M7 - Naas/Newbridge Bypass Upgrade [Junction 9a now open]

BuzzFish

emfifty wrote: »

I was up around the Osberstown I/C today and I reckon it could be open by month end. Asphalt is down both sides of link rd to Kerry Foods and demerge slip road westbound was being cleaned by a roadsweeper. Poles for signage all in place too from what I could see.

Did ye think the lanes looked very narrow? I was expecting 2 lanes for future proofing but it just looks very tight. Maybe it's just the separation that makes the lanes look so narrow.

emfifty

BuzzFish wrote: »

Did ye think the lanes looked very narrow? I was expecting 2 lanes for future proofing but it just looks very tight. Maybe it's just the separation that makes the lanes look so narrow.

Does look quite narrow. It will be interesting to see how the traffic flows. I thought they would put a separate (free flowing) slip at the end of the link rd heading toward Millenium Park roundabout as the space seems to have been allocated for it. Perhaps when traffic counts increase with the development of the park, we might see some modifications at that roundabout.

_Kaiser_

Yep I thought myself that the merge onto the roundabout looked very narrow when I was passing the other day. Wouldn't surprise me if it'll be a single lane that of course will cause a tailback onto the exit itself at peak morning times (I expect there'll be a lot mre than just those going to the factory that'll take this exit).

Why we can't just ONCE do things right the first time is beyond me!

emfifty

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Yep I thought myself that the merge onto the roundabout looked very narrow when I was passing the other day. Wouldn't surprise me if it'll be a single lane that of course will cause a tailback onto the exit itself at peak morning times (I expect there'll be a lot mre than just those going to the factory that'll take this exit).

Why we can't just ONCE do things right the first time is beyond me!

I agree. Initially, we'll have to see how things pan out but when the Sallins bypass opens next year, that will add more traffic to the junction for sure.

Darc19

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Yep I thought myself that the merge onto the roundabout looked very narrow when I was passing the other day. Wouldn't surprise me if it'll be a single lane that of course will cause a tailback onto the exit itself at peak morning times (I expect there'll be a lot mre than just those going to the factory that'll take this exit).

Why we can't just ONCE do things right the first time is beyond me!

Looking back on various doomsday scenarios by various posters, none have come through yet.

So maybe wait until it's open to traffic and an issue arises before knocking it?

BuzzFish

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I expect there'll be a lot mre than just those going to the factory that'll take this exit).

Why we can't just ONCE do things right the first time is beyond me!

What factory? Are you referring to the Kerry Group Global Technology & Innovation Center... packed with scientists & R&D folks?

Back on topic, there will be a 1000 pupil school at the opposite side of that roundabout so manbe the narrow lanes are for traffic calming purpose.

benny79

Have to say since the schools are back the traffic into Dublin is shocking! tail backs to exit 6/7 every morning and worse is I cant see this been fixed!

SoupyNorman

benny79 wrote: »

Have to say since the schools are back the traffic into Dublin is shocking! tail backs to exit 6/7 every morning and worse is I cant see this been fixed!

Seems to be, the volume of traffic flowing freely up from J11 to J8 is impacting the ability of J7 – J1 to handle it.

Long term, more lanes won’t fix it, but I will say that the 3 lane upgrade was ABSOLUTELY required in this instance. Now there needs to be a focus on providing real and feasible public transport alternatives.

Even carpooling isn’t incentivized. Years ago I looked into setting up a website to promote car pooling and found some other person had tried and got shut down for falling foul of hackney and taxi laws.

_Kaiser_

BuzzFish wrote: »

Back on topic, there will be a 1000 pupil school at the opposite side of that roundabout so maybe the narrow lanes are for traffic calming purpose.

Oh then we can definitely expect tailbacks with cars abandoned everywhere at morning peak. Wonderful!

Darc19

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Oh then we can definitely expect tailbacks with cars abandoned everywhere at morning peak. Wonderful!

Again, it this type of guessing that creates fake fears.

The sod hasn't been turned on the school yet. When it does open in two years, the entrance will be 500m down its own road and it will have a large drop off zone within it's curteledge.

There will also be plenty of time to change relevant layouts of roundabouts if required.

Tomrota

SoupyNorman wrote: »

Seems to be, the volume of traffic flowing freely up from J11 to J8 is impacting the ability of J7 – J1 to handle it.

Long term, more lanes won’t fix it, but I will say that the 3 lane upgrade was ABSOLUTELY required in this instance. Now there needs to be a focus on providing real and feasible public transport alternatives.

Even carpooling isn’t incentivized. Years ago I looked into setting up a website to promote car pooling and found some other person had tried and got shut down for falling foul of hackney and taxi laws.

It was overdue but the traffic will just get worse and the M50 literally can’t handle any more traffic. Almost every single car on that M/N7 in the morning only has a single driver- no passengers. The biggest incentive to remove people off this road or at least slow the increase in usage of cars is to create proper public transport. This corridor is completely neglected when it comes to public transport. No mention of anywhere past Rathcoole in Busconnects plan (which doesn’t do much for Rathcoole anyway), no expansion of DART past Celbridge. So there are two DART lines in the works to relieve the M/N4. No plans for major or minor public transport improvements along this M/N7 corridor as far as I can gather unless I’m missing something?

beertons

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Oh then we can definitely expect tailbacks with cars abandoned everywhere at morning peak. Wonderful!

You should see the mess KCC created, with 4 schools and 2 housing estates, and only 1 entrance/exit.

_Kaiser_

derekbcdlkl wrote: »

Why is there no Junction 20 on the M7 or Junction 2 on the M8?

