What are they doing with the N4?

Heroditas

Massive amounts of progress made in the last week or so.
They were laying tarmac on the N4 westbound from the exit to Liffey Valley to the exit at Woodies last night. Looks like that section is very nearly finished.

Also, I've been amazed at how light the traffic has been recently. Has the work at the Spa Hotel been finished? I hit the M50/M1 junction at 5.41 last night and was turning off at Ballyowen Road at 6.01! :eek: Absolutely no traffic jams on the N4 - traffic was relatively heavy but moving smoothly.

El Stuntman

Heroditas wrote: »

Also, I've been amazed at how light the traffic has been recently. Has the work at the Spa Hotel been finished? I hit the M50/M1 junction at 5.41 last night and was turning off at Ballyowen Road at 6.01! :eek: Absolutely no traffic jams on the N4 - traffic was relatively heavy but moving smoothly.

recession

icdg

Two gantries have also gone up as well as the cantilever I previously mentioned, though no signs on them yet. The gantry at the Spa Hotel/before the R835 (signed up until recently as R403!) off-slip is a full lenght gantry over both carriageways and will carry signs in both directions.

Heroditas

El Stuntman wrote: »

recession

Recession must be over if this evening is anything to go by.

L1011

Heroditas wrote: »

Recession must be over if this evening is anything to go by.

Bank holiday weekend traffic, 4 days for many...

lord lucan

Heroditas wrote: »

Massive amounts of progress made in the last week or so.
They were laying tarmac on the N4 westbound from the exit to Liffey Valley to the exit at Woodies last night. Looks like that section is very nearly finished

they're doing loads overnight lately. i hopped off a bus from town at the st. lomans bus stop at 23.50 on wednesday night and they were going hell for leather re-surfacing the westbound section. traffic was down to one lane. they only half finished it that night though,heading into work the next morning there was quite a height differential between the outer lane and the rest,a number of cars and trucks were caught out as the full width of the lane wasn't of the same height!!

Redsoxfan

Yep, they've really ramped up progress recently. I'd say it will be well before September when they finish.

Redsoxfan

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Yep, they've really ramped up progress recently. I'd say it will be well before September when they finish.

Beware of being too optomistic, certain stages in roadbuilding are very visible but only account for a small part of the job.
The time consuming stuff, drainage, services etc can appear like nothing is happening at all, despite huge amounts of unseen work being carried out.

vektarman

lord lucan wrote: »

they're doing loads overnight lately. i hopped off a bus from town at the st. lomans bus stop at 23.50 on wednesday night and they were going hell for leather re-surfacing the westbound section. traffic was down to one lane. they only half finished it that night though,heading into work the next morning there was quite a height differential between the outer lane and the rest,a number of cars and trucks were caught out as the full width of the lane wasn't of the same height!!

And motorbikes, as I discovered after my near death experience!

Heroditas

Deleted User wrote: »

Beware of being too optomistic, certain stages in roadbuilding are very visible but only account for a small part of the job.
The time consuming stuff, drainage, services etc can appear like nothing is happening at all, despite huge amounts of unseen work being carried out.

Boooo! down with that sort of thing!

lord lucan

vektarman wrote: »

And motorbikes, as I discovered after my near death experience!

i'm on a scooter myself,a bit hairy to say the least:eek:

in saying that it's still better than the scarified road that's preceded it for the last few months.

Heroditas

Heroditas wrote: »

Boooo! down with that sort of thing!

Careful now!

Heroditas

Heroditas

Dear oh dear, the off-ramp at the Foxhunter is now a disaster because they have narrowed it to one lane. It's best avoided even during the daytime, let alone rush hour in the evening. I assume they're widening it and hopefully will get it done ASAP. It really needs to be two lanes wide.

Apart from that, great progress is still being made. The surfacing seems to be fully complete going west from the Foxhunter ramp to the Newcastle junction.

Seth Brundle

Is it in place for a few days or just overnight?

ciarsd

Was on it on Saturday and the traffic was cronic.

