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

JohnC.

Is it really fair to judge a whole project on photos of a single small section?

prunudo

To me it looks like that section needs the least amount of work done to it. I wouldn't be worried about lack of change over the past few weeks.
It's probably almost ready for the final layer of tar so its only a matter of tidying the edges and moving the barriers.

regedit

JohnC. wrote: »

Is it really fair to judge a whole project on photos of a single small section?

@JohnC: my intention isn't to judge the project based on that small section.
I merely walk/run there during the week-end and am curious to see how the work is progressing

regedit

regedit wrote: »

@JohnC: my intention isn't to judge the project based on that small section.
I merely walk/run there during the week-end and am curious to see how the work is progressing

From what I can see, it appears that quite a lot is happening along the verges, but none of this work "stands out".

A day or two of topcoat laying will be very visible.

_Kaiser_

As I said previously, I fully expect that they'll open sections of it with speed restrictions at the end of April and call it a success while they then spend the next 6 months ACTUALLY finishing it.

Lots of time wasted last year IMO. And no, I'm no road engineer but this is the main artery out of Dublin to Limerick, Cork and Waterford (not to mention the very busy commuting towns in between). Every usable day should have been taken advantage of to get this done ASAP.

WishUWereHere

JohnC. wrote: »

Is it really fair to judge a whole project on photos of a single small section?

Again, I would never profess to being a Civil Engineer. And perhaps my views are a bit off the mark. I would say this though: Where Regedit is taking photos of is not the worst area - that 'honour' surely is where KG is ( I come off at J10 so cannot say anything about between J's 10 & 11).

Mrs Dempsey

Two men look through prison bars.
One sees mud - the other stars.

jmkennedyie

6+ bridge beams awaiting installation at Liffey bridge site Clane end.

bluetractor

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As I said previously, I fully expect that they'll open sections of it with speed restrictions at the end of April and call it a success while they then spend the next 6 months ACTUALLY finishing it.

IMO they can spend the next ten years finishing it once they get the three lanes open along with the hard shoulder for the breakdowns that are causing the biggest delays

llebpmac

What is the current status of each section of the road?
Barrier complete from J9 -> J10 partly complete to J11?
2 lanes final surface complete from j9 to j10?

Can anyone summarize this better? Completed work vs work to do?

_Kaiser_

Well there looks to be an awful lot left to do between the Carlow merge/exit and Junction 10 anyway

BuzzFish

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Well there looks to be an awful lot left to do between the Carlow merge/exit and Junction 10 anyway

A lot of work happening between J10 and 11 again at 10:45pm last night when I passed northbound. It seems the work really ramps up once they get to close the second lane. There were multiple trucks queued, road laying machinery and the barrier pouring machine hard at work with multiple crews and road cleaning trucks in the center.

I'll try grab dashcam footage and upload at some point.

riddlinrussell

Got some shots of the Sallins bypass from the canal on Monday. The piers for the Liffey bridge look to be mostly in place, the Canal overbridge foundations look mostly complete on the north side but less done on the south side.

Canal overbridge foundation north

Canal overbridge south

Liffey overbridge

jmkennedyie

Some lane modifications over next few days...

Eastbound lanes around Junction 10 moving to centreline on Saturday:
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/M7Naas-NewbridgeBy-PassUpgradeScheme.html

Eastbound removal of auxiliary lane between Junction 9 and 8 on Sunday:
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/M7EastboundLaneMovementsfromSunday24March2019.html

Westbound split around Junction 10 on Monday:
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/M7WestboundLaneMovementsfromMonday25March2019.html

jmkennedyie

Mainline Junctions 8-10 seems to be coming together. A lot of mainline verges cleaned up and inner lanes ready for grinding/repaving. Looks like more surfacing imminent on on/off ramps to new Kerry interchange. Various gantry posts installed a few weeks ago.

Re Sallins bypass seems some drainage has gone in recently north of canal. Canal bridge North pier emerging. South pier piling complete but no piers yet. From canal to south of Osberstown Road still largely untouched. Not started on Osberstown flyover bridge (traffic was moved to new temp alignment a few weeks agp).

And some pics...

Now 13 beams waiting for install at Clane end...but for what bridge




And North pillar of canal bridge now above ground:

riddlinrussell

I'd say the majority of those beams will be for the liffey bridges, they looked to be in a fairly advanced state last week, normally 4/8 beams per bridge depending on length? So they have enough beams there for both Liffey bridges and the canal, and spare beam? I cant imagine any of those bridges is long enough for a double span, thats usually dual carriageway width

L1011

Local paper claiming that the speed cameras are causing significant backlogging in Naas District Court due to unpaid FPNs. Expect this to be used as an excuse not to put other types of auto-enforcement in elsewhere!

riddlinrussell

L1011 wrote: »

Local paper claiming that the speed cameras are causing significant backlogging in Naas District Court due to unpaid FPNs. Expect this to be used as an excuse not to put other types of auto-enforcement in elsewhere!

