Potential traffic chaos in Decemer/January

Redsoxfan

The NRA are planning on closing the M4 eastbound between J8 (Kilcock) and J5 (Leixlip) bewteen 8pm and 9am from 16th Dec to 22nd Dec and between Jan 10th to Jan 16th so that they can install new (unnecessary) signage on the M4. This is a disgrace-can you imagine the chaos in Kilcock, Maynooth and Leixlip during these periods? I hit the M4 at Maynooth at around 7.30am every morning and it's busy enough at these times. School related traffic builds in Maynooth from around 8.15am onwards.

I would urge people to write to the Transportation Office in Kildare County Council to object to this crazy proposal. The signage itself is a waste of public money at a time when we can not afford it and the fact that they want to close a vital commuter link during peak commuting times makes it even worse.

EvilMonkey

Maybe their closing the road at a stupid time but how is improving the signage unnecessary or a waste of money? Poor signage is one of the most common complaints about our roads. I suppose it would be better for the NRA not to spend their budget and give it back to the government to throw into one of their many money pits.

ixus

Sorry, but where is the poor signage? There is nothing wrong with it on this stretch as far as I can make out.


Now, if they were talking about the M50 intersection point on the N4 or the Galway turn off on the M4 that would be different. Even with no traffic at 6Am this will add 20 minutes onto my journey in the morning (from Maynooth).

What are the odds these new signs will be too low for high rise HGV's too?

NRA are proven clowns.

JMSE

Sounds like a plan Beavis and Butthead would have come up with.....

'uh like, when should we close this road n stuff...?'

'just before Christmas, yeah yeah yeah hahahahaha'

'uh like nice one Butthead'

And thats how it happened. Wouldnt worry about the clearance thing, that sounds even too comical for B&B. Must be lane closures, not actual road closure? How bloody long does it take to through in an overhead gantry? They were puttin them across the M50 thru the night no bother at all in the past few years.

EvilMonkey

ixus wrote: »

Sorry, but where is the poor signage? There is nothing wrong with it on this stretch as far as I can make out.


Now, if they were talking about the M50 intersection point on the N4 or the Galway turn off on the M4 that would be different. Even with no traffic at 6Am this will add 20 minutes onto my journey in the morning (from Maynooth).

What are the odds these new signs will be too low for high rise HGV's too?

NRA are proven clowns.

Didn't say it was poor on the M4, I was talking in general. I said improving it wasn't a waste of money or unnecessary. Anyway its defiantly not up to the same standard as the newer Motorways. Does every sign have crash protection? How many overhead signs?

The Raven.

Temporary closure of M4 will cause chaos

The National Roads Authority (NRA) are planning to divert all M4 traffic through Leixlip; Maynooth and Kilcock in order to carry out work on the Motorway. The M4 will be shut down between 8pm and 9am at the height of the Christmas Season with all local and national traffic diverted through Leixlip, Kilcock and Maynooth. The dates involved are Thursday 16th to Wednesday 22nd December and again on Thursday 10th and Wednesday 16th January.

It will of course also affect Celbridge because Celbridge West Interchange will not be available at these times, back to the bad old days when everyone had to use the only bridge. While it might just be manageable from 8pm in the evening to close the M4, to do so during the morning peak up to 9am is simply madness. I have written to the NRA and the County Council seeking changes to the advertised times.

There are 8 days when the problem will be most extreme, primarily because they are weekdays. They are Friday 17th December; Monday 20th December; Tuesday 21st December; Wednesday 22nd December. The January dates are Tuesday 11th January; Wednesday 12th January; Thursday 13th January; Friday 14th January.

If you want to do something about it write to the Senior Executive Officer, Transportation Department, Kildare County Council on or before 5pm Wed 24th November 2010. Her email address is skavanagh@kildarecoco.ie or Sonya Kavanagh, Aras Cill Dara, Devoy Park. Naas, Co. Kildare.

http://www.kildare.ie/community/CatherineMurphy/2010/11/temporary_closure_of_m4_will_c.html#more

This is what Catherine Murphy has to say about it, and she is absolutely right. People need to write in and try to get the times changed.

