or so and could well be open before the year is out.

Of course the only problem with this is the fact that all the traffic will have to exit at the woefully underpowered and inadequate Dock Road interchange. Access from the M20 northbound to the city centre at Rossbrien will of course be removed, resulting in significant extra volumes accessing the city centre via the Dock Road. A traffic nightmare is definitely on the cards here!:mad:

The following 2 photos were taken by tech2 at boards.ie

Ballykeeffe overbridge towards St Nessan’s Road overbridge

Ballykeeffe overbridge looking towards Dock Road interchange

N7/N18 interchange😎

I noticed today that there are extensive road works taking place on sexton street. I have also heard that some work has been going on in the Costeloes Yard/ St Johns Pavilion area. Are these works related to the City Centre Orbital route?

@Goofy wrote:

I noticed today that there are extensive road works taking place on sexton street. I have also heard that some work has been going on in the Costeloes Yard/ St Johns Pavilion area. Are these works related to the City Centre Orbital route?

More than likely. A new link road is being built between Cathedral Place and Sexton Street which involves the demolition of St. John’s pavillion.

With preliminary works for the new link road now underway, one would have thought that the issue of St. John’s Pavillion would have been sorted!

Limerick band set to be drummed out of home (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

ONE of the city’s oldest brass bands could be homeless after Limerick City Council gave them until next Tuesday to vacate its Newtownmahon premises.
Two years ago, the St John’s Brass & Reed Band – founded in 1865 – were served with a compulsory purchase order by city hall as their premises was earmarked to make way for the new city centre orbital road.

But the group claim despite numerous representations to City Hall after it was asked to identify similar facilities to replace their current bandhall, they have not heard anything, aside from the letter informing them they had just a week to move out of their bandhall – which has been their home since 1954.

And last week, the final straw came when band bosses arrived at the bandhall to find building contractors outside their premises.

Band secretary Sean Hartigan believes had he not driven past the bandhall, opposite Limerick Fire Station, it could have been destroyed altogether.

“I was driving past, and saw some bulldozers (to the back] of the building. They were pushing things over and knocking things down. Immediately I parked my car and went in, where I found the foreman of the site. Outside our back door, I found tonnes of rubble which blocked our emergency exit. He (the foreman] came over and told me they would ‘look after’ our building shortly. I told him they cannot knock this building because it is privately owned by the band,” he explained.
According to Sean, the foreman said that he had not been told of the fact the bandroom was still occupied.

He added the band was disappointed by “the failure of Limerick city council – whether deliberate or inadvertent – to inform the site foreman that our bandroom was still occupied and contained valuable and extensive collections of sheet music, as well as instruments, stands and other property.”

The bands’ musical director John Doyle admitted he is fearful as to what might happen to their equipment if they do not find even a temporary home by next week.

As we went to press this Tuesday , no spokesman from the city council was available.

If a CPO is issued, then the property owners are entitled to compensation or more appropriately in this case, an alternative premises.

Limerick City Council; a model of professionalism as usual!:rolleyes:

Motorway redesignation works are stepping up a gear on the soon to be M20. As I was passing today, the studs were being removed from the hard shoulder between the Raheen and Patrickswell junctions in preparation for its re-painting. This caused a fair few problems for traffic I might add, they would probably be better off doing this work at night time.

Most of the new signs and junction countdown markers are now in place along with the “end of motorway” signs on the off-slips.

As for the junction numbers. The Rossbrien Interchange will indeed be J1 while Patrickswell will now be J4. Attyflin, the TOTSO for N20 southbound was previously signed as “Exit 4” but the No.4 has now disappeared from that sign.

It will be interesting to see how they manage with the re-signing of the overhead gantries approaching this junction. Overall they’ve done a good job so far, hopefully they wont mess this part up!

Photos courtesy of tech2

Ennis concerns over increase in speed limit for bypass

PAT FLYNN and TIM O’BRIEN

Tue, Aug 25, 2009

AS THE Department of Transport prepares to formally redesignate a number of the State’s new dual-carriageways as motorways, concern has arisen in Co Clare that the Ennis bypass is not suitable for the increased speeds.

The redesignation will involve a number of new dual-carriageways across the State, which the National Roads Authority says were built to motorway standards, being redesignated in a move which will raise the speed limit for motorists from 100km/h to 120km/h.
However, locals in Co Clare claim that the Ennis dual-carriageway, where the speed limit will increase from this Friday, was originally intended to cater for speeds up to 80km/h and is not designed for or safe enough for anything higher.

Retired consultant engineer Nigel Barnes said he believed elements of the bypass were “frightening and totally inappropriate” to cater for speeds of 120km/h.
Mr Barnes said: “At an oral hearing during the consultation process prior to work commencing on the Ennis bypass project, documentation was produced which clearly stated that the design speed limit for the route would be 50m/h [80km/h].”

Clare County Councillors Brian Meaney (Green) and Johnny Flynn (Fine Gael), a civil engineer and former chief fire officer for Co Limerick, have already called for a full safety audit of the project to be undertaken before the redesignation of Ennis bypass goes ahead.
Cllr Meaney sought Mr Barnes’s advice on planning matters relating to the project after issues were raised by locals in the Barefield area, near Ennis, about aspects of the project.

Mr Barnes, who has worked on other road projects in Ireland, said: “This route was originally designed to cater for speeds of no more than 50m/h. If the Ennis bypass is upgraded to motorway and has a speed limit of 120km/h, people will get hurt.”
He said the slip roads at the Tulla Road interchange in Ennis and at Barefield further north were too short and dangerous to cater for motorists slowing down from 120km/h.
Several collisions have already occurred at both locations.

However, a spokeswoman for the National Roads Authority said the road was fully tested for compliance with motorway design, including the interchanges, prior to a recommendation being made that they be redesignated.

She said the authority was aware of the concern locally, and the authority had arranged to reassess its designation for the Ennis bypass. However, it had been found to be within safety parameters.

© 2009 The Irish Times

So when changing the signs from green to blue the short comings of the new N18 / M18 bypass come to light. That sucks! Nobody in Ennis saw this when the plans were designed?

Another stretch on the N18 (M18) at Cratloe where a row of houses are positioned along the hard shoulder (car parking included). This will also be another stumbling block to deal with, before the NRA get out their blue signs!

@CologneMike wrote:

So when changing the signs from green to blue the short comings of the new N18 / M18 bypass come to light. That sucks! Nobody in Ennis saw this when the plans were designed?

Another stretch on the N18 (M18) at Cratloe where a row of houses are positioned along the hard shoulder (car parking included). This will also be another stumbling block to deal with, before the NRA get out their blue signs!

That part of the road at Cratloe is not being redesignated as motorway. The M18 starts at the shannon airport interchange and continues until just after the Barefield junction. From Coonagh to the airport will still be N18, 100km/h.

I would also concur on the points about the Tulla and Ennis (Barefield) junctions on the proposed new motorway. These are slip roads at best. No opportunity to merge with 120km/h traffic at all. And not sufficient room to decellerate from such speeds to turn off the motorway.
Having said all that, most road users have treated that road like a motorway since it opened anyway and (touch wood) there have been no accidents so far.

This does not excuse the deficiencies in any way though.

Have to agree. The decelleration as you move lanes into the slip road for the Tulla exit is pretty extreme and the slip road then swings sharply. I’ve been in the car with a few drivers who got a fright and felt it was a bit hairy.

In fairness to the town council they’ve lobbied and lobbied from the very start of the design process for better and more frequent interchanges.

Yeah the Tulla turn-off heading south is especially dangerous because it’s less than a mile from the start of the dual-carriageway. People vent their frustration at having been stuck on the awful two lane road for an hour and go from a 70km/h average speed up to over 100 and then try to slow down again for the 90degree turn off.

I think a similar lobby has developed around the Gort bypass now too. I’ve seen signs on telephone poles around the town, I think they’re unhappy at having only one interchange is it?

The Ennis bypass was designed and built as a standard dual carriageway rather than a HQDC. However it is well within the design specifications for a motorway, the sightlines are excellent as is the road surface.

Fair enough the on/off slips are a bit tighter than what we have become used to in this country but as CologneMike could confirm, these type of junctions are extremely common on the Continent and they cope just fine there!

If it really is an issue, a simple remedy would be to extend the acelleration and de-celleration lanes by repainting the hard shoulder for the required distance.

Reddy, I dont think you can argue for more frequent interchances. If anything there are too many already between Dromoland and Barefield,with another one at Crusheen coming on stream next year. Are 2 interchanges required to service the hamlets of Barefield and Crusheen? Surely one between the two of them would’ve been enough?

Finally, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the “concerns” of local councillors given their penchant for inappropriate ribbon development up there. Didn’t Clare County Council get reprimanded by the NRA a couple of years back!:rolleyes:

@Tuborg wrote:

If anything there are too many already between Dromoland and Barefield,with another one at Crusheen coming on stream next year. Are 2 interchanges required to service the hamlets of Barefield and Crusheen? Surely one between the two of them would’ve been enough?

Are you kidding Tuborg? Or trying to draw people out?

Crusheen and Barefield are pretty removed from each other (around 7km) and the route of the new road passes close to both townlands so why shouldn’t they have access to it?

These roads have a responsibility to the places that they bypass too, you know?
They’re not built solely for the benefit of intercity commuters or bank-holiday drivers.

@foremanjoe wrote:

Are you kidding Tuborg? Or trying to draw people out?

Crusheen and Barefield are pretty removed from each other (around 7km) and the route of the new road passes close to both townlands so why shouldn’t they have access to it?

These roads have a responsibility to the places that they bypass too, you know?
They’re not built solely for the benefit of intercity commuters or bank-holiday drivers.

You’re wrong actually, motorways are specifically designed for high speed, long distance travel. The old N18 and the local road network is more than adequate to cater for the needs of the local communities.

Are you seriously saying that two tiny villages only km’s apart with a population of a couple of hundred people between them, deserve a dedicated junction each? How many cars are going to use these each day, 20? This is an example of parish pump planning at it’s worst!

A single interchange located an equal distance between the two would have been more than enough!

@Tuborg wrote:

You’re wrong actually, motorways are specifically designed for high speed, long distance travel. The old N18 and the local road network is more than adequate to cater for the needs of the local communities.

Are you seriously saying that two tiny villages only km’s apart with a population of a couple of hundred people between them, deserve a dedicated junction each? How many cars are going to use these each day, 20? This is an example of parish pump planning at it’s worst!

A single interchange located an equal distance between the two would have been more than enough!

Of course motorways are designed specifically for long distance travel, I never questioned that fact, what I said was that these roads have a responsibility to the communities that they bypass too. This function is carried out by removing high volume traffic from the local roads, allowing people to drive to the post office or shop without spending 5 or 10 minutes sitting at a junction. This should be done without cutting off local access to the country’s major arteries.

Your solution of positioning the interchange midway between the villages would be plausible, except for the fact that the Barefield interchange also acts as the access road to the north of Ennis town, moving this even further away from the town would be seen as cutting the number of interchanges to Ennis and would be vehemently opposed by town residents and councillors alike.

@Tuborg wrote:

Reddy, I dont think you can argue for more frequent interchances. If anything there are too many already between Dromoland and Barefield,with another one at Crusheen coming on stream next year. Are 2 interchanges required to service the hamlets of Barefield and Crusheen? Surely one between the two of them would’ve been enough?

Why are you so stingy about interchanges anyway Tuborg?

It benefits local people and doesn’t overburden the budget of a road. By that I mean that most minor roads have to have bridges or tunnels built to cross the new roads, and building sliproads for every 3rd or 4th minor road that crosses the main road should be a fairly acceptable addition to the cost of a new road.

You seem to lack a fundamental understanding of daily existence in the “hamlets” whose interchanges you would deny. Sure, the lack of an access road for Crusheen wouldn’t be the end of the world, but if it enhances life in the village by 5 or 10% then it’s not a bad thing.

@foremanjoe wrote:

Why are you so stingy about interchanges anyway Tuborg?

It benefits local people and doesn’t overburden the budget of a road. By that I mean that most minor roads have to have bridges or tunnels built to cross the new roads, and building sliproads for every 3rd or 4th minor road that crosses the main road should be a fairly acceptable addition to the cost of a new road.
You seem to lack a fundamental understanding of daily existence in the “hamlets” whose interchanges you would deny. Sure, the lack of an access road for Crusheen wouldn’t be the end of the world, but if it enhances life in the village by 5 or 10% then it’s not a bad thing.

I find that an incredible statement. Motorways are not and never should be designed to provide access to every little crossroads. Peppering a motorway with pointless junctions reduces the efficiency of the road and shortens its service life by opening it up for planning abuse. In this case, the design of the Barefield and Crusheen junctions are a crooked councillors/developers wet dream.

The M18 dosent ” cut off local access” either, overbridges/underbridges are provided to facilitate local traffic. Local people can drive over/under the motorway on their existing road network and access the motorway via its junction with the downgraded N18!

You have to remember that from north of Ennis to Rathmorrissey (junction with M6), the M18 passes through extremely sparcely populated areas with no large towns, therefore only 3 junctions are being provided.

The traffic levels simply are not there to justify any more and this should also have been the case with Barefield/Crusheen. It’s nothing to do with being “stingy”, its about proper, sustainable planning. Something it appears that is alien to us in this country unfortunately!:rolleyes:

We’re obviously very different individuals Tuborg, as my idea of sustainable planning, in relation to transport infrastructure, is that it should improve the connectivity of all of the country.

The attitude that you are conveying reminds me of the one that led to the decommissioning of the railways in the 50s.

And I also fail to understand your argument that the frequency of interchanges that we’re talking about would affect the efficiency of the motorway, especially when placed alongside your earlier assertion that only about 20 cars a day would use the slip roads.
If a motorway can’t sustain that vast volume of traffic entering/exiting at such frequent intervals then there’s not much hope for it in the first place.

@foremanjoe wrote:

That part of the road at Cratloe is not being redesignated as motorway. The M18 starts at the shannon airport interchange and continues until just after the Barefield junction. From Coonagh to the airport will still be N18, 100km/h.

This will remain so until they solve access to those houses located along the hard shoulder at Cratloe. This makes a mockery of building the Tunnel, Flyovers between Limerick and Shannon. 😡

@foremanjoe wrote:

. . . . as my idea of sustainable planning, in relation to transport infrastructure, is that it should improve the connectivity of all of the country.

The village of Crusheen will remain connected to the rest of Ireland via the old N18 primary road. i.e.

• Ennis (Hub Centre) direction with access to the southbound M18 (7 km).
• Gort (Hub Centre) direction with access to the northbound M18 (16 km).

I think Ennis town with a population of 25.000 is very well served by 4 Motorway Junctions along a 12 Km stretch!

i.e Dromoland, Killow, Tulla and Barefield junctions.

The Atlantic Corridor Route needs to connect these hubs and gateways with an optimum motorway speed. Too many entrances / exits on a short stretch will lead to a lower speed limit for safety reasons, thus undermining the advantages of motorways i.e. reduced travelling times and road safety.

Ennis and environs has a population of 32,000 and is expected to grow to 50,000 in the next 15-20 years so this infrastructure is absolutely necessary to enable the proper and sustainable growth of the town.

The point I made about interchanges was in defense of the town council who you said failed to see the redsignation of the dual carriageway – they did foresee this and tried their very best to have the junctions upgraded.

I’m no expert and I know what you’re saying about the Atlantic corridor and speed but the design placed the major entrance point for Ennis at Killow and the Western Relief Road (which has been a boon) but there’s an argument that this will lead to an imbalance in development in the town and has already added pressure to certain routes into the town centre.

Personally I feel a dual arrangement with major interchanges at Tulla and Killow would have been better with the Quin road possibly receiving a smaller one. It seems like the same thinking which led to the undersizing of the M50 all those years ago.

I don’t think properly designed interchanges with the requisite capacity really slow the motorway much.

@reddy wrote:

Ennis and environs has a population of 32,000 and is expected to grow to 50,000 in the next 15-20 years so this infrastructure is absolutely necessary to enable the proper and sustainable growth of the town.

That’s a good point because therein lies the danger that future Ennis environs will end up using the M18 as an “Eastern Relief Road” instead of it being a “Motorway Bypass”.

Imagine a Mega Retail Park area emerging around the Tulla Junction area. Will we then see large volumes of “local traffic” just hopping on and off the M18 to access it?

@reddy wrote:

The point I made about interchanges was in defense of the town council who you said failed to see the redsignation of the dual carriageway – they did foresee this and tried their very best to have the junctions upgraded.

Were they no mechanisms open to them like An Bord Pleanala regarding say the design of the Tulla Junction?

@reddy wrote:

. . . . the Western Relief Road (which has been a boon) . . . .

Needless to say everybody south of Ennis (Shannon / Limerick areas) heading to the beaches hail the N85 Western Relief Road. It would make since to complete it by adding an eastern / northern part to it. Thus creating a local circular road around the town and it would greatly facilitate the future expansion plans of the town (city).

@reddy wrote:

I don’t think properly designed interchanges with the requisite capacity really slow the motorway much.

I agree, but poorly designed ones feeding onto / from a two lane motorway do.

@foremanjoe wrote:

We’re obviously very different individuals Tuborg, as my idea of sustainable planning, in relation to transport infrastructure, is that it should improve the connectivity of all of the country.

Motorways are high speed, long distance routes linking major population centres. Connectivity to smaller towns & villages is provided by regional routes and local roads. Building motorway interchanges to cater for a handful of people living in tiny settlements in sparcely populated areas certainly does not constitute sustainable planning in my book!

And I also fail to understand your argument that the frequency of interchanges that we’re talking about would affect the efficiency of the motorway, especially when placed alongside your earlier assertion that only about 20 cars a day would use the slip roads.
If a motorway can’t sustain that vast volume of traffic entering/exiting at such frequent intervals then there’s not much hope for it in the first place.

I was referring to motorways in general. The M18 is a very different beast, it passes through very lightly populated areas and traffic levels will be very low by normal motorway standards. Therefore very few junctions are required. In the case of the 2 junctions for Barefield/Crusheen, I just feel it’s a waste of money and sets a bad precedent.

Indeed we’re actually lucky to be getting a motorway at all because had the decision been based solely on traffic levels, then it wouldn’t be justified at all. However the need to link the country’s 3rd and 4th largest cities by means of a high quality roadway was ultimately the deciding factor. We should be grateful that we’re getting this excellent piece of infrastructure and not be seeking to abuse it by throwing in access points willy-nilly!

Finally, I have to take issue with your last point. Your definition of “frequent” junctions does not equate to good motorway design . Access points on a motorway are controlled and limited so as to discourage motorists from using it for short trips, which causes weaving/merging issues etc. Just because the M18 is going to be less busy than other motorways doesn’t mean the design manual should be thrown out the window and then in true Irish style make up our own rules as we go along! Ah sure t’will be grand!:rolleyes:

@CologneMike wrote:

This will remain so until they solve access to those houses located along the hard shoulder at Cratloe. This makes a mockery of building the Tunnel, Flyovers between Limerick and Shannon. 😡

Yeah, the N18 between Limerick and Shannon dates from the 1970s so unfortunately it’s well below the standard of modern dual carriageways. In fairness though, the various median crossings have been gradually closed over the last few years and the last one at the Radisson hotel is to be replaced by a roundabout as part of the Limerick tunnel project.

It is a pity that we are going to have a gap in the network between the end of the ring road and the M18 but I guess at least it’s of reasonable enough standard.

The NRA have said that the upgrading of Limerick to Shannon forms part of their future plans. It would be quite a big job though, requiring new grade separated junction(s), service roads to facilitate residents living along the route and the road surface would also need to be completely excavated and renewed as it is quite undulating in parts. Having said all that I wouldn’t expect this to happen any time soon though!

@Tuborg wrote:

Just because the M18 is going to be less busy than other motorways doesn’t mean the design manual should be thrown out the window and then in true Irish style make up our own rules as we go along! Ah sure t’will be grand!:rolleyes:

Why is there so much Paddy-bashing on this website?
It seems to be the bottom-of-the-barrel argument most used when irresolvable differences in opinion occur in a debate.

“Only in Ireland…” and “On the Continent…” are used with such frequency in these fora that it makes one wonder where all these great minds are hiding when all the “typically Irish” design errors are being made in the first place!

Perhaps this new post-Oirish generation has only evolved along with the relatively recent access to the Interweb, or maybe that is the only medium in which they feel comfortable sniping from.

It is an utterly self-defeating argument and its profligate use on these pages is becoming a cause of increasing frustration and worry to me.

@foremanjoe wrote:

Why is there so much Paddy-bashing on this website?
It seems to be the bottom-of-the-barrel argument most used when irresolvable differences in opinion occur in a debate.

“Only in Ireland…” and “On the Continent…” are used with such frequency in these fora that it makes one wonder where all these great minds are hiding when all the “typically Irish” design errors are being made in the first place!

Perhaps this new post-Oirish generation has only evolved along with the relatively recent access to the Interweb, or maybe that is the only medium in which they feel comfortable sniping from.

It is an utterly self-defeating argument and its profligate use on these pages is becoming a cause of increasing frustration and worry to me.

You can call it what you wish. I would see it as acknowledging our mistakes and learning from them so that we don’t repeat them again in the future.

What do you propose we do, bury our heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine? Yeah that’s a really useful attitude!!

@Tuborg wrote:

You can call it what you wish. I would see it as acknowledging our mistakes and learning from them so that we don’t repeat them again in the future.

What do you propose we do, bury our heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine? Yeah that’s a really useful attitude!!

How have you possibly come to that conclusion from the previous point I made?

I was pointing out the unhelpful nature of the “typically Irish” comments, I never suggested that past mistakes should be forgotten, only that they shouldn’t be umbrella’d in the category of “Irish”.

If the progress and learning from mistakes that you speak of inherently involves the ridiculing of Ireland, past or present, then you can count me out.

I’d consider it constructive criticism myself but if you want to term it “ridiculing”, then thats your choice!

You’re just being obstinate now Tuborg, so I’ll disregard the complete lack of reason from your last couple of posts.

I wouldn’t call it lack of reason at all. He’s got a perfectly good point about so many things being done shittily in this country. Just because a lot of other countries can be as fucked up as Ireland, doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to bitch and moan about those in charge of bad decision-making the same way citizens of every other country do about their own countries. It’s constructive because it makes us strive towards the best rather than the worst.

And like it or not, when it comes to planning, architecture, and infrastructure Ireland is a country of extremes and in many things the absolute worst in Europe. If I said, for example, “only in Ireland is EVERY SINGLE town and village scarred by bad planning, inappropriate pvc windows, and lack of proper maintenance”, I’d be absolutely right. Down in Cork they think they live in utopia and there’s an excess of ugly new buildings, filth clinging to the old ones, and too much traffic. What does that say about the rest of the country?

