NEWS

On Friday the 10th of February, a new access route will open to the N25 Eastbound from Glanmire, Glounthaune and Little Island.

Link I will give access from the the Bury's Bridge Roundabout (L3004 & L2998) and the R623 Roundabout via the new northern roundabout as highlighted below.

Click on the image below to access further explanatory images of the new route.

The Tunnel Management Building slip road, to the R623 (shown coloured red in the layout plan below), off the N40 southbound at the Dunkettle Interchange will close permanently at 10:00am on Thursday 24th November 2022.

Click on the image below to find the alternative routes to the R623 and Little Island from the N40 Northbound, the M8 Southbound and the N8 Eastbound.

For N25 Westbound traffic, the route into Little Island will continue to be via Junction 2, the Little Island Interchange.

On Sunday 20th November as part of the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade;

• A new one-way route for traffic heading north through the Jack Lynch Tunnel and wishing to access either Little Island or the N25 Eastbound will open. This represents a significant change in alignment and motorists are advised to utilise the left-hand lane of the Jack Lynch Tunnel in order to access the new route (Link A highlighted below).

• Opening of Link A will trigger the immediate closure of the N25 Eastbound merge from the Interchange Roundabout (highlighted in orange below).

• A new one-way route will provide a free-flow Link for southbound traffic on the M8 wishing to head east on the N25 or wishing to access Little Island (Link E highlighted below).

• Traffic utilising Link E will merge with Link A traffic and will then have the option of merging onto the N25 Eastbound or proceeding via a new one-way route to the Northern Roundabout of the new Eastern Interchange, in order to access Little Island – Link G (highlighted below) will facilitate Link A-E traffic wishing to access Little Island.

The new north-south route over the N25 incorporates dedicated facilities for both Active and Public Transport consisting of a northbound bus lane south of the N25, and a segregated two-way cycle/pedestrian path, incorporating a new bridge over the railway.

This new section will result in 2.5 kilometres of continuous Active Travel Route delivered as part of the Interchange Upgrade, (highlighted in yellow on the image below).

Following on immediately from the opening of the new route over the N25 on the 24th of October, the “Ibis slip road” onto the M8 from the Dunkettle local road network will close.

This will facilitate the completion of the outstanding works on Link E (the new free flow slip road from the M8 to the N25 eastbound). The M8 southbound will then be restored to 2 lanes during November 2022 - exact date will be confirmed in advance

Traffic which previously used the Ibis Slip-road will be diverted over the N25 via the new bridge and along the R623 Regional Road as far as the Dunkettle Interchange Roundabout – see diversion route hereunder. This is an interim arrangement and will be replaced by further road link openings over the coming period.

On Monday 24th October, as part of the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade;

• A new one-way road link will open providing a direct route for outbound traffic heading east on the N8 from Cork City to connect to the L3004 ‘Glanmire to Glounthaune’ Local Road (Link T highlighted below).

• A new two-way road will open at the same time, immediately to the east of the existing Dunkettle Interchange, crossing over the N25 via a new bridge and linking the L3004 ‘Glanmire to Glounthaune’ Local Road to the R623 Regional Road on Little Island. This route also incorporates a two-way segregated cycle and pedestrian path (Link H+Q highlighted below).

• Taken together, the new road links will provide better local connections, reduce traffic volumes on the existing Dunkettle and Little Island Interchanges, and improve access to the west side of Little Island.

Click on the image below to access further explanatory images of the new routes.

Traffic was directed over the new Structure ST08 at midday today as planned. The new layout is working well so far but motorists are again reminded to allow extra time for their journey if using the M8 southbound during the AM peak from tomorrow Monday 31st January 2022. The AM peak for Monday 31st January 2022 will be monitored closely with a view to ensuring that any additional delays are minimised. We intend to issue a further brief update at midday tomorrow Monday 31st January.  

Further to the annoucement below on January 25th 2022, the Ibis slip-road from the Glounthaune-Glanmire Road onto the M8 Southbound has closed as scheduled this morning, and will reopen on February 6th, as part of works to open a new bridge on the Interchange Upgrade over the upcoming weekend. The M8 Southbound lane closure is also now in place from approximately 1.5 kilometres prior to the Interchange. Please take care on approach and expect queues at peak times.