She has also pointed out that it will affect Celbridge, as the M4 Interchange will not be available at these times. This will see a return of the traffic chaos in Celbridge before the Interchange was built. Apart from the problems for Christmas shoppers returning home after 8 pm, or partygoers during the festive season, it will be a nightmare in the morning rush hour before 9 am.

Sheer lunacy :rolleyes:!!

itac

for the love of...

What kind of eejit decides to work on motorway that's used for commuting until 9am? Surely it would make more sense to finish at 6am? or even 7?! Bah!! It won't affect me a huge amount, my car lives on my driveway most of the time, as cycling is usually quicker for me to get to work in Maynooth, but I seriously pity anyone who'll be trying to drive through to get to work though.
I can only imagine what the Kilcock Rd/Mill St./Main St. are going to be like..and if the weather's anything like last year, I can see them running well overtime on it.

Strongly worded politely worded e-mail to be sent shortly...will post here if there's any reply...
edit...here's the email I'm sending.

Dear Sonya,

I have just read the proposal to close the M4 from 8pm to 9am for dates in December and early January. I'm at a loss as to why exactly the work can't finish at 6 or 7am, and extend for another day or two after the proposed dates, or be moved to different dates. The M4 is busy from 7am onwards, and to have it closed at that time of year, when people will be facing their last weeks work, their last week of college, of secondary and primary school, and also during the first week of their return after the holiday season is beyond understanding. I appreciate that there is no ideal time to close a road, but surely having a motorway closed during commuting hours makes little sense to anyone involved.

I'm lucky enough to live just 1km away from my workplace, and so, rarely, if ever, have the need to take my car there. Each morning I cycle into work, I pass through the backed up school and university traffic, which is ludicrously heavy for such a small town. if the motorway is to be closed, where are the extra cars going to fit? The backroads here are already busy with commuters trying to gain the extra edge on heavy traffic, and I can't begin to imagine what they'll be like if the motorway is to be taken out of action during those hours.

I would be interested to hear if there's any possibility of revising the work hours or work dates?
Kind regards..
itac

djimi

Surely that must be a typo from the NRA? Why would they go to the bother of closing the road at night to do the work, only to keep the road closed for the morning rush hour? Doesnt make sense.

Davidth88

Written e-mail

That is stupid stupid stupid !

Buffman

Agreed, that is absolutely ridiculous.

Buffman

So, basically the whole M4 closed then!:eek: I hope that '9am' above is just a typo by the NRA!

From Meath CoCo

News and Events

Temporary Road Closure: M4 Motorway between Westbound between Junction 9 (Enfield) and Junction 10 (Kinnegad) - 16th to the 22nd of December 2010, between the hours of 22.00 – 06.00 each night
Date Released: 26 October 2010
Meath County Council
Temporary Closure of Roads
Section 75 Roads Act, 1993(Roads Regulations 1994)
Notice is hereby given that Meath County Council intends to partially close the M4 motorway Westbound between Junction 9 (Enfield) and Junction 10 (Kinnegad).
Reason for Closure:
The road closure is necessary to facilitate the erection of Portal Gantries from Junction 10 (Kinnegad) and is requested by the National Roads Authority (NRA).
Duration:
It is proposed to close the road on the 16th to the 22nd of December 2010, between the hours of 22.00 – 06.00.
Alternative Routes:
Alternative diversion routes will be in place via the R148.
Note: Diversion signs will be in place.
Submissions and observations to the proposed temporaryroad closures should be made in writing to the:
The Area Administrator,
Trim Electoral Area,
Mornington House,
Summerhill Rd,
Trim on or before the 19th November 2010

df1985

this is mental, celbridge will be strangled, all intel and HP traffic back through leixlip village on top of regular commuter traffic, and xmas week too. who comes up with these ideas!? close it 9pm-6am, manageable.

itac

Got a courtesy reply yesterday saying my comments had been noted, that the situation is under review
and they'll get back to me with an update regarding it.