@rumpelstiltskin wrote:

If I said, for example, “only in Ireland is EVERY SINGLE town and village scarred by bad planning, inappropriate pvc windows, and lack of proper maintenance”, I’d be absolutely right.

You’d actually be using hyperbole dude, which is a fine tool to use in a debate but its use usually renders the position of being “absolutely right” quite unattainable.

“only in Ireland” -Have you visited every other developed nation? Or researched the situation in EVERY other developed nation?

“EVERY SINGLE town and village scarred etc.” -Really? Not one single settlement has avoided being scarred. Tragic.

And where did you drag the Cork argument out of? You’re all over the place, compose yourself man!
We can’t be antagonising those Rebels without just cause, Lord knows the chip that rests upon their collective shoulder is already overburdened!

@foremanjoe wrote:

You’d actually be using hyperbole dude, which is a fine tool to use in a debate but its use usually renders the position of being “absolutely right” quite unattainable.

“only in Ireland” -Have you visited every other developed nation? Or researched the situation in EVERY other developed nation?

“EVERY SINGLE town and village scarred etc.” -Really? Not one single settlement has avoided being scarred. Tragic.

And where did you drag the Cork argument out of? You’re all over the place, compose yourself man!
We can’t be antagonising those Rebels without just cause, Lord knows the chip that rests upon their collective shoulder is already overburdened!

If every single town in Ireland is not scarred in this fashion, please give me a counterexample. I’ve been to all the ones that people talk about as being quaint and pretty – Kilkenny, Kinsale, Adare, Avoca, Cobh, and they’re all full of broken glass, pvc windows, cracked paving stones, inappropriate developments etc. And the fact that dumps like Athenry are considered heritage towns is a national disgrace.

No I haven’t visited every other developed nation in Europe. I have, however, visited places like Romania, Belarus, and Turkey. True, I haven’t been to Albania, but if that’s the level we want Ireland to operate at then that might be a problem in itself.

And I’m not an expert in infrastructure development and planning laws in other countries, but in both of these areas I have faith in the fact that Ireland is not among the top of the pile in terms of quality and efficiency.

Yeah you’re right, the country’s a hole.

I’m moving to Belarus.

Good luck.

@foremanjoe wrote:

Yeah you’re right, the country’s a hole.

I’m moving to Belarus.

Good luck.

Oh good god! No logic, no logic. Maybe his barbed wit has dismantled me on a level I can’t comprehend. You know what – I despise you. And I entered into this debate just because your tone is so irritating that it’s a pleasure to disagree with you.

The pleasure’s all yours. 😉

Anyway, getting back to the issue at hand, Tuborg.

I get where you’re coming from on the issue of sustainable planning and infrastructure, there is a general lack of foresight and sense by local and national government alike that has been prevalent for generations. Apart from the early years of the state and the time of Seán Lemass this country has failed to grapple with its own independence, shying away from any sort of pioneering developments. We ripped ourselves from the teat of Great Britain and, aside from the early couple of decades, have spent the time since clawing to suckle on Europe’s ample bosom.

Our argument about the Barefield and Crusheen interchanges is petty (I’m willing to admit it’s petty if you are Tuborg ;)), especially in the light of the bigger problems with the M18. While that road is politically marketed as being some kind of Atlantic Corridor linking the cities of Galway and Limerick it is essentially no more than a combination of near-sighted attempts to relieve traffic problems in the various black spots along the route. First was Bunratty, then Newmarket, then Ennis, now Gort. But what’s the plan for after Gort? Is there a finite plan developed for the final length of the road between Gort and Galway?

Perhaps we should pick our battles in future and let the pennies look after themselves, because it seems to be the pounds that are in serious jeopardy!

Line closes after mud slide in Ennis

PAT FLYNN

Mon, Aug 24, 2009

THE RAIL line between Ennis and Limerick city was closed for more than six hours yesterday after debris was washed on to the tracks following torrential downpours in the area.

There were just eight people on board the 12.30pm Limerick to Ennis service when the two-carriage train encountered a mud slide as it was passing through the townland of Ayleacotty between Newmarket on Fergus and Quin at around 12.50pm.

The train had just come over a hill and was descending on the other side when the driver observed that a small part of the bank had collapsed on to the track.

He contacted Iarnród Éireann’s control centre and checked the train for any damage. After speaking to controllers, he was allowed continue to Ennis station. The rail line was closed and all services suspended pending completion of a track inspection.

Engineers established that no damage had been caused to the line. The line was expected to reopen at 8pm last night.

A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said: “The train was not hit by the mud slide which was very small. There had been a lot of heavy rain in the area as a result of which part of a steep bank slid on to the line. The driver brought the train to a safe stop and alerted control.”

© 2009 The Irish Times

Iarnród Éireann still dogged by problems after upgrading the Ennis to Limerick line.:(

See also last years report where a “Turlough Lake” appeared and flooded the rail line.

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Although the Shannon Rail Link is not included in Transport 21 (Costs reasons) I found an interesting image from my kids’ school atlas showing its planned route through Shannon.

See PDF Shannon Rail Link Feasibility Study

Alas uploading images as attachments is still failing!

Wow. That feasibility study is a bit of a hammerblow to the rail link isn’t it?

I’m particulary fond of the health & safety assertion that “There is an increased risk of injury or death when travelling compared to not.”

It’s also a terrible pity that their financial forecasts are based on 2006 prices.

The fact that only 2 out of 10 options made it past the longlist phase bothers me slightly, especially when 1 of the options chosen for further analysis was the one to not build the rail link at all and just improve the bus services!

There is one very brief mention, in the entire report, of the increased trend in short-stay independent visitors to this country. It is my belief that this rail link is the type of transport needed to market this region to such short-stay tourists. Nobody wants to go on a weekend break and have to hire a car, or worry about buses. Imagine if Limerick and Galway could market themselves for city breaks: 30minute/60minute rail trip from an international airport directly to the city centre. It is a lost opportunity on this front in my opinion.

There’s also an article in the Clare Champion this week about the delayed opening of the ennis-galway line.

Apparently most of the construction equipment has moved off the line, suggesting that it is finished, but it is not due to open until December.

Iarnróid Éireann did not clarify the situation but it would appear that they do not have sufficient trains/staff to operate the route yet.

@foremanjoe wrote:

Nobody wants to go on a weekend break and have to hire a car, or worry about buses. Imagine if Limerick and Galway could market themselves for city breaks: 30minute/60minute rail trip from an international airport directly to the city centre. It is a lost opportunity on this front in my opinion.

This is the sort of fantasy that gives rail proponents (and I consider myself one) a bad name. Do you use public transport at all? How many regional towns of the size of Limerick or Galway have you been to where there was a frequent rail service between the Airport and the town centre? You are confusing Limerick and Galway with cities ten times or more their size.

“worry about buses”? Do you think a passenger would rather wait 2 hours for a train (unless you think it would be a good idea to have a fleet of trains and drivers dedicated to this service) or 15 minutes for a bus – particularly given that there will soon be practically motorway standard roads connecting Limerick, Shannon and Galway meaning an express bus is likely to be faster.

Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a frequent rail service? We are not just talking about drivers but station staff, line inspectors, train depot/maintanance facilities and staff, finance cost for building and maintaining the line and the rolling stock, etc. These costs can only be justified if with suitable passenger loadings. It would be cheaper to offer a 5 euro helicoptor service from the airport to Limerick and Galway. In the real world, there is a thing called money. In the fantasy world, we have railway lines running through unpopulated bogs and motorways to Achill Island and “International” airports in every western county.

It would be the ultimate of paddywackery to have a rail-link to Shannon and none to Dublin.

@jimg wrote:

It would be the ultimate of paddywackery to have a rail-link to Shannon and none to Dublin.

Ahhhhh Jim, a direct Shannon Rail Link would be nice to have . . . . . sure it would be worth every penny to see our Dublin folk foaming from their mouths before they get one! 😀

Hmmmmm, how about an alternative hybrid ‘rail bus’ with 200 seats leaving the Limerick-Ennis line between Sixmilebridge & Newmarket-on-Fergus, then darting down the N19 road to Shannon and back again.

This would make travelling more fun and it would solve Iarnród Éireann’s problems when the line gets blocked through flooding, mud slides, collapsing bridges etc, etc by bypassing it! :rolleyes:

Hybrid ‘rail bus’ proposal for Limerick Junction service

TIM O’BRIEN

Mon, Jun 15, 2009

IRISH RAIL is considering replacing the Waterford to Limerick Junction services with a “rail bus” – a hybrid vehicle which can run on road and rail.

The vehicle, which has double sets of wheels, is one of a number of cost-cutting options on the route which has passenger traffic of only 54,000 people a year.

The rail bus, similar to an ordinary mini bus, is able to drive on either railways or roads and Irish Rail believes its capacity of about 20 seats would meet demand.

Rail bus operations around the world traditionally allow high-cost signalling to be removed from the line, and a rail-mounted vehicle with the operational characteristics of a bus can then run instead. The rail bus offers significant fuel savings.

The Irish Times understands Irish Rail is studying reports on the introduction of such vehicles on little-used routes in Japan

It is also understood that the company is looking at a second tram-like rail carriage which is employed on some low-usage lines in the UK.

The Waterford to Limerick route suffered a near catastrophic setback in 2003 when a cement train derailed on the Cahir viaduct. Twelve wagons fell through the bridge into the River Suir.

The route was reopened after a €3 million repair, after which services between Limerick and Waterford were increased to four per day in each direction. Passenger numbers remained minuscule.

A source said: “The future of the line has been the focus of speculation in years past. But the current cost-reduction programme is very much on achieving savings while maintaining services, and the company is examining some innovative bus-rail type operations suitable for this route.”

Irish Rail estimates a rail bus system on the route could cut costs by 50 per cent.

© 2009 The Irish Times

It seems Iarnrod Eireann are getting cold feet about the Western Rail Corridor. To be honest, I can’t say Im really surprised, considering the re-opening of the Ennis – Athenry section was a politically motivated decision that I don’t believe Irish Rail were ever truly supportive of.

Im not defending IE as I believe they are a pathetic excuse for a service provider but if you take a look at the WRC objectively, the numbers just don’t add up.

The critical mass just simply dosent exist for the project to be viable. Limerick and Galway are small cities and I just can’t see where the passenger numbers to justify to re-opening of the line are going to come from.

Secondly, services are going to operate on a 19th Century allignment that is riddled with level crossings and dodgy curves that are seriously going to limit speed. It’s estimated that the journey from Limerick to Galway will take around 1 hr 50 mins. To make matters worse, trains wont even be going directly to Galway station. The journey will involve a detour to Athenry where a switch-back system will be in operation, this involves the driver having to walk to the other end of the train to continue on to Galway. You just could’nt make this up!:o

The Crusheen to Gort section of the M18 is expected to open next Summer. This along with the completion of the last stretch of the M18 route in a couple more years will mean a journey time of around an hour between Limerick and Galway. The reality is that the car/bus is going to absolutely hammer the train!

I fear the WRC is going to incur serious losses and ultimately be a massive flop!

@jimg wrote:

How many regional towns of the size of Limerick or Galway have you been to where there was a frequent rail service between the Airport and the town centre?

How many regional cities have airports of the standard of Shannon as close to them as Galway and Limerick have?

Is Dublin airport not getting a metro? And if you want to start an “If they have it why can’t we?” argument, then I’d say if Farranfore can have a rail link, why can’t Shannon?

It’s not fantasizing, it’s thinking BIG! (Where’s the jazz hands smiley on this thing?)

@foremanjoe wrote:

It’s not fantasizing, it’s thinking BIG! (Where’s the jazz hands smiley on this thing?)

It’s not thinking BIG, it’s not thinking at all.

Borrowing vast amounts of money to provide a service which (by the standards of rail in most other European countries) will barely be used is STUPID not BIG. Same as blowing your wages in the pub buying rounds for everyone when your kids are going hungry. Unless you’re the type who thinks the government can just create money out of thin air.

A small fleet of 20 seater modern minibuses arriving and leaving every 20 or 30 minutes bringing people to the centres of Limerick and Galway for 10 euro return would provide far more utility and cost little or nothing to implement or subsidise. There’s a place for rail and this isn’t it.

You’re just a whole bundle of negativity man.

The government can work all sorts of magic when it comes to fiscal matters, for their next trick they’re going to make all of our hard earned wages disappear, they’re calling it NAMA.

And it wouldn’t be the same as blowing your wages in the pub while your kids starve at home, it would be like bringing your kids to the pub and buying them rounds of drink, which is slightly better.

Cash shortage halts M20 between Limerick and Cork (Limerick Leader)

A PROPOSED multi-million euro motorway between Limerick and Cork has been postponed because of a shortage of money, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has confirmed.

The M20 motorway project was initially due to be part of a new tranche of public private partnership projects announced in June but a spokesperson for the NRA confirmed to the Limerick Leader that construction of the road will not now proceed in the foreseeable future.

The authority has seen its funding for new projects significantly reduced as a result of current economic difficulties and say though the road is a PPP project, significant state funding would still be required to proceed with the land procurement and an Environmental Impact Statement.

Sean O’Neill, head of communications at the NRA said that the M20 had been “reprioritised” due to lower traffic volumes compared to other schemes also awaiting funding. “The reprioritising of these PPP projects will affect the scheduling of the M20 but not ultimately the construction of it,” he said.

The NRA’s decision not to proceed with the project at this time will inevitably delay its construction by several years, especially in light of current economic constraints.

The existing N20, which the M20 would replace, is of particularly poor quality between Mallow and Croom and has seen several fatal accidents along this narrow, twisty section in recent years.

Limerick West TD Niall Collins said that the postponement of the scheme was not bad news however, given the level of uncertainty about the proposed road in South County Limerick. “In Croom, Kilmallock and Bruree there were serious concerns about access to the new road and the affect this would have on local businesses. People were very concerned that this road would have a negative impact on south County Limerick,” said the Fianna Fáil TD.

As a result of the review of PPP contracts the NRA can give no timeframe on when the M20 scheme might be resurrected stating that the “N20 Limerick to Cork schemes will be deferred to a later date”.

Not bad news for the undertakers in the Croom / Mallow area either. :rolleyes: I don’t think TD Niall Collins can’t complain much if the Limerick County Councilors were so content by taking a back seat here as to what the Cork County Council (lead authority for the M20) proposed for the positioning of the junctions north of the Ballyhoura Mountains.

@CologneMike wrote:

Cash shortage halts M20 between Limerick and Cork

Not bad news for the undertakers in the Croom / Mallow area either. :rolleyes: I don’t think TD Niall Collins can’t complain much if the Limerick County Councilors were so content by taking a back seat here as to what the Cork County Council (lead authority for the M20) proposed for the positioning of the junctions north of the Ballyhoura Mountains.

Confirmation of what many have long suspected. The M20 was mysteriously dropped from the latest PPP documentation back in June, suggesting that something sinister was going on!

This is an extremely short-sighted decision. One that is going to be a source of huge frustration to the long suffering motorists who have to endure this glorified cart track which masquerades as the main road between the countrys 2nd and 3rd cities!

The section between Buttevant and Twopothouse in particular must surely be the single worst section of National Primary road in the country. Indeed, just today as I was travelling from Cork to Limerick, I noticed that yet another car had gone off the road at Ballybeg. This stretch is an absolute deathtrap!:mad:

It’s hard to know where to start with Niall Collins’ comments. What a laughable attempt to downplay the enormous impact of this decision. He’s obviously got no problem talking total bullshit in order to try and take some of the heat off him and his incompetent buddies in Fianna Fail.

People in South Limerick were concerned about access to the proposed motorway but that is no longer the case as an interchange for the area is included in the plans. Similarly at Croom, a new motorway interchange and associated link roads were to be built north of the village.

Hopefully people will realise that his comments are merely an attempt to distract them from the real issues behind this farcical situation!!

@CologneMike wrote:

Although the Shannon Rail Link is not included in Transport 21 (Costs reasons) I found an interesting image from my kids’ school atlas showing its planned route through Shannon.

See PDF Shannon Rail Link Feasibility Study

Geplanter Eisenbahnanschluss ~ Planned Railway Connection

I think somebody should inform the German Department of Education that it needs to revise their school books! 😉

€2m orbital route ‘to cut traffic and unlock the city’s potential’ (Limerick Leader)

By David Hurley

MAYOR Kevin Kiely has welcomed the formal signing of multi-million euro contracts that will see the completion of two key infrastructure projects that it is hoped will help unlock the potential of the city centre.

The contracts for phase one of the city’s orbital route and for the construction of a bus lane on Mulgrave Street were signed after construction company Murphy International successfully won separate tenders from the local authority.

The combine value of the contracts is just over €2m.

Phase one of the orbital route will see the construction of a new link road between the Cathedral Place junction on Mulgrave Street and the front of CBS, Sexton Street. The works will also include the rebuilding of Sexton Street and the provision of enhanced footpaths and improved pedestrian crossings.

The orbital route around the city centre will create a mainly one-way clockwise traffic system that will be divided into three sections: Northern, Central and Southern.

The project aims to provide a high capacity street network allowing for the safe and efficient movement of traffic, creating high priority areas for pedestrians within the core city centre.

“It is significant for the future development and pedestrianisation of the city centre. The completion of this orbital route will enable us to reduce traffic volumes on O’Connell Street and will allow us to link that in with other streets which have been pedestrianised well such as Bedford Row and Thomas Street,” said Vincent Murray of Limerick City Council

The orbital route, part of a plan that includes the remodelling and pedestrianisation of Limerick’s centre, was launched to much fanfare in 2007.

The other key project, which will get underway shortly, is the construction of a new inbound bus lane from the O’Grady Monument on Mulgrave Street to the Cathedral Place junction.

Limerick City Council is hoping that this will facilitate improved and higher frequency bus services between the city centre and the suburbs, allowing for larger volumes of people to be moved more efficiently.

Mayor Kiely, who attended the formal signing of the contracts, has welcomed confirmation that the long awaited projects are set to proceed.

“I am delighted that the contracts have been signed, especially as it is one of the few areas where we are actually spending money this year. I am glad to see the orbital route progressing, and, hopefully, funding will be made available for the rest of the orbital route in the near future,” he said.

Was on the 308 the other day and heard a bus driver say that these might be coming to Limerick in the next year or so for the University and Raheen routes.

Anyone know anything?

Seems unlikely with BÉ’s cost cutting plans. :confused:

Well they brought it to cork only a few months ago and on a busy route like UL and raheen it might be to their benefit, despite cost cuttings

An update on the Southern Ring Road….

Here are 2 recent pics taken by tech2

View from the Ballykeeffe Boreen overbridge looking east towards Dooradoyle

Dock Road Interchange

It looks like as if the whole stretch of Motorway from the Dock Road junction to the tunnel will be lit up and I presume beyond as far as the two tolling plazas.

I’d say this stretch will be opened up soon (Rosbrien – Dock Road)?

Any latest images of the Rosbrien Interchange (M7/M20) around?

@CologneMike wrote:

It looks like as if the whole stretch of Motorway from the Dock Road junction to the tunnel will be lit up and I presume beyond as far as the two tolling plazas.

I’d say this stretch will be opened up soon (Rosbrien – Dock Road)?

Any latest images of the Rosbrien Interchange (M7/M20) around?

Rossbrien to the Dock Road could probably be finished relatively quickly but apparently there arent any plans to open this section before the rest of the project. I can only guess they’re afraid of what would happen with all traffic having to exit at that woeful interchange!

As regards the Rosbrien Interchange, well its currently a hive of activity. The slip from M7 west to M20 south is now open, which means access is no longer available from M7 west to Childers Road. Traffic is reduced to one lane on the M20 north from the Dooradoyle onslip to Rossbrien to facilitate the gradual removal of the Rosbrien roundabout and the tieing in of the new loops and slips.

Incidentally, its only now beginning to dawn on the general public that access to the Childers Road from the M20 is going to be lost! Im guessing they don’t know about the M7 situation either!:eek:

@Tuborg wrote:

Incidentally, its only now beginning to dawn on the general public that access to the Childers Road from the M20 is going to be lost! Im guessing they don’t know about the M7 situation either!:eek:

I guess the PPP arrangement behind the tunnel would have a vested interest that the (Cork/Dublin to Shannon/Galway) traffic does not exit at the Childers Road. A cost conscious driver could bypass the tolls by taking the arrow route below.

@CologneMike wrote:

I guess the PPP arrangement behind the tunnel would have a vested interest that the (Cork/Dublin to Shannon/Galway) traffic does not exit at the Childers Road. A cost conscious driver could bypass the tolls by taking the arrow route below.

That makes no sense, they can still get off at the Dock Road, out over Shannon Bridge, and onto N18 from there completely skipping the toll. The only reason for this exit being lost is stupidity and poor planning.

Ya I was pleasently suprised at there being no toll plaza at the dock road interchange.

@foinse wrote:

That makes no sense . . . .

Well look at it this way,

The distance from the Rossbrien Junction to the Shannon Bridge is only circa 3.25 km.

(i.e. via Childers Road – Roxboro Road – Carey’s Road – Mallow Street). Thereafter it’s toll-free.

That’s a very attractive direct alternative for someone from say Adare and working in Shannon than going via the tunnel, thus saving money.

I could imagine that the investors behind the financing of the tunnel would see this exit as a potential leakage of revenues.

. . . . , they can still get off at the Dock Road, out over Shannon Bridge, and onto N18 from there completely skipping the toll.

Sure, but this indirect route would be circa 6.5 km i.e. double the distance above.

Hmmm . . . . . imagine the tunnel is direct in front of you and you then decide to turn off by Dock road to travel into town as far as the Shannon Bridge.

I’d speculate and say that most people when they get as far as the Dock Road, would probably say ah feck it and drive straight on to the tunnel.

The only reason for this exit being lost is stupidity and poor planning.

There must be a method to (NRA) their madness for deliberately closing the exit to the Childers Road. Nobody can be that stupid? Well . . . . us! 🙁

Check out the various routes on their interactive map.

The decision not to have access is nothing to do with the NRA, but rather due to local objections way back when planning was going on. Limerick Post story.

The NRA didnt actually impose this situation on the city. Back in 2002/2003, the City Council of the day gave it’s backing to the plan to remove the inbound access route. If I remember correctly, they were of the opinion that the local road network would be unable to cater for the volumes of traffic that would be using it!:confused: It’s yet another indictment of City Councillor’s that they only seemed to become aware of this problem once it was reported in the local press!:rolleyes:

Had the City Council requested that the Rosbrien Interchange facilitate all traffic movements, I have no doubt that this would have been adhered to. Although we probably would have ended up with a messy stacked roundabout solution rather than the current free flow design given the NRA’s inability to link two motorways in an coherent manner!