Pretty much the same reason as there's no J8 on the M50 - planned exits that never made it to fruition.

theguzman

The temporary speed limit of 60km/h has since been raised to 80km/h, when this is finished (hopefully soon) will the Motorway (M7 mainline) revert to 120km/h?

pad199207

theguzman wrote: »

The temporary speed limit of 60km/h has since been raised to 80km/h, when this is finished (hopefully soon) will the Motorway (M7 mainline) revert to 120km/h?

Personally I don’t think it should. Since the road has been widened it has a more Urban or M50 feel and look to it.
100KMH would suffice. 120KMH then after the M9 split as it’s more rural after that.

_Kaiser_

pad199207 wrote: »

Personally I don’t think it should. Since the road has been widened it has a more Urban or M50 feel and look to it.
100KMH would suffice. 120KMH then after the M9 split as it’s more rural after that.

It's perfectly capable of 120 km/h. Been long enough delays on this project without slowing things down even more.

Most cars are now doing 100-ish or more anyway.

Charles Babbage

pad199207 wrote: »

Personally I don’t think it should. Since the road has been widened it has a more Urban or M50 feel and look to it.
100KMH would suffice. 120KMH then after the M9 split as it’s more rural after that.

it will be no different than the 120Kmh M1.

pad199207

Charles Babbage wrote: »

it will be no different than the 120Kmh M1.

That’s true yeah

Stan27

benny79 wrote: »

Have to say since the schools are back the traffic into Dublin is shocking! tail backs to exit 6/7 every morning and worse is I cant see this been fixed!

I leave athy at 6.30 for Dublin. Any later and traffic is crazy

ongarboy

benny79 wrote: »

Have to say since the schools are back the traffic into Dublin is shocking! tail backs to exit 6/7 every morning and worse is I cant see this been fixed!

Are kids from Kildare being driven to schools in Dublin, hence the upswing? They'll face long enough commutes when they reach working age, why subject them to gruelling twice daily long distance trips at such a young age also?

Darc19

benny79 wrote: »

Have to say since the schools are back the traffic into Dublin is shocking! tail backs to exit 6/7 every morning and worse is I cant see this been fixed!

It's not to do with "schools", the more correct term is summer holiday season.
School traffic only affects local areas, but during the peak summer months of July / August about 20% of commuters are on holiday at any one time.

TII have said on numerous occasions from before the start of the upgrade to just a couple of weeks ago that Dublin bound commuters will not see any general benefit as it will cause more stoppages closer to Dublin.

The benefit for those drivers is the free flowing home journey.

The other benefit is a much reduced level of accidents around Newbridge and Naas

On road news, seems the finishing is pushed out to mid October. Notice on council website says overnight closures 15th/16th Oct.

Tomrota

ongarboy wrote: »

Are kids from Kildare being driven to schools in Dublin, hence the upswing? They'll face long enough commutes when they reach working age, why subject them to gruelling twice daily long distance trips at such a young age also?

I think they mean school as in college which hugely affects the N7, no?

Last Stop

Lanes will be 3.5m wide based on the cross section proposed which is narrower that the standard 3.65m but the same as M50 (amazing people advocating an additional lane miss that point) so it could end up 100kmph.
Don’t know what the M1 lanes are.

Personally I think that 100kmph would be safer and given the fact that it’s only 12km the time saving would be a massive 1.2 minutes.

_Kaiser_

Last Stop wrote: »

Lanes will be 3.5m wide based on the cross section proposed which is narrower that the standard 3.65m but the same as M50 (amazing people advocating an additional lane miss that point) so it could end up 100kmph.
Don’t know what the M1 lanes are.

Personally I think that 100kmph would be safer and given the fact that it’s only 12km the time saving would be a massive 1.2 minutes.

I believe its already been confirmed to return at 120?

If you want to drive at 100, there's nothing stopping you from doing so (there's plenty of drivers doing it and lower speeds already).. So long as you aren't holding up traffic capable and wanting to do the 120 (when no reason - traffic volume, visibility, surface conditions - not to) in the process.

road_high

Tomrota wrote: »

I think they mean school as in college which hugely affects the N7, no?

I’m sure you have lots of teachers commuting in too. I’d say you’d be surprised at the amount of actual school kids commuting in too as Dublin as lots of very well regarded secondary schools that people travel for.

BuzzFish

Few pics from the J9A on ramp from the Millennium Park side in Naas. Not far away now...

_Kaiser_

^^ Had a closer look the other day myself and it does look very (and unnecessarily) narrow and tight.

Is the intent to stop trucks using it or something?

beertons

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

^^ Had a closer look the other day myself and it does look very (and unnecessarily) narrow and tight.

Is the intent to stop trucks using it or something?

Id say that never even crossed their minds.

Roads are relative to the size of the bridge, which is tiny.

BuzzFish

beertons wrote: »

Id say that never even crossed their minds.

Roads are relative to the size of the bridge, which is tiny.

The bridge is standard width. What's your source for it being "tiny"? Far more likely is that the lanes are narrow for traffic calming reasons. It is wide enough for trucks, busses etc. It'll just lack much extra room. I wonder if they considered a cycle lane as there will be housing development along the bypass before long.

riddlinrussell

BuzzFish wrote: »

The bridge is standard width. What's your source for it being "tiny"? Far more likely is that the lanes are narrow for traffic calming reasons. It is wide enough for trucks, busses etc. It'll just lack much extra room. I wonder if they considered a cycle lane as there will be housing development along the bypass before long.

From the plans I believe there is planned to be a cycleway along the entire Sallins Bypass so it would make sense that it linked into the cycleways around the Naas Ring by crossing the bridge and these junctions