There was a bit of hedge clearing going on (on the RHS), so I'd imagine it's making way for a slightly wider slip. I'd expect it to take quite a few working days so this evening will be interesting!

Heroditas

kbannon wrote: »

Is it in place for a few days or just overnight?

They've put the steel barriers in place down the centre of the slip road and as ciarsd said, they appear to be cutting back the hedges.
It's going to be a mess for quite a while I reckon - they took an age doing the far end of the ramp where it rejoins the N4 so I would expect it to be one of the very last jobs that get finished before September.

icdg

Two of the new gantries now have signs on them, basically the same as the new M50 and N7 gantries.

The junction numbering seems to be slightly different to what was expected after the late decision to retain the Maxol/Dodsborough interchange which was originally to be closed and the R403/R835 (didn't check whether they fixed the numbering controversy here!!!) reopened. Hence, Dodsborough now becomes Junction 4a. R120 is J4 as expected.

df1985

just came through there.loads of work eastbound tonight, more signs going up.also all traffic citybound has to to take the offramp at woodies, go round by woodies and merge back on.theyre surfacing along there tonight.finally that really bumpy bit after woodies will be gone!

L1011

icdg wrote: »

Two of the new gantries now have signs on them, basically the same as the new M50 and N7 gantries.

The junction numbering seems to be slightly different to what was expected after the late decision to retain the Maxol/Dodsborough interchange which was originally to be closed and the R403/R835 (didn't check whether they fixed the numbering controversy here!!!) reopened. Hence, Dodsborough now becomes Junction 4a. R120 is J4 as expected.

What is the R403/835 interchange? Thought I knew that area well but clearly not...

Some of the outbound cantilevers were getting their signs tonight.

Seth Brundle

The R403 is the old Celbridge road - not sure about the R835 (road into Leixlip is the R148). Maybe its Kew Park?

icdg

kbannon wrote: »

The R403 is the old Celbridge road - not sure about the R835 (road into Leixlip is the R148). Maybe its Kew Park?

The R835 is the continuation of the R403 from the R148 interchange through to Woodies. Or at least, it is on the statute books, there are very few direction signs on it (one opposite Lucan golf club that signs a now illegal right turn, and another, with plants growing over it, at the bottom of Tandy's Lane - after the junction it signposts!!!) and all of them read "R403", as did the fork sign on the N4 leading down to it (Maxol/McDonald's exit).

The Lucan bypass was built before the regional roads were officially legislated for in 1994 and it may be that this section was originally intended to be R403 but that minds were changed when the road was made one-way for a short section at Lucan Golf club.

The fork sign on the N4 is now gone and replaced with a gantry. That doesn't have R403 or R148, but adds a third number to the works - (L1018). Judging from the cantilever outbound, L1018 is either the current closed (but due to be reopened) Old Cornmill Road, or is the road linking the R835 with Dodsbrough/Hillcrest.

lods

seems to be taking for ever to open the lanes going west that appear to be finished.:mad:

L1011

icdg wrote: »

The R835 is the continuation of the R403 from the R148 interchange through to Woodies. Or at least, it is on the statute books, there are very few direction signs on it (one opposite Lucan golf club that signs a now illegal right turn, and another, with plants growing over it, at the bottom of Tandy's Lane - after the junction it signposts!!!) and all of them read "R403", as did the fork sign on the N4 leading down to it (Maxol/McDonald's exit).

The Lucan bypass was built before the regional roads were officially legislated for in 1994 and it may be that this section was originally intended to be R403 but that minds were changed when the road was made one-way for a short section at Lucan Golf club.

The fork sign on the N4 is now gone and replaced with a gantry. That doesn't have R403 or R148, but adds a third number to the works - (L1018). Judging from the cantilever outbound, L1018 is either the current closed (but due to be reopened) Old Cornmill Road, or is the road linking the R835 with Dodsbrough/Hillcrest.