@CologneMike wrote:

Well look at it this way,

The distance from the Rossbrien Junction to the Shannon Bridge is only circa 3.25 km.

(i.e. via Childers Road – Roxboro Road – Carey’s Road – Mallow Street). Thereafter it’s toll-free.

That’s a very attractive direct alternative for someone from say Adare and working in Shannon than going via the tunnel, thus saving money.

I could imagine that the investors behind the financing of the tunnel would see this exit as a potential leakage of revenues.

Sure, but this indirect route would be circa 6.5 km i.e. double the distance above.

Hmmm . . . . . imagine the tunnel is direct in front of you and you then decide to turn off by Dock road to travel into town as far as the Shannon Bridge.

I’d speculate and say that most people when they get as far as the Dock Road, would probably say ah feck it and drive straight on to the tunnel.

There must be a method to (NRA) their madness for deliberately closing the exit to the Childers Road. Nobody can be that stupid? Well . . . . us! 🙁

Check out the various routes on their interactive map.

Sure they could go down Childers Road, Roxboro Road, Carey’s Road, and Mallow Street, sure it is a shorter distance, however with morning traffic it would take longer than the Dock road which will handle less traffic because of the tunnel. How many schools and businesses are on the route you’ve suggested? all the roads you’ve names are crazy busy during the morning rush hour.

There are a number of routes on that map that go nowhere near the tunnel, the reason a lot of the routes do, is they’re trying to keep people who have no business in the city centre out of the city centre. and as pointed out by other posters, it was the lack of foresight by the council at the time has lead to this exit being lost.

@Tuborg wrote:

The NRA didnt actually impose this situation on the city. Back in 2002/2003, the City Council of the day gave it’s backing to the plan to remove the inbound access route. If I remember correctly, they were of the opinion that the local road network would be unable to cater for the volumes of traffic that would be using it!:confused:

Any old newspaper link around to what the Council / NRA agreed to back then? It would be fascinating to read as to who said what then?

It’s yet another indictment of City Councillor’s that they only seemed to become aware of this problem once it was reported in the local press! :rolleyes:

Reading the article below underlines that!

Had the City Council requested that the Rosbrien Interchange facilitate all traffic movements, I have no doubt that this would have been adhered to. Although we probably would have ended up with a messy stacked roundabout solution rather than the current free flow design given the NRA’s inability to link two motorways in an coherent manner!

Even a simple clover leaf interchange junction (below) for Rossbrien would easily deal with the level of traffic volumes on it.

Concern at plan to cut M20 access (Limerick Leader)

By Petula Martyn

SERIOUS concerns have been expressed after it was confirmed that Limerick city is set to lose an inbound access route from the Southern Ring Road when the project is completed next year.

The plan is that motorists will no longer get into the city via the Carew Park link road beside the Maldron Hotel.

That road will only be for outward traffic to the motorway. Closing the inbound lane of the Carew Park Link Road beside the Maldron Hotel is an “emergency issue” according to Cllr Ger Fahy, who said the loss of the access route “could do untold damage to the future of the city”.

The matter was discussed at a Transport SPC meeting at City Hall this week, where fears were expressed that the move will have a detrimental affect on traffic management in the city.

“There is an acceptance that we do need to have access from the Rosbrien Interchange directly into the city,” Cllr Fahy told the Limerick Leader.

“The original design was that access would be closed but now people realise that if it is closed it would create havoc, and the NRA can’t change their plans at this stage.”

The National Roads Authority consulted Limerick City Council when designing the Southern Ring Road which includes the Shannon Tunnel, and it was agreed that the Carew Park Link Road should accommodate outbound traffic only leading onto the Rossbrien Interchange.

It currently has an inbound and outbound lane. Originally residents in Carew Park were opposed to an inbound access route because they did not want an increase in traffic volume. However, Carew Park is now part of the Regeneration project which promotes the inclusion of disadvantaged estates into the road network.

Physical exclusion and social exclusion are interlinked according to the Fitzgerald Report, and staff at the Regeneration Agency have held meetings with the NRA to reverse the decision to close the inbound lane which leads to Roxboro and Ballinacurra.

Representatives from the Maldron Hotel – formerly the Quality Hotel – who will be directly affected by the closure of the inbound lane, have also expressed their concerns to the NRA.

Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon told the SPC meeting this week that the NRA cannot “dictate the traffic flow in Limerick city”. However, Pat Dromey, who is Director of Transport and Infrastructure at City Hall, explained that the NRA has a contractual agreement as part of the public private partnership project. “The bus has left the station long ago,” Mr Dromey said of the road layout, which forms part of the major infrastructural project now in its final phase. “

The director said that this did not mean that something cannot be done to address the loss of an access route when the overall project is finished.

@CologneMike wrote:

Even a simple clover leaf interchange junction (below) for Rossbrien would easily deal with the level of traffic volumes on it.

The cloverleaf interchange has kind of gone out of fashion at this stage mainly due to the weaving problems it creates. The modern replacement for a cloverleaf is a “parclo” (partially unrolled cloverleaf) where two of the tight loops are removed.

The Rosbrien interchange is essentially a restricted parclo as it is missing two traffic movements. A full parclo would have been an ideal solution for here but I seriously doubt that NRA would have had the bottle to build it!

The Limerick Tunnel Autumn newsletter is now available.

It mentions that the slip from the M20 northbound to M7 east will be opened next month.

Your full parclo solution for the Rossbrien Interchange would have been ideal. You are right about the cheaper cloverleaf interchanges. If one gets two very heavy traffic flows trying to interleaf between two tight loops, it does cause tailbacks.

What now for the Rossbrien Interchange as it would take an expensive piece of re-engineering to accommodate exits for traffic coming from Cork and Dublin.

Yeah it really was an appalling decision to restrict this interchange, yet another example of the shortsightedness that plagues this country!:rolleyes:

The NRA and the local councils now realise just how much of a cock-up this is going to be. Of course, to compound the issue, the two adjacent interchanges ( N24 Ballysimon & N69 Dock Road) are woefully underpowered and under spec, even for current traffic levels which will likely result in chronic congestion!

Dock Road interchange

Apparently the contingency plan for city centre access is to add slip roads to the Kilmallock road overbridge, which certainly isnt ideal. Re-establishing a city centre connection at Rosbrien is probably possible but would certainly be tricky, not to mind expensive! The Galway to Cork slip road would obviously need to be realigned and the city link either sunk below it in an underpass or diverted over it. Then again an overbridge might not be feasible from an engineering point of view.

Either way, it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll see any modifications to the agreed design!

NRA ACCUSES LIMERICK COUNCILLOR OF GRANDSTANDING (live95fm)

The National Roads Authority is accusing a local councillor of political grandstanding over the issue of the Carew Park Interchange on the Southern Ring Road.

Sean O’Neill of the NRA press office says there was an open public process in which Limerick city council requested the interchange be outbound only when completed, and the NRA has delivered.

Mr O’Neill says the cost of redesigning the project now would be prohibitive.

He says the NRA are open to looking at alternative solutions but the current design will not change, and he says Cllr Jim Long, who is opposed to the plans, is being unfair:

Cllr Jim Long says he’s not surprised by the comments but says he’s not grandstanding.

He says the NRA is contradicting itself :confused:

@CologneMike wrote:

NRA ACCUSES LIMERICK COUNCILLOR OF GRANDSTANDING (live95fm)

The National Roads Authority is accusing a local councillor of political grandstanding over the issue of the Carew Park Interchange on the Southern Ring Road.

Sean O’Neill of the NRA press office says there was an open public process in which Limerick city council requested the interchange be outbound only when completed, and the NRA has delivered.

Mr O’Neill says the cost of redesigning the project now would be prohibitive.

He says the NRA are open to looking at alternative solutions but the current design will not change, and he says Cllr Jim Long, who is opposed to the plans, is being unfair:

Cllr Jim Long says he’s not surprised by the comments but says he’s not grandstanding.

He says the NRA is contradicting itself :confused:

Looks like Cllr. Jim Long is up to his old tricks again. I actually don’t think I can ever recall him making a worthwhile contribution to any debate he’s gotten involved in. I guess the major flaw with democracy is that it allows people like him to get elected!:o

His comments regarding the set-up at Rosbrien display an embarrassing lack of understanding of the issue. He basically hasnt a clue about what he’s talking about.

The reality of the situation is that back in 2002/2003, Limerick City Council made the decision to extinguish the Childer’s Road link to discourage traffic from entering the city centre. They now realise that this was a horrible mistake and instead of accepting responsibility, they are trying to blame it all on the NRA. How pathetic!:rolleyes:

Road surface and concrete median barrier now in place westbound on the Rosbrien overbridge. Road marking is also underway.

Photo by tech2

I think the decision to stop access from the N20 / N7 road into the city via the Childers rd link would have been a correct one if there had been an alternative access method provided – the Childers road link is messy as it only beings you up to a tee-junction with traffic lights on Childers road- mind you this road may be a bit quieter once the tunnel is open ?.. Looking at the exisiting scheme I would think that it would be easy/cheap enough to provide access straight through from the Cork road – just a case of how to handle the junction where this road would meet the traffic exiting from the east bound lane. For traffic coming from Dublin wanting access to the city perhaps an exit on the Kilmallock road flyover as stated above might work -which would bring you out at the Roxboro SC rounadabout – not too bad!.. Alternatively an off ramp onto the Rosbrien road ( after the flyover) – although this would bring a lot of traffic though Greenfields..

The Rosbrien to Childer’s Road link was definitely the most straightforward route for M20 traffic wishing to access the city centre. The opportunity existed to provide a fully free-flowing, full access junction at Rossbrien that would also have offered the best means of access to the city for Dublin traffic. This would also have taken a lot of pressure off the woefully inadequate Ballysimon and Dock Road interchanges, yet the powers that be inexplicably decided against it!

Adding inbound slips to the Kilmallock overbridge is a messy solution really. It would more than likely result in issues with merging/diverging traffic given that you would have 3 junctions relatively close together! Although its something that we’re probably just going to have to put up with now!:rolleyes:

The Greenfields Road overbridge is a non-runner because the west bound on-slip (M20 to N/M7) merges only 200 metres or so before the bridge.

Firefighters and gardai trained to deal with Limerick tunnel disasters (Limerick Leader)

By Mike Dwane

OVER 100 firefighters and 60 gardai are being trained to respond to incidents in the Limerick Tunnel as construction on the €660m second phase of the Southern Ring Road project continues.
A spokesperson for the Direct Route consortium confirmed this Thursday that the tunnel was scheduled to open on time in September 2010, with the toll for ordinary motorists expected to be around €2 when it opens.

Local businesspeople and Austrian professionals resident in Ireland were this Thursday given a guided tour of the tunnel in advance of an Irish-Austrian business networking event at the Clarion Hotel, an initiative of Austrian construction giant Strabag, the tunnelling experts for Direct Route.

Five 100m sections of tunnel – named Liz, Grace, Brigid, Chantal and Sarah – are all in place and it has been possible to walk under the Shannon since November 2008. Each section is the length of a football pitch, as high as a two-storey house and wide enough to accommodate four lanes of traffic. Engineers are currently engaged in installing the high-tech mechanical, electrical and safety systems in the tunnel.

And Direct Route manager Tom King said the emergency services, too, are preparing for the grand opening.

“The emergency services tunnel training has started with the fire services from Limerick county, Limerick city and Clare. A select group of fire officers from the three fire services recently attended specialised tunnel firefighting training in Switzerland,” said Mr King.

“The fire services will train up to 120 firefighters and the Gardai plan to train up to 60 officers for response to incidents in the tunnel,” he added.

Engineers attached to the project have explained that, in the event of fire, smoke or polluted air, the tunnel comes with a high-spec reversible ventilation system.

Roger Harse, of Capital Symonds, who were involved in the tunnel design, told a conference in Limerick last year that every 50 metres along the tunnel there will emergency doors. Fire points with hydrants and power sockets for Limerick Fire Service are to be installed. And a number of emergency points for the public are to be equipped with telephones, alarm buttons and fire extinguishers.

In the case of an oil spillage inside the tunnel, there will be fire-protected drainage sumps which could accommodate a spillage from a full tanker. A foam system is also being built into the tunnel in the event of a fire.

And in addition to two full power supplies entering from either side of the tunnel, there are to be additional back-up generators. The tunnel will also be equipped with an “intelligent detection system”.

“It will pick up on movements of animals, not a mouse, but anything as big as a dog, or pedestrians or anything else that shouldn’t be in there, it will pick up on accidents and smoke and is fitted with CCTV,” Mr Harse said. And the system will “capture images 30 seconds before the alarm is activated so we can find out why it happened”.

Meanwhile, the Irish-Austrian business networking event that arose from Strabag’s involvement in the project has proved a huge success.

As well as Limerick, the firm has been involved in tunnel building projects in Niagara, New Zealand and Montenegro. It has also won contracts in the past for the Copenhagen Metro and airports in Sofia and even Basra, Iraq.

Strabag and Direct Route teamed up with Limerick Chamber and the Austrian Trade Commission to organise the networking event.

“Overwhelming interest” in the guided tour of the tunnel meant is had to be split into two sessions, after which over 100 businesspeople got together in the Clarion to make connections over a selection of Austrian wines.

@Tuborg wrote:

Road surface and concrete median barrier now in place westbound on the Rosbrien overbridge. Road marking is also underway.

I can’t say that I’m too impressed to see the Rossbrien Motorway Overbridge peaking like that as it crosses over the M20 thus creating in my opinion an unnecessary dip that would hide the view of traffic in front of oneself. 🙁

I can’t make out where exactly does the Galway-Bound-Traffic coming from the City will merge with the M7.

• On the peak?
• 200m after the peak?
• Or will it merge first with the Cork traffic first and then with the M7?

Firefighters and gardai trained to deal with Limerick tunnel disasters (Limerick Leader)

Tuborg, you beat me again to this one! :p

Image North Tunnel Bore

LIMERICK DESIGNER SAYS ROAD SIGNAGE NEEDS OVERHAUL (live95fm)

A Limerick designer says a complete overhaul of Ireland’s road signage could reduce deaths on our country’s roads.

Garrett Reil – a graduate of Limerick College of Art and Design – has been selected by the Institute of Designers in Ireland for their ‘Best of Young Irish Design’ exhibition following his publication on the current road sign system.

The study highlighted that 77 per cent of Irish language speakers and 58 per cent of English speakers preferred an alternative design for greater clarity.

Garrett believes simple changes to road signs could help avoid potentially dangerous driver behaviour:

I wonder what does Garrett Reil think of this sign (nearby to Limerick College of Art and Design)?

Visitors entering the city would nearly have to pull up first at this sign to read it :rolleyes: before deciding to get into the proper lane?

Maybe too much detailed information displayed on the right-hand-side of it?

• City Centre, M20, N69 (Left Lane)
• N18, Airport, LIT College, Thomond Park, Castle (Right Lane)

Limerick city council seem to be more vocal in recent weeks about the need to encourage future development in the city centre – 2 proposals that spring to mind are the cinema on the ennis road and now the parkway redevelopment – both of which were refused because they are ‘out of town’. I think the Parkway should be allowed to at the very least improve its image and any building work there should be tied into a major overhaul of the roundabout . For many people who want to go town for whatever reason – that roundabout is a major mental as well as physical block. How it can be improved is a difficult question – there were plans I believe in a previous proposal for the Parkway to create a tee-junction with traffic lights…not sure if this was the solution.

@CologneMike wrote:

I wonder what does Garrett Reil think of this sign (nearby to Limerick College of Art and Design)?

Visitors entering the city would nearly have to pull up first at this sign to read it :rolleyes: before deciding to get into the proper lane?

Maybe too much detailed information displayed on the right-hand-side of it?

• City Centre, M20, N69 (Left Lane)
• N18, Airport, LIT College, Thomond Park, Castle (Right Lane)

Thanks CologneMike, Garrett here. Do you really need me to answer that! You’re right, that type of sign treatment brings tears to my eyes. Unfortunately it’s not the only sign in the country that requires pedestrian pace to take in.

On a more serious note, my design research is more concerned with future-proofing our signs for an ageing population, improving the sign design in general (for all road users), and delivering a dual-language solution that actually meets the government’s guidelines and regulations (ie. does not sacrifice the legibility of either language). I looked at international research and practise and did initial testing which does suggest drivers are receptive.

The research was conducted with the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, rather than LSAD. Incidentally, LSAD design department was in the Granary in the days when I attended. and that bridge was not yet a sketch!

Best
Garrett

@CologneMike wrote:

I can’t say that I’m too impressed to see the Rossbrien Motorway Overbridge peaking like that as it crosses over the M20 thus creating in my opinion an unnecessary dip that would hide the view of traffic in front of oneself. 🙁

I can’t make out where exactly does the Galway-Bound-Traffic coming from the City will merge with the M7.

• On the peak?
• 200m after the peak?
• Or will it merge first with the Cork traffic first and then with the M7?

I don’t think that dip is going to be too much of a problem really, I certainly hope it won’t anyway! 😮 To me it looks more like a gentle, graduated slope, so sightlines shouldn’t be an issue.

The road is obviously on an embankment here to enable it to cross over the M20. It also passes over both the Greenfields Road and Ballinacurra Creek almost immediately afterwards so the road is on a pretty similar allignment over the course of this stretch.

As for the merging point for Galway traffic. I reckon the merge lane will end around 100 metres or thereabouts after the bridge, not too far before the second westbound on slip begins to merge with the M7 mainline.

@garrettreil wrote:

. . . . . . . my design research is more concerned with future-proofing our signs for an ageing population, improving the sign design in general (for all road users), and delivering a dual-language solution that actually meets the government’s guidelines and regulations (ie. does not sacrifice the legibility of either language).

Garrett, a lot of interesting reading there on your site.

Displaying traffic information on a road-sign in a concise form definitely requires a bit of thought and good design, try to communicate it in dual-language written form is a bit trickier.

I must watch out the next time I’m passing through Wales as to how our Celtic Cousins have dealt with this issue of dual-language.

In my part of the woods the first traffic sign when entering the country is this. It is understandable to all languages.

Do we have a complete harmonisation of road sign design in place for Europe yet?

For example, many years ago I did not fully appreciate the difference between these two signs when I first confronted them in my neighbourhood, :rolleyes: as they were not part of the Irish set of signs when I did my driving licence.

I have to date yet to see them in Ireland (Republic)?

@Tuborg wrote:

I don’t think that dip is going to be too much of a problem really, I certainly hope it won’t anyway! 😮 To me it looks more like a gentle, graduated slope, so sightlines shouldn’t be an issue.

I hope so too that the sightlines are not impaired here, then when factors like high speed vehicles braking for low speed merging ones, coupled with poor weather visibility (rain spray) or sunsets (westbound) could make it an unfortunate flash point.

@CologneMike wrote:

Garrett, a lot of interesting reading there on your site.

Displaying traffic information on a road-sign in a concise form definitely requires a bit of thought and good design, try to communicate it in dual-language written form is a bit trickier.

I must watch out the next time I’m passing through Wales as to how our Celtic Cousins have dealt with this issue of dual-language.

Thanks Mike

There’s a Welsh sign pictured on my site, not a great photo, but you’ll get the idea (if I get a minute I’ll post a picture here). They use the British Transport type but with no differentiation between the languages. This pleases some language purists but I my initial tests with Irish road users the Welsh style sign design (with Irish place names) fared very badly, even with Irish language users. Almost 80% of users preferred the colour-differentiation for clarity.

@CologneMike wrote:

In my part of the woods the first traffic sign when entering the country is this. It is understandable to all languages.

@CologneMike wrote:

Do we have a complete harmonisation of road sign design in place for Europe yet?

Wow, there’s an idea! But can you see the French adopting a German design, or vice versa? Perhaps we could sell them an Irish solution and use ‘neutrality’ to our benefit? First we’d have to convince them of Ireland’s design credentials, and I fear we have a way to go.

@CologneMike wrote:

For example, many years ago I did not fully appreciate the difference between these two signs when I first confronted them in my neighbourhood, :rolleyes: as they were not part of the Irish set of signs when I did my driving licence.

I have to date yet to see them in Ireland (Republic)?

There’s something similar on the approach to a narrow bridge near me, and I certainly remember similar priority signs on London’s side-streets (where Ii learned to drive). Ours are, of course, in the yellow diamond design used in the US/Australia/New-world style as opposed to any European model, but that’s another story!

Best
Garrett

Rumour flying around here that a section of the new road from Rosbrien to Dock Road is opening today, anybody know if there’s any truth in this?

@foinse wrote:

Rumour flying around here that a section of the new road from Rosbrien to Dock Road is opening today, anybody know if there’s any truth in this?

I drove through this today just as the new layout came into operation. Basically if you’re heading in on the M20 and you want to go into town, you are now diverted up onto the new bridge via the westbound slip road. Traffic is then diverted across the opposite carriageway and onto another slip that brings you down to the mini roundabout on the Carew Park Link.

Then this evening as I was heading out, the new loop from the M20 to the M7 was open to traffic. It seems they can now plough ahead with removing the majority of the existing roundabout and get cracking on the Galway to Cork slip road.

Anyone heading out that way in the next while would want to take it handy though, because there were a fair share of drivers today who didn’t have a clue where they were going. Id say there’s bound to be a few mishaps over the next few days!

Labour unveils plans to develop suburban tram system (Irish Examiner)

By Jimmy Woulfe Mid-West Correspondent

PLANS were unveiled yesterday to develop Limerick as a rail-friendly city with its own suburban tram system linking city centre streets.

The Labour Party proposals are aimed at preparing Limerick as a national rail network hub.

Launching the blueprint, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan said Limerick had fallen behind Galway and Cork in preparing for a new era of rail travel.

She envisaged a new era would inevitably emerge when the recession ends and funds for improved travel became available.

“Limerick has not got off the ground yet in this regard and we have to put plans in place now so we will be prepared for future funding,” she said.

The plan proposes eight automated rail platforms at a number of disused stations circling the city at locations such as Moyross, Castleconnell, Raheen, Mungret and Dooradoyle.

Ms O’Sullivan, the party’s health spokesperson, said: “This service would enable commuters from a huge area on that side of Limerick to drive to that station for park and ride to complete their journey within the city.

“We envisage trams would be used which would connect the city centre in the same way as the Luas.

“New modern trams which can operate on rail lines and street tracks offer huge opportunities for our city. Limerick into the future must become the hub of a modern commuter network that connects communities and moves people in a safe, reliable, efficient manner that is environmentally friendly.”

On the broader travel front, the Labour plan envisages Limerick commanding a key strategic position in the national rail network.

Cllr Joe Leddin said: “Limerick has the potential to become a significant rail hub connecting to other cities such as Cork, Galway and the many towns in between. If, as a region, we are to remain competitive and attractive for companies to locate here then we must work together to integrate our transport infrastructure.

