N7 - Newlands Cross upgrade

5500

Hoping the works kick off from next week in the belgard/Fonthill directions as the road is in bits with a couple of nasty bumps passing through, it also takes an age waiting on the lights at the moment practically the same as before the flyover was there

Sam Russell

How is this working since the return to work after Christmas?

nlgbbbblth

I worked the 30th, 31st and 2nd. Very quiet. Did Newbridge to Finglas and back again at 40 minutes each way for the three days.

Going well this week.
Monday: 45 minutes morning, 60 minutes going home. Slowdown around J8 / J9. No reason I could see.
Tuesday: 45 minutes morning, 50 minutes going home. No problems.
Didn't drive today.

Not sure if everybody is back yet.

L1011

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Not sure if everybody is back yet.

While I've nothing to prove its statistically significant, there seems to be more people on the trains I've taken this week whereas roads were quieter. Few people in work have made new years resolutions about not driving in, also its new Taxsaver time for people in companies that only do one run a year.


Colleges are generally not back till the end of the week or the start of next.

paulosam

Bus stop and shelter at the front of Newlands Retail Centre on the Fonthill Road disappeared this week without any notice or nearby replacement, good to see the planners keeping public transport users in mind!

Certainly enjoyed my extra 15 minute walk home in the wind and rain this evening from the next stop on the Belgard Road.

ukoda

So what's the consenses now that it's had some time to settle down? Do people still think it's had a disastrous effect on where the road narrows to 2 lanes past Naas?

Pablod

ukoda wrote: »

So what's the consenses now that it's had some time to settle down? Do people still think it's had a disastrous effect on where the road narrows to 2 lanes past Naas?

While it was better this week there was still some odd days where it was bad
on the good days I was getting home in less than hour when pre-christmas it was ranging between 75-90mins

Outbound at N7 merge to M7
Monday was fine - slight slow down at jn9
Tuesday was better - slowed momentarily at jn9 but continued to flow
Wednesday was muck - heavy rain had traffic at standstill and it was stopped at its usual jn7 (Kill) and crawled to jn10 (Newhall)
Thursday was better - slowed down at jn9 took a few mins to clear but flowed freely afterwards
Friday was a typical Friday - stopped at jn7 Kill and crawled all the way to jn11

1st week back after Christmas/New Year is probably too soon to judge properly as lot of people could still have been off.
-

regedit

I agree with the above. Monday-Thu was fine. Friday was busy.
The important thing is that NX is no longer a crossroad. No more issues there. I got there on Friday at around 4 PM. There was a large truck that was crawling as I was passing it. It was obviously either broken down or breaking down. No impact on the traffic as he was on the inside ('slow') lane. Something needs to be done fast with M7 noww. The traffic at Naas outbound is becoming a problem now.

robert muldoon

regedit wrote: »

I agree with the above. Monday-Thu was fine. Friday was busy.
The important thing is that NX is no longer a crossroad. No more issues there. I got there on Friday at around 4 PM. There was a large truck that was crawling as I was passing it. It was obviously either broken down or breaking down. No impact on the traffic as he was on the inside ('slow') lane. Something needs to be done fast with M7 noww. The traffic at Naas outbound is becoming a problem now.

My local councillor tells me that they are expecting news soon on the question of funding for the widening of the M7 to the M9, I expect it will take the year to see some real progress on this, with the new Kerry research centre due to open end of February!employing some 800 people, this is going to bring further chaos on the M7 during rush hour

The Royal Scam

There is more than 800 up there at the moment in Kerry Ingredients at the moment if you include construction workers. Most people have been hired

spacetweek

The Royal Scam wrote: »

There is more than 800 up there at the moment in Kerry Ingredients at the moment if you include construction workers. Most people have been hired

Where exactly is Kerry Ingredients? Naas?

Go Harvey Go

spacetweek wrote: »

Where exactly is Kerry Ingredients? Naas?

It is indeed in Naas - Millennium Park, to be precise.

MaceFace

The Royal Scam wrote: »

There is more than 800 up there at the moment in Kerry Ingredients at the moment if you include construction workers. Most people have been hired

Is this the case?

I don't believe anyone has moved into the building yet and driving by this place daily (through Millennium Park), I doubt there were the significant numbers of construction workers that you mentioned (just from visual and not knowing how many people are typically employed in such a scheme).

My understanding is that the Kerry Group have some space in one of the existing buildings in the area already (have done for a number of years). They are keeping them as there is not enough space for the people who will be moving from North Dublin and the existing folks in Naas.

I don't know if the final numbers will impact the N7 much. I imagine of those that are moving to Naas - many of them will not move home, so probably more traffic Northbound on N7.
Southbound, they will be entering the N7 at the Newhall exchange.
I was also told that they work strict hours, all finishing at 5:30 so avoid the area at that time. Think they all start at 8:30am.

As part of that planning, a new on/off ramp was supposed to be built but no signs of that. Wonder if they are holding up until the entire widening and Sallins bypass scheme gets sorted.

spacetweek

MaceFace wrote: »

As part of that planning, a new on/off ramp was supposed to be built but no signs of that. Wonder if they are holding up until the entire widening and Sallins bypass scheme gets sorted.

