N7 - Newlands Cross upgrade

MJohnston

tonc76 wrote: »

Planning permission has been sought (and possibly granted?) to increase the N7 to 3 lanes from Naas north to the M7/M9 split.

Right, but I meant the bit of the N7 that the Newlands Cross flyover attaches to, which is already 3 lane and lacking in room for expansion. People are calling a 3 lane flyover short-sighted, but I can't see the rest of the Red Cow to Naas section actually gaining a 4th lane anyway.

cargo

MJohnston wrote: »

Surely it'd make no difference anyway - I'd imagine the next stage in increasing N7 capacity would be to build an entirely new alignment, rather than try and shove in 4 lanes.

Ahh the mysterious and ever elusive Junction 8!!!!

RichardoKhan

Dummy wrote: »

It would make absolutely no difference.

Didn't you know that when you join a 3 lane motorway in Ireland, you drive straight out to the middle lane. Then when the coast is clear, you join the outside overtaking lane & stay there for the rest of your journey.

I reckon, that in Ireland, that the inside lane will be for potted plants, café bars & street entertainment.

You forgot to add the wagon trailer adverts..........

cgcsb

Irish drivers cant use 3 lanes correctly. 4 lanes would cause mayhem.

Guy:Incognito

Dummy wrote: »

It would make absolutely no difference.

Didn't you know that when you join a 3 lane motorway in Ireland, you drive straight out to the middle lane. Then when the coast is clear, you join the outside overtaking lane & stay there for the rest of your journey.

I reckon, that in Ireland, that the inside lane will be for potted plants, café bars & street entertainment.

They should only build roads with lanes 3, 4 and 5. That way everyone can be in the overtaking lane(s) all the time :-)

mruser2014

With on ongoing madness at Newlands cross and the tailbacks to J11 M7/M9 on Fridays.

Does anyone know a route to avoid this? I got stuck for hours here on Friday.

I have taken the R448 to Naas Kilcullen and back via to curragh to get back onto the M7 to avoid the tailbacks from N7 to J11 but its slow too and the roads are bad,

Thanks

toastedpickles

mruser2014 wrote: »

With on ongoing madness at Newlands cross and the tailbacks to J11 M7/M9 on Fridays.

Does anyone know a route to avoid this? I got stuck for hours here on Friday.

I have taken the R448 to Naas Kilcullen and back via to curragh to get back onto the M7 to avoid the tailbacks from N7 to J11 but its slow too and the roads are bad,

Thanks

What i usually do is go the n4 out of the city, first exit off to liffey valley, head towards clondalkin and take the right at the second set of lights, follow that road and left at the roundabout, which takes you up to j2 on the n7, i go along till castlewarden and turn off there and go kill, johnstown, naas, newbridge, and back that way

Schadenfreudia

cgcsb wrote: »

Irish drivers cant use 3 lanes correctly. 4 lanes would cause mayhem.

Nothing especially Irish about that.

I frequently drive in the UK where most of the main M-ways are 3 lane.

afatbollix

But they know what to use them...

Stark

Middle lane morons are pretty common in the UK: http://www.howmotorwayswork.co.uk/middle_lane.htm

D Trent

Plenty of good aerial images on this website, even if they aren't up to date
http://www.n7n11.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/013-150x150.jpg

Deedsie

Looking at NRA traffic cameras they are working on the Western end of the site this morning. Should get an idea how they will join up the flyover and the N7. It will be nice to see the road levelled off this end as it seems to be the last bit that was totally uneven.

MJohnston

Stark wrote: »

Middle lane morons are pretty common in the UK: http://www.howmotorwayswork.co.uk/middle_lane.htm

I'd say they're common everywhere in the world. The problem is that if you're a timid driver, you'll always stick to the middle lane because you don't have to deal with mergers.

Alun

Stark wrote: »

Middle lane morons are pretty common in the UK: http://www.howmotorwayswork.co.uk/middle_lane.htm

They are, but nowhere near at the levels seen here.

Mitch Connor

Alun wrote: »

They are, but nowhere near at the levels seen here.

Driving I saw in England, Italy and America is very much comparable to what I see here. It just irritates me more here cause I see it every single day, rather than just for the relatively brief periods I am driving abroad.

The driving in Italy in particular is insane.

Deedsie

Irish drivers are not great but compared to other countries we are tip top. Try driving in South East Asia or Eastern Europe.

Motorways are relatively new to Irish drivers, has there ever been a national campaign on the use of three lanes motorways?

cgcsb

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Nothing especially Irish about that.

I frequently drive in the UK where most of the main M-ways are 3 lane.

In The UK police issue fines to middle laners. Here the ah shure I didn't know song is an acceptable position to take. There are also a glut of drivers who have their license for so long that lane discipline simply wasn't an issue for them, and they aren't going to learn now.

Geogregor

MJohnston wrote: »

I'd say they're common everywhere in the world. The problem is that if you're a timid driver, you'll always stick to the middle lane because you don't have to deal with mergers.