“The utilisation of our regional rail network as part of the ongoing development of infrastructure in the region is essential.”

He added: “With the city and county councils currently preparing their new six-year development plans, I would urge councillors to protect existing rail lines and not allow them to be dismantled. We can see the benefits already for people living in areas such as Birdhill and Castleconnell who now have the option to travel to Limerick by rail as opposed to road.”

Sounds great but unfortunately I fail to see how Limerick’s low density suburbs will provide the numbers to make this viable.

We havent even got a decent bus service at the moment yet they’re already proposing a new tram system!:confused:

@Tuborg wrote:

Sounds great but unfortunately I fail to see how Limerick’s low density suburbs will provide the numbers to make this viable.

We havent even got a decent bus service at the moment yet they’re already proposing a new tram system!:confused:

Well the infrastructure is there, so I don’t see how it would do any harm having the facilties provided for commuters to use it and get out of their cars. Limerick has fantastic rail infrastructure left idle. Infact Limerick has more railines than any other city in Ireland after Dublin. I do agree however we have a smaller population. But there is no stopping the city from expanding.

@dave123 wrote:

Well the infrastructure is there, so I don’t see how it would do any harm having the facilties provided for commuters to use it and get out of their cars. Limerick has fantastic rail infrastructure left idle. Infact Limerick has more railines than any other city in Ireland after Dublin. I do agree however we have a smaller population. But there is no stopping the city from expanding.

Would be great if there was a map you could view with the unused rail plotted on it to see whether its viable.

tretle:
They are marked on OSi maps – none of the lines are officially disused, indeed only the Foynes line is actually out of use (also unmaintained since early 2000s). The Mungret branch and Nenagh line have little traffic. Ennis line and Tipperary line are busy parts of the existing rail network.

This is a proposed light rail line, that i made up back in 2007 for a thread on another forum, the red line is existing track, whereas the blue is a proposed line made up by my good self. The pic does highlight the amount of rail lines in the city.

@foinse wrote:

This is a proposed light rail line, that i made up back in 2007 for a thread on another forum, the red line is existing track, whereas the blue is a proposed line made up by my good self. The pic does highlight the amount of rail lines in the city.

Well I would like to see the dart type system put onto the those railines. Population expansion into Caherdavin. Also if Ennis and Shannon are to keep expanding and the North line continues to grow, We need to start investing into this now. Many people from Dublin are now using the Ennis line frequently.

The light rail plan is a good idea, but right now I don’t think it’s feasilble. If the city centre holds at least another 1000 units, and Caherdavin and Castletroy manage to rezone population twice what they currently have, then it will work. Right now, focus needs to be on the inner orbital, Bus routes, pedestrian bridge (over Shannon) Caherdavin distrubuter road. and Childers road widening.

@dave123 wrote:

Many people from Dublin are now using the Ennis line frequently.

They would want to take their “wellies” with them! 😡

Flood may close Ennis to Limerick rail line for months

PAT FLYNN

THE ENNIS to Limerick railway line is likely to remain closed until February after a large section of track became submerged in flood water. The situation has again highlighted a dispute over who is responsible for carrying out flood-relief works.

The line has been closed since December 1st. However, while flood water has receded in most parts of Co Clare, levels at Ballycar near Newmarket-on-Fergus continue to rise and are not expected to abate for up to eight weeks.

Services were suspended for 50 days in February and March 2008 after the same section of the line became submerged. During that closure it cost Iarnród Éireann over €300,000 to provide bus transfers between Ennis and Limerick.

Recurring flooding in the area is resulting from a blockage at a point where water from a nearby lake passes underground into a local river.

Iarnród Éireann has stated that because the railway line is not the cause of the flooding the OPW will need to develop a flood-relief scheme for the area. Iarnród Éireann has already twice raised the line since 1995.

However, the OPW has said: “In view of the fact that the railway line is the only significant beneficiary, the OPW will not be managing or commissioning a study or any proposed works for the area.

“Our financial allocation for such works has been further eroded as a result of cutbacks and savings in public expenditure.”

Clare Fine Gael deputy Pat Breen believes confidence in the reliability of the rail service is being eroded even before the expansion of the Western Rail Corridor.

“This same section of the rail line was flooded previously in February of 2008, and at that stage commuter rail services between Ennis and Limerick were disrupted for 50 days.

This track was lifted in 2004, and when this flooding occurred in 2008 I was advised by Iarnród Éireann that a further substantial lift would require major civil engineering works and they were to investigate the feasibility of having this work done.

“The OPW at the time was also to undertake a feasibility study to look at the whole catchment area and to include hydro-geological studies so that a future plan could be developed. I have seen little evidence of any action being undertaken in the meantime.”

© 2009 The Irish Times

@CologneMike wrote:

Flood may close Ennis to Limerick rail line for months

Hmmmmmm, the provision of new infrastructure in the Limerick area over the last while has been dogged by incompetence it seems!

The above embarrassment comes on the back of the madness at Rosbrien and the recent confirmation that it could be as late as next April before the M7 Limerick – Nenagh scheme is fully open to traffic! 😮

To give a bit of background, construction started on the Limerick – Nenagh stretch back in December 2006. After numerous reports of funding problems, disputes with sub contractors over payment and more worryingly, construction problems at Drominboy bog in Lisnagry, May 2009 was belatedly announced as the opening date!

However it became clear early this year that the deadline would not be met and the completion date was subsequently put back until December. The contractors finally came clean recently and admitted that the on-going issues at Drominboy would further delay the opening until “early in the new year”. I emailed the NRA last week and got a reply today which stated that the road will open “no later than April”

So lets get this straight, it will have taken three and a quarter years to build 28 kms of motorway and widen 10kms of the Nenagh bypass! What an utter disgrace!

The Portuguese contractors overseeing this shambles must be the most incompetent shower ever to attempt a road project here!:mad:

@Tuborg wrote:

Hmmmmmm, the provision of new infrastructure in the Limerick area over the last while has been dogged by incompetence it seems!

Though in this particular case, the incompetence is going on for the last 145 years!

Irish Examiner: Is this Ireland’s oldest infrastructural problem?

Flooding remedy: Five-and-a-half tonnes of spuds 😉

See previous post

Is this Ireland’s oldest infrastructural problem?

Irish Examiner 25 February 2008

Last week Irish Rail said it hoped the OPW can find a long-term solution as it is reopening the old Galway to Limerick line shortly.

OPW spokesman George Moir said engineers were working on the problem: “Our engineer said it is caused by a swallow hole and after heavy rain this year the water is not running off as normal. He will be back with recommendations.”

Yeah right! :rolleyes:

@Tuborg wrote:

So lets get this straight, it will have taken three and a quarter years to build 28 kms of motorway and widen 10kms of the Nenagh bypass! What an utter disgrace!

I was thinking about this the other day, I’ve drove past Nenagh every weekend from limerick for the last 6 years and I could swear the construction has been there since I started down here!

@slinky2000 wrote:

I was thinking about this the other day, I’ve drove past Nenagh every weekend from limerick for the last 6 years and I could swear the construction has been there since I started down here!

Yeah its getting fairly depressing at this stage alright! I had to drive to Dublin early Sunday morning and incredibly the N7 between Limerick and Nenagh looked like it had not been gritted or if it had, it was done abysmally!

I witnessed a couple of drivers coming dangerously close to losing control, while others were braking abruptly on the treacherous surface for no apparent reason! It certainly wasn’t the happiest motoring experience I’ve ever had! 🙁

How I wished that the M7 had been open, which of course it should have been. The annoying thing is that the new motorway passes tantalisingly over the current road on 3 occasions between Annacotty and Nenagh! So frustrating!! :rolleyes:

Pictures below of the situation at Drominboy bog on Christmas Eve, taken by Berty

Bridge south of Dalys Cross towards bog of doom

Standing on the Bog looking East

Just to clarify because it’s hard to tell with the covering of snow. Those are not earthworks in the 2nd photo above. They are heaps of aggregate (stone) that will be used as a base upon which the other layers of road material will sit!

In this case it will be laid on top of the re-inforced concrete structure that was built across the boggy section to provide stability for the roadway. That’s how they are hoping the plan will work anyhow! 😮

Below: the concrete slab under construction last summer, also from Berty

Not sure if this article from the Leader has already been posted – sorry for double up if it has..If there was one project that I would love to see every politician in the region get behind it would be this one….hand in hand with the boundary extension of course.
Actually a 3rd item on my 2010 wish list would be to give every encouragement needed to get M&S into the Opera centre… the rest will follow – its not that I like them – its just they are the type of heavy weight brand that would drag in the others…

UK company launches plan for Limerick Luas
€200m system would link county villages with city centre
December 2009
By Anne Sheridan

PLANS are being developed for a possible Luas line running through Limerick city and county, if €200m in funding can be raised from private enterprises.
A Liverpool company, Trampower, which tendered for the Luas line in Dublin, is behind the venture and has already pitched their plans to City Hall for consideration.
Labour’s Deputy Jan O’Sullivan has also been made aware of the plans, and she has urged local authorities in the Mid-West to ensure rail formed part of their city and county development plans.

The plans will be put to private investors and decision makers at a business meeting in the new year, by which time a feasibility study, business plan and an economic appraisal will be carried out.

Prof Lewis Lesley, technical director with Trampower, which carries the motto “Getting People Back on Track”, believes the plans could have huge benefits for the future of Limerick’s ailing city centre, which has been hit by the rise of suburban development.
“The tram would be at no cost to the taxpayers and could turn O’Connell Street into a European-style shopping mall, a bit like Grafton Street in Dublin,” said Prof Lewis.
In terms of completion – pending the acquisition of funding – he said the “best case scenario” could be the construction of the Luas in two to three years.
In preliminary studies, it has been predicted that the service could carry 50,000 people per day, and potentially five million to 12 million per year.

A similar proposal for a “Gluas” or environmentally-friendly line in Galway city has a target of carrying between four million and 10 million passengers per year.
Brendan Holland, chairman of the Gluas, said the system they were hoping to develop in Galway would be capable of using the existing line between Galway and Limerick.
“It’s not rocket science to see the benefits, it’s just common sense
“It has been proven that a light rail system would be physically possible and financially viable in Galway and seeing as Limerick is a bigger city, it would stand to reason that it would make equal sense to also have one there”, said Mr Holland.

Prof Lewis added that students in the University of Limerick could then potentially travel directly from their doorsteps in Castletroy, continuing on to Galway, if the plans come to fruition.
The Luas line could stretch from four or five locations in County Limerick, including Cratloe, Castleconnell and Patrickswell, with a possible three or four stops along O’Connell Street in the city, leading on towards Thomond Park and Moyross.

City-based architects Elliott Maguire Landers (EML) are also taking a keen interest in the plans.
Dee Maguire of EML said the development of a line in Limerick “is not outside the imagination. It would reinvigorate the city and ease traffic congestion.”

Griff – Thanks for the heads up, no idea how I let that info slip past me 🙂
It is very obvious that this would be a great deal of help for the city and after the labour party emphasized the importance of existing unused lines in limerick and how they could be utilized for tram use it does not surprise me that a private entity can see the potential.
I think Limerick city council need to help these guys out as much as possible.
Its fun to imagine what a pedestrianized O’Connell street along with tram service might look like, and further down the line how a pedestrianized redeveloped arthurs quay might compliment it.

@tretle wrote:

Griff – Thanks for the heads up, no idea how I let that info slip past me 🙂
It is very obvious that this would be a great deal of help for the city and after the labour party emphasized the importance of existing unused lines in limerick and how they could be utilized for tram use it does not surprise me that a private entity can see the potential.
I think Limerick city council need to help these guys out as much as possible.
Its fun to imagine what a pedestrianized O’Connell street along with tram service might look like, and further down the line how a pedestrianized redeveloped arthurs quay might compliment it.

Another fact that I didnt know about is that there used to be a direct railway line from Cork to Limerick. There was a junction at Charleville with a line from there directly to Patrickswell where it joined with the line from Kerry and led into Limerick. Presume this line is totally gone now. Also there was a small link from the Station at Birldhill to Ballina/Killaloe. Good map here..http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Map_Rail_Ireland_Viceregal_Commission_1906.jpg

@Tuborg wrote:

How I wished that the M7 had been open . . . . .

McNamara firm must pay cost of bog road remedial works (M7 Limerick-Nenagh)

M7 runs through ‘bottomless’ bog in Co Limerick 😀

McNamara can’t pay €62.5m judgement (Irish Glass Bottle site)

So we take it that he is now more or less bust? When will this M7 stretch eventually open?

@CologneMike wrote:

So we take it that he is now more or less bust? When will this M7 stretch eventually open?

The news on this just gets worse and worse. If the report in todays Irish Independent is accurate, it will be the end of the year before the road is fully open! The contractors really are taking the piss at this stage!

Unfortunately the article isnt particularly well researched with very little new information on the exact details of the problem. I must say I find it incredible that the media in general have taken such little interest in this on-going saga. The NRA and Bothar Hibernian have been fobbing everyone off, repeatedly offering the same soundbites and excuses over the last year or so. Those who have to endure the N7 on a regular basis really do deserve a proper explanation at this stage!

‘Bottomless’ bog delays road plan

By Barry Duggan

Monday January 11 2010

A MAJOR road will not be opened until the end of this year — more than 15 months behind schedule — because of a ‘bottomless’ bog.

The Limerick-Nenagh N7 dual carriageway was due to have been completed in May of last year, but the National Roads Authority (NRA) said it would not be finished until the end of this year because of unforeseen delays.

The 38km route will cost the taxpayer €424m, but the cost of having to construct the route over a seemingly endless bog near the Limerick-Tipperary border will have to be borne by the contractors Bothar Hibernian.

It is understood that tens of thousands of steel-reinforced concrete piles have been driven into Drominboy Bog at Lisnagry to support the road at a cost of millions of euro.

Only a small section of the route traverses the bog, which locals claim is “bottomless”.

Local tales include heavy machinery being swallowed by the bog, which is able to absorb huge amounts of rain.

As a result, Sean O’Neill of the NRA said the final 15km of the road would not be completed until the end of the year. He said the problems presented by the rural bog were “the major engineering challenge”.

Challenge

“The contractor has to deal with that implication,” Mr O’Neill said.

“There is a challenge in the bog area, but that is a known condition. It’s not like the bog showed up yesterday. We defer to the contractor as it’s their responsibility to get the job done.”

Mr O’Neill said that the NRA anticipated that major sections of the route would be open by March.

The project consists of 28km motorway standard and the widening of the Nenagh bypass to dual carriageway standard.

The route, which is hoped will ease traffic congestions in the Mid-West region, has been hindered in recent years over payments to local contractors, staff lay-offs and engineering challenges.

Irish Independent

@Tuborg wrote:

I must say I find it incredible that the media in general have taken such little interest in this on-going saga.

It’s happening at the wrong side of the country for the national media to care about it, If this was happening in Meath, Kildare, Wicklow on a road leading into Dublin then it would be all over the nationals, but it’s about 200KM too far to the SW for them to care.

@foinse wrote:

It’s happening at the wrong side of the country for the national media to care about it, If this was happening in Meath, Kildare, Wicklow on a road leading into Dublin then it would be all over the nationals, but it’s about 200KM too far to the SW for them to care.

Well that’s one aspect of it. But you also have to ask what exactly are the regional correspondents of the broadcast and print media playing at? The on-going issues at that bog are widely known and you would think that any journalist worth his/her salt would have been on top of this story from the very outset! Bothair Hibernian and the NRA have repeatedly been let off the hook by the inability to properly scrutinise this shambles!

Although, in fairness the media in general are so clueless as regards transport/infrastructure matters that Im not surprised they’re staying well clear of it! :rolleyes:

Of course another question is, why has there been no political intervention in this saga? Not that Im surprised or anything!

LIMERICK TUNNEL TO OPEN AHEAD OF SCHEDULE (live95fm)

The Limerick Tunnel will be ready to open in May 🙂 – four months ahead of schedule.

Originally due to open in September it’s expected to take up to 40,000 vehicles off the streets of Limerick City.

The 675 metre tunnel under the River Shannon completes the final phase of the Southern Ring Road linking the Dublin Road to the Ennis Road.

Construction work on the 500 million euro river-crossing began in 2006 and is one of the largest engineering projects ever in Limerick.

Traffic Engineer with Limerick City Council is Rory McDermott.

I wonder if Rory McDermott could us give a monthly date for the Limerick-Nenagh M7 too?

New Traffic Plan to Assist Motorists in Uptown Limerick (Limerick Post)

According to their digital edition, phase one of the orbital route around Mulgrave Street is now finished and will be opened on Friday January 22nd.

There are new one-way changes for Upper William Street / Lower Roxboro Road!

The screen shot below is poor, anybody know of links to better quality maps for the orbital route?

@CologneMike wrote:

LIMERICK TUNNEL TO OPEN AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

I wonder if Rory McDermott could us give a monthly date for the Limerick-Nenagh M7 too?

September 2010 was always an extremely conservative estimate so it’s no surprise that the project is opening earlier!

The mainline between Rosbrien and the tunnel has been ready for it’s wearing course since last August/September. The tunnel is all but complete, extensive testing of the equipment and procedures is now the main focus of attention. Reconfiguration of the Dock Road roundabout, to tie-in the new slip roads is planned for early February.

From what I can see anyhow, most of the work now seems to be concentrated on finishing the large bridge that forms part of the N18 tie-in. According to the last newsletter, it’ll be finished in “early 2010”.

Clearly there have been some glaring mistakes in the design of this project (notably the Rosbrien & Dock Road Interchanges) that will have to be re-visited in the not too distant future. But in terms of the construction of the scheme, they really have done an excellent job. This was without doubt a much more challenging build than the M7 yet barring a miracle it will be open before the Limerick – Nenagh stretch!

All we need now are some blue signs! 😉

@CologneMike wrote:

New Traffic Plan to Assist Motorists in Uptown Limerick (Limerick Post)

According to their digital edition, phase one of the orbital route around Mulgrave Street is now finished and will be opened on Friday January 22nd.

There are new one-way changes for Upper William Street / Lower Roxboro Road!

The screen shot below is poor, anybody know of links to better quality maps for the orbital route?

I’ve been trying to gather some information on this project for ages, all to no avail!

You would think that Limerick City Council would have a dedicated project page on their website, but you’d be wrong! They must definitely run the most uninformative local authority website in the entire country! 😮

The fun and games continue on the M7….

Last week a section of completed roadway around Annaholty bog simply fell away. This area is located a couple of miles north of the now infamous Drominboy bog in Lisnagry.

How they must rue the day they decided to route this motorway through 2 bogs!! 🙁

The article below is taken from the online version of the Nenagh Guardian.

I saw that over on the M7 Nenagh to Limerick thread on boards.ie – is it really a collapse ?..it looks more like a cut !… if it was a colllapse then the contractor must have cleared away the debris and cleaned up where the tarmac crumbled. It could easily have been access to pipework or cables were required at that spot…

@Griff wrote:

I saw that over on the M7 Nenagh to Limerick thread on boards.ie – is it really a collapse ?..it looks more like a cut !… if it was a colllapse then the contractor must have cleared away the debris and cleaned up where the tarmac crumbled. It could easily have been access to pipework or cables were required at that spot…

All utilities and services are run through ducting for protection and easy access. They would never be laid under the motorway where access to them would require such an excavation of the surface!

The only other possibility is that there were issues with the drainage system that needed serious attention but that’s pretty unlikely!

The fact is that this part of the road runs through a very boggy area which required extensive foundation works. Worryingly there has almost certainly been a structural failure here which surely poses a number of questions about the integrity of the rest of this stretch!!

Map of Limerick City Inner Orbital Route Phase 1 (Link)

Well how did the opening of this phase 1 fare out yesterday?

I’m still sceptical about using Sexton Street as part of the Orbital Route as it runs past the main gates of the CBS and Presentation schools, definitely not an ideal situation (3,000 pupils).

I posted this before and I know the country is broke but . . . . .

What if they ran the orbit route to the rear of the schools?

That would of course require big changes to connect Cathedral place with Mallow Street. It would require a tunnel under the railway lines at the rear of Colbert Station and it would have to run through Jackman Park. This could be achieved if a trade-off with the Market’s Field took place after Bord na gCon relocated to their new greyhound stadium.

Before the tunnel on the Roxborough side, provision must be made for access to the new planned bus terminal. The present roundabout system could regulate the flow of traffic at the Junction of Mallow Street / Parnell Street / Railway Station / Tunnel / Carey’s Road / Hyde Road / Edward Street. The wide Hyde road is a totally under utilised route into the city centre.

New Limerick city orbital route has ‘teething’ problems (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

MORE than 20 staff from the council and the gardai were out in the city on Friday as the new Limerick orbital route became operational for the first time.
There was heavy traffic for much of the day in the city, as well as a number of cars parking illegally on double yellow lines.

And although there was criticism of Limerick City Council’s decision to open the new one-way route on one of the busiest days of the week, senior engineer Vincent Murray said that any teething problems should be ironed out by next week.

The route circulates the city in a one-way direction from Mulgrave Street, up Sexton Street and Upper William Street. Inbound traffic on Mulgrave Street, Cathedral Place and the Roxboro Road are now directed onto this new route. All traffic entering the city on the Roxboro Road and the Ballysimon Road, and on Cathedral Place en route to Upper Gerald Griffin Street now have access via Lower Gerald Griffin Street to Upper William Street.

As well as providing a route around the city centre, the road – designed by Nicholas De Jong Associates – has brought with it footpath widening, lighting safety and landscaping improvements.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader, director of service Vincent Murray predicted that by this Monday morning, the road should be operating “100 per cent.”

“There is no good day or bad day to launch it. The opening could have been held over to next week, but the guys were eager to have it launched. It is not until you open a road do teething issues come up. Whatever day we launched it, there were always going to be problems,” he said, “The beauty with opening it on Friday is that on Saturday and Sunday, you can make minor alterations.”

In a bid to make motorists aware of the changes, the city council has also put in place ten electronic signs, Mr Murray added.

As a result of the new traffic arrangements, Limerick East TD Michael Noonan was late for a number of appointments in the city on Friday. :p But he is confident that in a few days, any teething issues will be resolved.

“There was very dense traffic from William Street, and up to the station. It obviously arose from the new traffic management system in place. It seems to me that traffic will flow freely when people are used to it. But it is significantly more difficult to travel in that part of the city now. Its very hard to get through town anyway on a Friday, but it had to start some day. Perhaps it could have been earlier in the week,” he said.

Mayor Kevin Kiely said there could have been more consultation between city council’s top brass, councillors and the general public. He said he will be raising his concerns with director of service Mr Murray.

.

M7 Limerick – Nenagh Update

Recent pictures here from the Nenagh Guardian. Major progress has finally been made over the past number of weeks on the section through Drominboy Bog near Lisnagry. The various layers of aggregate etc have been built up, the median barrier is now in position and the road surface should be going down imminently!

