I've been thinking about this recently and now according to the Irish Times today, FG is to query the C&AG "about the spiralling cost of repairing rutted and potholed roads."

The IT has compiled some figures for the cost of fixing, repairing and resurfacing roads. They say the number of kilometres of roads being repaired has fallen by 20% from 5300kms in 2004 to 4300 kms in 2007 while the cost of repairing a kilometre has risen 83% between 2004 and last year. In 2004 it cost €10,178 to deal with a kilometre of road while last year it had risen to €18,680 - no wonder that funding hasn't risen accordingly.

It's no surprise that 60% of the cost of repairing a road is accounted for by one of the principal materials used: oil (bitumen). Surely there must be cheaper and more local alternatives to tar for our roads?

FG are questioning the C&AG about the rise in maintenance cost and about the lack of a corresponding rise in funding but is there anything that can really be done? Are our roads becoming the first casualties of the rising price of oil? The suspension and tyres of my car think so...

Restoration Maintenance

Year	Length (km)	Allocation
2004	5,394	€55m
2005	4,104	€60m
2006	4,513	€75m
2007	4,334	€81m

I can't say if there's a better alternative to bitumen/tar for the roads - though a decent rail network would make a huge difference to our dependence on roads (hardly an original proposal) and our dependence on oil as a nation of drivers (also a particularly unoriginal proposal).

There has been a noticeable increase in the presence of potholes - though city dwellers may not be quite as aware of this as we are down the country. It's an interesting education if nothing else for the under 15s who knew of them only in fairytales.

The European Road Assessment Programme published a report this week detailing levels of danger of European Roads and a stretch of 15km in West Clare came out eighth worst in Ireland. There is page of risk levels of roads HERE so you can have a look if a deathtrap near you is on it.

AA Roadwatch report on it here
http://www.aaireland.ie/news/article.asp?news_Id=444

Quote :

Key Findings:

In 2005 the EuroRAP report found 96km of the network in the Republic was classified as ‘Black – High Risk’. All of those links have now been treated, and overall the 2008 report finds that there are no ‘High Risk’ sections on the network.

The analysis does identify 350 kms of ‘Red – Medium to High Risk’ sections (there were 463kms in 2005). The report lists ten ‘Medium-High Risk’ links (147 kms). All of these are single carriageways and all have now been targeted with action plans by the NRA.

The full pdf is here with lots of maps and unfortunately, photos of carnage.
http://www.aaireland.ie/dynamic/doc/EuroRAP_Ireland_2008.pdf

That stretch of road in West Clare is in some of the most beautiful landscape in the world in my opinion and attracts cyclists and walkers from all over the world. Also in my opinion, that road or perhaps starting with that stretch (15km) should be customised to allow cyclists and walkers have a lot more comfort on it. I believe that lowering the speed limit there and putting speed controls and bumps might be no harm at all because wtf are you doing speeding through some of the best and most beautiful walking/viewing scenery in the world?

Auditor #9 wrote:

The European Road Assessment Programme published a report this week detailing levels of danger of European Roads and a stretch of 15km in West Clare came out eighth worst in Ireland. There is page of risk levels of roads HERE so you can have a look if a deathtrap near you is on it.

AA Roadwatch report on it here
http://www.aaireland.ie/news/article.asp?news_Id=444

Quote :

Key Findings:

In 2005 the EuroRAP report found 96km of the network in the Republic was classified as ‘Black – High Risk’. All of those links have now been treated, and overall the 2008 report finds that there are no ‘High Risk’ sections on the network.

The analysis does identify 350 kms of ‘Red – Medium to High Risk’ sections (there were 463kms in 2005). The report lists ten ‘Medium-High Risk’ links (147 kms). All of these are single carriageways and all have now been targeted with action plans by the NRA.

The full pdf is here with lots of maps and unfortunately, photos of carnage.
http://www.aaireland.ie/dynamic/doc/EuroRAP_Ireland_2008.pdf

That stretch of road in West Clare is in some of the most beautiful landscape in the world in my opinion and attracts cyclists and walkers from all over the world. Also in my opinion, that road or perhaps starting with that stretch (15km) should be customised to allow cyclists and walkers have a lot more comfort on it. I believe that lowering the speed limit there and putting speed controls and bumps might be no harm at all because wtf are you doing speeding through some of the best and most beautiful walking/viewing scenery in the world?

That is quite an achievement: if the same focused approach was to be taken to health services, would it give us all an extra 5 years life expectation?

