M50 upgrade - Phase II

celticbest

Hi MGT,

Is it possible to look at the lane layout on the Freeflow slip coming from the M1SB to the M50SB.

Currently Auxiliary Lane 1 coming from the Airport splits in two for the Freeflow & Auxiliary lane 2 coming from the M1SB mainline only goes to the N32.

Is it possible to change the way the lanes splits and have Auxiliary lane two splitting so one lane goes automatically to the M50SB and the other goes to the N32. I have noticed over the last few weeks since the completion of this junction that a lot of people are jumping into Auxiliary lane 1 at the last moment after it splits as they notice that the lane they are currently in only goes to the N32 (Old N32/M50 R/A).

M1 to M50 FreeFlow layout.JPG

Please see drawing which I quickly drew up, ( I hope it is adequate enough to get across what I have pointed out above).

This change would only require the simple change of one/two sets of line markings to implement.

M50 Traffic MGT

celticbest wrote: »

Hi MGT,

Is it possible to look at the lane layout on the Freeflow slip coming from the M1SB to the M50SB.

Currently Auxiliary Lane 1 coming from the Airport splits in two for the Freeflow & Auxiliary lane 2 coming from the M1SB mainline only goes to the N32.

Is it possible to change the way the lanes splits and have Auxiliary lane two splitting so one lane goes automatically to the M50SB and the other goes to the N32. I have noticed over the last few weeks since the completion of this junction that a lot of people are jumping into Auxiliary lane 1 at the last moment after it splits as they notice that the lane they are currently in only goes to the N32 (Old N32/M50 R/A).

M1 to M50 FreeFlow layout.JPG

Please see drawing which I quickly drew up, ( I hope it is adequate enough to get across what I have pointed out above).

This change would only require the simple change of one/two sets of line markings to implement.

Thanks for your query but unfortunately an issue like this has to go back to the NRA. The current design was accepted a number of years ago by Fingal Co Co, NRA, DCC etc etc. The same can be said for the M50 NB as the M1 NB is the most popular route from the M50 NB, but mainline traffic must change lane at least twice to access this slip

M50 Traffic MGT

Attached are a few photos of the beam work at the new N3 Interchange. They look quite impressive

cargo

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

The Ballymun Interchange was fully opened over the weekend. This means that all freeflows are now operational. We should start to see the effect of this on this evenings peak traffic.

Auburn Ave junction is also working quite well. Full turning movements will be returned in 2 weeks. We will confirm a date once works are substantially completed.

The new freeflow from the N3 Outbound to the M50 SB will also open in around 2 weeks

Hi M50,

Any idea of the rest of the works schedule on this junction (N3) and the N2 one as well? i.e. rough dates when the structures / freeflows wil open?

Regards.

John32c

Not sure if am posting in the place..if not Im sure I will be directed to the correct place. Driving from the Nass road towards the city approaching the Red Cow roundabout as I do frequently either to take the M50 southbound or Northbound is an accident waiting to happen!

The signage for the M50 southbound and M50 northbound here is very poor and down right dangerous these signs can only be see at the last minute prior to the exits. It results in drivers jumping lanes with potential for accidents at the last minute or missing the exits entirely. It is clear to me that the signs for M50 southbound and M50 northbound should be a long way back towards the Newlands cross junction giving drivers plenty of time to get in the correct lane.

M50 Traffic MGT

The layout of the N2 Inbound will change tonight. Just after the M50 Interchange, traffic will be diverted onto the new surface in front of Joe Duffy's BMW garage.

I've attached the plan but this new layout will cause minimal disruption on Monday morning

Absurdum

John32c wrote: »

It results in drivers jumping lanes with potential for accidents at the last minute or missing the exits entirely. It is clear to me that the signs for M50 southbound and M50 northbound should be a long way back towards the Newlands cross junction giving drivers plenty of time to get in the correct lane.

I'd be fairly sure that the vast majority of them are jumping lanes in order to save about 10 seconds off their journey, and they know well which lane they are supposed to be in.

maclek

Absurdum wrote: »

I'd be fairly sure that the vast majority of them are jumping lanes in order to save about 10 seconds off their journey, and they know well which lane they are supposed to be in.