Unfortunately though, the problems have now shifted a couple of km’s up the motorway to Annaholty Bog (near Birdhill) where a section of roadway subsided back in January. As a result, the foundation of the road has had to be beefed up with yet more re-inforced concrete piles and slabs! 😮

The stretch from the Nenagh Bypass to Birdhill should open by the end of the month. But there is no definite opening date for the remainder of the project. The NRA said recently that it could be as late as May or June, which would be over a year behind schedule! 😡

First 2 images are of the remedial works at Annaholty Bog

Stretch of road through Drominboy Bog nearing completion

Permission sought for sea plane terminal in Limerick (Limerick Leader)

This sea plane is typical of the ones Harbour Air Ireland will use if they get permission to construct a terminal in Limerick

By Nick Rabbitts

LIMERICK could be linked to Galway and the Aran Islands by a 30-minute journey if a proposal to build a seaplane terminal at the Clarion Hotel gets permission.

Harbour Air Ireland have this week lodged a planning application with Limerick City Council to install “floating pontoons, (an] access gangway, mooring anchors and associated infrastructure for the berthing of a seaplane” on the opening to the river Shannon in front of the Clarion Hotel.

If the proposals get the go-ahead, the company says a regular sea-boat service will run from the heart of Limerick city, to Foynes, Galway and the Aran Islands.

And unlike the new rail service, or the upcoming motorway to Galway, any journey could link Limerick and the Western Seaboard in just 20 minutes, according to company director Emlyn Heap.

Mr Heap told the Leader how the foyer of the landmark Clarion Hotel would serve as a departure lounge, before people board the sea planes.

“Our whole mission is connectivity. We want to shorten travel times – turning hours into minutes. Seaplane operations are nothing new. There is a very successful operation flying out of the Clyde (in Glasgow] to Loch Lomond, where the journey is complete in 15 minutes.

“My mission here is to have three resorts in this part of the country. The tourists who come to Ireland mainly spend two nights in Dublin and make day trips to the West. My overall dream is to make the West of Ireland the destination, and Dublin the day visit,” Mr Heap said.

The company has been working closely with Margaret O’Shaughnessy of the Foynes flying boat museum.

Mr Heap insisted that the sea-plane voyages would be cost-competitive – “although we are not going to be a Ryanair-type service”.

“What we want to do is align ourselves to taxi and coach firms. Seat costs will be between €40 and €50 one-way, and this gives people the option of experiencing a sea-plane flight. If they cannot afford a return flight, we would partner with coach firms so they offer the return journey,” he said.

“Tourism is down 25 per cent. We have been talking to Tourism Ireland in the UK, and trying to include it as part of a package to include sea plane journeys.”

Harbour Air Ireland propose to build a network of seaplane terminals linking Ireland’s major towns and cities.

According to plans lodged with Clare County Council for a sea-plane terminal in Mountshannon, the firm wants to build bases in Belfast, Dubln, Athlone, Galway, Nenagh and Cork, with its main base in the Co Clare resort.

However, the plans to land a seaplane on Lough Derg have attracted local opposition including the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board. Fishermen in Lough Derg have formed an umbrella group expressing their opposition to the proposals

Hmmm . . . . . there must be thousands of lakes all over the place, I wonder what will Michael O’Leary make of all this? With no landing charges, Aer Rianta can stuff their terminals and Aer Lingus can stuff their hangar 6! 😉

By the way what became of the hovercraft service between the city and Shannon airport a few years back.

If i remember correctly, it was bloody expensive for a trip on that thing, not enough people used it, so they had to shut it down.

@foinse wrote:

If i remember correctly, it was bloody expensive for a trip on that thing, not enough people used it, so they had to shut it down.

That would echo bjg’s sentiments on the difficulties of running a boat service in Ireland. Cost of fulfilling regulations, high insurance premiums and I could imagine that a hovercraft can guzzle a lot of fuel too.

Berthing a seaplane/floatplane outside the Clarion should be fun when four turbines are running and there’s a bit of fresh on top of an outgoing tide ….

Perhaps Mr Heaps’s experience with a ferryboat will be useful: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hotel+boss+is+out+to+launch%3B+NEWS+SNIPS.(News)-a060294811

The author: http://www.emelynheaps.com/

MD of Renaissance Resorts: http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/emelyn-heaps/15/13/326

Developer of holiday cottages: http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article606154.ece

MD of Clare Resort(s): http://www.shannondevelopment.ie/News/NewsReleases2008/Title,7330,en.html (I wonder how successful that inviteireland thing was)

A golf holiday village with a wellness room http://www.nikkenuk.com/magarchive/Win2006/uk_irl/mag.pdf East Clare Golf Village seems to have a hotel and timeshare houses.

I can’t see why the Shannon should be littered with mooring pontoons unless Mr Heaps has a convincing business plan showing that the business has a reasonable chance of surviving for more than one season. I am very sceptical.

bjg

SRR Phase 2 & Tunnel Update

Spring 2010 Newsletter

At this stage, I’d say we’re looking at a late June/early July opening.

All that appears to be left is the final surface layer (wearing course) on the northern section. Along with the installation of signage and some general tidying up. The actual opening date depends on when the emergency services finish their safety drills.

It’s also clear that the new stretch definitely won’t be a motorway.:( It’s to be classified N18 rather than N7 with a 100km/h limit, 80 in the tunnel and approaches.

The current N18 from the Radisson hotel into the city centre via the Condell Road will be downgraded to a regional route.

@Tuborg wrote:

SRR Phase 2 & Tunnel Update

It’s also clear that the new stretch definitely won’t be a motorway.:( It’s to be classified N18 rather than N7 with a 100km/h limit, 80 in the tunnel and approaches.

This will remain N18 instead of M18 until they solve access to those houses located along the hard shoulder at Cratloe.

I would say the same speed restrictions would have been applied even if they had classed it M18. In fact traffic will come to a full stop at the Toll Plaza.

The second phase of the southern ring road looks fantastic and I’d say most people are itching to drive on it. 😎

Looking at the signage mounted before St. Nessans Road Bridge, it does seem odd to me that no airport symbol for Shannon is to be seen on it. :confused: Whereas Listowel’s importance weighs more than Foynes Port on the N69 Estuary route.

@CologneMike wrote:

This will remain N18 instead of M18 until they solve access to those houses located along the hard shoulder at Cratloe.

I’m not sure it would be worth the hassle really. That stretch of the N18 is a pretty low grade dual carriageway by today’s standards. The opening of the SRR II will only further highlight this. To bring it up to an equivalent standard would basically require a complete rebuild. Which if done online would be an extremely messy & tedious job more than likely resulting in major traffic problems.

It think for that reason an offline new build is probably the easier option. The Bunratty bypass could probably be re-used, I think it’s only around 20 years old. Although it would probably need parallel service roads as there isn’t really an alternative route here. You couldn’t really send non motorway traffic back into Bunratty village! The rest of the route from there to the airport junction is of decent enough spec I think.

Although I believe such an upgrade should and probably will take place at some stage. It’s well down the list of priorities for now!

Looking at the signage mounted before St. Nessans Road Bridge, it does seem odd to me that no airport symbol for Shannon is to be seen on it. :confused: Whereas Listowel’s importance weighs more than Foynes Port on the N69 Estuary route.

I spotted that aswell, a fairly glaring error alright. It’s quite an important destination after all. An international airport like! :confused: As you say all it needs is the plane symbol. They could easily patch it onto the sign too.

The omission of Foynes is puzzling aswell. Listowel is the largest town on the route, excluding Tralee where the route terminates. However Tralee traffic is already directed to the N21 primary route via the M20 at the Rossbrien interchange.

Foynes is a busy commercial deep-water facility which is entirely dependant on road transport. It’s a no-brainer surely to provide adequate advance signage for it.

Surely it will at least be listed on the cantilever sign/half gantry at the start of the off slip at the N69 junction.

The second phase of the southern ring road looks fantastic and I’d say most people are itching to drive on it. 😎

It’s been a long time coming, hard to believe that it’s now 6 years since phase 1 (Rosbrien – Mountshannon) opened. Phase 2 has been under construction since late 2006.

It’s shaping up to be a really nice drive in fairness. Passing through a wooded area at Portland park, crossing Bunlicky lake on a causeway. Then skirting the banks of the Shannon before joining the N18 via that sleek viaduct near Cratloe castle. 😎

Won’t be too long now. 🙂

House frontage drawback for would-be ‘M18’ (Limerick Leader)

Published Date: 06 August 2009

By Mike Dwane

. . . . . . . Minister Noel Dempsey recently signed an order under the Roads Act of 2007 to designate a number of national primary routes as motorways from August 28 2009.

The N18 to Shannon, Ennis and Galway is more problematic for the NRA.

. . . . . . . . Sean O’Neill, NRA, said the authority hoped to eventually designate this road as a motorway but said public consultation would have to take place.

One of the chief problems is the presence of up to 20 houses fronting on to N18 at Setright’s, Cratloe, between Bunratty and the city, travelling in that direction. Regulations demand that motorways cannot have direct access into homes. Setright’s is regarded as an accident blackspot and has been the site of a number of fatalities, one as recently as November 2007 when an elderly pedestrian was killed attempting to cross the road. . . . . . . . . .

Would not a new driveway to the rear of those 20 houses linking them to the R462 solve the problem?

Having provided a proper entrance / exit to the N18 for Cratloe at the Portdrine flyover, a footbridge over the N18 near Setrights Pub and a tunnel under the N18 at Ballymorris.

It beggars belief that after nearly 40 years since a dual carriageway first appeared here, the Clare County Council and the NRA can’t finish the job off properly to eliminate this accident blackspot.

One off housing will haunt us yet! 🙁

@CologneMike wrote:

Would not a new driveway to the rear of those 20 houses linking them to the R462 solve the problem?

Having provided a proper entrance / exit to the N18 for Cratloe at the Portdrine flyover, a footbridge over the N18 near Setrights Pub and a tunnel under the N18 at Ballymorris.

It beggars belief that after nearly 40 years since a dual carriageway first appeared here, the Clare County Council and the NRA can’t finish the job off properly to eliminate this accident blackspot.

One off housing will haunt us yet! 🙁

The houses are a huge problem but there are other issues along this stretch of road aswell. It’s difficult to find much information on it but I think the dual carriageway from the outskirts of Limerick to Bunratty was formed by constructing another carriageway beside the existing single lane road. I think this was done in phases during the 1970s and 80s which is probably why the road has a sort of “cobbled together” feeling about it.

Anyway some of the curves are too tight for motorway speeds and the sightlines aren’t up to that spec either. The surface is substandard aswell, it’s far from being smooth & level. I don’t know if this is down to the piecemeal fashion in which it was built or maybe it was done on the cheap? It could also have something to do with the ground conditions in the area.

Going by aerial imagery, there are in the region of 25/26 access points onto the N18 between Cratloe castle (tie in with Limerick SRR) and the Bunratty bypass! 😮 The situation is particularly bad around Setright’s cross (see below). Clearly Clare County Council didnt see anything wrong with allowing peoples driveways to open directly onto a busy dual carriageway.

To solve this mess you would need to construct local access link roads either side of the N18. The existing junctions on the route would also need to be improved as they are currently pretty crude and basic.

Ideally this section would be left as a route for local and non motorway traffic with a new high quality motorway link built offline. Although the future plans for this stretch will obviously depend on transport policy and the size of the capital budget in the years ahead.

N18 @ Setright’s Cross

A few photos from tech2 @ boards.ie…

N69 Dock Road Interchange

Looking east towards St. Nessans Road overbridge

Green National Primary signage with “Motorway Ahead” sign just beyond

N18 Interchange (taken around a fortnight ago by Stan the man)

The NRA have confirmed the tunnel will open the week after the open day.

It’d be great to have it open by the following Monday but I’d say Friday the 25th of June is more likely. Just four weeks to go anyhow! 🙂

Limerick Tunnel to open for business in June as NRA promises fuel and time savings (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

WITH the opening of the €660m Limerick tunnel due to take place next month, the question now is: will people use it?
The National Roads Authority has confirmed the Limerick Tunnel will be open on Saturday, June 19, to allow people to walk up and down the tunnel, before it opens to traffic around a week later.

Charges for the use of the tunnel – which it is hoped will remove traffic from the Dock, Ennis and Condell Roads, and which completes the Southern Ring Road, Phase 2, linking the N7 and the N18 – range from 90c for motorcycles, to €4.50 and €5.70 for large goods vehicles, with motor cars costing €1.80 for entry.

A spokesperson for the NRA has said while toll booths will be in place at the entry points to the 900m long tunnel, there will be ‘fast lanes’ for people who carry toll tags.

But concern has been raised at the price of the road – which could see some local businesses paying more than €20 per week for access.

However, an NRA spokesman has predicted the tunnel will be a success, saying: “The Dock Road in Limerick is one of the most significant bottlenecks in the Mid-West of Ireland.

“The tunnel will, without question, offer fuel efficiency, value for money and time savings. The indications we are getting is that people will vote with their wallets on this matter.”

The spokesman also called on the Limerick public to visit http://www.tagcompare.ie, to check out the offers available to motorists to ensure they can get through the barriers swiftly when the tunnel – operated by Direct Route – opens.

Conor Faughnan, the AA’s public affairs manager has welcomed the new tunnel, but feels that the money could be collected in an alternative manner, to stop businesses feeling the pinch.

“I have always maintained that using tolls as a funding mechanism for these roads is a significant mistake. If you take the carbon tax increase from last December’s budget, the revenue raised from that would equal the total toll revenue. It would be far easier for the government to apply this levy on fuel to the infrastructure.

“Then the roads would be paid for, without burdening motorists with tolls,” he explained, “The infrastructure is magnificent. It is a very far-sighted investment, and substantially enhances the infrastructure, and will pay us back in the long run.

But it is a deeply unfortunate, long term mistake to rely on direct tolls as a funding mechanism.”

Sean Guinane, of cable transportation company Techpart, based in the Ballysimon Road, welcomed the new road, and predicted it would be widely used.

“There will be no new traffic on Limerick’s main roads, that is the point.

“Even if just one car switches to the Limerick Tunnel, it will have a positive impact,” he told the Limerick Leader.

The Limerick Tunnel links up the N18 Ennis Road from a final interchange bridge near Cratloe Castle, and represents the final junction on the N7 Limerick Southern Ring Road.

The work is being carried out by a consortium of Strabag, John Sisk & Son, Lagan Holdings and Roadbridge.

Southern Green Route Corridor Implementation Phase (Limerick City Council)

Notice is hereby given that Limerick City Council, having offices at City Hall, Merchants Quay Limerick has prepared and has available for inspection by the public and other interested parties detailed plans for the provision of a dedicated public transport priority lane on the Southern corridor entering Limerick City from the City Boundary along the Ballinacurra Road and O’Connell Avenue.

This new facility will assist public transport operators in the provision of improved and more efficient services and lead to better choice for the travelling public. The works will also involve road safety, public lighting and public realm improvement works.

The plans may be inspected at the offices of Limerick City Council during working hours (9.30 – 4.30 Mon to Fri) or on-line at http://www.limerickcity.ie for a period of four weeks from the date of this notice.

Limerick City Council would welcome discussions with the public and other interested groups in relation to the proposals. Staff from the Engineering section are available to meet with resident groups, concerned individuals or other interested groups and appointments can be made by contacting the Administrative Officer, Engineering Section on 061-407180

Pat Dromey
Director of Service
Transportation & Infrastructure
8th June, 2010

Green Routes, Floor 2, City Hall
Merchants Quay, Limerick.

No cycle lane- missed opportunity there

@cheebah wrote:

No cycle lane- missed opportunity there

I wonder would the South Circular Road be the better route here for cycle-lanes between the Crescent S.C. and the City Centre? Though residential street parking will remain a major contentious issue.

Thread: Cycling in Irish Cities ~ posts 119, 120, 121

Limerick City Cycle Network Strategy (2003)

The choice of parking as opposed to a bus lane in the last image seems poor given the urban scale, lack of commuter rail and proximity to the retail core; too many councillor representations gunthering the process?

london (sharecast) – Irish Budget Airline Aer Lingus Is Suspending Flights From Shannon To New York And Boston For 11 Weeks At The Start Of 2011 As Both Routes Tend To Make Big Losses During The Winter.

Planes, Which Fly To Each Of The Us Cities Four Times A Week, Will Be Grounded Between 5 January And 27 March Next Year.

The Carrier Says Both Routes Have Incurred Significant Losses During The Winter Months In 14 Of The Past 15 Years, Costing The Company A Total Of €163m Since 1995, An Average €11m A Year.

“in Order To Maintain The Viability Of Our Shannon Transatlantic Operations Throughout The Remainder The Year, The 3 Month Suspension Of These Routes When Seasonal Demand Is At Its Lowest Is Crucial,” Said Ceo Christoph Mueller.

Fyi

It’d be nice for a change to see bus lanes in the centre of the road a so that private traffic, attempting left turning movements need not cross it. Dublin’s QBC network would be far better off with this approach, other cities should do the same, make the bus more competitive in journey times.

@cgcsb wrote:

It’d be nice for a change to see bus lanes in the centre of the road a so that private traffic, attempting left turning movements need not cross it. Dublin’s QBC network would be far better off with this approach, other cities should do the same, make the bus more competitive in journey times.

Busses get the inside line, because they have to stop at bus stops. Having something that big crossing over a lane of traffic every few blocks would cause major problems. Busses stop at almost every stop, whereas not every car on the road will stop every few blocks.

@foinse wrote:

Busses get the inside line, because they have to stop at bus stops. Having something that big crossing over a lane of traffic every few blocks would cause major problems. Busses stop at almost every stop, whereas not every car on the road will stop every few blocks.

That’s why countries where they take public transport seriously, have bus stops also located at the centre of the road, and usually have real time displays at major stops.

Walkers invited to take a trip under the river Shannon via €810m tunnel (Irish Times)

TIM O’BRIEN

A CHANCE to be one of the first people to walk under the river Shannon is being offered to people in Limerick and Clare today.

The 900m twin-tube tunnel and associated 9km dual carriageway is, at €810 million, the State’s most expensive motorway tunnel, outstripping the cost of the Dublin Port Tunnel by some €60 million.

From 10am to 7pm, visitors are being invited to walk through the tunnel in advance of its official opening date later this summer. The precast tunnel was previously on display before it was lowered into position in July 2008.

Officially known as the Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase 2, the new road traverses the longest river in these islands and links the N7 Dublin Road, the N20 Cork Road and the N18 Ennis Road.

The public open day is the last chance for visitors to walk the tunnel, according to the National Roads Authority, which said pedestrians will not be accommodated when the tunnel opens.

Visitors to the tunnel will be invited to walk across the scenic Bunlicky Lake causeway before entering the northbound tunnel bore.

The outward walk is about 1.5km, and when walkers emerge from the northbound tunnel, tea will be available in the site canteen. The return trip is also about 1.5km, so visitors are advised to bring walking shoes.

A commemorative book will be on sale, and proceeds will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (Limerick branch), Milford Care Centre and Thomond House Hostels for the Homeless.

When the tunnel opens officially later this summer, a toll of about €1.80 is to be charged for private cars.

The tunnel operator is Direct Route Limerick Ltd, which holds the concession for 35 years.

A spokesman for the roads authority said comparing the costs of the Limerick and Dublin tunnels was like comparing “chalk and cheese”.

He said the principal reason for the Limerick tunnel being more expensive was that the price included annual maintenance and operation over the 35-year life of the contract, as well as refurbishment to a very high condition before the tunnel is handed over to the State at the end of the contract.

The cost of operating, maintaining and refurbishing the Dublin tunnel was not included in the €775 million cost, which figure also did not include land costs.

The cost of land for the Limerick tunnel was very high, the spokesman added.

According to Direct Route Ltd. they put the building costs at over €500m. Calculating the operating and maintenance costs for the next 35 years into the total price and then comparing it with the Dublin Tunnel project does not make sense?

A comparison of costs for the crossing selections would have been more appropriate but at this stage now it is “water under the bridge” or “water over the tunnel” .

I could be wrong but it seems like the tunnel cost €500m and that once tolls are subtracted from operational and planned maintenance costs that it will lose €310m operationally over a 35 year life cycle. I’d shorten the life cycle to 20 years as you can never predict where things will be on a longer timeframe but you must question the merit in building a project that loses so much money for such a long period of time. No point in crying over spilled milk but it should be a lesson at National level about the burden unviable projects place on the public purse. Particular reference to the Tuam Motorway…..

@PVC King wrote:

Irish Budget Airline Aer Lingus Is Suspending Flights From Shannon To New York And Boston For 11 Weeks At The Start Of 2011 As Both Routes Tend To Make Big Losses During The Winter.

Though Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines continue to have year-round transatlantic services from Shannon. US Preclearance facilities from Shannon have also attracted interest from British Airways.

More damaging to Shannon was Michael O’Learys near total pull out after his dreamtime airport charges came to an end. Despite all the rhetoric, both Aer Lingus and Ryan Air remain very active on the London route.

That said, the airport is in rapid decline and the airport authority lacks autonomy to tackle this. Denis Brosnan (Mid-West Task Force on Jobs) proposes radical reforms, unfortunately his proposals only made it to the bottom of page 2 of the Limerick Leader. 🙁

@PVC King wrote:

. . . . . . . it seems like the tunnel cost €500m . . . . . .

The tunnel itself is only one from six sections of the scheme. I wonder, what exactly did the “N7 Limerick Southern Ring Phase II” cost to build? (i.e. construction, land, design)

N7 Limerick Southern Ring Phase II (Limerick Tunnel Scheme) NRA ~ PPP

Period of Concession
The contract was signed on the 18th August 2006 and will extend for 35 years from that date. The construction is anticipated to take approximately 4 years and DirectRoute will be responsible for collection of tolls for a period of approximately 31 years

Summary Overview
For infrastructure with an estimated cost (construction and on-going operations and maintenance) of €660m, excluding land/planning/ preparatory design costs, the State will pay €180m (excluding land/preparatory costs) throughout the 4 year construction period along with a further €60m during the operational period. The State will recoup monies by means of revenue share, rates and taxes.

The BA situation is clever but is predicated on two factors; firstly the runway at City is too short for a plane to take off with a trans-atlantic fuel load and secondly the obvious pre-clearance and disembarkation into a domestic terminal in NY.

For infrastructure with an estimated cost (construction and on-going operations and maintenance) of €660m, excluding land/planning/ preparatory design costs, the State will pay €180m (excluding land/preparatory costs) throughout the 4 year construction period along with a further €60m during the operational period. The State will recoup monies by means of revenue share, rates and taxes.