On another front, I'm just going to take my boat out and paddle up river maybe for the last time this summer. In the next few weeks the motorway works will make it impassable and we will see a huge concrete bridge built across it a few hundred yards up river from the village, at a point where there is a small weir, the 'sandies' swimming place, an otter's holt and the High Bank, riddled with kingfisher nests. It is also the turning spot for the cot races.

Perhaps when the works are over, it will all settle down and the kingfishers will be able to find another high, sunny sheer bank dropping straight to the river. In the meantime, please don't anyone mention eggs or omlettes to me.

From Furet's Mitchelstown to Fermoy boards link

New €434M, head-on collision-preventing stretch of the Cork-Dublin route opened today. It was built by Sisk and Roadbridge in a joint venture - SRB ltd.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/journey-times-cut-as-8364434m-road-is-opened-1566879.html

Quote :

A NEW 40km stretch of motorway will open today knocking 20-minutes off journey times between Dublin and Cork.

The €434m scheme along the M8 will run between Cullahill in Co Laois and Cashel in Co Tipperary, and will be delivered seven months ahead of schedule.

The new road will remove up to 16,000 cars a day from the towns of Johnstown and Urlingford in Co Kilkenny and from Littleton and Horse and Jockey in Co Tipperary.

..

The road, which is being delivered ahead of schedule, includes 46 bridges and four grade separated junctions.
..

Dual carriageway from Cork to Dublin will be completed when the road above is joined onto the Portlaoise Motorway. There will be a toll gate in this new and last section due to be ready in 2010.

According to the Irish Times today, we're starting ONE road this year, no more. A number of projects will get finished and a good few will continue and FG's Fergus O'Dowd believes we should be ramping up our road building now at this point in time by way of stimulus instead of toning it down because it's better value now to build.

The lucky road project goes to a bypass of Castleisland in Kerry, a notorious bottleneck which spills over to affect the Tralee-Killarney route.

Quote :

A PROPOSED bypass of Castleisland, Co Kerry, is to become the only new national road scheme to go to construction this year under a reduced €1.44 billion annual budget for the National Roads Authority (NRA).

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0129/1232923372729.html

Announcing the allocation yesterday, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the authority’s emphasis for 2009 would be on continuing 17 major projects, among them the inter-urban motorways between Dublin and the cities of Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.

But already they're talking ahead towards 2011 when some horrific projects are being contemplated

Quote :

He said the 17 projects have a combined length of just under 500km, and were being constructed at a cost of €5 billion, funded on a multi-annual basis.

At €1.44 billion for 2009, the roads authority allocation is about €240 million less than that of 2008.

Mr Dempsey confirmed the proposed Leinster outer orbital motorway and the Eastern Bypass of Dublin would not now be considered by the Government until 2011 at the earliest.

Whatever about the Eastern bypass, wouldn't that Leinster outer orbital route only be a monstrosity which would turn Leinster into Dublin if there was any short three or four year boom again before 2020. ??

Quote :

He also said a number of schemes which the NRA initially hoped to progress to construction this year were being rescheduled.

These include:

the N5 bypass of Longford;

the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton road in Co Cork;

the N18 Gort to Oranmore in Co Galway;

the reconstruction of Newlands Cross on the N7 in south Dublin;

the upgrade of the N11 south of Ashford, Co Wicklow.

i.e projects being put on pause.

On the other hand, these roads are going to be open for business this year

Quote :

Of the ongoing work, eight schemes on the major routes are due to open to traffic this year.

They are the N4 Leixlip to M50 junction; the N6 Athlone to Ballinasloe; the N7 Nenagh to Limerick; the N8 Fermoy to Mitchelstown; the N9 Waterford to Knocktopher; the N9 Kilcullen to Carlow; the N51 Navan inner relief road; and the N25 Waterford City bypass.

It's handy that the Government don't have a Jackie Healy Rae type in Clare/Galway otherwise there could be a risk that the busy and dangerous Ennis-Galway route could be started in earnest and fully, not just the half that is starting

Quote :

While Mr Dempsey welcomed continuing work on the N18 between Crusheen, Co Clare, and Gort, Co Galway, he said the Gort to Oranmore section had been amalgamated with a Galway to Tuam PPP (public-private partnership) project, which would not begin this year. He said reduced tender prices of between 15 and 20 per cent and earlier completions in recent years had resulted in the money being found to fund the start of the Castleisland bypass this year.