I drove this road last week for the first time in ages. I was heading to the M50 south. You come up to Newlands Cross in the middle or right lane and by the time you clear the light the traffic in the left lane for the M50 is completely jammed. So you have the choice of forcing your way into the left lane or waiting until the M50 north traffic moves over and squeezing in. I guess if you are familiar with the traffic pattern it isn't a problem but the M50 traffic backs up before the lane signage. An accident waiting to happen.

The lane layout is asinine, not just the signage. More than half the traffic is bound for the M50 as indicated by the jam in the left lane. A simple change would be make the middle lane for town or the M50 south. So the middle lane should split into two, one for the M50 south and one for town.

This is exactly what they had during construction: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.316797,-6.375048&spn=0.000828,0.002022&t=k&z=19

cargo

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

The layout of the N2 Inbound will change tonight. Just after the M50 Interchange, traffic will be diverted onto the new surface in front of Joe Duffy's BMW garage.

I've attached the plan but this new layout will cause minimal disruption on Monday morning

Hi M50, any rough idea when any of the free flows will re-open here?

cargo

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

The layout of the N2 Inbound will change tonight. Just after the M50 Interchange, traffic will be diverted onto the new surface in front of Joe Duffy's BMW garage.

I've attached the plan but this new layout will cause minimal disruption on Monday morning

cargo wrote: »

Hi M50, any rough idea when any of the free flows will re-open here?

Any ideas? There seems to be plenty of works going on at the N2 junction with earthworks, beamlifts going on all around the junction and also the N3 has plenty of fairly major work progressing everyday now. Although a lot of the earthworks on the N3 junction look painfull with all that rock around the junction.

The big new bridge across the N3 (M50NB to City) is coming on as well and I see the sections have all been welded together now. Handrails in place on most of it too and saw guys sealing joints etc yesterday on it. I presume there will have to be a big coordinated swapover here for it as the SB on-slip is going to be taken out of service once this opens, anyone know what the plan is for this stage of construction? I imagine it will be a little while yet though as the new NB off ramps still have a bit of diggin to go through that aforementioned hard stuff.

M50 Traffic MGT

cargo wrote: »

Any ideas? There seems to be plenty of works going on at the N2 junction with earthworks, beamlifts going on all around the junction and also the N3 has plenty of fairly major work progressing everyday now. Although a lot of the earthworks on the N3 junction look painfull with all that rock around the junction.

The big new bridge across the N3 (M50NB to City) is coming on as well and I see the sections have all been welded together now. Handrails in place on most of it too and saw guys sealing joints etc yesterday on it. I presume there will have to be a big coordinated swapover here for it as the SB on-slip is going to be taken out of service once this opens, anyone know what the plan is for this stage of construction? I imagine it will be a little while yet though as the new NB off ramps still have a bit of diggin to go through that aforementioned hard stuff.

This weekend will hopefully (weather dependant) see the re-opening of the M50 NB to N2 NB Freeflow. This has been a major headache for mainline traffic since it closed and delays in the morning & evening peak should disappear.

Also this weekend, the majority of works will be completed on the N3 at the Auburn Ave junction. This will mean that all turning movements will be returned, but not all new lanes will be open - Drawing to come tomorrow.

Next week the freeflow from the N3 outbound to the M50 SB will open. The N3 outbound will then be reduced to 2 lanes from Auburn Ave as the lane along the median is required for struts to hold the central beams in place for the new structure while they are being secured.

The next major change coming up will be for N3 Inbound traffic. In the next month or so, all inbound traffic will veer left at Scott's onto the new M3 and over the M50 to Auburn, this is currently being used as the freeflow to the M50 NB. This will by-pass the main roundabout and speed all movements up. This switch will also include the new freeflow from N3 Inbound to M50 SB. More information about this switch will be posted closer to the date

M50 Traffic Management

Heroditas

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

Next week the freeflow from the N3 outbound to the M50 SB will open.

I'm impressed!
I was looking at the freeflow lane this evening and it looks ready to have the layers of tarmac laid on it now.
There still seems to be a lot of work remaining to be done here in the next week but if it's given priority I can't see any reason why it won't be done on time.

Thanks for the update!

L1011

whosedaddy? wrote: »

If ATM wasn't planned to be included in the upgrade now - I'm pretty certain it will never happen!
Putting the infrastructure to support ATM in place surely cost a bit of money.. why not do it all at the same time? Or when they come around doing it, then systems will probly incompatible with the infrastructure and it will cost a fortune and cause major disruptions to upgrade... nothing new then...

