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

tails_naf

pegasus1 wrote: »

Speed restrictions still in place... no one heeding them...

It's a real shame its basically finished but still 80kmph, there are very long stretches with not even a traffic cone, and yet thousands of cars are forced to crawl through it for months. Can't imagine any other country allowing that.

donvito99

tails_naf wrote: »

It's a real shame its basically finished but still 80kmph, there are very long stretches with not even a traffic cone, and yet thousands of cars are forced to crawl through it for months. Can't imagine any other country allowing that.

What is the extent of the delay in reality though between 120kph and 80 over a stretch of 14km ish?

donvito99

donvito99 wrote: »

What is the extent of the delay in reality though between 120kph and 80 over a stretch of 14km ish?

A good junior cert question.

barneygumble99

[Deleted User] wrote: »

A good junior cert question.

120 kph to travel 14km is 7 minutes
80 kph to travel 14km is 10.5 minutes

Think of all you could do in that time saving though, lol

GhostyMcGhost

barneygumble99 wrote: »

120 kph to travel 14km is 7 minutes
80 kph to travel 14km is 10.5 minutes

Think of all you could do in that time saving though, lol

3.5 mins each way = 7 mins a day x 5 days is 35 mins a week or over 2 hours per month

Put it this way, I’ve sat in enough traffic, I don’t need more unnecessarily

barneygumble99

barneygumble99 wrote: »

120 kph to travel 14km is 7 minutes
80 kph to travel 14km is 10.5 minutes

Think of all you could do in that time saving though, lol

Well it depends on whether you can get to the first Dublin bottleneck before it starts backing up, arrive there one minute later and you'll easily lose 5 minutes, repeat for the next few junctions and that three minutes will cost you 30-40 minutes.

Sam Russell

GhostyMcGhost wrote: »

3.5 mins each way = 7 mins a day x 5 days is 35 mins a week or over 2 hours per month

Put it this way, I’ve sat in enough traffic, I don’t need more unnecessarily

Travelling into town in the morning would mean, if the limit was 120 km/hr, you would arrive at the congestion at the mad cow a full 3 and a half minutes earlier, to sit for those three and a half minutes in slow or stationary traffic in addition to the usual sitting in slow or stationary traffic.

I doubt it would make any difference to your day.

Darc19

There's too much nit picking here.

OK, so it's not officially at 120km, but is anyone really heeding it except the usual "follow all rules" types?

JCT 9a is part of Sallins bypass project, so not connected in timeline to the mainline m7, though part of the overall project.

At the end of the day, the three lanes opened last summer and there has not been one accident of note since.

Prior to that and going back years, there'd be an accident at least once a week - some of which would cause hours of tailbacks. Do we all have such short memories???


So, I couldn't give a rats arse about small finishing details or a totally ignored and inappropriate temporary speed limit as neither are causing me or anyone else any inconvenience of note.

Cazale

Sam Russell wrote:

I doubt it would make any difference to your day.

barneygumble99 wrote:

Think of all you could do in that time saving though, lol

It's not the simple difference between 80 and 120. It's the constant lane closures, detours etc associated with the never ending roadworks that are driving people mad after two years.

Darc19

Cazale wrote: »

It's not the simple difference between 80 and 120. It's the constant lane closures, detours etc associated with the never ending roadworks that are driving people mad after two years.

Three years!

Remember that the strengthening of the hard shoulder took about 9 months - ridiculous that it was a separate contract.

Thankfully all the detours are gone and lane closures too - though still some overhead signs need to be finished.

But the worst part was the appalling level of communication. They should have done a weekly or even monthly update on works. The website promised so much and delivered so little.

_Kaiser_

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Well it depends on whether you can get to the first Dublin bottleneck before it starts backing up, arrive there one minute later and you'll easily lose 5 minutes, repeat for the next few junctions and that three minutes will cost you 30-40 minutes.

This is the point that always seems to be missed in these discussions for some reason.

I'm sure everyone here has a regular commute where if they leave 10 or even 5 minutes later, it could easily be the difference of an extra 30 minutes+ by the end.

Me I have an approx hour each way to work/home and those 10 minutes can have a significant impact on whether I get there as planned - and that's even with travelling slightly outside normal peak times

WishUWereHere

donvito99 wrote: »

What is the extent of the delay in reality though between 120kph and 80 over a stretch of 14km ish?

While I agree with your sentiment, the other side of the argument is why the hell build a motorway, then place an 80kph restriction?

donvito99

WishUWereHere wrote: »

While I agree with your sentiment, the other side of the argument is why the hell build a motorway, then place an 80kph restriction?

Well a lower speed limit theoretically increases the capacity of the road, which is why the 3rd lane has been built in any case.

Darc19

I jinxed it.

Accident Southbound after jct 10 causing delays at present.

BuzzFish

Darc19 wrote: »

So, I couldn't give a rats arse about small finishing details or a totally ignored and inappropriate temporary speed limit as neither are causing me or anyone else any inconvenience of note.

The one point you're missing is the impact on local Naas folk by not having J9a open, having J10 a mess, p and the resulting queueing we have to deal with getting around and in/out of town as a result. I'd say the contractor has the same view as you however.....

On J10, I've now talked to three separate people and I myself have experienced someone driving the wrong way around one of the roundabouts there. On leaving the motorway northbound there is a confusing "left for Newbridge, right for Naas" before the lane split but it seems some people are turning right at the roundabout instead.

harr

BuzzFish wrote: »

The one point you're missing is the impact on local Naas folk by not having J9a open, having J10 a mess, p and the resulting queueing we have to deal with getting around and in/out of town as a result. I'd say the contractor has the same view as you however.....

