M8 motorway (Ireland)
M8 motorway | |
---|---|
Mótarbhealach M8 | |
Route information | |
Part of | |
Length | 147 km (91 mi) |
Existed | 1992–present |
History | Constructed 1985–2010 |
Major junctions | |
From | Dunkettle interchange Cork |
Location | |
Country | Ireland |
Primary destinations | Dublin, Cork, Fermoy, Thurles, Cashel |
Highway system | |
The M8 motorway (
Route
The route starts in the townland of Aghaboe, County Laois, at a motorway-to-motorway interchange with the
.Between its junction with the M7 and Dunkettle, the M8 passes through pasture in County Laois, and over
History
The M8 was constructed in eight stages between 1985 and 2010. Some of the sections which now form part of the M8 were initially opened as dual-carriageway and previously formed part of the N8, while other sections were opened as motorway.
In chronological order, the various sections opened as follows (status on opening in brackets):
- Glanmire Bypass (April 1992, as dual carriageway) - junctions 19 to 18;
- Watergrasshill-Glanmire (with Watergrasshill Bypass) (September 2003), as HQDC- junctions 17 to 18;
- Cashel Bypass (October 2004, as standard dual carriageway) - junctions 7 to 9;
- Fermoy-Watergrasshill (with Fermoy Bypass) (October 2006, as motorway) - junction 14 to 17;
- Cashel-Mitchelstown (July 2008, as HQDC) - junctions 9 to 12;
- Cashel-Cullahill (December 2008, as motorway) - junctions 7 to 4;
- Mitchelstown-Fermoy (May 2009, as motorway) - junctions 12 to 14;
- Cullahill-Portlaoise (May 2010, as motorway) - junctions 4 to 1.
Glanmire Bypass
The Glanmire Bypass opened as a 6.3 km dual carriageway on 3 April 1992, after a construction period of almost seven years, representing the first major improvement made to the Cork to Portlaoise corridor. Called for in the 'Land Use and Transportation Study' (LUTS) Report of 1976, the bypass replaced the
Watergrasshill Bypass
The Watergrasshill Bypass was the second section of grade separated dual carriageway to open on the Cork-Portlaoise route. It opened on 12 September 2003, at a cost of €144 million.
Cashel Bypass
Construction of the
Fermoy Bypass
Construction of this 17.5 km tolled scheme started in June 2004 and was completed on 2 October 2006.[12] This was the first stretch of actual M8 to open in the country (the Cashel bypass opened as standard DC in 2004 before its motorway redesignation in mid-2008). The section was built by Direct Route, who continue to operate and maintain it.[13]
Cashel-Mitchelstown
Construction of this 37 km length of motorway started in May 2006.
Cashel-Cullahill
Construction of this 40 km stretch started in October 2006[17] and was opened to traffic on 8 December 2008, some seven months ahead of the target completion date.[18] Like four of the other M8 schemes, the section was originally to open as HQDC with green signage and a 100 km/h limit. However, due to its redesignation as motorway in September 2008 it opened with full motorway restrictions, appropriate blue signage and other standard motorway features (emergency telephones, etc.). The scheme was built by Roadbridge Sisk JV at a cost of €434 million.
