Bus Lane closed on the N4 at Lucan

cullenswood

Anyone know why the bus lane is closed here and how long it will be closed for?

Seth Brundle

I looked at sdcc.ie but didn't see anything on it about the closure.
Is it really that big an issue because the bus lane ends a short bit beyond it anyway.

coward

bus usually doesn't bother getting back into the flow of traffic.
was about 5 minutes extra at that point this morning.

cullenswood

Yeah I'm hoping they didn't close it off because the bus doesn't bother going back into the flow of traffic. They should be making more bus lanes, not cutting them off. I know it is only 5 mins but its a pain

Seth Brundle

The bus can't rejoin the traffic until it is beyond Woodies because you have traffic merging from Lucan. The earliest suitable point for the bus to move back into the bus lane is just prior to the entrance of the golf club, which from what i see (sitting all cosy in my car) is what they do so I don't understand both of your points about the bus not bothering going back into the flow of traffic.

cullenswood

kbannon wrote:

The bus can't rejoin the traffic until it is beyond Woodies because you have traffic merging from Lucan. The earliest suitable point for the bus to move back into the bus lane is just prior to the entrance of the golf club, which from what i see (sitting all cosy in my car) is what they do so I don't understand both of your points about the bus not bothering going back into the flow of traffic.

What a lot of the buses do is keep driving straight down the bus lane even when it ends, this leads to them "merging / cutting across" the Lucan traffic and they can then continue going straight into the bus lane again.

coward

probably gives us a taste for what things will be like when they start upgrading that road.
getting onto the newcastle road in lucan is very slow these past mornings too.

Seth Brundle

cullenswood wrote:

What a lot of the buses do is keep driving straight down the bus lane even when it ends, this leads to them "merging / cutting across" the Lucan traffic and they can then continue going straight into the bus lane again.

You mean the illegal practice of driving across the white island. Some bus drivers have been pulled for this!

corm500

I think they have closed it to begin prep work on widening it to 3 lanes as the work is being done to the side of the bridge at Woodies,similar to the prep works on the M50

Corm500

Seth Brundle

Looking at it this morning they have cleared the inbound side of the bridge on the woodies side of the road (if that makes sense).
However, there is little room to widen the road on that side of the road - there is more scope for windeing by the central meridian. It occured to me that they may be building a slip road there.

purcellp05

There seems to be a lot of excavation work going on on both sides of the road now - will someone PWEEZ tell me whats going on? Looks like they're clearing way for the foundations for a new bridge, or maybe they're widening the supports for the current one in order to free up space for the 3 lanes.

Saruman

You have been told whats going on... the N4 is being made wider to a 6 lane highway and the traffic lights are all being removed with flyovers.. see the thread about it... as to what exact procedure they are doing right now at the bridge... if thats what you want to know then i have no idea.. does it matter? At the end of the day its part of what is going to be a massive upgrade which will benefit us in the end but will cause lots of chaos like on the N7

coward

since the n4 upgrade is only put out to tender, it's probably not related to that.
my guess is that it's related to the outer ring road - construction work has moved closer to the bridge along the ballyowen road during the past week, with the removal of the trees and hedges just before crossing the bridge on the side opposite woodies.

Victor

Which section is closed?

Seth Brundle

The bus lane on the inbound side and possibly (if its there) on the outbound side.
However, with the inbound side, the bus lane ended a few metres further down anyway because of the slip road from Lucan

Frankie06

I will be moving to near Lucan Superquinn in next few weeks. How long is bus journey in 'average' morning to get into IFSC ? Is the 25X best bet. with N4 roadworks seems like it could be bit of a mare...

coward

25x is ok. some take the normal 25a route through the lucan estates, while some take the newcastle road by superquinn to join the n4 - these buses would be quicker for you.
7.55am bus should have you at o'connell bridge around 8.35.
5 or 10 minutes later/earlier depending on traffic.

Frankie06

That would be a decent enough journey time - Thanks for the info.

jimmycrackcorm

Saruman wrote:

You have been told whats going on... the N4 is being made wider to a 6 lane highway and the traffic lights are all being removed with flyovers.. see the thread about it... as to what exact procedure they are doing right now at the bridge... if thats what you want to know then i have no idea.. does it matter? At the end of the day its part of what is going to be a massive upgrade which will benefit us in the end but will cause lots of chaos like on the N7

What traffic lights are being removed? Are the only lights the ones at the newcastle road / superquinn - N4 junction? About time too for the sake of both traffic directions.

dr zoidberg

Yeah afaik the Newcastle junction lights are the only ones on the N4 at Lucan until Palmerstown.

Victor

kbannon wrote:

The bus lane on the inbound side and possibly (if its there) on the outbound side.

All of it?

Seth Brundle

No - just the sections by the bridge.

spacetweek

Saruman wrote:

as to what exact procedure they are doing right now at the bridge... if thats what you want to know then i have no idea..

The works on the N4 at the mo aren't related to the (much delayed) widening project. They're part of Phase 2 of the Outer Ring Road which will link the Ballyowen road at this point all the way to Tallaght. This is due to be completed by summer so the bus lane won't be closed much longer.

I'm not sure exactly what work is scheduled for the bridge. All I know is they downscaled their plans. Originally there was going to be 4 lanes on the existing flyover with pedestrians and bicycles accommodated with an all-new bridge. I know this isn't going ahead as envisaged though.