east of
Mitchelstown. . , through
County Tipperary. between Cashel and Cahir, with the
Knockmealdown Mountains visible in the background. where it diverges from the M7, just days before the scheme opened to traffic on 28 May 2010. The M8 was constructed in eight stages between 1985 and 2010. Some of the sections which now form part of the M8 were initially opened as dual-carriageway and previously formed part of the N8, while other sections were opened as motorway. In chronological order, the various sections opened as follows (status on opening in brackets): •
Glanmire Bypass (April 1992, as dual carriageway) – junctions 19 to 18; •
Watergrasshill-Glanmire (with Watergrasshill Bypass) (September 2003), as
HQDC – junctions 17 to 18; •
Cashel Bypass (October 2004, as standard dual carriageway) – junctions 7 to 9; •
Fermoy-Watergrasshill (with Fermoy Bypass) (October 2006, as motorway) – junction 14 to 17; •
Cashel-Mitchelstown (July 2008, as HQDC) – junctions 9 to 12; •
Cashel-Cullahill (December 2008, as motorway) – junctions 7 to 4; •
Mitchelstown-Fermoy (May 2009, as motorway) – junctions 12 to 14; •
Cullahill-Portlaoise (May 2010, as motorway) – junctions 4 to 1.
Glanmire Bypass The Glanmire Bypass opened as a dual carriageway on 3 April 1992, after a construction period of almost seven years, representing the first major improvement made to the Cork to Portlaoise corridor. Called for in the 'Land Use and Transportation Study' (LUTS) Report of 1976, the bypass replaced the
older road through Glanmire village and was envisaged as part of broader strategic roads upgrade to service an expanding Cork City. Other components of this plan, such as the
N40 South Ring Road and the
Jack Lynch Tunnel, were substantially delivered and operational by 1999. The Glanmire Bypass was built by multiple contractors at a cost of 45 million
punts. It was reclassified as a motorway in July 2009 and was officially incorporated into the rest of the M8 route on 28 August 2009.
Watergrasshill Bypass The Watergrasshill Bypass was the second section of grade separated dual carriageway to open on the Cork-Portlaoise route. It opened on 12 September 2003, at a cost of €144 million. Built by Mowlem and Bowen in partnership, the seven kilometre (5 mile) route replaced a winding and narrow section of the older N8 (now the
R639) through Watergrasshill and Sallybrook villages. The Watergrasshill Bypass was the cause of some controversy in October 2006 when its northern junction was incorporated into the tolled 'Fermoy Bypass' section of the M8, as, previously, it had been untolled. Originally classified as a standard
dual carriageway section of the then
N8, the scheme was officially redesignated a motorway by
Statutory Instrument on 17 July 2008. This change came into effect on 24 September in the same year and blue motorway signage replaced the green signage erected in 2004. In addition, the speed limit was increased to 120 km/h. The Cashel bypass opened initially with at-grade roundabouts at both ends. When the Cashel to Mitchelstown scheme opened in July 2008, the southern end of the bypass was fused with the northern end of that scheme by removing the at-grade roundabout and replacing it with a new extended
dumbbell interchange. The same happened at its northern end when the Cashel to Cullahill project was built. The Cashel Bypass was built by Roadbridge Ltd.
Fermoy Bypass Construction of this tolled scheme started in June 2004 and was completed on 2 October 2006. This was the first stretch of actual M8 to open in the country (the Cashel bypass opened as standard DC in 2004 before its motorway redesignation in mid-2008). The section was built by Direct Route, who continue to operate and maintain it.
Cashel-Mitchelstown Construction of this length of motorway started in May 2006. It was fully opened with a 100 km/h speed limit on 25 July 2008, some 10 months ahead of schedule. Twelve kilometres (7 miles) of the scheme had already opened nine months prior to this. This previously opened stretch, located between
Cahir and
Cashel, runs between junctions 9 and 10, and opened as a
High Quality Dual Carriageway (HQDC) section of the then N8 with green signage. The green signage was replaced with blue motorway signage in September 2008 in preparation for the motorway redesignation changeover, which came into effect on 24th of that month. The scheme was built by Roadbridge Sisk JV.
Cashel-Cullahill Construction of this stretch started in October 2006 and was opened to traffic on 8 December 2008, some seven months ahead of the target completion date. Like four of the other M8 schemes, the section was originally to open as HQDC with green signage and a 100 km/h speed limit. However, due to its redesignation as motorway in September 2008 it opened with full motorway restrictions, appropriate blue signage and other standard motorway features (emergency telephones, etc.). The scheme was built by Roadbridge Sisk JV at a cost of €434 million.
Mitchelstown-Fermoy Construction of this scheme started in December 2007. The section opened to traffic on 25 May 2009, some nine months ahead of the original target completion date. Like the Cashel-Cullahill project, the Fermoy-Mitchelstown scheme was redesignated a motorway during its construction, having originally been envisaged as a HQDC. It was built by Roadbridge Ltd. at a cost of €174 million.
Cullahill-Portlaoise This section of the M8 was the penultimate part of the motorway to enter the construction phase, in June 2007. At 4pm on 28 May 2010 it was the final section of the Dublin-Cork interurban route to open. The contractor building the scheme was Portlaoise Joint Venture (PJV), which was acquired by BAM before the project's completion. The scheme drew national attention during the preliminary archaeological investigations in January 2006 when over 500 human skeletons from the seventh century were discovered at the townland of Parknahown just south of
Cullahill. A proposed local access junction, which would have been numbered '2' on the M8's junction numbering scheme, was eliminated from the final design by the Irish planning board to enable construction of full movement access between the M8 and the M7 at a future date if required. The road is under the management of Midlink M7/M8 Ltd, and cost €491 million to construct. ==Junctions==