The FPN should just keep increasing in cost week by week until its paid, and then only go to court once its a couple of thousand, I'd bet a lot more people would pay sharpish.

L1011

They've recently-ish brought in the ability to pay double the original fine when the summons arrives or something like that, which has cut the number of "I didn't get the letter Your Honour..." claims (which are Not A Good Idea when Zaidan is on the bench!)

SoupyNorman

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As I said previously, I fully expect that they'll open sections of it with speed restrictions at the end of April and call it a success while they then spend the next 6 months ACTUALLY finishing it.

Lots of time wasted last year IMO. And no, I'm no road engineer but this is the main artery out of Dublin to Limerick, Cork and Waterford (not to mention the very busy commuting towns in between). Every usable day should have been taken advantage of to get this done ASAP.

While I too want to see it finished as fast as possible, 3 lanes + a hard shoulder at 60kph is going to be a significant improvement. We’re also coming into Summer so we’ll be commuting in daylight which helps traffic flow better.

I would argue that the larger hold ups experienced are down to breakdowns and idiots speeding and hitting the barrier.

We’re less than a month from expected opening of the extra lanes, bit more positivity would be welcome.

jmkennedyie

Kerry Group on/off ramps being temporarily opened this weekend...to allow bridge demolition. See http://www.m7upgrade.com/

dunsie2013

With the use of the ramps over the weekend and National League finals on Sunday. Kerry, Limerick and Waterford traffic going to match, and leaving.
Waterford drivers should be encouraged to use M11.
Long delays?

pad199207

dunsie2013 wrote: »

With the use of the ramps over the weekend and National League finals on Sunday. Kerry, Limerick and Waterford traffic going to match, and leaving.
Waterford drivers should be encouraged to use M11.
Long delays?

Is it not during the overnight hours? Shouldn’t have any impact on those travelers.

jmkennedyie

"This arrangement will continue through the weekend with traffic running in two lanes on each carriageway during 06.00 – 22.00hrs each day."

As I read it ramps full weekend. 2 lanes each way except small hours. Shouldn't be a big deal - basically a curve around a new roundabout

Mrs Dempsey

jmkennedyie wrote: »

.......Shouldn't be a big deal - basically a curve around a new roundabout

Aw come on with your auld positivity - this thread is about how ****e we are at planning & executing things. I was happily wallowing in the gutter till you tried to cheer me up - you fecker!

pad199207

Mrs Dempsey wrote: »

Aw come on with your auld positivity - this thread is about how ****e we are at planning & executing things. I was happily wallowing in the gutter till you tried to cheer me up - you fecker!

Speaking of planning.

Still can’t believe they went ahead with that junction design for Osberstown. An M4 Intel roundabout Interchange would have been far more suitable.

If it wasn’t for those free flow slips on each roundabout they would have run into some serious traffic congestion upon opening.

BuzzFish

https://www.kildarenow.com/news/lane-changes-workers-demolish-m7-bridge-naas-exits/272861

From tomorrow traffic will leave and rejoin at Kerry Group while they demolish the old bridge this weekend. That's going to be chaotic!!!

"Traffic will be reduced to a single lane on Friday 29 March from 9pm to facilitate these temporary arrangements.

"Before 6am on Saturday, traffic will be returned to two available lanes running on the off/on slips.

"This temporary arrangement will continue through until Sunday night until the demolition works are complete and the main carriageway has been cleared of all debris.

beertons

25km/h limit around the bridge works. It'll be a slow road this weekend, with all the extra traffic heading to Croker.

KOR101

Superintendent Oliver Henry, from Naas Garda Station, said they would like people to drive at 25km/hr on the slip road diversion route but it is only a suggested speed limit:

Supt Henry said: "It's not an enforcement, the 25km/hr, we are just asking people to slow down on the slip roads which are less than a kilometre in length.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/m7-roadworks-to-cause-significant-delays-this-weekend-914097.html

BuzzFish

Dash-cam Night drive from J11 heading north (starts under the tunnel on the M9/M7 Merge) on to J9 and back down to J10 south. @2min 50 you get a glimpse of the work happening on the ramps at Kerry Group to prepare for this weekend.

I'll run the same in daylight when I get a chance to give folks a look at the progress.

I was driving at 60Kph throughout to give you an indication of some of the other drivers on the stretch.
I find most stick to the limit but the ones that don't, really fly along.