If the state got 9kms of motorway standard route including a tunnel for €180m then it does put a very different complexion on the project to that put forward by Tim O’Brien and that scenario would assume that all cost over-runs were taken on by the syndicate vs the govt then it would represent value for money plus an opportunity for the syndicate to make a return on the basis of 27,000 cars per day as claimed in the RTE article below

40,00 walk through Limerick Tunnel
Saturday, 19 June 2010 23:03
An estimated 40,000 people walked under the River Shannon through the new Limerick Tunnel which opened to the public for an open day today.

It was the last chance for the public to walk the tunnel before it officially opens at the end of July.

The Limerick Tunnel took four years to construct at a capital cost of €660m, and is one of the biggest infrastructural projects ever in the Mid-West region – rivalled only by the construction of the hydroelectric power station at Ardnacrusha during the early 1930s.

It is due to open at the end of July, well ahead of its scheduled opening date of 17 September.

The tunnel will provide a fourth crossing of the river Shannon in Limerick, and will take an estimated 27,000 cars out of the city centre.

The tunnel will improve access times for commuters to the city, as well as access to Shannon Airport, Galway, Cork, Kerry and Dublin.

The open day was from 10am to 7pm, but thousands of people had already gathered from 9am to be among the first group through the tunnel.

Direct Route, the company which built the tunnel, also provided food and canteen facilities at the end of the tunnel, and park and ride facilities to help in traffic management.

They were hoping to raise over €100,000 for charities through the sale of a special commemorative brochure.

The main reason given to justify the spend on a tunnel was aesthetic which seems ludicrous for this part of the river. I vaguely recall of hearing estimates that the tunnel was going to cost at least 200m more than a low level bridge with an opening; I would have suspected the excess cost to be much more but since it was never a tender option we will never know for sure. The future of Limerick port was also used to justify the tunnel option even though this reason has since evaporated.

Personally I’d rather the low-level bridge option was taken and the 200m+ had been spent on better interchanges along the southern ring or fixing some of the nearby kinks in the aging N18 like around Setright’s cross where a number of people have lost their lives in recent years.

The NDP/NRA structure seems to lack something which would encourage maximizing value and utility; some of their projects have the definite sheen of gold-plating when there are many simpler and less prestigious (from an engineering perspective) projects which would provide great utility but for which the NRA seem to have little enthusiasm.

There is certainly an element of over specification across the wider roads programme but on this if the cost was €180m to the exchequer and if the average cost per kilometer on Dublin – Cork was €11m per kilometer implying a like for like cost of €99m based on a 9 kms route then I don’t see a €180m cost as being totally out of the ballpark. Clearly the private sector is betting on the 27,000 cars per day estimated as a base figure as increasing over time to give them a return; as they are the majority investors I think the figures on this are a pass at worst.

What scares me is the €1bn Tuam Motorway which has gone to the EIB for funding; population of Tuam of 2,997 people or an investment of €333,333 per member of the population. Better sending the good burghers of Tuam to retire on the Algarve on Greek style pensions.

Some fairly hopeless journalism on display yet again in relation to a major infrastructural project. Why oh why don’t they just do a bit of research before hand! :rolleyes:

Phase 2 of the Southern Ring Road is costing €660 million. The project is made up of 9.75km’s of dual carriageway,a 2.3km link road, a 675m tunnel, a 750m causeway across Bunlicky lake, four interchanges, 11 bridges, 6 underpasses and 2 toll plazas. Virtually the whole scheme (apart from a small section at Ballykeeffe) is also constructed on an embankment due to the poor ground conditions.

As regards the decision to go with the tunnel option. The Route Selection Report came to the following conclusion…

Provision of the tunnel option would have the following advantages compared with the low level opening bridge:

• Road traffic free flow eliminating disruption on approximately 400 times per year or 20% of peak traffic periods,

• River traffic free flow removing any constraint to operation and development of the port and recreational traffic on the river,

• Eliminating the need for co-ordination and imposition of constraints on the crossing operator having regard to port activities,

• Reduced long term environmental impacts, while accepting that the construction impacts of the tunnel on the environment are more severe,

• Reduced reliance on the effectiveness of the operator performance in delivering level of service, while recognising that efficient tunnel management is also critical to minimising
downtime due to service failures,

• Availability of significant public support for the tunnel compared to the bridge based on the public consultation and opinions expressed by elected members reflected the general view that freeflow for road and river traffic offers the best long-term socioeconomic
benefit to Limerick and to the region.

In conclusion, the number of risk and level of service benefits may be considered to outweigh the additional costs of the tunnel crossing compared to the low level opening bridge for the Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase II.

There are significant benefits associated with a tunnel crossing which may be considered to outweigh the relatively small economic disadvantage.

Hence, the tunnel option is recommended.

Someone said to me ( while walking through the tunnel last Saturday) that this project would never have seen the light of day if it was mooted during the current climate.. kinda have to agree – it smacks of the loadsa money bertie ahern days… it could have been done on the cheap with a low level bridge ( but architecturally beautiful – a la Waterford bypass) with enough clearance for pleasure craft…. and moving all shipping to Foynes – and upset lots of people about the loss of Limerick as a dock..I know…but still – we have it and it is a fantastic piece of engineering and its better building with money than pouring it into dead banks..

New drive to finish motorway after collapse delays opening (Irish Times)

KATHRYN HAYES

A BIG drive is under way to complete construction of the major motorway from north Tipperary to Limerick after the opening had to be delayed because part of the road collapsed into a bog.

A spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) has said it has been reassured that the final section of the new motorway between Nenagh and Limerick will be finished by year-end.

The €425 million road will link the Limerick southern ring road with the existing Nenagh bypass. At present the completed motorway comes to a sudden end near Birdhill, Co Tipperary.

The construction of the 38km motorway section between Annacotty and Nenagh was contracted to Bóthar Hibernian almost four years ago and was due for completion and opening in May 2009.

However, the contractors hit serious difficulties at Anaholty bog, where the almost completed road collapsed earlier this year.

It is understood that tens of thousands of steel-reinforced concrete piles had been driven into the bog to support the road. But following the collapse, a concrete and steel bridge is to be built over the entire area to establish a stable base for the motorway.

Seán O’Neill of the NRA said the final section of the Limerick to Nenagh road would open by the end of the year. “We are being reassured by the contractor that the project will be completed by the end of the year, but this is a design-build contract so any of the costs incurred due to difficulties with the Anaholty bog are borne by the contractor,” he said.
“We are obviously disappointed [with the delay] as we would liked to have seen the public benefit sooner but obviously the contractor is dealing with a difficult situation,” he continued.

A spokesman for Limerick County Council said it was satisfied the contractor was dealing with the difficulties as best it could. The spokesman stressed, however, that the contractor had to address any difficulties arising during the construction.

“Under the terms of the ‘design-build-operate’ contract between Limerick County Council and Bóthar Hibernian any issues arising from the construction of the motorway are to be addressed by the contractor in question,” he said.

. . . . . But following the collapse, a concrete and steel bridge is to be built over the entire area to establish a stable base for the motorway.

From reading the following accounts below where thousands of piles were driven into the “Bottomless Bog”, they want to be nearly thinking in terms of a suspension bridge. 😉

Sponge Bob (Boards.ie) flagged this two interesting articles concerning the “Bottomless Bog”.

“Pile Driver magazine feature” (Lloyd Acoustics) and “The use of geotextiles in construction over soft ground” (PDF)

PileDriver magazine feature Lloyd Acoustics

The N7 National Primary Route is the main link between Dublin and Limerick. Ireland’s National Development Plan 2000-2006 identified that urgent improvements to this section of road infrastructure were needed. Limerick County Council and North Tipperary County Council, in partnership with the National Roads Authority (NRA), planned to develop a new 38km ‘high quality dual carriageway’ between Nenagh and Limerick (Western Limerick).

The 38km project consists of 28km motorway standard cross section, on a green field site, it will traverse two peat bogs (marshes) – at Annaholty and Drominboy – and connect to a 10km section of the existing Nenagh Bypass, which will be widened to dual carriageway standard.

In November 2006 Limerick County Council awarded the contract to design and build the N7 Nenagh to Limerick High Quality Dual Carriageway to Bothar Hibernian N7 JV. Bothar Hibernian is a consortium comprising contractors Mota-Engil (Portugal), Michael McNamara Company and Coffey Construction Ltd.

Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construcao S.A. is a Portuguese public quoted company with turnover in excess of €1.3 billion. They have 60 years of engineering and construction experience in 20 countries over 3 continents.

Michael McNamara and Company is a wholly Irish owned company with almost 60 years experience. It has a turnover in excess of € 500 million and employs over 500 people placing it in the top three building contractors in Ireland.

Coffey Construction Limited. Coffey Group is also Irish owned and with 33 years experience is one of the market leaders in the Building, Environmental and Civil Engineering Industry, with a turnover in excess €120 million.

Lloyd Acoustics Limited are an independent pile foundation testing company, providing re-assurance to piling and main contractors of their foundations using modern testing techniques.

In April 2008 Lloyd Acoustics (LA) signed a contract with Bothar Hibernian N7 JV to become the specialist independent pile testing company on the project. The agreement nominated LA to carry out dynamic pile testing, CAPWAP analysis and static load testing on the piles which form the foundation for the new road as it crosses the two peat bogs at Annaholty and Drominboy.

Bother Hibernian, along with their nominated engineers, Hyder Consulting considered various methods for the piling of the two bogs. The use of Continuous Flight Auger, bored cast in situ piles and AuGeo piles was discounted due to the extreamly weak soils. This left the driven pile options, steel piles were deemed too expensive and wood would be susceptable to the organic deterioration of material in the peat soils, therefore pre-cast concrete piles were considered the most appropriate solution. The mechanical method of jointing the piles was chosen, due to tensile and lateral load capacity and cost.

The driving criteria for the hydraulic piling was also designed by the engineers Hyder Consulting, Junttan PM 20 piling rigs were chosen rather than crawler cranes because of their low centre of gravity and ability to pitch 13 and 14 single meter length piles and drive them with the correct, efficient, hydraulic impact hammer.

Hyder also had overall responsibility for the pile design, the design of the temporary piling platform, the spacing of the piles, the load application at each pile, the overall pile driving, review and ‘set’ at final driving. This was aimed at providing external foundation adjudication.

FK Lowry Piling were the nominated piling contractors, they are an Irish based company with over 30 years experience in the industry, they also own one of the largest pre-cast piling facilities in the country. FK Lowry encountered several obstacles during the contract, not least of which was actually getting equipment and plant to site.

It was decided because of size of the project and number of piles involved, that casting in yards in Northern Ireland and transporting piles to site was too expensive. FK Lowry set up a casting facility to make piles close to site and haul them a few miles to the two bogs. This was not an easy task, piles are made in a very controlled environment and it was difficult to start producing with unfamiliar concrete and contractors unfamiliar with how to work the casting beds. However, this was deemed necessary as a stockpile of 30,000 linear metres of 12m piles was needed at any one time and the total estimated contract was for 200,000 linear metres.

The Junttan piling rigs weighed in excess of 60 tonnes and the temporary platform was so weak that it was necessary to have a distance of 60m between each piling rig. This meant the driving of the piles had to be done in a very organised manner and the program had to be scheduled to accommodate this. Trying to keep the verticality of piles also proved very difficult, the bog was constantly moving due to the vehicles tracking and trying to lift lengths of concrete 30cm square by 12m long and keep them vertical was challenging.

When it came to driving the preliminary piles there were a few unexpected incidents. The bog was so weak that after the initial blows to punch the pile through the temporary stone platform, the pile fell 12m in 2.5 seconds, which was an alarming experience for the rig drivers. 😮 The piles were then jointed and although the estimated lengths were 18-21m, critical preliminary piles showed the drivability was much greater than had been predetermined in the engineers design. A commercial decision was made, that the test piles should be jointed again at 21m and driven until the ‘set’ criteria was reached, incredibly the piles reached depths of 36m in some areas of the bogs. The piles were now much deeper than the pre-determined contract dictated and the design engineers were adamant that pile capacity must be achieved to avoid a re-design of the piling layout.

At this point Lloyd Acoustics began the testing program. We performed re-strike dynamic testing of the preliminary piles, at a period of time after installation, to establish that the pile was still intact, had it’s integrity and that the joints were not damaged. This test also verified the capacity at the end of drive and that the pile was calibrated to the ‘set’ criteria. Capacities were then verified by CAPWAP testing, this yielded that the distribution of pile load was a 70/30% split, this being a 70% bottom to a 30% shaft resistance, this on piles as deep as 36m!

Lloyds were also to carry out static load testing; this application is commonly used to verify the applied load to the pile head with hydraulic jacks. The original specification had called for Kentledge load testing, but it had become apparent that this method was not suitable. The footprint of any Kentledge system, regardless of frame size, is so highly concentrated that the pile head movement would be influenced as the support blocks were on unstable ground. It also wasn’t possible to guarantee that the platform would hold, considering Kentledge loads of up to 300 tonnes were needed.

LA were asked to come up with an alternative design to statically load the test piles in accordance with ICE procedures (the standard UK code of practice). We recommended the use of sacrificial ground anchors and had to research the market quite thoroughly at this point, as the loadings on these tests needed to be as high as 300 tonnes. This proved difficult as in a self drilled bar application the anchors have several different wall thicknesses and therefore, to relate this directly to capacity, you must have sufficient rock sockets.

At this stage the pre-cast piles had found rock at much deeper levels than expected, so this was deemed as an excellent solution, because at each of the nominated static load test positions, the rock depth would be verified by the installation of the sacrificial anchors. This was accepted by Bothar as being an ideal opportunity to calibrate the piles and recalibrate the rock levels of the site, which originally had been shown at much less depth.

The installation of these anchors was then put out to tender with LA winning the contract. The works were carried out by a specialist drilling contractor, drilling on behalf of and supervised by LA, the selection of piles for the static load tests was done by Hyder. Over the extent of the two bogs we drilled over 7000 linear meters of two types of self drilled bar, the typical lengths of these bars ranged from 29m to 38m. The rock socket on each bar was between 5 and 6m and they were installed in a cement grout application.

To cope with the demand we had full time representation on site and site office was set up, giving our engineers a facility to analyse data and to monitor the static load tests, it also allowed us to oversee the installation of ground anchors.

The static load tests were then carried out using specialist automated beam systems, designed specifically for the bog and able to operate with just two anchors. This, in combination with a high yield anchor bars, contributed to a significant cost saving, as it was originally assumed that four anchors would be used.

Using our automated, hydraulic load testing systems in tandem with our reaction beams was an efficient method of carrying out the static load tests required. Lloyd Acoustics automated load testing system allowed several tests to be monitored remotely by an engineer at the site office, this allows the on site technicians to continue with other testing or preparation for subsequent tests. At the peak of testing we had three load test systems running simultaneously, with test information sent directly to our dedicated website for review. The automated systems apply incremental loading, via hydraulic jacks, directly to the pile head, without the need for manual application. This application is carried by data loggers controlling low to high pressure pumps.

One of the main obstacles we faced was the volume of site traffic passing in heavy earthmoving vehicles, the weight of these machines and the uneven surface of the temporary platform caused a significant amount of vibration across the site. During load tests very sensitive gauges are measuring pile displacement, the vibration created by site traffic was disturbing the frame to which the gauges were attached, therefore leading to poor data quality and false readings. This led us to the decision to perform the static load tests at weekends when there would be no vehicular movement and therefore no vibration. On more productive weekends we were able to carry out seven tests using three systems.

In addition to our remote monitoring, we were able to display data from the testing live on our website. All parties involved in the piling welcomed this technological advantage, as it gave up to the minute data on how the piles were performing. Along with the current data, our website also provided access to an archive service in which all previous tests reports could be downloaded by our clients.

The static load testing began in May 2008 and continued until Christmas, at which point testing was abandoned for the winter. This was due to poor weather and other commercial issues.

Testing recommenced in April 2009 and was fully completed by August 2009. Lloyd Acoustics successfully carried out 28 preliminary static load tests in Annaholty Bog and 28 in Drominboy. These piles were also subjected to 100% dynamic tests and CAPWAP analysis. Lloyds dynamically testing approximately 10% of the overall contract piles, of which 7000 – 8000 were installed, this equated to nearly 800 dynamic tests carried out by Lloyd Acoustics drop hammer, a specifically designed re-strike hammer mounted on a JCB handler for viability and handling. Contract testing also included approximately 185 static pile load tests across both bogs with sacrificial anchors installed at each test location to provide tension reaction.

The first 7km section of the Nenagh to Limerick N7, the area including the new Thurles link road, opened on 17th December 2009. The remaining sections are expected to carry traffic from April 2010. Pat Furlong, Bóthar Hibernian’s project manager for the Nenagh-Limerick scheme, has expressed confidence that the new road will open by the revised deadline of April. He said ‘The vast majority of outstanding works are now rapidly nearing completion and that the project is effectively at its “finishing off” stage. Construction of the road through bog lands near Annaholty and Drominboy proved more difficult than anticipated and attributed to the delay but the problem has been successfully resolved through modern day engineering.’

@CologneMike wrote:

New drive to finish motorway after collapse delays opening

It looks as if they’ve opted for the same solution that was used at Drominboy (the other troublesome bog area). The piles failed on a section here so a large concrete slab was built across them to provide a supporting base for the road surface.

At Annaholty bog, its seems that a number of piles failed to reach solid rock beneath the bog resulting in the collapse of the section of road.

The concrete structure appears to have stabilised the section at Drominboy, lets hope it works here aswell!

Concrete support structure at Drominboy Bog by Berty (Taken Summer 2009)

Seems the Cllr who wanted the Rosbrien interchange closed off at Carew Park, now wants his decision reversed:

Access to N20 road could be restored in Limerick city

Published Date:
05 July 2010
By Mike Dwane
THE €7m designated under regeneration for access off the Southern Ring Road must be used to design the Rosbrien Interchange allowing two-way access past Carew Park to the Childers Road, according to Cllr Ger Fahy.
Since the in-bound lane from Rosbrien was closed off last month, Southill had been cut off and “this is a serious situation which has caused great disquiet and anger among residents of the southside of the city,” Cllr Fahy declared.

Cllr John Gilligan enquired if this was the same Ger Fahy who “insisted it be closed off when it was being planned seven years ago?”

But Cllr Fahy replied that “times had changed”, southside residents had changed their minds and he was with them.

The NRA has explained that two-way access was always a temporary arrangement and the inbound lane had been closed to coincide with the imminent opening of the Limerick Tunnel. This is what the contractors had been asked to do after extensive public consultation and Limerick City Council at that stage wanted outbound access only from the Childers Road.

But Cllr Jim Long said the context to that stance was completely different.

“In 2001, that was the proposal and councillors and residents agreed that it should be closed off once it was finished. But that was in the context of safety concerns for the Roxboro Swimming Pool and Carew Park FC and children running across a busy road. Since then, Roxboro Swimming Pool has closed and Carew Park have relocated across the road. The position has changed but the NRA’s position is that they contracts have been signed and the contractors would have to be compensated,” Cllr Long said.

Cllr Fahy said he would continue to lobby the NRA to restore inbound access and this was also the view of the Limerick Regeneration Agency.

“I spoke with Brendan Kenny yesterday and Regeneration’s preferred option is to have it opened for inbound traffic.

There is €7 million identified for access from the Southern Ring Road announced as part of the 26 regeneration projects. Money is there. There is another €5 million there for the upgrading of the Childers Road which could be of benefit as well,” Cllr Fahy said.

Director of services Pat Dromey said there were a number of options which could be pursued with Regeneration over the coming months.

I have to say the local cllrs haven’t covered themselves in glory with this, it seems like they didn’t really think this proposal to close off the access through at all. Or maybe they weren’t paying attention to the detail of the plans at all.

“In 2001, that was the proposal and councillors and residents agreed that it should be closed off once it was finished. But that was in the context of safety concerns for the Roxboro Swimming Pool and Carew Park FC and children running across a busy road. Since then, Roxboro Swimming Pool has closed and Carew Park have relocated across the road. The position has changed but the NRA’s position is that they contracts have been signed and the contractors would have to be compensated,” Cllr Long said.

With hindsight a pedestrian bridge would have been the proper solution back then.

Instead they relocated Carew Park FC and closed the Roxboro Swimming Pool!!!!

It is bizarre to see money ear marked for the regeneration of Southill been used to rectify re-access from the Southern Ring Road (via Rossbrien Motorway Junction?).

This €7 million could have been better spent on improving the swimming pool etc, etc.

Those city councillors opposing the bus lanes into the city should take this lesson here on board! 😡

How clueless are these councillors? I bet the clowns who voted for the removal of the access road and now want it magically restored don’t even understand the layout of the interchange.

The reality of the situation is that the M7 East to M20 South slip lane now blocks the path of a potential inbound link. Restoring this link while maintaining free flowing, grade separated movements would require a fairly substantial reconfiguration of the interchange.

Considering how things work here though. If gombeenism wins out and some sort of a link is provided. We’ll probably see something utterly ridiculous like a roundabout or traffic lights being used to control traffic movements! :rolleyes:

I can only think of one way of doing it without causing too much disruption, would be an exit further back the M20 inbound with a tunnel under the M7 leading to the roundabout at the roxboro side of the motorway. It’ll probably cost more than €7m though haha.

@Tuborg wrote:

How clueless are these councillors? I bet the clowns who voted for the removal of the access road and now want it magically restored don’t even understand the layout of the interchange.

The reality of the situation is that the M7 East to M20 South slip lane now blocks the path of a potential inbound link. Restoring this link while maintaining free flowing, grade separated movements would require a fairly substantial reconfiguration of the interchange.

Considering how things work here though. If gombeenism wins out and some sort of a link is provided. We’ll probably see something utterly ridiculous like a roundabout or traffic lights being used to control traffic movements! :rolleyes:

Actually probably a roundabout, but in terms of the national road traffic, (i.e. not to/from Childers Road) it would probably only be the Galway to Cork traffic having to go through the roundabout (as well as most directions to/from city). Not too bad, but less freeflow for traffic from the city onto the M20/ring road than there is at present.

@KeepAnEyeOnBob wrote:

Actually probably a roundabout, but in terms of the national road traffic, (i.e. not to/from Childers Road) it would probably only be the Galway to Cork traffic having to go through the roundabout (as well as most directions to/from city). Not too bad, but less freeflow for traffic from the city onto the M20/ring road than there is at present.

It’s the cheapest and therefore probably the most likely option but it would also mess up the flow of traffic through the interchange.

