What are they doing with the N4?

kida

lods wrote: »

They need to get rid of the two sets of lights at Palmerstown.

agreed but its beside the point IMO the bus lane should go thru the junction

lord lucan

Looks like the bridge span at sureweld will be replaced in the next few days,they've lines of cones on the footpath eastbound between the woodies merge and the footbridge,looks like they're ready to narrow the road when the new span is brought in.

L1011

kida wrote: »

What idiot decided there was to be no bus lane through the M50 interchange?
Already some mornings there is a build up from the lights in Palmerstown.
When a full flow of traffic is getting thru this can only get worse!!

That interchange was a different scheme to all these works...

serfboard

kida wrote: »

IMO the bus lane should go thru the junction

Agreed. Aren't there two inbound lanes going through the junction? Couldn't they make one of them a morning peak bus-lane (7-10 AM)? Sorta like what was done near Heuston.

L1011

serfboard wrote: »

Agreed. Aren't there two inbound lanes going through the junction? Couldn't they make one of them a morning peak bus-lane (7-10 AM)? Sorta like what was done near Heuston.

If they made one a morning peak bus lane, the queue from people merging down from THREE lanes inbound to one would likely roll back to Lucan...

Heroditas

MYOB wrote: »

If they made one a morning peak bus lane, the queue from people merging down from THREE lanes inbound to one would likely roll back to Lucan...

And that would be during the summer! Imagine a wet day in January or February? :eek:

Redsoxfan

Is it accurate to say that the tailbacks on the M50/N4 exit are down to the fact that traffic has to 'cross' so soon after the merge, i.e. drivers going west from the M50 have to move to the right while traffic coming from town looking to go to Liffey Valley has to move left? And, if that is the case, then the situation will not be improved any further when the works are finished? (Due to the fact that the Liffey Valley exit is so soon after the M50?)

L1011

Part of them are down to weaving traffic, part is down to the fact that there are still delays from merge at Liffey Valley itself westbound. We won't know until this is done how much of the delays are caused by the weaving.

In anything but either empty roads or static traffic it is now near impossible to get off the M50 southbound in to Liffey Valley.

MYOB

MYOB wrote: »

Part of them are down to weaving traffic, part is down to the fact that there are still delays from merge at Liffey Valley itself westbound. We won't know until this is done how much of the delays are caused by the weaving.

In anything but either empty roads or static traffic it is now near impossible to get off the M50 southbound in to Liffey Valley.

It's quite easy if drivers adopted proper "urban motorway etiquette", i.e. when approuaching any junction, make a gap for weaving traffic and always use indicators before weaving.

It's so simple!!!

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

It's quite easy if drivers adopted proper "urban motorway etiquette", i.e. when approuaching any junction, make a gap for weaving traffic and always use indicators before weaving.

It's so simple!!!

Boils my piss when people won't leave a gap and box you in. :mad:

Redsoxfan

I have to say that I don't really have any problems merging onto the N4. If someone won't let you out/on, there's normally someone looking to get in further up, which is ideal for a 'lane swap' . But as MYOB says, we will have to wait and see what the story is when the works are finished, it would be nice the think that the bottleneck will disappear or ease.

I won't let anyone pull in in front of me on the offramp itself-that is a queue, not a merge-try the next sucker.

Seth Brundle

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I won't let anyone pull in in front of me on the offramp itself-that is a queue, not a merge-try the next sucker.

Me too. Its bloody dangerous having people stop suddenly on the slip road wanting to merge left. However when they suddenly stop on the M50 mainline with other cars behind them - their licence should be revoked!

Redsoxfan

kbannon wrote: »

Me too. Its bloody dangerous having people stop suddenly on the slip road wanting to merge left. However when they suddenly stop on the M50 mainline with other cars behind them - their licence should be revoked!

Yeah, that is shocking alright, I have only noticed one accident/incident to date, but am surprised there aren't more.

L1011

Sureweld bridge deck left intact, cage fitted over it in place of the old handrails. Looks grand tbh.

Three lanes were open NEARLY all the way inbound 40 minutes ago - only between the Ballyowen FB and Woodies was it down to 2 (and 1, for a stretch of about 5 metres! were kicking cones at that time to open that). There is a good chance we'll have 3 lanes all the way in tonight.

Heroditas

MYOB wrote: »

Sureweld bridge deck left intact, cage fitted over it in place of the old handrails. Looks grand tbh.

Three lanes were open NEARLY all the way inbound 40 minutes ago - only between the Ballyowen FB and Woodies was it down to 2 (and 1, for a stretch of about 5 metres! were kicking cones at that time to open that). There is a good chance we'll have 3 lanes all the way in tonight.