So what junction were they going to reopen then? Still can't get what junction there is closed to reopen in the first place?

Seth Brundle

lods wrote: »

seems to be taking for ever to open the lanes going west that appear to be finished.:mad:

Its only in the last day or so that they laid paint down on the outbound lane. The inbound lanes haven't been surfaced yet.
There presumably are still roadside works to finish before they open up the extra outbound lane

lods

kbannon wrote: »

Its only in the last day or so that they laid paint down on the outbound lane. The inbound lanes haven't been surfaced yet.
There presumably are still roadside works to finish before they open up the extra outbound lane

Just seem svery slow. They seem to be working on loads of bits of it at the same time, but not getting any one bit finished.

df1985

also the sections opened first have good old fashined white paint for the lines on the road where as the bit from liffey valley to woodies has fancy cateyes-lines.is it gonna be left half and half??

Heroditas

df1985 wrote: »

also the sections opened first have good old fashined white paint for the lines on the road where as the bit from liffey valley to woodies has fancy cateyes-lines.is it gonna be left half and half??

They usually take those up once the work is finished - think they did the same thing on the M5o IIRC.

Seth Brundle

lods wrote: »

Just seem svery slow. They seem to be working on loads of bits of it at the same time, but not getting any one bit finished.

Compare their progress to the lads doing the M50 south of Firhouse!!!
They are flying through the N4 - you're just too impatient

lods

kbannon wrote: »

Compare their progress to the lads doing the M50 south of Firhouse!!!
They are flying through the N4 - you're just too impatient

i suppose i had a vision of once the Newcastle flyover was done that i'd fly home every night!!! seems as bad as ever.Yes i am impatient:P

jmkennedyie

Probably no point opening the completed oubound lanes until the work at Spa Hotel etc. complete. Otherwise the additional merges will just slow things down even more.

Temporary Catseyes lane markings appear to be in places where lanes are not in final location...can't paint them yet.

Junction 4A includes the first turnoff for Lucan village inbound (opposite Spa Hotel), after the Leixlip/Celbridge interchange Junction 4. Initial designs showed a two-way service lane on North of N4 between Lucan village and Celbridge interchange, thereby Junction 4 would be the first turnoff for Lucan village coming inbound on M4. I understand the steep embankment at St. Catherines park made this too costly.

Personally, I'm well impressed with the progress.

goodgirl12

Are they still diverting the traffic joining from lucan at the spa hotel or does anyone know when that diversion is finished?

jmkennedyie

Still diverting last night...I thought they were going to open it by now but they might decide to keep the diversion in place until all the section around Kew Park / McCoys cleaned up...

Kieo

bloody hell, spent an hour on n4 at 8pm tonight from liffey valley to spa hotel. i know they need to work there but jaysus do it at a later time. i had a date wif a bottle of wine...:mad:

jmkennedyie

Yep, was a nightmare last night - there was a crash between jn 2 & 3 outbound - between 1st Lucan interchange and the new one, where just two lanes. Heading inbound, it looked like a minor rear-ending...i.e. bad driving trapping at least many 100's if not 1000's of folks between N4 and M50 (there were lots of intercity buses). I didn't see any construction crews working on N4 at the time.

Seth Brundle

goodgirl12 wrote: »

Are they still diverting the traffic joining from lucan at the spa hotel or does anyone know when that diversion is finished?

The junction on Cornmill Rd beside the Spa Hotel has been reopened.

lods

kbannon wrote: »

The

saw that tonight after avoiding it!!!

Heroditas

The off-ramp at the Foxhunter is being widened by approximately a metre to allow buses fit up it easier.
Also, the new completion date for the project is apparently August. Progress has accelerated and once the school holidays roll around, work will progress even faster.


Heard this from one of the engineers working on the scheme yesterday

lord lucan

they've also changed the road markings on the woodies flyover. the south-bound bus lane has been extinguished on the bridge itself and they've marked a lane for traffic turning right onto the off ramp to bring you back onto the N4 westbound.

