IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

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dereer
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IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by dereer »

The preferred corridor for the new N2 Ardee to Border dual carriageway has been published. It will mostly stay close to the current N2 between Ardee and Castleblayney. However, the Clontibret to Monaghan section is significantly further away, bypassing Monaghan with a route close to the current R213 before turning north-west and meeting the current N12 around halfway between Monaghan town and the border. The N2 is then proposed to continue north-west until near Emyvale, which it bypasses to the west. It will then head back to the east and eventually meet the current N2 near Auchnacloy.

Links:
Project website: https://n2monaghanlouth.ie/
Ardee - Castleblayney map: https://dsgis.jacobs.com/apps/n2monagha ... MBINED.pdf
Clontibret to Border map: https://dsgis.jacobs.com/apps/n2monagha ... MBINED.pdf
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by M50Jct15 »

Any projected start/finish dates for these projects?

Also...are there any plans for the road from the end of the M2 (Ashbourne) to Ardee?
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by spacetweek »

No and No!
With Covid budgets, it's hard to know what roads will be built beyond the next 12-18 months, and the N2 is years away.
We'd like to see some progress in NI on the A5 too so we know there'll be something to connect to.
As for Ashbourne-Ardee, it is in the "after 2027" bucket.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by c2R »

it's a bit odd that it doesn't appear to include an Ardee bypass or an upgrade to the N33 to dual carriageway as well as part of the scheme...
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

spacetweek wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 14:57 No and No!
With Covid budgets, it's hard to know what roads will be built beyond the next 12-18 months, and the N2 is years away.
We'd like to see some progress in NI on the A5 too so we know there'll be something to connect to.
As for Ashbourne-Ardee, it is in the "after 2027" bucket.
Not quite, there is a some planning work on the southern part of this section
https://www.fingal.ie/sites/default/fil ... re_pc1.pdf
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by Owain »

c2R wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 15:51 it's a bit odd that it doesn't appear to include an Ardee bypass or an upgrade to the N33 to dual carriageway as well as part of the scheme...
While it might seem counterintuitive to have a dual-carriageway connected to a motorway by a short S2W link road, there were times that I drove the whole length of the N33 and didn't see a single other vehicle! If and when it comes to it, I doubt it would be very difficult to dual that road.

The N2 isn't very busy either, but dualling is a good idea: the roundabouts; the small towns and villages; the S2+1 sections with a piece of wire down the middle keeping you stuck behind a tractor; the Garda car sitting in the darkness after midnight sporting a radar gun - dualling will get rid of all of those...
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

Owain wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 21:57 the Garda car sitting in the darkness after midnight sporting a radar gun - dualling will get rid of all of those...
No, they'll still be there, they'll just have electric cars.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by c2R »

Owain wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 21:57
c2R wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 15:51 it's a bit odd that it doesn't appear to include an Ardee bypass or an upgrade to the N33 to dual carriageway as well as part of the scheme...
While it might seem counterintuitive to have a dual-carriageway connected to a motorway by a short S2W link road, there were times that I drove the whole length of the N33 and didn't see a single other vehicle! If and when it comes to it, I doubt it would be very difficult to dual that road.

The N2 isn't very busy either, but dualling is a good idea: the roundabouts; the small towns and villages; the S2+1 sections with a piece of wire down the middle keeping you stuck behind a tractor; the Garda car sitting in the darkness after midnight sporting a radar gun - dualling will get rid of all of those...
Admittedly the N33 is always tangental to my use, as is the entire N2 improvement to be fair. I agree that probably it's not necessaray...and the money could be better spent on signage changes so that traffic to Derry from Dublin was signed via the M1 in the first instance... but, and this is the big question... why spend the money on the N2 at all, when it would be better spent on other projects elsewhere on the island, such as bypassing Dublin even further to the west, or improving capacity on the M8 with a new connection from there to Enniscorthy to bypass the M11...
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

c2R wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2020 00:36
Owain wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 21:57
c2R wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 15:51 it's a bit odd that it doesn't appear to include an Ardee bypass or an upgrade to the N33 to dual carriageway as well as part of the scheme...
While it might seem counterintuitive to have a dual-carriageway connected to a motorway by a short S2W link road, there were times that I drove the whole length of the N33 and didn't see a single other vehicle! If and when it comes to it, I doubt it would be very difficult to dual that road.

The N2 isn't very busy either, but dualling is a good idea: the roundabouts; the small towns and villages; the S2+1 sections with a piece of wire down the middle keeping you stuck behind a tractor; the Garda car sitting in the darkness after midnight sporting a radar gun - dualling will get rid of all of those...
Admittedly the N33 is always tangental to my use, as is the entire N2 improvement to be fair. I agree that probably it's not necessaray...and the money could be better spent on signage changes so that traffic to Derry from Dublin was signed via the M1 in the first instance... but, and this is the big question... why spend the money on the N2 at all, when it would be better spent on other projects elsewhere on the island, such as bypassing Dublin even further to the west, or improving capacity on the M8 with a new connection from there to Enniscorthy to bypass the M11...
You need to maintain good connectivity to all corners, and the section of the N2 from Monaghan to Emyvale is unacceptable by modern standards. Traffic volume on the N2 are as high as the M9 or M11 and not all that much less than sections of the M8, and busier than the 2+2 N4 at Dromod.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by Owain »

bothar wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2020 01:10
c2R wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2020 00:36
Owain wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 21:57

While it might seem counterintuitive to have a dual-carriageway connected to a motorway by a short S2W link road, there were times that I drove the whole length of the N33 and didn't see a single other vehicle! If and when it comes to it, I doubt it would be very difficult to dual that road.