It really is highly unfortunate that parochial interests were allowed to have such an impact on the design of such an important piece of infrastructure. The opportunity existed to build a free flowing, full access junction here (it’s essentially a green field site after all). This would have taken the pressure off poorly designed interchanges such as the N24 & N69. Will we ever learn! 🙁

€660m Limerick Tunnel to be opened by Taoiseach next Tuesday (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

THE Limerick Tunnel will open to traffic next Tuesday, July 27, when Taoiseach Brian Cowen cuts the ribbon at the €660m facility.
It is understood the National Roads Authority (NRA) have still to provide a final safety certificate. But it is expected that this will be signed off by the end of this week.

The opening of the 670-metre long Limerick Tunnel will see 100 new jobs created, as well as the removal of up to 20,000 cars daily from Limerick’s congested city centre streets.

Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Maria Byrne has welcomed the impending opening of the project – which will be operated on a public-private partnership by Direct Route (Limerick) for 30 years, after which it will be handed back to the NRA.

“The sooner it opens the better. People are looking forward to it, because it will ease pressure on the Rosbrien Road which has been inundated with traffic recently. It will remove an awful lot of unneccesary traffic from the city,” the Mayor told the Limerick Chronicle.

Opponents of the €4m scheme to construct bus lanes along O’Connell Avenue and out to the county boundary have pointed to the loss of traffic from the city because of the tunnel – suggesting this will nullify the need for the green bus routes.

Mayor Byrne – who lives in O’Connell Avenue – added: “This will hopefully show that bus lanes are not necessary here. Obviously it is quiet at the moment, but when the schools come back in September, we will have a true reflection of the impact the tunnel has.”

Hmmmmm, whats this Tom King of Direct Route said last week.

“We are not holding up the opening for the presence of government ministers.”

Irish Examiner July 17th

With Fianna Fail overseeing the almost total collapse of the Mid-West economy. Clowen just couldn’t resist gatecrashing this party. No doubt he’ll be telling all and sundry how his government have delivered so much for the region over the last number of years! 😡

Also, take note of Cllr.Maria Byrne’s comments on the proposed bus lane on O’Connell Avenue. :rolleyes:

I wonder how cllr Byrne would react if Bus Eireann did the sensible thing and simply removed all the bus stops along O’Connell Ave. and ran the service purely for those who want to get in and out of town. How many along O’Connell Ave would be complain about the lack of a bus then.

@CologneMike wrote:

I wonder would the South Circular Road be the better route here for cycle-lanes between the Crescent S.C. and the City Centre? Though residential street parking will remain a major contentious issue.

I attended the consultation process for this. The south circular option for cycling is definitely off the agenda, cyclists are expected to use bus lane going inbound and outbound the narrower traffic lane is a safer option for cyclists according to city council. Research shows this etc etc. :). In that regard, i’m surprised that local green rep James Nix has embraced the plan so much. I think the plans should have been tweaked to accomodate cycling more.
As I said before lost opportunity.
Dan’s suggestion regards removing bus stops has got coverage in Limerick Leader. Someone should be talking for the residents- probably in the region of 20-30 % who actually do want bus lane.

@cheebah wrote:

I attended the consultation process for this. The south circular option for cycling is definitely off the agenda, cyclists are expected to use bus lane going inbound and outbound the narrower traffic lane is a safer option for cyclists according to city council. Research shows this etc etc. :). In that regard, i’m surprised that local green rep James Nix has embraced the plan so much. I think the plans should have been tweaked to accomodate cycling more.
As I said before lost opportunity.
Dan’s suggestion regards removing bus stops has got coverage in Limerick Leader. Someone should be talking for the residents- probably in the region of 20-30 % who actually do want bus lane.

My suggestion got somewhat garbled in the Leader but it was basically correct, if the Green route is rejected and it is seriously suggested that the Green lanes come into the city via the Dock rd. then Bus Eireann should give immediate notice to change their route and to remove all bus stops after the Crescent, and go down the SC, and Ashbourne to the Dock rd. And plan to run the route purely to service the suburbs and the city centre. If people along the route don’t want the bus then let them do without it.

That sounds like the only viable alternative route as there is no other means to access the Dock rd from the main artery into the city that would be able to take the buses without major works being required, and also only by avoiding the Crescent (if you were to go down Father Russell to get to the Dock road. Note it would be the county that would have to make those road modifications. Do they realise that the county and city councils won’t exist in their current form in a few months time?)

The rather bonkers response from the Mayor is that it is Expressway buses that are causing on congestion on the O’Connell Ave., Ballinacurra stretch of road into the city. How many buses per hour would Bus Eireann run down that route? Given that buses going south (to Kerry and the like) out of the city go down Hyde road these days and the buses to Cork head to the bypass to get on the dual carriageway ASAP.

When was the last time the Mayor got an express-way bus, I wonder? So a dozen or so buses per hour are causing congestion, but many hundreds of cars aren’t a factor at all.

I also noted the argument made by a business person from the area about people going by his premises in buses at 50 mph! First up, it’s pretty damn hard to do 50 mph on that stretch of road at the best of times, 2ndly it would be illegal to do so, and 3dly how does making the buses go more slowly help his business?

I’m not saying these people are thick but they’ve giving us little evidence that they’re using their brains at all.

The meeting on the motion re: the Bus lanes is this afternoon at 4pm. Due to a change in plans I will be heading along. will update when I can.

@Dan Sullivan wrote:

The meeting on the motion re: the Bus lanes is this afternoon at 4pm. Due to a change in plans I will be heading along. will update when I can.

Looked like it was going to be taken off plans and then sudden adjournment for two weeks. Labour split- the Mcloughlins in favour along with John Gilligan ind and Maurice Quinlivan SF. Everyone else spoke against the bus lane/green route plan but adjournment before vote

At least the Mayor Cllr. Maria Byrne can devote the next two weeks figuring out why Limerick city ranks 49th in anti-litter league. :rolleyes:

The heritage body, An Taisce, who conduct the surveys said: “The really poor sites in Limerick city were not just heavily littered but many of them were neglected or derelict.”

Dan will you have a serious word with this woman about her phobia with big buses! 😉 Does she really want to put her own business interests on O’Connell Avenue before that of the whole city centre.

it seems that Kennedy has stirred up this whole issue with residents in Ballinacurra and O’Connell Avenue for his own political gain. Ditto Jim Long. And Maria Byrne has to go along with it to be seen to be standing by her constituents, even though I suspect that she has no quibble with the bus lane. Fine Gael appear to be in disarray, with such division in their ranks.

What will happen in two weeks time? A compromise solution?

@cheebah wrote:

Looked like it was going to be taken off plans and then sudden adjournment for two weeks. Labour split- the Mcloughlins in favour along with John Gilligan ind and Maurice Quinlivan SF. Everyone else spoke against the bus lane/green route plan but adjournment before vote

Micheal Hourigan (Fine Gael) and Kevin Kiely (Fine Gael) also spoke in favour of the proposed green route.

The adjournment suited most councillors, because they had got to air their views against the bus lane and were seen to be standing by the residents. In reality, most of them would be in favour of it, I reckon.

@CologneMike wrote:

Dan will you have a serious word with this woman about her phobia with big buses!

I got my councillors mixed up, 😮 it was Independent councillor Kathleen Leddin who protested about their size!

See previous post.

“These buses are huge and ponderous. People here should talk to Bus Eireann and make sure we get smaller buses. Whatever people say, there needs to be some input to give people a smaller bus model, which is convenient and sustainable for the area.”

http://getlimerickmoving.com/ good to see this kicking off.

@CologneMike wrote:

I got my councillors mixed up, 😮 it was Independent councillor Kathleen Leddin who protested about their size!

See previous post.

to be fair, there probably is some merit to that suggestion. A lot of european cities have smaller buses in situations that require them. I can think of a few places in Limerick where buses cause traffic gridlock because they can’t get around corners, without having to swing across to the far side of the street. And there would be hardly any passengers on the bus!! In that context, smaller buses could be looked at as part of an improvement to the bus servic

As someone who lives on the proposed southern green route :

I have nothing against a good bus service on this avenue.
And I accept that it is probably the best principal southern route in/out for buses.
Also I accept that as it’s the shortest route between the city centre and the Regional Hospital then it will also perforce be the route for ambulances, police, fire services, civil defence, etc.
Neither have I anything against taxis on this route — although they may (and do) often choose to return to the city centre via other parallel routes.

My problem is simply with commuter traffic on this same route at peak times (0700-1000 and 1400-1900).
This could easily be re-routed to enter/exit the city centre via Hyde Rd or Roxboro Rd.

By this, the objectives of having a good bus service, maintaining residents’ parking, preserving the marvellous architectural heritage and allowing bike lanes may be met at minimal cost.
Indeed a good share of the funding might be better spent on the Hyde Rd / Roxboro Rd / Parnell St areas anyway.

Zulutango, I’m not arguing the case that these articulated-buses should replace all the standard length ones. I was merely rebuffing councillor Leddin’s opposition to their use on the Western Corridor. They are the ideal type of bus to serve these three designated corridors.

Their high load capacity especially at peak times are ideal to serve the large student populations attending UL, MI, LIT or those working directly along those routes like two industrial parks, three Shopping Centres, a Regional Hospital not to mention the City Centre itself.

By the way the Cologne satellite-town where I live (population just 10.000) uses them at peak times to get people to school or work. Amazingly we in Limerick down-sized our buses from double-deckers to single ones just to save labour costs (conductors) purely. Automated ticket systems would have been a better alternative to maintain productivity.

@CologneMike wrote:

Zulutango, I’m not arguing the case that these articulated-buses should replace all the standard length ones. I was merely rebuffing councillor Leddin’s opposition to their use on the Western Corridor. They are the ideal type of bus to serve these three designated corridors.

Their high load capacity especially at peak times are ideal to serve the large student populations attending UL, MI, LIT or those working directly along those routes like two industrial parks, three Shopping Centres, a Regional Hospital not to mention the City Centre itself.

By the way the Cologne satellite-town where I live (population just 10.000) uses them at peak times to get people to school or work. Amazingly we in Limerick down-sized our buses from double-deckers to single ones just to save labour costs (conductors) purely. Automated ticket systems would have been a better alternative to maintain productivity.

I would agree with you, Mike. But I think she was highlighting the fact that many of the buses in the city are too big for the routes that they are on, and they do cause problems. I’m a resident of Clancy Strand myself, and the existing buses (which are often nearly empty) frequently cause difficulty and traffic chaos at the junction of the strand and Sarsfield Bridge. Absolutely, on the main routes, where passenger volumes require it, there should be larger buses, if the roads can cope with them.

@teak wrote:

My problem is simply with commuter traffic on this same route at peak times (0700-1000 and 1400-1900).
This could easily be re-routed to enter/exit the city centre via Hyde Rd or Roxboro Rd.

Good point. Since the opening of the tunnel, traffic coming from the M20 can no longer enter the city at Galvone, it practically rules the Hyde and Roxboro Roads option out. I’m curious to see the traffic patterns when the schools re-open.

Green Routes

City Council Map ~ Main Approach Roads (Condell Road should have been highlighted too.)

@zulutango wrote:

I’m a resident of Clancy Strand myself, and the existing buses (which are often nearly empty) frequently cause difficulty and traffic chaos at the junction of the strand and Sarsfield Bridge.

Definitely that bus in the image below was having difficulties leaving the Stand to get onto the Bridge.

But surely you are not blaming them for the tail-backs on the Ennis Road?

In the best scenario those four buses on the bridge when full could equate up to 100 car spaces.

At worst, when empty just equate to 8 car spaces.

Since the opening of the tunnel, traffic coming from the M20 can no longer enter the city at Galvone, it practically rules the Hyde and Roxboro Roads option out.

Please elaborate as to what you mean.

I see no reason why traffic coming in the dual carriageway from Adare, etc can’t slip onto the ring road and then either go left to Hyde Rd or right to Roxboro Rd.

@teak wrote:

Please elaborate as to what you mean.

I see no reason why traffic coming in the dual carriageway from Adare, etc can’t slip onto the ring road and then either go left to Hyde Rd or right to Roxboro Rd.

They have now closed the direct slip-road from the Rosbrien Interchange to the Childers Road for traffic coming from Adare over the M20.

That means no left turn to Hyde Rd or right turn to Roxboro Rd.

I take it very few M20 drivers will take the Dock Road or Tipperary Road option as it would add miles on to their in-bound journey.

Therefore I presume drivers will then exit before hand on the Dooradoyle interchange and would imagine the majority will take the route via the Crescent Shopping Centre into the city centre?

Or will peoples navigators direct them along the two un-appropriate country-lanes (Rossbrien Road or Ballyclough Road) into the city?

So like I said, I’m curious to see what traffic patterns will develop especially when the schools re-open.

Christ, you’re right.
What they’ve done is not noticeable driving out to Adare.
And not one word about it by anyone I know.

I wonder what that was done for . . . 😉

Yes, I suppose you’re right — they’ll mostly come in by the Crescent SC and then on to . . . Ballinacurra and O’Connell Avenue.

Had a poke around the Galvone – M20 junction this weekend.

The removed slip road from the M20 to the South Ring Road can be easily restored.

More peculiarly, there is a dodgy guidance onto the M20 for traffic leaving the city from the South Ring Road to Adare.
I mean it is a very narrow and poorly signed shared lane with traffic leaving the city for Dublin.
And if you do not have your wits about you and stay on the right side, you could end up on the the road out towards the Dublin Road.
A fella from N. Ireland was lost at the roundabout last Friday, as I was looking at things.
He couldn’t find clear signs towards Adare.

So it now looks as if the interchange at Galvone is so designed as to put everyone approaching it from either direction onto the national primary road linking the tunnel and the Dublin road . . .

………………..

@teak wrote:

Had a poke around the Galvone – M20 junction this weekend.

The removed slip road from the M20 to the South Ring Road can be easily restored.

More peculiarly, there is a dodgy guidance onto the M20 for traffic leaving the city from the South Ring Road to Adare.
I mean it is a very narrow and poorly signed shared lane with traffic leaving the city for Dublin.
And if you do not have your wits about you and stay on the right side, you could end up on the the road out towards the Dublin Road.
A fella from N. Ireland was lost at the roundabout last Friday, as I was looking at things.
He couldn’t find clear signs towards Adare.

So it now looks as if the interchange at Galvone is so designed as to put everyone approaching it from either direction onto the national primary road linking the tunnel and the Dublin road . . .

I don’t think it is designed to put everyone onto the M7 teak, I reckon that it is just purely down to poor planning, for instance up to a couple of weeks ago the sign for limerick racecourse was on the left side of the road going out, leading people to believe that they had to join the M7 if they wanted to go racing for the day, This has since been changed.

Having read the previous posts on this thread, it has all become clearer.

Grade A mess up rather than LA Confidential style conspiracy.

That said, I do not see any reason why the M20 – South Ring Road link can’t be easily re-established (e.g. simply as a run-off road from the start of the cloverleaf loop round onto the Tunnel Route) and traffic from the south distributed among a number of roads into the city.
Otherwise it’ll be chaos.

There is a feeling around that a gombeen element within the Crescent shopping centre is trying force footfall through this place by putting it in people’s faces day after day .

Whatever about this, it is clear by now that all traffic routing decisions should be referred to a council of citizens prior to approval.
Councillors ignorance of technical matters is just plain astonishing.

@teak wrote:

Christ, you’re right.

Christ, I wish I was wrong.

I wonder what that was done for . . . 😉

They might have to compensate the tunnel operator for lost tolls too. Drivers are rational people and many would take a similar direct route through the city if the Rosbrien Interchange was reconnected for Cork, Waterford and Dublin traffic heading in the Galway direction (avoid tolls).

When politicians are involved, there is more than what meets the eye regarding the layout of this Interchange.

P.S. Check out the route map and then click the Cork/Kerry to City Centre and Dublin to City Centre destinations on it.

Must a Green Route have bus-lanes in it ?

Limerick Regeneration Project list (PDF)

Phase One Implementation Plan

Access from the Southern Ring Road (Cost: €7 million)

Proposal is to put in place modifications to the recently completed Rosbrien Interchange to facilitate access to Southill from Dublin and Cork via the Roxboro Road. Project would include new access routes, new bridge construction, widening existing bridge and additional slip roads. This project has a city, county and regional context.

Anybody know exactly how do they intend to re-connect the inbound access for the following two routes by modifying the Rosbrien Interchange with the Roxboro Road with just €7 million?

• Dublin / Waterford to City Centre
• Cork to City Centre

@CologneMike wrote:

Anybody know exactly how do they intend to re-connect the inbound access for the following two routes by modifying the Rosbrien Interchange with the Roxboro Road with just €7 million?

• Dublin / Waterford to City Centre
• Cork to City Centre

The giveaway is probably the talk about connecting to the Roxboro road. This probably means two slips onto the bridge just east of the actual existing junction. I.e. R511 – road out to Fedamore. Only two slips needed, offslip on M7 eastbound (allowing M18/M20 traffic to access Roxboro) and offslip on M7 westbound (allowing N24/M7 traffic to access).

This is more likely than any true modifications to the existing freeflow junction.

Ah, I see what you mean.

The “Dublin / Waterford to City Centre“ and the “Cork to City Centre” in-bound routes would be as follows.

How about this one ?

A breakthrough road off the loop round to the tunnel-bound road and then onto the inner roundabout before the old Roxboro Swimming Pool . . .

Another thing I’d like to raise here is this.
Traffic signposting upon the new orbital road.
Basically everything related to these.
Design, size, location, prominence, colour-coding, symbol-coding, lettering size, etc, etc.
And most of all — why always – always – Rennicks ?

The new signs at the nodes of the orbital route are terrible.
Black & white, too small, block capital letters, no colour nor symbol coding.
And no prominence.

When is someone from LCC going to be sent on a course to Holland or Germany on signs ?

@teak wrote:

How about this one ?

A breakthrough road off the loop round to the tunnel-bound road and then onto the inner roundabout before the old Roxboro Swimming Pool . . .

That map is not detailed enough, it does not show the merging lane coming from Galway travelling towards Cork.

Your suggestion would bisect it. (See above)

They would have to re-configure the interchange into a Clover Leaf one to achieve that, like the one below.

See previous post.

Follow the grade up the west loop then slip off onto another graded embankment that lifts the M20-N20 link high enough to clear the Galway-Cork loop.
A kinked slip road would result — perhaps not safe at night.

Tunnelling the Galway-Cork under the M20-N20 slip (or vive-versa) would be expensive as the rock is so close to the surface.

What a hames they made of it. 😡

@teak wrote:

What a hames they made of it. 😡

My own warped mind :rolleyes: tells me the PPP people behind this €660 million project (toll collection) would have no complaints about the hames made at Rosbrien.

Would love to get the full story from the City Manager Mr. Mackey and the City Councillors (2003) Cronin, Power, Kennedy, Ryan, Leddin, Hourigan, O’Hanlon, Fahy, Bourke, Leddin, Walsh, Gilligan, Cross, Scully, Wallace, Byrne and Sadlier.

Plans to build a bus lane in Limerick are partially accepted (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

WORK is set to commence on the first part a bus lane on Limerick city’s southern exit over the next week after councillors voted to progress the work from the county boundary to Punches Cross.

At a heated city hall meeting this afternoon, a proposal by Independent councillor John Gilligan to start the first phase the work on the €5m bus lane project was accepted by nine votes to seven.

The news will come as a disappointment to four of Fine Gael’s five southside city councillors, plus the O’Connell Avenue/Ballinacurra Residents Association, who have vigirously campaigned against the building of a green bus route on the city’s southern exit.

Fine Gael councillors Michael Hourigan, Kevin Kiely and Diarmuid Scully voted in favour of Cllr Gilligan’s proposal, with the remainder joining Labour councillor Joe Leddin in voting against the multi-million euro proposal.

The remainder of the proposed bus lane – which could bring in O’Connell Avenue – is set to be debated at the beginning of next year, with a variety of different proposals in place.

A bird‘s eye view (see bing.com)of O’Connell Avenue from Punch’s Cross to St. Joseph’s Church reveal to me that most of residents (not all) have some form of parking to their homes (rear or driveway). Some have even got together and blatantly converted their front gardens into a car-park, thus destroying its residential character.

Those O’Connell Avenue residents that are blocking the bus lane proposals are holding the city to ransom!

A bird‘s eye view (see bing.com)of O’Connell Avenue from Punch’s Cross to St. Joseph’s Church reveal to me that most of residents (not all) have some form of parking to their homes (rear or driveway). Some have even got together and blatantly converted their front gardens into a car-park, thus destroying its residential character.

Those O’Connell Avenue residents that are blocking the bus lane proposals are holding the city to ransom!

Nonsense.

Walk round the back lanes — if there are any — and you’ll see that a lot of the houses have elaborate extensions into the back gardens.
But whatever about that there is no reason that a householder ought be expected to give up his backgarden for the greater good. The amenity value of front gardens on this road is already nil owing to the noise, pedestrians and litter.

To me the solution is very simply this.
The biggest component of O’Connell Ave traffic is the trans-commuters, i.e. people simply using it as their habitual through-road to their destinations in the city or in southern suburbs/county.
These trans-commuters may readily be encouraged to use Prospect Hill, Hyde Road and Roxboro Road routes that will lead onto the new city orbital route.
That would remove at least 70% of the existing O’Connell Avenue traffic.
After that there would be no need for a bus-lane, even if the number of buses doubled.
Since the 2 existing lanes are quite broad, the present ability of motorists to tuck in on both sides to allow an ambulance to pass is retained. (With an additional bus-lane this capability is lost as the 3 lanes would then be minimally sized.)

It really defies belief that, in all this controversy, no one seems to question why the trans-commuters ought not move.
It is always either the residents ought move on their parking retention; or the council ought move on their green route proposals.
Why should the habits of trans-commuters take priority over residents to the extent that they lose their parking or lose any bit of garden that they may have ?

One thing is clear.
If a bus-lane is brought in, then families will start to move away from O’Connell Avenue.
We all know what will happen then.
Homes will be converted to cheap flats/offices.
Neither tenants nor landlords will maintain these fine old buildings and the whole area — one of the best areas architecturally — will become run-down.

@teak wrote:

Nonsense.

Walk round the back lanes — if there are any — and you’ll see that a lot of the houses have elaborate extensions into the back gardens.

Well for example Verona Esplanade Terrace and McNamara’s Terrace have rear parking.

In fact I counted around 150 residential houses, 5 schools, 7 shops, 1 church, 2 pubs and 1 restaurant along O’Connell Avenue from Punch’s Cross to St. Joseph’s Church.

From what I see only about a quarter of the 150 residential houses would have a parking issue.

In fact parking spaces will coexist with the bus lane as seen in this example (Opposite Mount School).

How many residential houses do you think are affected and where?

It really defies belief that, in all this controversy, no one seems to question why the trans-commuters ought not move.
It is always either the residents ought move on their parking retention; or the council ought move on their green route proposals.
Why should the habits of trans-commuters take priority over residents to the extent that they lose their parking or lose any bit of garden that they may have ?

