29th Jul 2025
After nearly four years of work, which one engineer working on the project described as akin to performing an open-heart surgery, but with the patient not only awake and conscious, but playing tennis, the final link on the Dunkettle Interchange was opened to traffic on the 12th February 2024.
The Dunkettle Interchange is situated on the eastern outskirts of Cork City, and is a junction of three national routes:
- N8 towards Cork City Centre, M8 towards Dublin
- N25 towards Waterford and Rosslare Harbour
- N40 to the South Ring Road, and leading to the N22 towards Tralee, N27 to Cork Airport, N28 to Ringaskiddy Ferry Terminal, and the N71 to West Cork
Before the works started, the Dunkettle Interchange consisted of the East Cork Parkway (N8 citybound – N25 eastbound), over a roundabout from which radiates the M8 towards Dublin, N40 into the tunnel, and slip roads onto and off the aforementioned Parkway. The roundabout was controlled by traffic lights, because in the mid-noughties, it got too busy for normal roundabout right-of-way rules to apply.
It was while these upgrade works were taking place that I decided that when the works were completed, I would turn the interchange, or at least some parts thereof, into my art canvas. By this, I mean going out there after the sun goes down, and taking long exposure images of traffic on parts of the interchange.
As it turned out, it would take a few outings to get images from all the spots that I identified as potential image locations around the interchange, due to the considerable walking distance between the locations.
As shown on the map above, the following are locations I picked out:
- 1 – On the overbridge over the N25, east of the interchange
- 2 – On the mound next to the south dumbbell roundabout
- 3 – On the slip road from the south dumbbell roundabout to the N40, on the bridge over the slip road from the N25 westbound to the M8
- 4 – On the slip road from the south dumbbell roundabout to the city centre and the M8, before the diverge
- 5 – On the slip road from the south dumbbell roundabout to the city centre, on the bridge over the slip road from the N25 westbound to the M8
- 6 – On the slip road from the south dumbbell roundabout to the city centre, on the bridge over the slip road from the N25 westbound and the N40
- 7 – On the East Cork Parkway, over the east underpass
- 8 – On the East Cork Parkway, over the west underpass
After a nearly 15 minute walk from where I parked the car, I arrived at location 1 on the map.
A few things became clear. The road lighting uses light fittings having LED lamps, so the roadway is well lit up, and I would need to take this into account when choosing my camera settings. And the second thing is that the speed limit on these roads is 60km/h, so it will take a considerable amount of time – about 30 to 50 seconds – for vehicles to go through the sections of the roadway that will be in frame. As a result of this, I found myself setting the aperture down to f/20 or thereabouts, and leaving it at that setting for all my images. And, of course, I had the ISO set to 100.
There are some locations within the interchange that I was reluctant to go – generally any slip road leading to the M8 motorway, or the tunnel, because of course, pedestrians are not allowed on motorways or in tunnels.
The next locations after that were locations 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the map. At each location, I put the camera on the tripod, taking a few long exposure images of traffic from several directions.
After that, I decided to call it a day. On the way back towards the south dumbbell roundabout, a car coming down the slip road, flashed at me. He then stopped briefly after passing me. At that stage, he would have needed to reverse back up the slip road to question me about what I was doing, so I continued walking up towards the roundabout, making my way back to the car.
A week later, I returned to the interchange to get long exposure images of traffic from other locations. I parked in the same place as before, went to Location 1, and took some images, in an attempt to get “better” images at that location than those I got during the previous visit.
Next location was a small mound next to the south dumbbell roundabout (Location 2). This location was just over a metre higher than the overbridge, so I was expecting to get some images with somewhat more of a vantage point. As it turned out, the extra metre in elevation was not really significant because it was still about 600m from the two underpasses passing under the N8/N25 dual carriageway.
I then walked from there, down the slip road to the East Cork Parkway, heading towards the city, until I reached Location 7. At the end of the slip road, I vaulted over the guard rail, and walked along it, until I reached a spot where I could set up my tripod, to get images of traffic between the motorway and the tunnel, as well as traffic heading to the tunnel from the N25 westbound.
My final location in the photoshoot was Location 8. Once again I hopped over the guardrail, set up my tripod to get a few images of the traffic coming out of the tunnel, and that heading for the M8.
After calling it a day, I decided to head towards the Dunkettle Roundabout (personally I think it should be called the Glanmire Roundabout, because one of the roads from it is the old N8 going through Glanmire), from where I crossed the dual carriageway, and then walked along a greenway running alongside the slip road to the M8, eventually leading back to the spot where I parked the car.
During the evenings I was out there, a part of me had a feeling that there will be at least one motorist who will see me with my camera and tripod, and decide to be a do-gooder, and get onto the gardai (police) to report someone “acting suspiciously” with a camera and tripod on the Dunkettle Interchange. As it turned out, that didn’t happen – being approached by the gardai, either while taking the pictures, or while making my way to the car after finishing up.
I think I should conclude this blog post with a note on safety. On all the spots where I took photos, I was positioned on a footpath or, if there was no footpath, well off the roadway (i.e. part of the road that the traffic normally runs on), and where practicable, positioning myself so that there is a guardrail between me and traffic. As I said earlier in the blog, I was reluctant to go onto any slip roads leading to the M8 motorway, or into the tunnel. To conclude, you can take photos, but you shouldn’t put yourself in danger by doing so.