The N2 isn't very busy either, but dualling is a good idea: the roundabouts; the small towns and villages; the S2+1 sections with a piece of wire down the middle keeping you stuck behind a tractor; the Garda car sitting in the darkness after midnight sporting a radar gun - dualling will get rid of all of those...
Admittedly the N33 is always tangental to my use, as is the entire N2 improvement to be fair. I agree that probably it's not necessaray...and the money could be better spent on signage changes so that traffic to Derry from Dublin was signed via the M1 in the first instance... but, and this is the big question... why spend the money on the N2 at all, when it would be better spent on other projects elsewhere on the island, such as bypassing Dublin even further to the west, or improving capacity on the M8 with a new connection from there to Enniscorthy to bypass the M11...
You need to maintain good connectivity to all corners, and the section of the N2 from Monaghan to Emyvale is unacceptable by modern standards. Traffic volume on the N2 are as high as the M9 or M11 and not all that much less than sections of the M8, and busier than the 2+2 N4 at Dromod.
I enjoyed the N2 tremendously (when the Gardaí weren't intervening), but I would certainly have appreciated a dualled route more than the present road. It's a long way from Donegal to Dublin, so the fact that the dualling will end at/near the border won't prevent it from being a considerable improvement for traffic heading to the capital from the whole of the North West.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

A "Preferred Route Corridor" has been produced for Ardee- Castleblayney. This is essentially a decision to just use the existing route with some small deviations and widen it to 2+2 type D2. This is not surprising as most of this route, especially in Co. Monaghan was a new cut made at some time in the last 40 years and the Carrickmacross bypass has grade separated junctions and other flyovers.

The route corridor for Clontibret-border section is almost all new apart from dualling the straight S3 section north of Clontibret. Construction for this is planned for 2023, but more likely 2024.

This would leave 14Km of 2+1 in the Castleblayney bypass in the middle of these two proposals. This could have an extra lane added, and some junction improvements, which it should have had all along.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

In the Dáil, the Minister stated that the Ardee-Castleblayney section, mostly online widening, would start in 2025. The section to the border, which involves more offline work, would start in 2028. The easy going approach to the latter may reflect the hope that there will be an A5 to connect to by then.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

Detailed map of the Ardee-Castleblayney upgrade to 2+2. This is online for the most part with only a few short deviations. Apart from widening the junctions are improved with flyovers and others turned into LILOs.
https://jacobs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/web ... f5a9640c8c
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by Truvelo »

There's no acceleration lanes at the GSJs forcing traffic to join from a standstill.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by dereer »

Truvelo wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 12:49 There's no acceleration lanes at the GSJs forcing traffic to join from a standstill.
I feel this is a very major thing for the designers to miss. I have had to slow to a crawl at junctions or suddenly brake in response to some eejit pulling out without properly looking for oncoming traffic countless times on the existing N2 Castleblayney dual carriageway. At least this one is planned to be a 2+2, meaning you can always overtake them!
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

dereer wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 13:53
Truvelo wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 12:49 There's no acceleration lanes at the GSJs forcing traffic to join from a standstill.
I feel this is a very major thing for the designers to miss. I have had to slow to a crawl at junctions or suddenly brake in response to some eejit pulling out without properly looking for oncoming traffic countless times on the existing N2 Castleblayney dual carriageway. At least this one is planned to be a 2+2, meaning you can always overtake them!
Of course the AADT is 11,000, in Britain there would be probably not be a GSJ or acceleration lane.
As traffic is not very heavy then in most cases main road traffic can carry on by overtaking.

The 2+1 Castleblayney bypass was not well designed, for instance here at the Ballybay road R183 junction where the lack of a deceleration lane on a section with only one lane on that side is poor. Note the Swedish roads this design was based on are more generous with their design.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by wallmeerkat »

Certainly from the North I would've used it about 20 years ago via Dundalk to Ardee when the N1/M1 was piecemeal getting finished upgraded, but these days the full M1 is more convenient.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

Monaghan County Council will receive €2.3 million from the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). for studies to support the upgrade of the N2 National Primary Road, this is the offline improvement of the northern section from Clontibret to the border. This is useful as the Irish transport minister has been slowing dowh this project and now the Irish Dept of Transport has to match this funding. This may allow the project proceed to planning in late 2024.
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Re: IRL: N2 Ardee to Border

Post by bothar »

Ground investigation tender issued. Which keeps things moving along
https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/pr ... Id=2883161
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