Heroditas

lord lucan wrote: »

they've also changed the road markings on the woodies flyover. the south-bound bus lane has been extinguished on the bridge itself and they've marked a lane for traffic turning right onto the off ramp to bring you back onto the N4 westbound.

They must read this board. I've been bitching about that bus lane since I started posting here.

bazzer

lord lucan wrote: »

they've also changed the road markings on the woodies flyover. the south-bound bus lane has been extinguished on the bridge itself and they've marked a lane for traffic turning right onto the off ramp to bring you back onto the N4 westbound.

The only problem with that is the 25A bus turning left after the slip road outbound now has to wait for traffic southbound on Woodies bridge to clear before completing the turn. Before, it had a much better chance as general traffic had been forced towards the centre of the road away from the bus lane.

Heroditas

bazzer wrote: »

The only problem with that is the 25A bus turning left after the slip road outbound now has to wait for traffic southbound on Woodies bridge to clear before completing the turn. Before, it had a much better chance as general traffic had been forced towards the centre of the road away from the bus lane.

True, as does the rest of the traffic turning left.
The problem is accentuated by the fact that there is only one lane up the slip road currently - the tailbacks are quite long, even during the middle of the day.

Seth Brundle

Does anyone know if traffic coming from the Texaco is going to be forced up the slip road or will there still be the ability for them to (ignore the solid white linkes and) join the main carriageway?

Heroditas

kbannon wrote: »

Does anyone know if traffic coming from the Texaco is going to be forced up the slip road or will there still be the ability for them to (ignore the solid white linkes and) join the main carriageway?

No idea but what they should be made do is leave the petrol station via the foxhunter car park so they have no option but to head up the sliproad.

lods

kbannon wrote: »

Does anyone know if traffic coming from the Texaco is going to be forced up the slip road or will there still be the ability for them to (ignore the solid white linkes and) join the main carriageway?

an Irish solution to an Irish problem, ignore the solid white line:D

Haven't been west along there for a while, is that section finished?
If not it would be easy to have the slip start before the petrol station not after.

jmkennedyie

last design I saw forced traffic from texaco / foxhunter up the slip. I.e. creationg a service road, a bit like on N7 inbound to Red Cow, but I guess with the string of concrete island bollards like going in near Spa hotel.

L1011

With the exception of not wanting it when using the Texaco at 5am on a clear road they definitely need to look at making it impossible to rejoin the running lanes.

Heroditas

Massive changes overnight. If you're joining the N4 eastbound at Woodies, you can now drive straight onto the main carriageway without stopping. Then you have a few hundred metres before the lane becomes a bus lane and you have to indicate out into the main traffic lane. These three lanes exist until the turn-off for Liffey Valley/Clondalkin. From there up to where the Liffey Valley/Clondalkin junction rejoins the N4 there are a number of "chicanes" that are a bit of a mess but we're really starting to see massive progress.


I was amazed how light the traffic was coming up the outer ring road this morning and joining at Woodies. I know it's a Friday and traffic is usually lighter but compared to other Fridays, there was a tangible improvement.

lods

Heroditas wrote: »

Massive changes overnight. If you're joining the N4 eastbound at Woodies, you can now drive straight onto the main carriageway without stopping. Then you have a few hundred metres before the lane becomes a bus lane and you have to indicate out into the main traffic lane. These three lanes exist until the turn-off for Liffey Valley/Clondalkin. From there up to where the Liffey Valley/Clondalkin junction rejoins the N4 there are a number of "chicanes" that are a bit of a mess but we're really starting to see massive progress.


I was amazed how light the traffic was coming up the outer ring road this morning and joining at Woodies. I know it's a Friday and traffic is usually lighter but compared to other Fridays, there was a tangible improvement.

The "chicanes" were a bit confusing at 6.30am. I'd say it'll slow traffic, but great to see some movement. Westbound should be open soon if they can sort out the SPA area