As far as I know the widening, interchange and Sallins bypass are all going to be done in one go, but that will take years so they can't wait that long to occupy the building.

ukoda

been using this every week since it opened and i have to say that traffic is no worse where the road goes down to 2 lanes at Naas, from timing it, i seem to be about 10 mins shorter journey time as a result of it opening, I'm usually travelling at peak times.

sonnyblack

robert muldoon wrote: »

My local councillor tells me that they are expecting news soon on the question of funding for the widening of the M7 to the M9, I expect it will take the year to see some real progress on this, with the new Kerry research centre due to open end of February!employing some 800 people, this is going to bring further chaos on the M7 during rush hour

I would have thought other NRA schemes in greater need such as M20 and Adare/Macroom Bypasses will be in the queue sooner that this road widening.
The PPP Eniiscorthy & New Ross bypasses will be the first to be announced I'd say

Reuben1210

sonnyblack wrote: »

I would have thought other NRA schemes in greater need such as M20 and Adare/Macroom Bypasses will be in the queue sooner that this road widening.
The PPP Eniiscorthy & New Ross bypasses will be the first to be announced I'd say

According to Leo Varadker circa 2013 i think, the third major roads project to go ahead during the term of this government is going to by the Enniscorthy and New Ross bypass PPP.

I don't think they will be doing any more major roads projects until after the next general election.

varioguard

...by the way
R113 Fonthill / Belgard switch to the city side of the center pier is happening soon...

robert muldoon

sonnyblack wrote: »

I would have thought other NRA schemes in greater need such as M20 and Adare/Macroom Bypasses will be in the queue sooner that this road widening.
The PPP Eniiscorthy & New Ross bypasses will be the first to be announced I'd say

I think when Kerry decided to come to millennium park in Naas, part of the deal was the widening of the M7. I beg to be corrected on this

gilly0512

robert muldoon wrote: »

I think when Kerry decided to come to millennium park in Naas, part of the deal was the widening of the M7. I beg to be corrected on this

Not good news on this I'm afraid, as I found this article in one of the free Kildare papers yesterday (Kildare Post). You would have thought that the Kerry Group would have made the opening of the Osberstown interchange a perquisite for building their plant in Naas, so either they've been sold a pup, or it was never part of the deal.

sonnyblack

gilly2308 wrote: »

Not good news on this I'm afraid, as I found this article in one of the free Kildare papers yesterday (Kildare Post). You would have thought that the Kerry Group would have made the opening of the Osberstown interchange a perquisite for building their plant in Naas, so either they've been sold a pup, or it was never part of the deal.

Sorry folks but there are more urgent projects around the country than the M7 road widening IMHO

Deedsie

sonnyblack wrote: »

Sorry folks but there are more urgent projects around the country than the M7 road widening IMHO

Which projects are more urgent in your honest opinion?

sonnyblack

Deedsie wrote: »

Which projects are more urgent in your honest opinion?

Aside from the Enniscorthy & New Ross bypass PPP's which are going to happen anyway.

The following:

N20 death trap-Absolutely paramount and ahead of anything else
Adare bypass
Macroom Ballyvourney bypass
Re-establish of government funding to NI to develop road to Donegal (Can't remember road number)

Mrs Dempsey

Parochialism will influence the reply to that question.
On Fri evening I am held up slightly on the 2 lane M7 to the M9 junction but more so in Adare.
Macroom is another town I get to see a lot of for a long time.
While I don't use them much the Limerick Cork & Limerick Waterford routes are totally inadequate.

BoatMad

sonnyblack wrote: »

Aside from the Enniscorthy & New Ross bypass PPP's which are going to happen anyway.

The following:

N20 death trap-Absolutely paramount and ahead of anything else
Adare bypass
Macroom Ballyvourney bypass
Re-establish of government funding to NI to develop road to Donegal (Can't remember road number)

personally, I would

extend the M11 to wexford

look at an outer orbital M1 , M4,M7 etc The M50 was built to close to the centre IMHO

A dublin north south tunnel , possibly linking to the port tunnel.

The projections for the greater Dublin area are for very significant population growth , we need more infrastructure now.

Deedsie

Personally I think they should just finish the M7 first. The M7 is more important road than pretty much any other as it links Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, Tralee, Naas etc etc to Dublin. Why not just finish one road completely and then move on to all the equally important projects mentioned. M20 is massively important but until funding is available it's not going to happen. The M7 widening project would benefit all of Munster, most of South Leinster and the southern half of the Dublin commuter belt. It needs to be built.

Schadenfreudia

Well if the decisions are based on the degree of congestion there is a good case for widening the M50 to three lanes past J14 and doing something about the M/N11 choke points on the Bray/Kilmacanogue sections.

Terrible tailbacks morning and night; they often stretch back as far as Newtownmountkennedy in the mornings.

varioguard

Yes, Dublin outer ring road.
Should take thousands of vehicles from the M50 (Belfast - Cork direction) which is becoming more & more congested even with three/four lanes...
However this new road would have to cross the M7 somewhere near Naas...
so there is no doubt the M7 widening is also very important

... and dont forget about the West coast. Donegal - Sligo - Tuam motorway would be great:)

Tuam - Gort starts very soon so there is some hope

BoatMad

and dont forget about the West coast. Donegal - Sligo - Tuam motorway would be great

very hard to justify traffic volumes here though

Well if the decisions are based on the degree of congestion there is a good case for widening the M50 to three lanes past J14 and doing something about the M/N11 choke points on the Bray/Kilmacanogue sections.

Terrible tailbacks morning and night; they often stretch back as far as Newtownmountkennedy in the mornings.

Indeed , this is the " newlands cross" of the south side. A poor undercapacity Bray north junction, coupled with the nonsense of speed limits due to accessible filling stations at Kilmacanogue. ( this could be fixed in the morning with a Lucan style solution ) Yet the NRA was offered temporary modifications that wicklow Co co have consistently refused , wanting a complete solution in one go.

spacetweek

BoatMad wrote: »

Yet the NRA was offered temporary modifications that wicklow Co co have consistently refused , wanting a complete solution in one go.

Can you give me more detail?