Alun wrote: »

They are, but nowhere near at the levels seen here.

Deedsie wrote: »

Irish drivers are not great but compared to other countries we are tip top. Try driving in South East Asia or Eastern Europe.

In most of the countries people on road forums complain how bad the local drivers are. It is due to the fact that we mostly drive close to home and that's where we are most annoyed.
You should see moaning on Polish forums on that subject

Of course there are countries better and worse in lane discipline but I don't find Ireland particularly bad.
US, that is a really bad case.
Still, it could be worse, I just came back from Morocco, you should see "lane discipline" there. People literary drive in two lanes at the same time

cgcsb

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Driving I saw in England, Italy and America is very much comparable to what I see here. It just irritates me more here cause I see it every single day, rather than just for the relatively brief periods I am driving abroad.

The driving in Italy in particular is insane.

Well Italy is a whole other level, elements of third world driving in their behaviour.

MJohnston

cgcsb wrote: »

In The UK police issue fines to middle laners. Here the ah shure I didn't know song is an acceptable position to take. There are also a glut of drivers who have their license for so long that lane discipline simply wasn't an issue for them, and they aren't going to learn now.

The 3-lane Westlink/M1 portion in Belfast has been open for a few years, but even now you can still take a shortcut by driving along in the left lane the whole way from Divis to Blacks Road, and you will rarely encounter anyone in the lane.

Also, having lived in California for 18 months, I can tell you that the Irish are teacher's pets for the rules in comparison.

regedit

from what I have seen, Germans are best drivers probably in the world. They have a deep respect for other road users (again, I cannot generalise) and turks probably worst. Irish driving culture is average. Not to good but not worst. A lot of behavior due to ignorance. Elderly people got their license for 10 pounds at a time when motorways were utopia. I know a gentleman who has a license for 40+ years. He thought when N7 with three lanes opened up that the driving lane on the left (or as he called it the 'slow' lane was for trucks). A national campaign, penalty points and spot fines could change this in a matter of 2 years.

Back to the overpass at NLX, they are separatoing the inbound and outbound lanes with a very low wall. At least, that's how it looks now. I am thinking when you're going outbound towards Naas, if you are on the right lane at night, a car coming inbound towards Dublin can easily dazzle you with high beam and fog lamps. The two lanes should be separated in my view with a taller wall

rameire

The wall based on what I believe will be a standard concrete median, like what you would find on the M1 or M50.

rameire

rameire wrote: »

The wall based on what I believe will be a standard concrete median, like what you would find on the M1 or M50.

They really aught to install these cricket bats to stop the light crossing over to the other side, not just here but along all motorway sections with the current standard barriers.

regedit

Deleted User wrote: »

They really aught to install these cricket bats to stop the light crossing over to the other side, not just here but along all motorway sections with the current standard barriers.

That looks nice. I am thinking, as cars are coming inbound with full headlamps and the classical fog lights that we seem to adore, it may be very dangerous for people driving the opposite direction

Chris_5339762

Are they really gonna get this done by the October Bank Holiday? That gives them just over a week to finish off at least the westbound bit.

MJohnston

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Are they really gonna get this done by the October Bank Holiday? That gives them just over a week to finish off at least the westbound bit.

It is just the flyover opening by then, the rest won't be finished till January.

ukoda

regedit wrote: »

That looks nice. I am thinking, as cars are coming inbound with full headlamps and the classical fog lights that we seem to adore, it may be very dangerous for people driving the opposite direction

why would this flyover warrant special measures to overcome this and not the rest of the motorway network and flyovers?

I dont recall any crashes as a result of dazzled drivers on any of the other flyovers / bridges around the country. is there something particularly dangerous about this bridge that I'm missing? given it will be well lit with street lights there shouldn't be any headlights on when going over it

BuzzFish

Speed restrictions are official... Expect more Gardaí checking speed id say.

http://www.kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/RoadWorksSpeedLimitOrder-N7NewlandsCrossUpgrade.html?%3Cscript+src=%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google-analytics.com%2Furchin.js%22+type%3D%22text%2Fjavascript%22%3E+%0A%3C%2Fscript%3E%0A%3Cscript+type%3D%22text%2Fjavascript%22%3E+%0A_uacct+%3D+%22UA-2042415-1%22%3B%0AurchinTracker%28%29%3B%0A%3C%2Fscript%3E%0A+%0A

ukoda

ukoda wrote: »

why would this flyover warrant special measures to overcome this and not the rest of the motorway network and flyovers?

I dont recall any crashes as a result of dazzled drivers on any of the other flyovers / bridges around the country. is there something particularly dangerous about this bridge that I'm missing? given it will be well lit with street lights there shouldn't be any headlights on when going over it

I would like to see these along all roads that have the concrete barriers, particularity the rural motorway sections where oncoming lights are a problem.

Hotblack Desiato

ukoda wrote: »

given it will be well lit with street lights there shouldn't be any headlights on when going over it

You serious?? Dipped beams are headlights and they should certainly be on on a lit road at night.