The physical ATM gantries are up, remember ATM doesn't always have to equal hard shoulder running - variable speed liomits and advance lane closures are ATM too. The costs are the computer system to run it and all the signage - there shouldn't be much problem putting these in place due to the physical, empty, gantries being there.

cargo

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

This weekend will hopefully (weather dependant) see the re-opening of the M50 NB to N2 NB Freeflow. This has been a major headache for mainline traffic since it closed and delays in the morning & evening peak should disappear.

Also this weekend, the majority of works will be completed on the N3 at the Auburn Ave junction. This will mean that all turning movements will be returned, but not all new lanes will be open - Drawing to come tomorrow.

Next week the freeflow from the N3 outbound to the M50 SB will open. The N3 outbound will then be reduced to 2 lanes from Auburn Ave as the lane along the median is required for struts to hold the central beams in place for the new structure while they are being secured.

The next major change coming up will be for N3 Inbound traffic. In the next month or so, all inbound traffic will veer left at Scott's onto the new M3 and over the M50 to Auburn, this is currently being used as the freeflow to the M50 NB. This will by-pass the main roundabout and speed all movements up. This switch will also include the new freeflow from N3 Inbound to M50 SB. More information about this switch will be posted closer to the date

M50 Traffic Management

Cheers for the update. Exactly what I was looking for!! The changes in the next month or so will solve a lot of the current holdups. Thanks again.

Davy

To me the whole M50 upgrade so far, seems to be a great success. At peak times, morning and evening traffic flows along nice and at decent speed. Between ballymount and junction 3/M1 especially. All the talk about junction 3 and it seems to be working very well imo. I know their is still some holdups like junction 5 off ramp etc, but by and large its vastly improved then 2 years ago.

A trip I often take in the mornings takes about 25 mins now, which used to be an hour and a half! The recession is probably helping slightly with some less traffic but taking an hour of a journey in the mornings is thumbs up from me

etchyed

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

This switch will also include the new freeflow from N3 Inbound to M50 SB.

Within a month?! It's not built yet! I'll be very impressed if this happens.

EDIT: Impressed but not surprised I suppose. Some of the structures have flown up in the last couple of weeks.

chinchin

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

Speed enforcement is now being applied on the M50 mainline by private contractors, by both static and vehicle mounted cameras

I was driving the M50 the other day and noticed some new white cameras attached to the overhead gantries and poking out from behind the direction signs. I only noticed them between jct6 and jct11. They seem to come in sets of 2 and to be pointing at lanes 2 and 3, each camera seems to focus on one of the lanes. Wondering if these are the new cameras and if they are operational yet.

rameire

chinchin wrote: »

I was driving the M50 the other day and noticed some new white cameras attached to the overhead gantries and poking out from behind the direction signs. I only noticed them between jct6 and jct11. They seem to come in sets of 2 and to be pointing at lanes 2 and 3, each camera seems to focus on one of the lanes. Wondering if these are the new cameras and if they are operational yet.

would have thought those cameras would be the same as what are on the n7, n4 and m1.
they track cars and are able to estimate how much time it will take to get to different junction.

M50 Traffic MGT

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

This weekend will hopefully (weather dependant) see the re-opening of the M50 NB to N2 NB Freeflow. This has been a major headache for mainline traffic since it closed and delays in the morning & evening peak should disappear.

Also this weekend, the majority of works will be completed on the N3 at the Auburn Ave junction. This will mean that all turning movements will be returned, but not all new lanes will be open - Drawing to come tomorrow.

Next week the freeflow from the N3 outbound to the M50 SB will open. The N3 outbound will then be reduced to 2 lanes from Auburn Ave as the lane along the median is required for struts to hold the central beams in place for the new structure while they are being secured.

The next major change coming up will be for N3 Inbound traffic. In the next month or so, all inbound traffic will veer left at Scott's onto the new M3 and over the M50 to Auburn, this is currently being used as the freeflow to the M50 NB. This will by-pass the main roundabout and speed all movements up. This switch will also include the new freeflow from N3 Inbound to M50 SB. More information about this switch will be posted closer to the date

M50 Traffic Management

Works at the N2 Freeflow are now at a stop due to a design issue that will take a number of weeks to be resolved. As a result the freeflow will not open this weekend. Instead, traffic exiting at J5 will be sent onto the new freeflow lane but diverted out onto the existing slip before the lights. As a result there will be no positive impact for traffic. We will however provide 2 lanes for as much of the stretch as possible and hopefully reduce queueing on the mainline and increase the flow through the lights each sequence.

