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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.

With less than 20 days to go before the Waterford side of the M9 opens, the project itself is to be completed OVER 1 YEAR LATE. This has to be emphasised because you can be guaranteed that some County Councillor or TD will utter the words “The project was delivered on-time” … well it wasn’t. If you travel from Kilkenny to Waterford you will see signs at Ballyhale and Lukeswell saying “Opening Spring 2009″ ; well that date has passed and still the road is not open.

The road is apparently finished except that a “safety audit” has to be completed, which may involve a TD, a scissors, a camera and a ribbon, no-one is quite sure. I just think they should  “Open the Feckin’ Road !!”

So don’t be fooled – if somebody says the M9 Waterford section was opened ontime – this is a lie.

Since I put up the posts about the Waterford bypass and the New River Suir Bridge there has been huge traffic on the website. On Monday, I had over 2,200 visitors on the site, the day the new bridge opened, all looking for information or pictures of the event.

In response to emails and blog comments I got, here is some extra information.

Naming of the bridge - Apparently the official unofficial name of the bridge is the River Suir Bridge. Some people are saying that the bridge will not have a name, others are saying we should call the bridge something more imaginative. Kilkenny residents are calling the bridge “The Cat Flap”

Tolls – Toll charges as of Monday 19th October 2009 are as follows;
Motor Cycles €1.00, Motor Cars €1.90, Buses or Coaches €3.40, Goods Vehicles with a design gross weight not exceeding 3,500 kilograms €3.40, Goods Vehicles with design gross weight exceeding 3,500 kgs & having 2 or 3 axles €4.80, Goods Vehicles with design gross weight exceeding 3,500 kgs & 4 or more axles €6.10.

Route – The N25 Waterford City Bypass is 24km in length. The New N25 route stretches from Kilmeaden in Co.Waterford to Slieverue in Co. Kilkenny (if one takes the new bridge). The route will also benefit people who want to go to places like Tramore, so that you can go from Co. Kilkenny, across the new suir bridge and take the first left exit to continue through the Cork Road and on to the Tramore road.

M9 to Dublin – The first phase of the M9 towards Kilkenny should be open before Christmas, this will be ideal for people traveling to places like Thomastown and Kilkenny and they are claiming that you will be able to get to Kilkenny in 30 mins on the new M9.

Bridge Lighting – The lights on the new bridge now switched on at night which makes for a very impressive sight, but the placement of the lights means that some parts of the bridge are lit up while others are not so lit up – might be nice to include the blue style lights which are on Rice Bridge.

As reported in the press and on radio, the long awaited Waterford City N25 Bypass will be officially opened by Minister Martin Cullen on Monday October 19th. The new N25 bypass and landmark cable-stay bridge will open for traffic later on Monday evening, just in time for the rush hour.

The Much debated Open Day

Some of the media had mentioned that the open day for pedestrians was after being cancelled for health and safety reasons but there WILL be an Open day for the public. Members of the public will be able to walk on the iconic new River Suir bridge, Monday afternoon, just before the bridge opens for traffic.

From 1.30pm on Monday afternoon a shuttle bus will pick up people at the Clock Tower on the Quays and bring them out to the new Bridge, giving the people of Waterford a chance to walk across the new bridge. The Buses will run until 4.30pm and this bus service for the open day will be free of charge.

This is a one-off opportunity as there will be no pedestrian access to the bridge once it opens for traffic. This (personally) is a terrible decision, as many of the people who want to walk the bridge will be in work. Why put this public walk on a weekday – will any access be granted to people on Sunday?  Probably not!

I don’t know who makes these decisions but after all the hype, all the anticipation and all the coverage of a public open day …. I won’t be able to do it!

Thanks a Bunch who ever made that decision !!!