Upgrade of the M7 from 2 to 3 lanes between Naas and the M9 junction

munchkin_utd

spacetweek wrote: »

Bumping this as two relevant parts have moved to public consultation (thanks to richiek83 on Skyscrapercity).
Planning doc on Kildare Co-Co's website.

- Widening of the M7 from Naas North to M7/M9 split (Jct 9-11)
- Building of the Osberstown interchange (presumably Jct 9A) and R407 Sallins Western Bypass.

The plans will be on display on 29th May in Aras Cill Dara, Naas. Pity they aren't on the web though, at least as far as I can see.

Oberstown junction seems to be planned to be to the west of the existing road that goes over the motorway and is dependent on the Salins bypass. links in to the north with the proposed Salins bypass and to the south the Western Distributor which links into the current Salins Road
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsDesignOffice/M7OsberstownInterchangeMotorwayScheme2008/LinkToDocument,16668,en.pdf
and heres an overview incl the salins by pass
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsDesignOffice/M7OsberstownInterchangeMotorwayScheme2008/LinkToDocument,16683,en.pdf
and in the following map you can see how the new Oberstown junction is key to that entire area being developed (not that putting vast estates and large industrial facilities down country bohereens would be beyond irish local councils!).
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsDesignOffice/M7OsberstownInterchangeMotorwayScheme2008/LinkToDocument,16690,en.pdf

A whole heap of other documents are here on the entire by pass scheme:
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsDesignOffice/M7OsberstownInterchangeMotorwayScheme2008/

_Kaiser_

No doubt then this grand plan means lowering the limit to 100 as far as the CArlow/Waterford turnoff then too? Wonderful! :rolleyes:

Aard

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

No doubt then this grand plan means lowering the limit to 100 as far as the CArlow/Waterford turnoff then too? Wonderful! :rolleyes:

The unfortunate reality is that adding driving lanes makes a road less safe, as it increases the incidence of weaving. Increasing safety either means widening lanes, improving camber, or reducing curve radii - all of which are very expensive and disruptive to do retrospectively. A simpler way to increase safety is to reduce the speed limit. It means that while an individual's journey time is lengthened slightly, the dramatically increased throughput of vehicles means that there is an aggregate time saving for all the road's users.

brokenarms

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/local/call-to-build-sallins-bypass-1-3805923

Dear god . Please make them deal with Sallins.

dowlingm

Here's an idea - how about improving public transport options so that hundreds of millions won't have to be borrowed in capital expense?

Over here, the regional buses are now allowed to run in the hard shoulder at low speeds (PDF) to allow them priority over congested traffic without building extra lanes.

JeffK88

Newhall junction to be rebuilt. Moved down to the Newbridge Dual Carraigeway and designed around that. Heres the emerging route

http://www.kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsDesignOffice/M7NaastoNewbridgeBy-PassUpgradeScheme2013/EmergingPreferredRoute/PublicConsultation/M7%20Naas%20to%20Newbridge%20By-Pass%20Upgrade%20Scheme%20DRAWING.pdf

ardmacha

The unfortunate reality is that adding driving lanes makes a road less safe, as it increases the incidence of weaving.

This theory is very suspect on rural sections with a long distance between junctions. There are many countries where D3M routes have a higher speed limit. It would be entirely ridiculous if this section is widened and the speed limit is reduced.

Aard

ardmacha wrote: »

This theory is very suspect on rural sections with a long distance between junctions. There are many countries where D3M routes have a higher speed limit. It would be entirely ridiculous if this section is widened and the speed limit is reduced.

Probably so. I'm not extremely familiar with the stretches in question, and didn't mean to imply that the speed limit should or indeed is going to be reduced.

_Kaiser_

Aard wrote: »

Probably so. I'm not extremely familiar with the stretches in question, and didn't mean to imply that the speed limit should or indeed is going to be reduced.

I'd say we can safely assume it will though as the rest of the 3-lane stretch is 100 and this will be a continuation of that - same way as the M50 is 100 for almost all of its length too until it becomes a 2 lane road after J14

MGWR

ardmacha wrote: »

This theory is very suspect on rural sections with a long distance between junctions. There are many countries where D3M routes have a higher speed limit. It would be entirely ridiculous if this section is widened and the speed limit is reduced

The allegedly ridiculous has not happened before?

The practical speed limit is going to go down either way. Wider urban dual carriageways and motorways experience higher congestion.

kc56

All the docs referred to above are now here

http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsOffice/

Chris_5339762

Just noticed the Naas-facing freeflow slips on the Osberstown interchange plans. Good idea.

BigCon

What's the latest on this upgrade, any sign of it starting soon?

Be well and win

There is currently some work underway with new cameras being installed and it looks like the hard shoulder northbound is being redone. Not sure if that is the beginning of it and prepping for when they start closing lanes

kc56

Be well and win wrote: »

There is currently some work underway with new cameras being installed and it looks like the hard shoulder northbound is being redone. Not sure if that is the beginning of it and prepping for when they start closing lanes

Prep work to strengthen the hard shoulder which will probably used as a traffic lane during the works. Main contract in under tender at present. Work expected to start next year and be completed by end 2018.

Be well and win

average speed cameras are now in place northbound from the m8 merge to Naas south exit with a 60 kph limit. Not sure if they are live or not but signs are up for them. 90% of drivers this morning were ignoring them though