Apologies for the delays being experienced at this slip each evening but we are working to resolve the design issues.

Depending on how long this slip takes each morning and evening, it may be more beneficial to continue to Ballymun and do a u-turn as this junction is now running far below capacity due to the opening of all freeflows

Cookie_Monster

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

Works at the N2 Freeflow are now at a stop due to a design issue that will take a number of weeks to be resolved.

Maybe its just me but I cannot understand how something like this has come up at this stage of the project.

Surely the design was finalised months (if not years) ago after much much planning.

It'll take weeks which indicates it probably a major design issue, how can this happen?

whosedaddy?

wow - that took a long time to spot a design issue....
despite the aggro this will case, probably better to get it fixed now than to build as is and fix later / never fix it.

any other issues with the N2 design that will delay the other movements?

rameire

when you say there is an issue can you elaborate.

Is it Due to endangered Snails.

A House where a road should go.

Caravans parking.

Or not enough room for the roads.

Irish and Proud

rameire wrote: »

when you say there is an issue can you elaborate.

Is it Due to endangered Snails.

A House where a road should go.

Caravans parking.

Or not enough room for the roads.

...or sightlines - I suspect!

M50 Traffic MGT

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Maybe its just me but I cannot understand how something like this has come up at this stage of the project.

Surely the design was finalised months (if not years) ago after much much planning.

It'll take weeks which indicates it probably a major design issue, how can this happen?

From the info we at the TM department have recieved, it has something to do with the culvert that will carry the ESB cables under this freeflow. When we get more info on progress we will let you know

bigbadbear

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Maybe its just me but I cannot understand how something like this has come up at this stage of the project.

whosedaddy? wrote:

wow - that took a long time to spot a design issue....

When building roads you can only base design on what you see and what the land surveyors can say is there. Alot of the time design issues only get noticed as the construction is taking place. Unfortunately for us getting home that's just the way it is and always will be. I'm definitely not saying the designers on the m50 (Atkins) have done a superb job though.

Davy

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

it has something to do with the culvert that will carry the ESB cables under this freeflow.

Is this something to do with future proofing, so they don't have to dig up the freeflow down the road to get cables into the station, rather than something to do with the existing cables?


On another note, I can see a bad crash happening at the roundabout at J3. Coming from the N32 going on to the M50SB, the 1 and 2 lanes used to go on the M50SB, but now with the realignment from the M1, their is only one lane onto the M50SB from the roundabout, but people still continuing to use two lanes to feed into one, and its an accident waiting to happen! The road markings should make it clear its just the left lane from the roundabout.

W.B. Yeats

Junc 12 seems largely finished now and fully opened

A few questions for M50 Traffic Mgt

There are traffic lights on all approaches to the junction. When exiting travelling from the southbound on the M50 there are 2 lanes both with traffic lights. Turning left from the off ramp onto Colmcille's Way there is a red light? Why is this? Should it not be a flashing amber light? There is an extra join lane on Colmcille's Way that allows the traffic to merge when coming from the off ramp. I can see this causing a jam in the evening and don't understand why this isn't freeflow.
Likewise when exiting M50 travelling Northbound and turning left a similar situation exists.
Why isn't this freeflow?

Also when exiting from M50 travelling Northbound and turning right over the bridge to go onto Colmcille's Way the traffic lights have a straight on and right turn filter arrow?
Why is this? THis is encouraging traffic to up and over the off ramp from the M50 if there are jams.

Overall the junction seems over engineered, an extra bridge, extra lanes and loads of traffic lights.

AlekSmart

Overall the junction seems over engineered, an extra bridge, extra lanes and loads of traffic lights.

Probably of great benefit to the suppliers of Traffic Signalling Infrastructure...Poles,Lights,Barriers etc etc etc.....ad infinitum ?

Stark

Anyone know if the opening of the new N3W->M50S freeflow went ahead today?

M50 Traffic MGT

Stark wrote: »

Anyone know if the opening of the new N3W->M50S freeflow went ahead today?

This slip won't open until the weekend at the earliest