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

Golden Horde

I see the link road from the roundabout into Sallins village via Lidl is now open.

Drove along the link road and bypass to junction 9a this morning and it struck me that the landscaping on the project is apalling.

Don't know whether that is the contractors fault or Kildare CoCo, but the link road really they've just built a road and paths and that's it. No landscaping done to plant grass, trees etc. Really looks poor and for many will be the main route into Sallins it doesn't create a good impression.

Not bypass related, but the council are installing a bus stop in the village - plonked right in front of one of the few existing flower beds obscuring it completely. It's like the council just doesn't care about the visual impact or having an attractive public space.

Rant over.

riddlinrussell

Golden Horde wrote: »

I see the link road from the roundabout into Sallins village via Lidl is now open.

Drove along the link road and bypass to junction 9a this morning and it struck me that the landscaping on the project is apalling.

Don't know whether that is the contractors fault or Kildare CoCo, but the link road really they've just built a road and paths and that's it. No landscaping done to plant grass, trees etc. Really looks poor and for many will be the main route into Sallins it doesn't create a good impression.

Not bypass related, but the council are installing a bus stop in the village - plonked right in front of one of the few existing flower beds obscuring it completely. It's like the council just doesn't care about the visual impact or having an attractive public space.

Rant over.

Having walked the bypass and the link road there is plenty of planting, it just hasn't actually grown in yet, of course there is no grass, KCC is signed up to the national biodiversity plan so grass is no longer recommended over letting the sides go wild, which is what's happening for the most part, with saplings planted along the sides also. There is a multitude of really nice wildflower (Poppies, wild mustard, red campion, scarlet pimpernel etc) growing already and this is only its first year on very disturbed ground, so very hopeful for it going forward.

Tomrota

Golden Horde wrote: »

I see the link road from the roundabout into Sallins village via Lidl is now open.

Drove along the link road and bypass to junction 9a this morning and it struck me that the landscaping on the project is apalling.

Don't know whether that is the contractors fault or Kildare CoCo, but the link road really they've just built a road and paths and that's it. No landscaping done to plant grass, trees etc. Really looks poor and for many will be the main route into Sallins it doesn't create a good impression.

Not bypass related, but the council are installing a bus stop in the village - plonked right in front of one of the few existing flower beds obscuring it completely. It's like the council just doesn't care about the visual impact or having an attractive public space.

Rant over.

I think we’re lucky to be getting a few bus shelters in the area. Its not often we see improvements to public transport in Naas/Sallins area. They’re usually too busy with Maynooth and Celbridge.

BuzzFish

Interesting comment and comments on the local Naas Ball Facebook page today:

https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTE0NzY0MDUwNDYwMDM4NTg6MjkwOTcwODIzMjY3MzUyNQ%3D%3D

NedNew2

Not directly related to this project (but I couldn't find a better thread).

KCC in their draft County Development Plan (https://draftkildarecdp2023-2029.ie/) has an objective as below. It's not clear to me whether the intention is that the M9 may be accessed from Junction 12 or whether this would be additional to an all movements J11.

TM O76

Provide for all vehicle movements from the west to the south as well as from the south to the west at the M7 (Junction 11) / M9 (Junction 1) Interchange and to investigate the feasibility of providing for a M9/M7 interchange connection along the M7 at Junction 12.

pad199207

Y Interchange I guess is what they are talking about

Chris_5339762

Yes, that. Should have been done years ago - same for the M7/8. We shouldn't be having restricted interchanges between motorways, it's silly.

medoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118920254#Comment_118920254

Exactly. And hopefully they plan and build accordingly for the M20/M21. At the very least synchronise the plans and which ever is built first has easy provision for the other.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118920254#Comment_118920254

Just follows the trend of cost saving on initial infrastructure projects only to add the features at a later date at a vast increase compared to the original savings.

KrisW1001

The route taken by M9 and M7 made an all-movements junction a waste of money, given how far out of the way it would drag drivers wanting a movement to/from N7 West. After Kilcullen, M9 heads north-east for 4km, before joining M7. If M7 J11 allowed you to turn left onto M7 West, all you’ve achieved is an 8~10km long U-turn.

What I think would be of more use would be a northward spur connecting M9 North/South to the western end of the R445 dual-carriageway. Something like this:

As ever, no more than ten minutes of thought has been expended about how practical or cost-effective this arrangement would be .

pad199207

Free flow please to the above 😁

Chris_5339762

At the start, when it was opened, I would agree, it made no sense with the roads around Kilkullen. But the missing movements should have been added with the Kilkullen to Carlow scheme.

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116908394#Comment_116908394

KCC have now published the CPOs for this project;

https://consult.kildarecoco.ie/en/consultation/r445-newhall-junction-improvement-project-compulsory-purchase-order-no1-2022

dublincc2

Just a query, was the original route of the M7 intended to go from Naas to Cashel with spurs from Cashel to Limerick and Cork? This is an old newspaper article which illustrates what I’m referring to, why wasn’t it built like this:

Hotblack Desiato

One motorway to replace the N4, N6, N7 and N8, while making all trips except possibly Dublin-Galway longer?

Massive congestion and total lack of redundancy just to save a few quid (upfront). That's the normal way we do things actually...