Absolutely fantastic news! I noticed a bit more of the road was open to three lanes this morning but didn't realize it was opened to that extent.

lord lucan

MYOB wrote: »

Sureweld bridge deck left intact, cage fitted over it in place of the old handrails. Looks grand tbh.

Looks pretty decent alright although i'm baffled by them not replacing/refurbishing the deck on it and going for the cosmetic option instead.

Heroditas

Looks like it's fully open eastbound from Woodies to the M50 anyway. Amazing the difference it has made even at 5.30 in the evening. The road looked utterly deserted.
The slip road for Texaco and the Foxhunter looks nearly finished too and the adjusted access ramp to exit the N4 at the Foxhunter going westbound is open today.

lord lucan

They've surfaced and painted the westbound buslane and set up the segregation for the bus lane. I just realised today that they may have created a choke point by segregating the bus lane on the section between ballyowen lane and the foxhunter. Traffic will have to slow down and take a left turn across the bus lane when entering the texaco garage,i can see this causing a lot of problems as a lot of drivers will blindly take the turn without consideration for buses coming down the bus lane. Also,on exiting the garage i can see cars parked across the buslane as they wait to re-enter the N4 thus holding up the buses/taxis in the bus lane.

L1011

lord lucan wrote: »

They've surfaced and painted the westbound buslane and set up the segregation for the bus lane. I just realised today that they may have created a choke point by segregating the bus lane on the section between ballyowen lane and the foxhunter. Traffic will have to slow down and take a left turn across the bus lane when entering the texaco garage,i can see this causing a lot of problems as a lot of drivers will blindly take the turn without consideration for buses coming down the bus lane. Also,on exiting the garage i can see cars parked across the buslane as they wait to re-enter the N4 thus holding up the buses/taxis in the bus lane.

Is traffic for the Foxhunter not going to have to go in to the bus lane to get in, like at the Spa? They just haven't finished segregating it all yet.

You haven't been allowed re-enter the N4 from the Foxhunter for at least three years, its up and over. That people do it is another thing.... it won't be possible any more.

Heroditas

MYOB wrote: »

You haven't been allowed re-enter the N4 from the Foxhunter for at least three years, its up and over. That people do it is another thing.... it won't be possible any more.

That's the way I understood it too

lord lucan

MYOB wrote: »

Is traffic for the Foxhunter not going to have to go in to the bus lane to get in, like at the Spa? They just haven't finished segregating it all yet.

You haven't been allowed re-enter the N4 from the Foxhunter for at least three years, its up and over. That people do it is another thing.... it won't be possible any more.

Unless they close off the gaps in the segregation it looks like you have to enter texaco off of the lucan slip lane and across the bus lane. What i mean by entering the N4 is entering the slip lane for the village. I was watching this evening and everyone that exited the garage stopped in the middle of the bus lane while waiting to get back onto the slip lane. If you have to use the bus lane then it won't be too bad but if it's left the way it is it'll be a disaster imo.

And yeah,you're not supposed to exit the foxhunter onto the N4 but it's still common practice unfortunately and unless drivers are forced into a particular lane it'll continue.

df1985

thats just temporary at the minute.they gaps will be closed off when its finished and any traffic wanting to go to texaco, foxhunter etc will have to enter the buslane after the footbridge before the left turn.

bazzachazza

df1985 wrote: »

thats just temporary at the minute.they gaps will be closed off when its finished and any traffic wanting to go to texaco, foxhunter etc will have to enter the buslane after the footbridge before the left turn.

+1

I'm for one am absolutely delighted by this.

I am sick to the back teeth of people shooting out in front of me from the petrol station without looking. On several occasions I have had to stand on the brakes to avoid hitting these idiots.

Also the dopes who went all the way up on to the painted island with the indicator on and slowly crept forward to make you stop and let them in as you had no other choice


As said above for the last 2~3 years there has been a continous white line to stop you from doing this but this is roundly ignored by 90% of drivers including the boys in blue.

On day one of this going operational I will be the driver with the big and peeing myself laughing as I drive past. I'm sorry but this has been long overdue.

nordydan

df1985 wrote: »

thats just temporary at the minute.they gaps will be closed off when its finished and any traffic wanting to go to texaco, foxhunter etc will have to enter the buslane after the footbridge before the left turn.

Good news, if only the same logic could be applied to the garage at the N11 SB/R755 junction!

manc

The gaps will be blocked off, they did the same up at the Spa Hotel.


These segregation lanes are a good idea but they do have their drawbacks which will be more prevelant at the foxhunter slip road than at the Spa slip road but I have seen them there.

1) the up and over traffic will have a lot more green light time than the Ballyown/Lucan village traffic which will cause tailbacks into Ballyowen and across the bridge.