So..will let ye know if I get an update!

Can't believe they're considering closing most of the M4 at such a busy time-have they ever driven the roads at this time?!
There was an accident on the M4 this morning slowing traffic, and the traffic in Maynooth this morning was busier than normal.
It'll be interesting to see what happens...:(

Orion

The M4 will now be open from 5am during the period of works. It's also weather related - work should be done in one night but they're factoring 3 in case of wind - cranes are in use.

aodh_rua

I've just received an email from KCC stating that having discussed the matter with the NRA and the Gardaí, they have decided to " to defer the completion of the works on the M4 until early in the New Year".

Notices will appear in the Leinster Leader and the Liffey Champion confirming this.

ronaneire

aodh_rua wrote: »

I've just received an email from KCC stating that having discussed the matter with the NRA and the Gardaí, they have decided to " to defer the completion of the works on the M4 until early in the New Year".

Notices will appear in the Leinster Leader and the Liffey Champion confirming this.

I received the same mail. Well done everyone

joe cluxton

Email From the NRA.
Dear Mr. Cluxton,

Thank you for your recent email regarding the above.

The National Roads Authority is undertaking a project to improve the overhead signage on the M4 motorway. These works will consist of the installation of 20 overhead gantries at three locations on the M4. The correct details of the locations / closures are as follows.

Mullingar

· Eight cantilever gantries will be erected at Junctions 13, 15, 16, 17 on both the eastbound and westbound sections of motorway. To facilitate the safe installation of the signage, one lane will be removed from normal operations.
· There is no motorway closure at these locations.

M4/M6 Junction

· One portal gantry sign and one butterfly sign (impacting the M4 westbound motorway) will be erected in advance of the M4/M6 split. To facilitate the safe installation of the signs, the M4 motorway will be closed for one night only westbound on December 16th before the M4/M6 split during off-peak hours and reopened pre-morning peak hours. (The exact hours of the closure will be announced nearer the time)
· Traffic will be directed off / onto the motorway at clearly identified locations.
· This one night only closure is weather dependent therefore the closure is expected to take place on December 16th, but could occur between December 16th and December 22nd.

M4 Kildare (Leixlip and Maynooth)

· On the M4 between Leixlip and Maynooth, 5 portal gantry signs (spanning the entire carriageway) and 5 cantilever gantry signs (spanning the hard shoulder and left hand lane) will be provided. These signs will be located at Junction 5, 6 and 7 eastbound and westbound. To facilitate the safe installation of the signage on the M4 westbound and M4 eastbound, alternate closures will be scheduled between consecutive junctions to ensure one side of the motorway will remain open at all times.
· These closures will occur from January 4th to January 28th during the off-peak overnight hours of 21:00 to 5:30 eastbound and 21:00 to 6:00 westbound.
· There will be no overnight closures on Friday and Saturday nights.
· Traffic will be directed off / onto the motorway at clearly identified locations.


I hope that the above information is of assistance to you.

Regards,
Annamarie McNally
Programme Administrator
National Roads Authority, St. Martin's House,
Waterloo Road, Dublin 4

Davidth88

I got a similar reply to aodh_rui ........ I imagine the KCC got their heads torn off


TWITS

bittihuduga

i got this today by mail:

Friends,

Good news announced yesterday.

The NRA and Kildare County Council have confirmed that the M4 will be open from 5am during the closure and NOT FROM 9am as advertised.

They also stated that the closure is weather related i.e if there is good weather (not windy--cranes being used) that the closure could last around 3 nights. And that the closure will be eastbound one night and westbound the next night.

According to the Council the money has to be spent this year, hence the closure before Christmas. There is a meeting of The Council, the NRA, Gardai and the Ambulance Service today to discuss the plan.

I would like to thank you all for getting the changes.

Regards,

John