Wheres me jumpa

On Thursday 29th May, the Carlow Bypass was officially opened. It ended months of speculation as to when the opening date was with several dates being mentioned. The bypass will form a section of a motorway linking Waterford to Dublin. A badly needed motorway at that.

For myself it means, if Im ever driving to Dublin I wont have to endure Carlow town. On a typical day this knocks 10-15 minutes off the journey to Dublin. However on say a Friday evening it could take up to 30 minutes to get through Carlow.

As I work in Carlow town, I will not be using it on a daily basis. So I decided to take a drive along it today and it looks very impressive. Speed limit is currently 100 kmph, Im not sure if this is how it will remain. Also the speed limits on the demoted regional roads have not yet been updated in terms of signs to 80 kmph.

One thing I did notice is that the bypass means other routes into Carlow have the potential for more traffic. I left the bypass and headed for Carlow Town on the Tullow/Wexford road. This road really needs improving, particular as you come into the town along by Lidl, Closh and past the Tesco /New Oak entrance.

It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the town and also its surrounding areas. With the amount of exits it opens up new potential business locations that were previously remote locations.