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The completed M9 motorway linking Danesfort Kilkenny to the Carlow section will officially open on September 9th at 11am. Speaking on KCLR Radio earlier today, Joe Gannon stated that the official opening ceremony of the new M9 motorway would take place at 11am on the 9th of September. (09/09 for the opening of the M9 … coincidence?)

The completed M9 motorway will link Waterford to Dublin with non stop motorway and the journey time should be approx 1h 30 mins between the two cities with the previous journey time usually 2 hours 35 minutes. Currently traffic has to exit at Danesfort, continue via Kilkenny (or via Knocktopher / Thomastown route) to the Carlow section and resuming on the M9 just outside Carlow. The announcement of the official M9 motorway comes as a welcome relief to travellers to Dublin from the South East as well as the people of Kilkenny (and Thomastown/Gowran) who have seen increased traffic as a result of the diversions.

Roll on the 9th September … the only thing not on the M9 through are servcie stations or Motorway services, I wonder when these will be added?

With the recession it seems that certain businesses are reducing levels of service in order to save costs.

The boom is over and prices have fallen, but have levels of service also been reduced – getting poor service is something which is creeping in here in there.

From Restaurants and Bars to Travel Services and the general Service industry. I have seen many examples in the past year where I feel that service just was not up to scratch … not going to name any places (just yet) , but I’m just wondering if I’m alone. In one establishment, I held out my hand to get change and while looking me in the eye, the girl at the till plonked the coins onto the counter, another incident involved going to a till and the cashier just saying “20″ … not “Thats €20 please”, just “20″ – no please and when I was finished, no thank you.
Small things but I haven’t returned there!

One thing that amuses me is the placement of these “Drive on the Left” signs in Ireland. I appreciate that we have many visitors from continental Europe and therefore the signs are necessary – lets face it they drive on the other side, so the signs are a handy reminder to Drive on the Left!

The one thing I have a problem with is the placement of these signs.
The key areas these signs should be placed are
(1) All International Airports
and
(2) All Major Ferry Ports .

The sign you see here was about 10 miles inland and 95 miles from the nearest airport or ferry terminal.

If anyone could make it 95 miles on the wrong side of the road – I think they deserve to continue on the right hand side.

Picture it, they leave Dublin airport in a car, on the wrong side of the road, cars blowing, swerving and crashing into ditches, they continue for 95 miles and THEN they see a sign saying “Drive on the Left” … who decides where to put these signs???
Stupid!!

The M9 Motorway opened today from Danesfort to Waterford and on my journey from Thomastown to Waterford City I saved 12 minutes on the journey which will save me 2 hours a week going to work.

The road was a longer route than the normal N9 via Mullinvat but doing 120kph and also not having to put up with trucks, tractors and 60kph Sunday Drivers was a blessing.

RTE Covered the opening today : http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0322/m9.html

The next section from Danesfort to Co. Carlow will open later in the year to complete the motorway, bypassing Thomastown, Gowran, Dungarvan, Paulstown and Leighlinbridge.

The M9 motorway between Waterford and Danesfort will open at 11am tomorrow morning (Monday 21st March) but will be overshadowed by protests against the limiting of the service of the search and rescue helicopter based in Waterford to operating in daylight hours. It is hoped that traffic will be flowing by 2pm, and the M9 will bypass Mullinavat, Ballyhale, Stoneyford and Knocktopher – taking up to 25 minutes off the average journey from Kilkenny.

The protests mentioned above relate to the helicopter which is based at Waterford Airport and provides search & rescue cover to the Irish Sea and Atlantic Coasts around Waterford, Wexford and beyond. If somebody is in difficulty at 9:30pm just off Tramore Bay, they will have to wait 40 minutes for a helicopter to come from Shannon instead of waiting 2 minutes for one from Waterford Airport.

A Facebook Group called “Save 24hr Search & Rescue Helicopter Cover in South-East” is now available to Join – Click here to Join the Facebook Group

It will be interesting to see what Noel Dempsey has to say on the visit the South East – the area where the essential helicopter service is based. Some text from the facebook groups page says that the Irish Government saved a measly €1m euro by not having a 24 hour service – so lives lost are basically ok as long as we can have savings and two days after making this decision they spent the equivalent money traveling around the world in the Government Jet for St.Patricks Day and filling their stomachs.

There is an on-line petition which you can sign to Save the South-Easts 24hr Search & Rescue Helicopter Cover : http://www.petitiononline.com/sar01/

It is good to see our motorway link coming to the south-east at last but it is the government giving with one hand and taking away with the other. There are plenty of other things they could save money on … but a life saving service should not be one of them.