Credit for the scheduling of the bypass was also claimed by Kerry Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae, who said he had lobbied the Tánaiste and Mr Dempsey on the subject.

But FG think the Government is mental not to be keeping up the road building - wouldn't it stimulate the eocnomy they say ??? Fergus O'Dowd I'm sure is on Morning Ireland in twenty minutes about it.

Quote :

However, Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said the reduced budget was “lunacy” as construction cost was “at its cheapest for years”.

He said the Government should be “ramping up labour-intensive road-building projects” as an incentive to the economy.

Where would the money come from though now that we've bailed out Anglo until it failed ??

Quote :

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Fears bypass plan will be scrapped


FEARS were voiced yesterday that the long-awaited €27 million bypass road for Castleisland in Kerry may become the victim of government cutbacks — again.

In January, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey announced the go-ahead for the 5.4km-long bypass, with work due to start this year.

However, it emerged yesterday at a Kerry County Council meeting in Tralee that the National Roads Authority (NRA) had not yet given the green light to the project.

Independent councillor Brendan Cronin, who raised the issue, said he was seriously concerned that road building would suffer most in infrastructural cutbacks expected in next month’s mini-budget.

more ...
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idgbcwidey/rss2/

Foammaster is interesting stuff. It is basically recycled tarmac and has been used in Britain on a few roads. Here is a Link

That sounds very clever, floatingGalway. It ties in with the German ideal of recycling on-site.

What do you think of the Galway City Outer Bypass, Floating?

eoinmn wrote:

That sounds very clever, floatingGalway. It ties in with the German ideal of recycling on-site.

What do you think of the Galway City Outer Bypass, Floating?

I wrote a report on the GCOB a few years ago documenting the effects it would have on the heritage and people of Menlo. My conclusion....it would be devastating. If you want to have a read of it, I can email it to you. I don't know how to post it up here ( the oul technically challenged thing again)

floatingingalway wrote:

I wrote a report on the GCOB a few years ago documenting the effects it would have on the heritage and people of Menlo. My conclusion....it would be devastating. If you want to have a read of it, I can email it to you. I don't know how to post it up here ( the oul technically challenged thing again)

Do please.
Menlo is a beautiful area. Like you, I believe the bypass will destroy it.

Also, I think the bypass is a colossal waste of money. It will cost over a billion! I don't believe it will have much of an effect on traffic congestion.
Spend 3 million euro and you could treble number of cyclists in Galway. THAT would have a positive effect on traffic congestion and public health.

It's all about land values, eoinm, nothing more, nothing less. Can you pm me your email address and I'll hopefully be able to send it to you. Otherwise if you're around Galway I can give you a copy.

eoinmn wrote:

floatingingalway wrote:

I wrote a report on the GCOB a few years ago documenting the effects it would have on the heritage and people of Menlo. My conclusion....it would be devastating. If you want to have a read of it, I can email it to you. I don't know how to post it up here ( the oul technically challenged thing again)

Do please.
Menlo is a beautiful area. Like you, I believe the bypass will destroy it.

Also, I think the bypass is a colossal waste of money. It will cost over a billion! I don't believe it will have much of an effect on traffic congestion.
Spend 3 million euro and you could treble number of cyclists in Galway. THAT would have a positive effect on traffic congestion and public health.

People cycling around galway wouldn't have much impact on the amount of traffic from the outers coming and going into Galway, which is where most of the traffic comes from.

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

According to the Irish Times today, we're starting ONE road this year, no more. A number of projects will get finished and a good few will continue and FG's Fergus O'Dowd believes we should be ramping up our road building now at this point in time by way of stimulus instead of toning it down because it's better value now to build. The bold Fergus didn't happen to say where we might get the money by any chance?


Where would the money come from though now that we've bailed out Anglo until it failed ?? What do you mean by that? as far as I know we haven't put a penny into Anglo.

.

Oh yeah I must have made a mistake there about Anglo sorry

Auditor #9 wrote:

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

According to the Irish Times today, we're starting ONE road this year, no more. A number of projects will get finished and a good few will continue and FG's Fergus O'Dowd believes we should be ramping up our road building now at this point in time by way of stimulus instead of toning it down because it's better value now to build. The bold Fergus didn't happen to say where we might get the money by any chance?


Where would the money come from though now that we've bailed out Anglo until it failed ?? What do you mean by that? as far as I know we haven't put a penny into Anglo.

.

Oh yeah I must have made a mistake there about Anglo sorry

You make a lot of those mistakes, don't ya?, you know the kind that perpetuates the nonsense & misunderstanding.