You would not be advocating that the city changes the layout of its street grid? O’Connell Street is the main street of the city and O’Connell Avenue its natural extension. Unfortunately cars are like mobile phones, nearly everybody has one and that is the problem, not public transport. O’Connell Avenue always was and always will be one of the main public roads leading into the city centre. Private property (cars) should be kept on private property. Before the advent of the motor car, people did not leave their horse drawn cars on the road when they didn’t use them? The original Military Road looked great without all those parked cars too.

One thing is clear.
If a bus-lane is brought in, then families will start to move away from O’Connell Avenue.
We all know what will happen then.
Homes will be converted to cheap flats/offices.
Neither tenants nor landlords will maintain these fine old buildings and the whole area — one of the best areas architecturally — will become run-down.

Yeah Landlords buying up family homes for renting purposes was once a general problem in many parts of the city. College Court housing estate near the UL was such an example. It was purpose built for families with ample green space for kids to play. Unfortunately when houses came on the market, landlords out bided younger families and rented them out to six students or so per house. Eventually the estate died as a neighbourhood. This trend may have in the meantime reversed itself since the building of student villages or apartments.

By the way, will the O’Connell Avenue residents get all those new footpaths, new public lighting, new trees for free? My road got upgraded five years ago and was billed by the local authority to the tune of €8,000.

I doubt if anyone will be billed for enhancements on this project.

You appear to base your thinking on the maps and images of the proposed plan as shown by LCC.
(cf. image below.)

Just go there some w/end evening or early morning and measure the street and footpaths.

First thing you’ll see is that the block from Wolfe Tone St to Roden St is wrong.
One can’t fit a bus-lane in here without loss of the parking on the west side.
Even if you take a bit from both pavements.

That leaves 39 cars to go into 18 parking spaces on the eastern side.

I am not “advocating a change in the layout of its street grid”.
I advocate that the pattern of through-commuter traffic be altered so that :

1) The heritage and streetscape of O’Connell Avenue is conserved in the most effective way — i.e. by enabling families and owners of businesses to continue living there and caring for their properties.

2) Priority for the use of this route (at least during peak hours) is given to
* Emergency vehicles — e.g. Garda, FB, CD, Amb/P-M
* City-route buses — both commuter and tourist
* Taxis
* Residents/proprietors and their guests/customers

There is no basis for through-commuters demanding access via O’Connell Avenue just because they have done so in the past.
In any case, the planned pedestrianisation of central O’Connell St will make it more awkward for many to exit on O’Connell Ave than from other nodes on the city orbital route.

Sure, people coming in via Hyde Rd will remark on the state of the place, lack of amenities, kids playing with broken trolleys, sneakers on telephone wires, etc.
But isn’t it high time that city council funds were applied to help the decent families of this area rather than cover-up the state of things there ?

@teak wrote:

2) Priority for the use of this route (at least during peak hours) is given to
* Emergency vehicles — e.g. Garda, FB, CD, Amb/P-M
* City-route buses — both commuter and tourist
* Taxis
* Residents/proprietors and their guests/customers

There is no basis for through-commuters demanding access via O’Connell Avenue just because they have done so in the past.
In any case, the planned pedestrianisation of central O’Connell St will make it more awkward for many to exit on O’Connell Ave than from other nodes on the city orbital route.

RE the Emergency services, the provision of a bus lane will greatly improve the ability of these vehicles to move through traffic, Emergency vehicles are permitted to use bus lanes so having such a lane means a permanently open lane for them when required.

With regard to your idea to move traffic to Hyde road, the only way to effectively do this is to make O’Connell Ave 1 way, thus eliminating the chance of through traffic moving along it. Otherwise you’ll have the council saying “from now we will use Hyde road” and the motorist saying “bugger off, O’Connell Ave is quicker”. The residents of O’Connell Avenue will be much more annoyed with the road being 1 way than having bus lanes.

On the issue of not having a place to park, those spaces on O’Connell Avenue are a public convenience on public property. Not private parking places for residents. There is access to the rear of the property, yes they may loose 6 feet off their substantial gardens to the rear, but so what.

I have just bought a house which has no on street parking near it because the road is too narrow, and I have a considerably smaller garden than the residents of O’Connell Avenue. Yet in order for me to park my car I’m planning to make an entrance from the rear access I have in order to park. If I was to act in the manner that the residents of O’Connell Avenue are acting, I should be lobbying my local councillor and LCC for parking spaces to be provided outside my property.

But it’s a public road and as such I have no right to make such demands. Just like the residents of O’Connell Ave have no right to hold the city to ransom, over public parking spaces which are the property of LCC not the residents, They’re a privilege not a right.

PS while I’m on here has anyone heard of / able to verify the rumours that the roundabout at Shannon Bridge is to be removed in favour of traffic lights?

@teak wrote:

A bird‘s eye view (see bing.com)of O’Connell Avenue from Punch’s Cross to St. Joseph’s Church reveal to me that most of residents (not all) have some form of parking to their homes (rear or driveway). Some have even got together and blatantly converted their front gardens into a car-park, thus destroying its residential character.

Those O’Connell Avenue residents that are blocking the bus lane proposals are holding the city to ransom!

Nonsense.

Walk round the back lanes — if there are any — and you’ll see that a lot of the houses have elaborate extensions into the back gardens.
But whatever about that there is no reason that a householder ought be expected to give up his backgarden for the greater good. The amenity value of front gardens on this road is already nil owing to the noise, pedestrians and litter.

To me the solution is very simply this.
The biggest component of O’Connell Ave traffic is the trans-commuters, i.e. people simply using it as their habitual through-road to their destinations in the city or in southern suburbs/county.
These trans-commuters may readily be encouraged to use Prospect Hill, Hyde Road and Roxboro Road routes that will lead onto the new city orbital route.
That would remove at least 70% of the existing O’Connell Avenue traffic.
After that there would be no need for a bus-lane, even if the number of buses doubled.
Since the 2 existing lanes are quite broad, the present ability of motorists to tuck in on both sides to allow an ambulance to pass is retained. (With an additional bus-lane this capability is lost as the 3 lanes would then be minimally sized.)

It really defies belief that, in all this controversy, no one seems to question why the trans-commuters ought not move.
It is always either the residents ought move on their parking retention; or the council ought move on their green route proposals.
Why should the habits of trans-commuters take priority over residents to the extent that they lose their parking or lose any bit of garden that they may have ?

One thing is clear.
If a bus-lane is brought in, then families will start to move away from O’Connell Avenue.
We all know what will happen then.
Homes will be converted to cheap flats/offices.
Neither tenants nor landlords will maintain these fine old buildings and the whole area — one of the best areas architecturally — will become run-down.

This thing about ambulances is interesting, how do ambulances work at present with only one lane and parking?

As for the trans commuters, how exactly would they practically be encouraged to use other routes?

At present ambulances pass by sirening cars ahead of them who then move over as close as possible to parked cars on their side of the street.
The ambulance then runs down the middle of the road between the 2 jammed lanes of cars.

Trans-commuting cars would be encouraged to use alternative routes by a combination of traffic flow design that would allow quicker flow via these routes — making it a matter of self-interest for motorists to use them and save commuting time — and smart signposting at junctions on commuter routes into/out of the city.
For example, a car coming in off the M20 to the South Ring Road (I know, it needs to be reconnected but it is to be done, we’re told) would see an electronic sign at the Treaty Tools traffic lights. This would show inward route options, where they meet the city orbital route and an indication of what the relative traffic density on each route was at that moment (Heavy, Moderate, Light).
At junctions from the South Ring Road onto each of the 3 inward routes, prominent symbol signposts would be placed, clearly showing the point at which this route meets the city orbital route. (I think that all signposts guiding traffic onto or off the orbital route ought have a distinctive symbol for the COR, perhaps a scaled plan of it with a traffic direction arrow within it.)
Cars leaving the city at evening rush hours would see simple symbol signposts at street corners to lead them onto the orbital route from city centre streets and then bigger prominent signs at various points at which they could leave the COR for their southern destinations.
The prominent signs at COR nodes would show a spur off the COR symbol and a list of destinations reachable via that route.

Sure, there is no way to keep trans-commuters out if they really want to go down O’Connell Ave.
But with good traffic flow design, clear signposting and, above all, effective promotion by the councillors and LCC management alike on local media, the vast majority would see it as advantageous to themselves to adhere to it.

@foinse wrote:

PS while I’m on here has anyone heard of / able to verify the rumours that the roundabout at Shannon Bridge is to be removed in favour of traffic lights?

See this weekend’s edition of the Limerick Leader (page 7).

The tunnel dodgers won’t like it. 😉

The city centre orbital route (Mallow Street) will now get a higher profile here.

Obviously a traffic calming measure and it should make the riverfront promenade safer for pedestrians to cross.

@teak wrote:

At present ambulances pass by sirening cars ahead of them who then move over as close as possible to parked cars on their side of the street.
The ambulance then runs down the middle of the road between the 2 jammed lanes of cars.

But there is only one lane per side with parking either side, so it is self evident that ambulances are more trapped at present. With a bus lane there would be no parking on one side and the bus would only run (about 4/5 times per hour?) occasionally meaning there would plenty of room for the ambulances. This notion of ambulances having more of a problem with a bus lane is pure nonsense cooked up to worry people.

@CologneMike wrote:

See this weekend’s edition of the Limerick Leader (page 7).

The tunnel dodgers won’t like it. 😉

The city centre orbital route (Mallow Street) will now get a higher profile here.

Obviously a traffic calming measure and it should make the riverfront promenade safer for pedestrians to cross.

There are also plans to change the parkway roundabout to traffic lights. The plans include moving the Parkway entrance further down Childers road.

Double post

The ambulance overtaking manoeuvre described is what ambulances presently do when they are called out during rush hours.

Under the proposed scheme, the passage of an ambulance during rush-hours will be determined by the pace of vehicles ahead of them on the bus-lane, i.e. buses and taxis.
You say there’ll be no more than 4/5 buses per hour down O’Connell Ave.
Even one bus route alone at present is scheduled to deliver buses at the rate of 1 per 10 minutes. With the new Green Route southern axis, I’d expect more buses to be put on so as to enable collection of people from all the main estates on either side of the road to Raheen.
With the additional bus routes and a 10 minute interval on each of them, there would be a bus on O’Connell Avenue every 2 minutes.
Then of course there is the taxis. These will be much more frequent than buses.
At rush hours it will not always be possible or advantageous for them to switch lanes so as to overtake buses.
So how does an ambulance (or squad car or fire tender) proceed ?

This is an observation, not a scare-off.
And it is not against buses on this route, nor a much-needed improvement of our bus service.
It is simply against the way the road-space is being appropriated by through-commuters in the name of bus-users but at the expense of residents and business owners.
Alternative routes are available for the through-commuters.
These ought be utilised.
That way one can have both an improved bus-service and a vital community.

@teak wrote:

The ambulance overtaking manoeuvre described is what ambulances presently do when they are called out during rush hours.

Under the proposed scheme, the passage of an ambulance during rush-hours will be determined by the pace of vehicles ahead of them on the bus-lane, i.e. buses and taxis.
You say there’ll be no more than 4/5 buses per hour down O’Connell Ave.
Even one bus route alone at present is scheduled to deliver buses at the rate of 1 per 10 minutes. With the new Green Route southern axis, I’d expect more buses to be put on so as to enable collection of people from all the main estates on either side of the road to Raheen.
With the additional bus routes and a 10 minute interval on each of them, there would be a bus on O’Connell Avenue every 2 minutes.
Then of course there is the taxis. These will be much more frequent than buses.
At rush hours it will not always be possible or advantageous for them to switch lanes so as to overtake buses.
So how does an ambulance (or squad car or fire tender) proceed ?

This is an observation, not a scare-off.
And it is not against buses on this route, nor a much-needed improvement of our bus service.
It is simply against the way the road-space is being appropriated by through-commuters in the name of bus-users but at the expense of residents and business owners.
Alternative routes are available for the through-commuters.
These ought be utilised.
That way one can have both an improved bus-service and a vital community.

As a member of the local emergency services (i won’t say which), I have to say. We love bus lanes, there’s either a free lane on the left to go up, or it acts as a lane for other vehicles to go into allowing us to proceed much safer than the present system allows.. Cities which are way way way busier than Limerick seem to be able to get around this “issue”.

Confirmation that M7 Limerick to Birdhill will finally open at 4pm on Tuesday next, almost 18 months late. They have been testing the repaired section over the last couple of weeks so hopefully this is the end of the sorry saga.

No more Daly’s Cross on dark, miserable Winter evening’s!! 🙂

‘Bog’ motorway to open next week (Irish Independent)

By Paul Melia

ENGINEERS have constructed massive reinforced concrete enforcements to support a road that collapsed into a bog late last year.

And the National Roads Authority (NRA) said yesterday that the successful works mean the M7 Nenagh to Limerick road will finally open next Tuesday, September 28 — more than a year behind schedule.

The construction of the 38km road from Annacotty to Nenagh in Co Tipperary was contracted to Bothar Hibernian almost four years ago and was due for completion in June 2009.

However, the contractors ran into serious difficulties at Anaholty bog, where the almost-completed road collapsed into the bog in December last year.

The contractors built a concrete-and-steel bridge — called a Load Transfer Platform — to provide a stable base, and the NRA said this meant the road could finally open.

The €425m road is the second-last section of the Dublin to Limerick motorway, and will link the Limerick southern ring road with the existing Nenagh bypass.

It includes 28km of motorway, and a 10km upgrade of the Nenagh bypass to motorway standard.

The road will bypass the towns of Birdhill, Daly’s Cross and the Lisnagry rail level crossing.

Up to 20,000 vehicles a day will use it, and it will knock eight minutes from journey times.

Public not liable for motorway sinking into bog (Irish Times)

TIM O’BRIEN

THE NATIONAL Roads Authority has said the taxpayer will not be liable for delays caused by a section of the new M7 motorway sinking into a bog in Co Tipperary.

The €425 million 28km dual-carriageway section between the Nenagh bypass and the Limerick Southern Ring Road was initially to have opened completely in June 2009, but subsidence was noticed on a section of the road at Annaholty bog near Birdhill.

A section between Nenagh and Birdhill junction was opened to traffic at Easter, but motorists travelling the route to Limerick have had to use the old N7 between Birdhill and Annacotty due to the delay caused by the difficulties at Annaholty bog.

According to the National Roads Authority, the final section will now open next Tuesday, September 28th, following the building of “an underground bridge” across the bog.

The road authority said that a 100-metre section of the road was excavated and replaced with a reinforced concrete slab, which was connected to solid ground at depths of up to 30 metres by a series of reinforced piles.

The cost of the extra work was estimated in the region of €2 million to €3 million.

However, an authority spokesman said the design-and-build nature of the contract would ensure the taxpayer was not liable for the additional cost.

The remedial works were successfully completed in August. This was followed by load testing to ensure the integrity of the road in the area before it was certified fit for traffic.

The opening paves the way for the final section of the M7, between Castletown and Nenagh, which is now expected in November.

This project starts at the most easterly junction of the Nenagh bypass and finishes at the Borris- in-Ossory interchange.

The final section will then deliver motorway continuous standard connections between Northern Ireland and Co Clare via the M50 and the new Shannon tunnel.

@Dan Sullivan wrote:

I think it is curious that in the various discussions about the bus lanes in from the south that the issue of having to reroute the buses away from Todds (because we’re going to have a pedestrian only O’Connell st. at that point hasn’t been raised. The opportunity is there to connect the city buses with the regional services at the station if we’re going to move from Todds as the main city centre stop.

I have yet to see a system bus-flow plan (if any) for all of the city routes operating through the proposed Orbital Route.

The University and the Regional Hospital destinations must connect with the bus / railway station.

Alternatively a new bus service just circulating around the Orbital Route could link up with all the other bus routes criss-crossing the city centre?

Any updates on the new bus station proposal?

Limerick city to get 16 new sets of traffic lights (Limerick Leader)

By Nick Rabbitts

FURTHER traffic disruption could be on the way after Limerick City Council confirmed the orbital route is to have 16 new sets of traffic lights.

As part of the circular route around the city centre, senior engineer Vincent Murray has said sets of traffic lights are still to be installed at the Abbey Bridge, the Parnell Street/Mallow Street junction as part of a junction alteration, and at the Dock Road/Shannon Bridge junction, meaning the removal of the Shannon Bridge roundabout.

There are also expected to be traffic lights installed on side-streets to give traffic entering main streets ample opportunity to join.

Mr Murray confirmed this will eventually mean 16 new sets of traffic lights in the city – with many already in place, including the junction at Upper William Street.

This week, new traffic lights on the Condell Road, near the Salesians School, were switched on for the first time.

The move led to chaos at rush hour, with some claiming it was a ploy designed to force people into the €1.80-a-car Limerick Tunnel to save time.

But tunnel general manager Tom King described this as a “conspiracy theory”.

Mr Murray also dismissed the claims: “No, the lights are not designed to force people into the tunnel. We need to balance the needs of motorists commuting through the city with the needs of other people in the city, including schools and local traffic,” he said.

The remaining sets of traffic lights on the orbital route are expected to be fitted over the next few months

Let’s hope that they will be synchronised along the orbital route.

New section of M7 motorway opens (Irish Times)

KATHRYN HAYES

THE LAST section of the €424 million motorway from Limerick to Nenagh was finally opened yesterday, with up to 20,000 vehicles expected to bypass some of the country’s worst accident spots.

The opening of the Birdhill to Limerick section of the M7 was delayed by over a year. Work started on the 12.5km section of the scheme in 2006 and it was scheduled to open in May 2009. However, the contractors ran into major difficulties when part of the road sank into a bog at Annaholty. As a result, a 100m section of the road had to be excavated and rebuilt from scratch.

Speaking at yesterday’s official opening, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said: “It was extremely difficult, it delayed the project by almost 12 months and undoubtedly caused huge difficulties but they’ve found a solution which I’m told is very reliable.”

The completed €424 million contract won by Bothar Hibernian included 28km of dual carriageway, with a single carriageway link to the main road at Birdhill and the upgrading of 10km of the Nenagh bypass to dual carriageway standard.

According to the National Roads Authority, the Nenagh to Limerick section of the M7 will result in safer journeys and time savings for some 20,000 motorists, who will bypass accident spots like Daly’s Cross and Yellowbridge.

Journey times to Dublin will be reduced further when the final section of the M7, from Castletown in Co Laois to Nenagh, opens later this year.

This will allow motorists to bypass Roscrea, Moneygall and Toomevara, completing the M7 motorway between Limerick and Dublin. Mr Dempsey said the roads authority was reviewing roads plans for the next 25 years, but said no new motorways were planned.

Instead, work would be carried out on upkeep and maintenance of existing road networks.

© 2010 The Irish Times

Better late than never!

However only time will tell how very reliable the solution is.

See previous post.

I have done a bit of crayoning and attached is my fantasy rail network for Limerick.
http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&xhr=t&q=ireland&cp=3&safe=off&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4GGLL_enIE385IE385&um=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&ion=1&biw=1366&bih=532&wrapid=tlif130930018798410&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=nl
It includes 5 heavy rail lines that I would envisage running hourly at peak and and every two hours off peak, apart from the Ennis line which would run hourly throughout the day.

A more concise suburban network would run every 15 minutes on the lines between Patrickswell, Annacotty Industrial Estate and Cratloe. To eliminate the need to reverse out Colbert Station, a new station would be constructed on the existing bus maintenance yard.

Two tram lines would run every 15 minutes North-South and East-West through the city, with the East-West line connecting up both Colbert Station and the new station. The North-South line terminates at an interchange with heavy rail at Father Russell Road but I wonder would it make sense* to continue the tram line through a tunnell as far as the regional hospital as it is the only way I can think of to link the hospital up with the network.

I haven’t included stops because a) there are too many and b) they clutter up the map.

So, what say you?
* obviously it wouldn’t make sense to build most of this proposal now but a tunnel is a significant undertaking.

That’s just a zoomed out image of Ireland.

Yeah, you messed up somewhere there.
Got us all excited about a new train transport system and then a fierce let-down.

Fix it up and make a real image out of it, then upload that image.

Right I cant’ figure out how to ink to my google maps so heres some print screened images of it. I can zoom in closer again if ye like.

Railway/metro would be generally better used for bringing the country commuters in rather
than for hauling city-based people around town, exceptions being the Uni and Shannon
AP/Ind Estate runs.

Cutting the Tralee line at NCW and earmarking the same line as a bypass route for Adare
were cardinal errors.
Never mind the fact that a good many parts of that line needed upgrading, having a
continuous run from Limerick to Tralee and thence Fenit would always hold internal
traffic and tourist potential.

On your map there are large blocks of the city within which people would have a long old
walk to the nearest rail/metro stop.
Small local bus + rail/metro is too expensive and too slow.
Around town, I think that bus is the cheapest option.

Railway/metro would be generally better used for bringing the country commuters in rather
than for hauling city-based people around town, exceptions being the Uni and Shannon
AP/Ind Estate runs.

Well I had thought that your typical IE commuter trains would run the longer distance lines while a DART style train would run on the more concise suburban route, but only because thats what I’m familar with.

Cutting the Tralee line at NCW and earmarking the same line as a bypass route for Adare
were cardinal errors.

Didn’t realise this happened. Was it to run along the line or just cut a huge D/C-way sized hole across it?

Around town, I think that bus is the cheapest option

Ya probably but I like trains so thats why I focused on them.

On your map there are large blocks of the city within which people would have a long old
walk to the nearest rail/metro stop.

I have marked in the stops below, any suggestions for more?

Finally the powers that be are getting their act together about this joke of a junction.
From Limerick Leader:

By David Hurley
Published on Tuesday 8 November 2011 08:00

WORKS to increase capacity at one of Limerick’s worst bottle-necks are expected to begin early next year

Limerick County Council hopes to appoint a contractor before Christmas to carry out the upgrade works at the N24 / N7 interchange.

At present up to 18,000 vehicles use the interchange every day and lengthy delays are a daily occurrence at peak times.

The project, which is expected to cost several million euro to complete, was formally approved by councillors last month following the conclusion of the Part 8 planning process.

The deadline for receipt of contractors is this Thursday and negotiations with the prospective contractor are likely to begin next week.

The works, which will last for a number of months, will see the construction of a new roundabout at the junction of the N24 and the Old Ballysimon Road.

A new slip-road will be constructed to facilitate direct access to the N24 for traffic exiting from the northbound lane of the N7.

The existing lanes of the N24 will be widened over a 2km stretch of road and there will be four lanes (two in each direction) between the new roundabout and the Garryglass Roundabout.

The existing traffic lights, which were installed at the junction number of years ago will remain in place but they will be reconfigured to facilitate the additional traffic.

Do you think the plan is to get as many people to bypass the junction as possible?