Motorway Archives - ShaneMcDonald.ie

M9 Motorway from Waterford to Dublin Completed and Open Today

by Shane McDonald | Sep 9, 2010 | In The News

After many years of waiting, Waterford has a Motorway connection to Dublin. The final section of the M9 Motorway will open at 11am this morning between Danesfort and the South Carlow Section around Powerstown. The completed M9 Motorway will strip 20 minutes off the journey time between Dublin and Waterford, bringing the driving time to under two hours.

Web Searches for M9

Over the past few days there has been a huge increase in the searches for M9 and related queries on my website. I have gone into Google Analytics and had a look at what people are searching for – obviously with the SERPs hitting my website & blog.

For a bit of light hearted humour, I have outlined the search results and also the one line responses for each search engine query … obviously people were looking for answers on the M9 opening, so here you are.

Search Query
m9 motorway	Yes, The M9 is completed today.
waterford to dublin motorway	Yes the M9 goes from Waterford to Dublin
opening of the m9 motorway in september 2010	The Opening of the M9 takes place today at 11am
motorway opening kilkenny carlow	see above…
M9 TO OPEN 9TH SEPTEMBER?	Yes, it will
M9 opening September	Yes, 9th September at 11am
motorway kilkenny carlow	Kilkenny to Carlow journey time will be reduced
m9 kclr	The announcement of the opening of the M9 was on KCLR
m9 motorway opening	That’s today!
opening of M9 motorway	Takes place today at 11am – keep up !
m9 motorway opening date	Once more that would be opening today at 11am.

It will be interesting to see if the spike in website traffic will be the same as it was when the M9 Waterford to Danesfort section, or the New Waterford Bridge opened.

M9 Motorway to open on September 9th

by Shane McDonald | Aug 18, 2010 | Ireland

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?) M9 Motorway outside Kilkenny to open on September 9th

M9 Motorway outside Kilkenny to open on September 9th

The completed 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 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?

M9 Motorway Opened… About Time Too

by Shane McDonald | Mar 22, 2010 | In The News, Ireland

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.

M9 Waterford to Danesfort Motorway to Open with a Protest

by Shane McDonald | Mar 21, 2010 | In The News

The M9 Waterford to Danesfort motorway 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.

Less than 20 days to go before new section of M9 opens

by Shane McDonald | Mar 3, 2010 | Ireland

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.

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