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

According to the Irish Times today, we're starting ONE road this year, no more. A number of projects will get finished and a good few will continue and FG's Fergus O'Dowd believes we should be ramping up our road building now at this point in time by way of stimulus instead of toning it down because it's better value now to build. The bold Fergus didn't happen to say where we might get the money by any chance?


Where would the money come from though now that we've bailed out Anglo until it failed ?? What do you mean by that? as far as I know we haven't put a penny into Anglo.

.

Oh yeah I must have made a mistake there about Anglo sorry

You make a lot of those mistakes, don't ya?, you know the kind that perpetuates the nonsense & misunderstanding.

I make a lot of those mistakes ?? Have you looked at the time of my post on Anglo - perhaps it was around the time that it was mooted that 1.5 billion was about to be spent on Anglo ?

Are you saying the country is spending or has spent so far, nothing on Anglo at all in one shape or form of another just to clear up what I'm understanding or not.

Auditor #9 wrote:

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

According to the Irish Times today, we're starting ONE road this year, no more. A number of projects will get finished and a good few will continue and FG's Fergus O'Dowd believes we should be ramping up our road building now at this point in time by way of stimulus instead of toning it down because it's better value now to build. The bold Fergus didn't happen to say where we might get the money by any chance?


Where would the money come from though now that we've bailed out Anglo until it failed ?? What do you mean by that? as far as I know we haven't put a penny into Anglo.

.

Oh yeah I must have made a mistake there about Anglo sorry

You make a lot of those mistakes, don't ya?, you know the kind that perpetuates the nonsense & misunderstanding.

I make a lot of those mistakes ?? Have you looked at the time of my post on Anglo - perhaps it was around the time that it was mooted that 1.5 billion was about to be spent on Anglo ?

Are you saying the country is spending or has spent so far, nothing on Anglo at all in one shape or form of another just to clear up what I'm understanding or not.

No, I didn't notice the date on your post, I just read "this mornings Times" or something like that, I'm not a Times taker so I wouldn't know.

As far as I am aware we have not given a penny in any form to Anglo.

Has Anglo cost the country money do you think ?

My original post was dated 9 days after the Bill went through in the Dáil to Nationalise Anglo so it has nothing to do with the 1.5 billion.

Auditor #9 wrote:

Has Anglo cost the country money do you think ?

My original post was dated 9 days after the Bill went through in the Dáil to Nationalise Anglo so it has nothing to do with the 1.5 billion.

Marginally, in terms of the interest we pay on new bond funds raised, due to perceived higher risk of default because of the messing around that went on in Anglo, but it is marginal and no money has been spent yet.

tonys wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

Has Anglo cost the country money do you think ?

My original post was dated 9 days after the Bill went through in the Dáil to Nationalise Anglo so it has nothing to do with the 1.5 billion.

Marginally, in terms of the interest we pay on new bond funds raised, due to perceived higher risk of default because of the messing around that went on in Anglo, but it is marginal and no money has been spent yet.

No to mention the other two banks under the Guarantee.

Would you say that we've revised our forecasts for spending on roads etc. based on what we'll potentially have to borrow in the future ?

tonys wrote:

People cycling around galway wouldn't have much impact on the amount of traffic from the outers coming and going into Galway, which is where most of the traffic comes from.

I disagree. A large amount of the peak time traffic in Galway is originating in the city.
I work with about 40 people. About 30 live in the city. Of that, about 6 live within 3km of the office. So that's 15% which are definity within cycling distance, but don't cycle. And a further 60% that are within a 45 minute cycle, which is do-able for the the fit. (I know a few people in Galway who do cycle from home in Knocknacarra to work in Ballybrit.)
BTW, I myself live about 15km from work, but use a combination of train and bicycle.

Many of people I work with also refuse to believe that the postbox is within walking distance.
I've often walked it in under 5 minutes, and they think I'm superman or something.

My point is that
a) You're wrong :p
and b) we need an attitude change towards walking and cycling in this country.

Part of that attitude change has to be for Galway people to realise that Galway is a small place. Its not Bejing or New York. From the centre, one can easily cycle to anywhere.

I'm pro rail and anti roads, generally, but I am really enjoying being able to drive to Dublin in an hour when it used to take two and a half hours. One of those roads to be finished this year in the list Auditor posted will take another twenty minutes off. Less petrol will be used per trip, but will I be tempted to drive it more often?