Mitchelstown-Fermoy
Construction of this 16 km scheme started in December 2007. The section opened to traffic on 25 May 2009, some nine months ahead of the original target completion date.[19] Like the Cashel-Cullahill project, the Fermoy-Mitchelstown scheme was redesignated a motorway during its construction, having originally been envisaged as a HQDC.[20] It was built by Roadbridge Ltd. at a cost of €174 million.[19][21]
Cullahill-Portlaoise
This section of the M8 was the penultimate part of the motorway to enter the construction phase, in June 2007. At 4pm on 28 May 2010 it was the final section of the Dublin-Cork interurban route to open. The contractor building the scheme was Portlaoise Joint Venture (PJV), which was acquired by BAM before the project's completion. The scheme drew national attention during the preliminary archaeological investigations in January 2006 when over 500 human skeletons from the seventh century were discovered at the townland of Parknahown just south of
Junctions
This section is missing kilometre posts for junctions. |
County | km | mi | Junction | Destinations | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
County Laois | 3 | R 433 – Rathdowney, Abbeyleix, Durrow | Manor Stone Service Station
Continues to join M7. | |||
County Kilkenny | 4 | R 693 – Kilkenny | ||||
County Tipperary | 5 | Twomileborris
|
Northbound entrance and southbound exit only. | |||
6 | N 62 – Thurles, Horse and Jockey, Littleton, Holycross | |||||
7 | R 639 – Cashel, Dundrum | |||||
8 | R 692 – Cashel, Fethard, Clonmel | |||||
9 | N 74 – Tipperary, Cashel, Holycross, Dundrum (northbound)
Tipperary, Cashel, New Inn (southbound) |
|||||
10 | N 24 – Limerick, Waterford, New Inn (northbound)
Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Clonmel (southbound) |
|||||
11 | R 639 – Cahir | |||||
County Cork | 12 | Kilbeheny, Mallow
|
||||
13 | R 639 – Mitchelstown, Limerick, Tipperary (northbound)
Mitchelstown (southbound) |
|||||
14 | R 639 – Fermoy, Kilworth, Dungarvan | Fermoy Service Area | ||||
15 | R 639 – Fermoy, Rathcormac | |||||
16 | R 446 ‒ Rathcormac | Northbound exit and southbound entrance only. | ||||
M8 Fermoy Bypass Toll | ||||||
17 | R 639 – Watergrasshill | |||||
18 | R 639 – Glanmire | |||||
19 | N 25 – Waterford R 623 – Little Island, Cork |
Continues as N8 to Cork city centre. | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
Motorway service areas
The Manor Stone service area at Ballacolla, County Laois opened in 2015.
The EIS for the final service area near Fermoy was published in 2014. This service area opened on 30 March 2018.
Roadside art on M8
Roadside art is funded under the Percentage For Arts Scheme where 1% of the scheme budget is allocated to roadside art with a cap of €63,000. The local authorities decide on a theme and are responsible for commissioning the work, usually by open competition.[29] There are several examples along the M8.
- Na hArd Rithe. On the Cashel bypass stand metal figures representing the High Kings of Munster. Artist Orla de Bri created (2004) these figures of gold, bronze, steel and cement.
Future
In planning
N40 North Ring Road link-up
Transport Infrastructure Ireland published a proposal to link the M8 at junction 18 with the proposed N40 'North Ring Road' for Cork city in late 2008. The proposed junction, which would be free-flow in both directions, would effectively convert the M8 between junctions 18 and 19 into one segment of the envisaged 360-degree ring road around inner Cork City.[30]
See also
- Roads in Ireland
- Motorways in the Republic of Ireland
- National primary road
- National secondary road
- Trunk Roads in Ireland
- History of roads in Ireland
- National Development Plan
- Transport 21
References
- ^ "Transport 21 - M/N8 Dublin to Cork". Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
- ^ "Final section of Dublin to Cork motorway opens". rte.ie. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "NRA - Layout 6" (PDF). nra.ie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
- ^ a b "Thousands avoiding Fermoy by-pass". rte.ie. 4 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ "Traffic Counter Data - National Roads Authority". Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
- ^ Greater Cork Area Land Use/Transportation Study. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the MVA Consultancy, and LUTS Team. Cork 1976
- Evening Echo, 22 May 2009, p. 10.
- ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ O'Donnell, 'How the M8 links our past and our future'
- Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 March 2009.
- ^ "2006 - National Roads Authority". Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
- ^ "Direct Route". www.directroute.ie. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
- ^ "Department of Transport: 2006". Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Archived 19 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Press Releases - National Roads Authority". Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
- ^ "N8 Cashel Mitchelstown - National Roads Authority". Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
- ^ "Transport 21 - Press Releases - Cullen turns sod on Cullahill to Cashel 40km Road Project". Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
- ^ http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1208/6news_av.html?2460136,null,230 [dead link]
- ^ from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Proposed Motorway Declarations" (PDF). Department of Transport. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2011.
- ^ "Early opening for major section of M8 Dublin to Cork route" (Press release). National Roads Authority. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
- ^ "NRA slammed for site 'desecration'". rte.ie. 11 January 2006. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
- ^ "ER2028: ()". www.pleanala.ie. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012.
- ^ "MidLink M7/M8 Toll Plaza - Homepage". www.midlink.ie. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- ^ "Breakfast Roll Man gets grub guarantee - Independent.ie". independent.ie. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ^ "NRA p.25" (PDF). nra.ie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ^ "EIS Publications - National Roads Authority". Archived from the original on 31 October 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
- ^ Irish Independent, 31 August 2010
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Cork Roads Design Office | N22 - Northern Ring Road - Publications". Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009.