With the progression of the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade Scheme works, the immediate off-slip for Bury’s bridge heading Eastbound on the N25 will be closed for one year. This road closure is to facilitate the works that are incorporated in constructing a new 81m triple span underbridge that will cross the N25. This closure will be in place from the 29^th March 2021 until the early months of 2022. Diversions will be in place where traffic will be redirected along the N25 heading Eastbound and diverge at the Little Island off ramp. The L2998 will remain fully open during this period following the Phase 1 upgrade works.

Four of our Engineers from the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade team, Jim McCarthy, Denise McCarthy, Michael Owens and Cathal O’ Connor, were delighted to support Engineers Week Ireland this week. The engineering team was ably assisted by our intern, Aisling McCarthy.

Organised by Engineers Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, Engineers Week celebrates engineering across Ireland. Everybody is invited to get involved and inspire young people around the country to consider a career in engineering.

The team got involved this year by presenting to both primary and secondary schools located near the project works. The following schools were visited by the team;

• 04/03/19 - Glanmire Community College (180 students).
• 05/03/19 - Scoil Inse Rátha, Little Island (60 students).
• 06/03/19 - Scoil Náisiúnta a Chroí Naofa, Glounthaune (250 students).

The team spoke about their individual career paths, gave examples of the projects that they have worked on and completed, various types of engineering and how it is used in every day life, as well as showing the proposed plans for the Dunkettle Interchange upgrade scheme and how it will be beneficial in the future. Our aim was to encourage and to empower the students to follow their own career journeys within engineering and the overall response could not have been any better.

Presenting to almost 500 students this week, they greatly appreciated the insights gained from the personal career pathways to date from the team. We recieved high levels of engagement and interaction from the students throughout these school visits by hosting question and answer sessions after each presentation as well as providing supplies to carry out engineering activities.

Some of the activities carried out included the demonstration of surveying equipment, creating structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows with 5th and 6th class students as well as the demonstration of the Law of the Lever using a toy crane. The team brought hard hats, goggles and overalls for the students to try on.

The team also provided each school with branded pens, rulers, as well as participation certificates for each student. John Sisk & Sons kindly donated ‘curiosity boxes’ for all of the primary schools involved.  

Four of our Engineers from the Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade team, Jim McCarthy, Denise McCarthy, Michael Owens and Cathal O’ Connor, were delighted to support Engineers Week Ireland this week. The engineering team was ably assisted by our intern, Aisling McCarthy.

Organised by Engineers Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, Engineers Week celebrates engineering across Ireland. Everybody is invited to get involved and inspire young people around the country to consider a career in engineering.

The team got involved this year by presenting to both primary and secondary schools located near the project works. The following schools were visited by the team;

• 04/03/19 - Glanmire Community College (180 students).
• 05/03/19 - Scoil Inse Rátha, Little Island (60 students).
• 06/03/19 - Scoil Náisiúnta a Chroí Naofa, Glounthaune (250 students).

The team spoke about their individual career paths, gave examples of the projects that they have worked on and completed, various types of engineering and how it is used in every day life, as well as showing the proposed plans for the Dunkettle Interchange upgrade scheme and how it will be beneficial in the future. Our aim was to encourage and to empower the students to follow their own career journeys within engineering and the overall response could not have been any better.

Presenting to almost 500 students this week, they greatly appreciated the insights gained from the personal career pathways to date from the team. We recieved high levels of engagement and interaction from the students throughout these school visits by hosting question and answer sessions after each presentation as well as providing supplies to carry out engineering activities.

Some of the activities carried out included the demonstration of surveying equipment, creating structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows with 5th and 6th class students as well as the demonstration of the Law of the Lever using a toy crane. The team brought hard hats, goggles and overalls for the students to try on.

The team also provided each school with branded pens, rulers, as well as participation certificates for each student. John Sisk & Sons kindly donated ‘curiosity boxes’ for all of the primary schools involved.