2) the sliproad itself will get tailed back and you will then have people comming from the garage trying to get into the village lane on the slip road thus blocking the segregation lane

Heroditas

manc wrote: »

1) the up and over traffic will have a lot more green light time than the Ballyown/Lucan village traffic which will cause tailbacks into Ballyowen and across the bridge.

Maybe, maybe not.
So long as the lights are programmed properly it should be ok.
In the morning, the traffic heading up from the outer ring road should have precedence over the up and over traffic - and the reverse then being the case in the evening.

To be honest, the traffic has improved no end in the evening since the work started and also since the Newcastle junction got finished. I think it should be ok

L1011

Going on the VMS signs, they're setting up the segregation lane tonight - the Ballydowd offramp is closed from 10 to 6 with a diversion via Liffey Valley and the back of Lomans.

They've also got all the lines painted to let them have it open outbound from Liffey Valley out for Monday evening rushhour if they so wish. This would alleviate / remove the delay at Liffey Valley so we could finally see if the N4/M50 junction is actually properly designed...

df1985

just seen the most ridiculous thing at the leixlip/celbridge off ramp.there was a galway car (im presuming not aware of the changes) that had came up the segregation lane from the spa.got to the end of the concrete slabs and orange poles and stopped.instead of going up the ramp and over they tried to cut across the leixlip lane back onto the M4. could of been a serious accident.guy ahead of me had to break very hard.

L1011

I'd have reported their reg to Trafficwatch for that, that is insanely dangerous.

df1985

df1985 wrote: »

just seen the most ridiculous thing at the leixlip/celbridge off ramp.there was a galway car (im presuming not aware of the changes) that had came up the segregation lane from the spa.got to the end of the concrete slabs and orange poles and stopped.instead of going up the ramp and over they tried to cut across the leixlip lane back onto the M4. could of been a serious accident.guy ahead of me had to break very hard.

I think that there needs to be a sign (or road markings) there, indicating that this lane is for local traffic only and explicitly state that the M4 traffic must move into the lane to the right.

I can see such incidents being a common occurrance with there being so many dozy drivers who simply don't be aware of their surroundings!

Heroditas

Looks like someone was tearing up the off ramp at the Foxhunter last night and managed to slam into the traffic lights island at the top of the ramp. Traffic lights in bits and the steel railings knocked over

manc

anyone know why they have painted the clay green on the side of the N4, heading west around Liffey valley to past the foxhunter?

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that there needs to be a sign (or road markings) there, indicating that this lane is for local traffic only and explicitly state that the M4 traffic must move into the lane to the right.

I can see such incidents being a common occurrance with there being so many dozy drivers who simply don't be aware of their surroundings!

They could do with some sort of signage at the end of the segregation lanes to tell people heading west to go over and down. If you come out of Lucan at the Spa you have no option to get into the M4 unless you go over the junction.

Seth Brundle

manc wrote: »

anyone know why they have painted the clay green on the side of the N4, heading west around Liffey valley to past the foxhunter?

I noticed that myself. I'd say its something like a grass seed & adhesive mix to help get vegetation on the clay and to reduce the likelihood of erosion.

Heroditas

It's going to be chaos this evening. Tonnes of cars were heading down to what they thought was the slip road to turn off at the Foxhunter but instead they were coming to a dead end and having to inch back out into the main lane of traffic.
Bit of a cock up with the cones and it'll be bedlam shortly if they don't get it fixed.

murphaph

Heroditas wrote: »

Looks like someone was tearing up the off ramp at the Foxhunter last night and managed to slam into the traffic lights island at the top of the ramp. Traffic lights in bits and the steel railings knocked over

I'd love to know if the responsible parties usually pay for such (very expensive) damage. I suspect many never have to pay a penny even when fully insured. You hardly ever see knocked over railings/traffic lights/roadsigns here. In Ireland it's normal.

Redsoxfan

Coming inbound this morning, I noticed that the cover off one of the speed limit signs on the stretch between Newcastle and Woodies had been removed and the sign read '60'-is this correct I wonder?

Further in, just before the Liffey Valley onramp, there is a sign where the limit is clearly '80'.

L1011

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Coming inbound this morning, I noticed that the cover off one of the speed limit signs on the stretch between Newcastle and Woodies had been removed and the sign read '60'-is this correct I wonder?

Further in, just before the Liffey Valley onramp, there is a sign where the limit is clearly '80'.

Theres both 60 and 80 signs dotted around the entire thing now; I believe its going to be 80 the entire way on the mainline and 50 on the segregation roads. 60 is from the roadworks.

Redsoxfan

MYOB wrote: »

Theres both 60 and 80 signs dotted around the entire thing now; I believe its going to be 80 the entire way on the mainline and 50 on the segregation roads. 60 is from the roadworks.