On J10, I've now talked to three separate people and I myself have experienced someone driving the wrong way around one of the roundabouts there. On leaving the motorway northbound there is a confusing "left for Newbridge, right for Naas" before the lane split but it seems some people are turning right at the roundabout instead.

I have witnessed total confusion myself around J10 and have witnessed Q,s down onto the motorway because of the volume of traffic coming from Naas ... seems to a horribly planned junction.
So them saying it’s to dangerous to open 9a is laughable.

regedit

harr wrote: »

I have witnessed total confusion myself around J10 and have witnessed Q,s down onto the motorway because of the volume of traffic coming from Naas ... seems to a horribly planned junction.
So them saying it’s to dangerous to open 9a is laughable.

bank on there harr
We live in Naas and visiting friends in Waterford last night. Back at that junction at around 9 PM and took the junctiion 10. To say the design is illogical is an understatement. My wife was saying that whenever she travels back home rather than taking junction 10, she travels to junction 9 as she perceives the 10 as dangerous for vehicles traveling northbound.
These few junctions are a recipe for disaster. Cars coming from Naas and driving to Newbridge come at high enough speed which makes clearing the slip roads difficult as the visibility isn't best.
The final layer of tarmac is extremely poor.
We seem to struggle to get things right in this country.

Last Stop

Last Stop wrote: »

I wonder do builders drive past empty offices after hours giving out the same way people give out about builders not working when they are either going to or from work??

Or do builders walk into the reception building of an office block and complain that there is only one person working without seeing the behind the scenes work??

Mr I Know What A Triangle Is continues to defend the project with specious arguments, quelle surprise

Could it have been done quicker? Potentially yes but a simple understanding of the Time-Cost-Scope triangle suggests this is the best balance between time and costs.

With a background in civil engineering, I can tell you that the time-cost-scope triangle is an equilateral triangle meaning if you change one side you effect the others. This means that decreasing the time increases the cost as the scope for the job is fixed. Not being involved in the job, I can’t say specifically it’s been optimised but TII have a good track record on this and it looks like it will be completed on time if not before Jan 2020.

I actually stick to 80 on this section. I haven't seen a GoSafe van since the 3 lanes opened but I have no interest in picking up 3 points for the sake of 3 minutes. It's nice that I don't have to do the N81 > Rathmore > Punchestown > Kilcullen ratrun as much anymore, but as suspected it's still the only option at peak times despite the addition of a 3rd lane. Accidents on the N7/M7 also seem as endemic as on the M50 now :rolleyes:

Darc19

harr wrote: »

I have witnessed total confusion myself around J10 and have witnessed Q,s down onto the motorway because of the volume of traffic coming from Naas ... seems to a horribly planned junction.
So them saying it’s to dangerous to open 9a is laughable.

Once they opened up the two lanes on the roundabout approaches, traffic dissippated immediately and the difference was dramatic on the approach from Naas.

Still would be great to have 9a open and the lights on jct 10 working.

champchamp

The biggest improvement that could be made is to start dishing out penalty points to the middle lane hoggers.
When is the Sallins bypass scheduled to open?

spacetweek

champchamp wrote: »

The biggest improvement that could be made is to start dishing out penalty points to the middle lane hoggers.
When is the Sallins bypass scheduled to open?

April

GhostyMcGhost

Aaaaaaaaand a crash

I said to myself last night, bet there’ll be an accident once everyone is back to work

And I see one on the M50 too. New year same ****

Daz_

champchamp wrote: »

The biggest improvement that could be made is to start dishing out penalty points to the middle lane hoggers.
When is the Sallins bypass scheduled to open?

I think they would be better off putting energy into a total clamp down on mobile phone use in the car. I suspect it’s the reason for a high percentage of the daily crashes .

BelfastVanMan

Daz_ wrote: »

I think they would be better off putting energy into a total clamp down on mobile phone use in the car. I suspect it’s the reason for a high percentage of the daily crashes .

Both of those things need serious enforcement, IMHO.

WhatsGoingOn2

GhostyMcGhost wrote: »

Aaaaaaaaand a crash

I said to myself last night, bet there’ll be an accident once everyone is back to work

And I see one on the M50 too. New year same ****

It was a broken down Bus Eireann bus rather than a crash.
Rubberneckers being the main cause of the back up

Mantis Toboggan

WhatsGoingOn2 wrote: »

It was a broken down Bus Eireann bus rather than a crash.
Rubberneckers being the main cause of the back up

Can we organise penalty points also for rubberneckers?

fullstop

WhatsGoingOn2 wrote: »

It was a broken down Bus Eireann bus rather than a crash.
Rubberneckers being the main cause of the back up

It was, but there was also a 3 car crash on a slip road/on ramp a few km further in.

pad199207

The queue for the Naas South offramp this morning is ridiculous

_Kaiser_

pad199207 wrote: »

The queue for the Naas South offramp this morning is ridiculous

Yep, as is the reduced speed limit that has no cause. The majority of this road is now exactly as it'll be when they (allegedly) lift it in a few weeks.

All that's happening now is the difference in speeds between different cars is more pronounced which causes its own issues too.

The Royal Scam

Spoke to someone who is working on Sallins BP. He said the delay at Kerry Foods is purely due to the council not prepared to pay contractor money so they are delaying it being opened so they don't have to pay.
He also said that bypass is scheduled for an April opening but all workers reckon it will be May.