I hope you are right, but the 60 sign I saw this morning was clearly newly erected.

L1011

I'd guess it was a 60 disc stuck to an 80 sign with temporary adhesive, as they've a few of these (some where the 60 is smaller so you see two red rings).

Redsoxfan

MYOB wrote: »

I'd guess it was a 60 disc stuck to an 80 sign with temporary adhesive, as they've a few of these (some where the 60 is smaller so you see two red rings).

On closer inspection, there is a blacked out sign above the 60. Which suggests it will indeed be 80 (or 100 :pac:)-how much longer before it's all open-seems very close?

Seth Brundle

They were out this evening digging up the surface on lane 3 inbound opposite the Spa Hotel. Hopefully it will be fixed in the morning.

L1011

Yeah, I passed on my way to have a salesman perform a walletectomy in Power City and the conekickers were in the process of closing ALL the running lanes (putting traffic in to the buslane) then.

Thankfully I'm in Munster for work tomorrow in case its not done!

Redsoxfan

More new sections open this evening-Liffey Valley to Leixlip-not quite there yet, but close enough.

The repair work being done opposite the Spa appears to be at the same spot that they 'forgot' to do first time out? The lines hadn't been repainted-there are those studs down instead-all the work appears to be carried out outside of rush hour-no disruption this morning or this evening.

Cyclists weren't using the cycle lanes on the new inside lane at the Foxhunter-not great as if they use the main carriageway, the lanes don't appear to be wide enough for a motorist plus cyclist to use safely.

lord lucan

They have the foxhunter/texaco/ballyowen exits to the N4 blocked off today,all traffic exiting from there must head down the buslane now and up the slip at ballyowen/woodies. They've also finally installed a bus shelter at the sureweld bus stop(eastbound).

L1011

There were no delays at all coming off the M50 at 5:40 today due to the three lanes being open for a distance past Liffey Valley. Still some hairy merging but it wasn't slowing traffic down enough to cause queueing on either mainline.

There were queues towards the Spa as Lane 3 was closed while they cut out part of the median barrier...

L1011

Tonight, all thats left to open of the mainline is the HS inbound after Newcastle and about 400 metres of lane 1 outbound at Woodies. Project is 99% complete really.

Irish and Proud

MYOB wrote: »

Tonight, all thats left to open of the mainline is the HS inbound after Newcastle and about 400 metres of lane 1 outbound at Woodies. Project is 99% complete really.

That's great!

How is the surface - hopefully, it's fairly even!

Many Thanks!

L1011

I was in my van which has standard Citroen suspension - forgiving to the end. Seemed grand in it.

I'd need to do it in my own car with suspension by Readymix to tell for sure!

KevR

MYOB wrote: »

Tonight, all thats left to open of the mainline is the HS inbound after Newcastle and about 400 metres of lane 1 outbound at Woodies. Project is 99% complete really.

So no more unexpected lane drop Eastbound?

Heading to Dublin Airport after work on Friday and am looking forward to driving the N4 that's almost complete.

Any sign of the temporary 60kmh speed limit being removed and an 80/100kmh speed limit being put in place?

Ice_Box

Offical opening today at 3pm at the newcastle junction.


PRESS RELEASE ISSUED: 2nd July 2009

The N4 Lucan Bypass Upgrade Scheme will be officially opened on Monday, 6th July, 2009 at 3 p.m. by the Minister for Transport, Mr. Noel Dempsey, T.D., in the presence of the Mayor of South Dublin County, Councillor Mick Duff. The N4 Lucan Bypass Upgrade Scheme provides an online improvement and widening of the existing N4 Dual Carriageway between Leixlip and the M50.

The Scheme involves the widening of the existing main line to three lanes in each direction together with a grade-separated junction at the Newcastle Road replacing the existing signalised junction. Additional bus and cycle facilities are also provided to ensure a reliable high frequency service for the developed areas of West Dublin and North Kildare. The Scheme also provides for the closure and/or re-organisation of all non-grade separated junctions to limit the overall number of junctions along the route. This is done by providing dedicated service roads at two locations along the route. In addition, all of the pedestrian bridges have been upgraded/ replaced to current standards to accommodate the mobility impaired.

It is intended that a speed limit of 80 kph will be applied along the route and the dedicated service roads will have a speed limit of 50 kph.

The project has been delivered by the National Roads Authority with South Dublin County Council acting as its agent on time and within budget, the Scheme will reduce journey times, provide safer travel, reduce congestion and make a major difference to people living and working in this area as well as those just commuting through.

The project has been delivered at an accelerated pace through the increase in the scale of the National Road Building Programme under the Governments Transport 21 Plan and is a project that South Dublin County Council is proud of.