M7 Motorway (general thread)

MYOB wrote: »

Those are two options from the same report. They're not going to pick one that does unneeded work

According to whom?

MYOB wrote: »

The same consultants and common sense. The bridges are all wide enough.

What consultants? lol.

MYOB wrote: »

The same consultants and common sense. The bridges are all wide enough.

Newbridge overbridge is going to be replaced.
The Oberstown farm access bridge is going to be removed.
The Mauldins interchange will more than likely go as well.

The only two left standing bridges that have not been confirmed is the Caragh road and Sallins over-bridges. If they still stand and can fit, that is fine. But not all the bridges are going to be retained.

lottpaul wrote: »

While driving north to Dublin today I noticed new (to me) signs every 500m counting down the distance to -- Dublin I presume. Signs are small and blue and simply say e.g. M7 E 67.5, then M7 E 67 etc etc. Are these very new? Will they be extended to all motorways -- and why are they there?
Thanks in advance and apologies if this has been thrashed to death somewhere else.

Saw this at the weekend. What I noticed is that they stop at Portlaoise at the old M8/N77 junction at Midway. They also cover the N7 section near Dublin but do not extend the whole way to the Red Cow.

Good idea, they are cheap enough to produce and would have tied in well with a km based junction numbering system. Haven't seen them on any other motorways but then again I haven't been on them recently

Good stuff JeffK88. I now think this scheme will proceed to construction before the Kerry Group premises open in circa 2016. It is badly needed as average speeds at peak time to the M9 split are somewhere in the region of 30-40mph. As the economy improves, this is likely to go lower hence. This seems to be a project that is being advanced quietly under the radar.

JeffK88 wrote: »

Full page in the local paper 'Kildare Times' today about the M7 Naas to Newbridge By-pass Upgrade Scheme & M7 Osberstown Interchange & R407 Sallins bypass Scheme both public consultations. So good news for these two projects which look to be part of the same scheme.

Better something than nothing but jesus Sallins aint a bottleneck. Clane on the other hand....why not do that as part of it. Its existing ring road is a joke

Ain't no bottleneck but its tied into the M7 Scheme so might as well build the bypass of Sallins as part of the Osberstown interchange. Im sure there is plans for a clane bypass in the pipeline.

Slimline “Christmas Tree” growing beside the M7.
While travelling west bound on the M7 last Saturday evening about 3km before Junction 26 my eye was drawn to what I’d seen subconsciously before on the commute west, but never really properly noticed -a slimmed down version of a giant 10 meter high Christmas Tree!
The setting sun was reflecting off its galvanized interior and the scales fell from my eyes – not a Christmas Tree, but a telecoms mast in disguise!
Has anyone spotted this before? ( street view looking west on M7, 500 meters before the R497 overbridge Nenagh to Tipperary road)
I hope they similarly dress up the conspicuously naked mast I passed earlier on the drive down although it must be a right pain and a challenge for the telecom riggers to work at height with all the branches fouling everything up.
Apologies if this has been covered before.

Heres some more by Marlay Park in Dublin.

http://goo.gl/maps/a47R8

Great idea.

Two observations from a trip down the M7 and M8 today.

1. There are very noticeable km posts every 500 metres from the start of the M7 at Naas (Maudlins) all the way to the southern end of the Portlaoise bypass. The zero datum appears to be the start of the N7 at M50 J9. I presume these are for driver location purposes in the event of breakdowns/accidents. Have any other motorways received this treatment?

However, further south, there are marker posts every 100 m on the PPP sections of the M7/M8, but their zero datums appear to be Cork and Limerick rather than Dublin.

2. It looks like some sort of wrong-way driver warning system is being installed on the Portlaoise bypass. There are matrix displays attached to the cantilever gantries facing the opposite way to the direction of travel. I presume there's some sort of detector on the slip road that can determine if a vehicle is coming down the wrong way and activate these electronic signs. Does anyone know anything more about this?

Thanks,

/csd

csd wrote: »

1. There are very noticeable km posts every 500 metres from the start of the M7 at Naas (Maudlins) all the way to the southern end of the Portlaoise bypass. The zero datum appears to be the start of the N7 at M50 J9. I presume these are for driver location purposes in the event of breakdowns/accidents. Have any other motorways received this treatment?

Yeah - they're trialling options to help emergency services locate accidents more accurately. If you also look at the very edge of the tarmac by those posts, there is some white marking on the the ground. These occur every 100m and are a different version for the same purposes (AFAIK). In these recessionary times I would have thought these painted markings would be cheaper than the 0.5km posts (though maybe not as long lasting).

csd wrote: »

However, further south, there are marker posts every 100 m on the PPP sections of the M7/M8, but their zero datums appear to be Cork and Limerick rather than Dublin.

I can't say I've noticed those. I use the M7 every couple of weeks. Whereabouts (geographically) are they?

csd wrote: »

2. It looks like some sort of wrong-way driver warning system is being installed on the Portlaoise bypass. There are matrix displays attached to the cantilever gantries facing the opposite way to the direction of travel. I presume there's some sort of detector on the slip road that can determine if a vehicle is coming down the wrong way and activate these electronic signs. Does anyone know anything more about this?

Those have been there for more than a year at least. The wife pointed them out to me last year. They're a great idea, it's a pity there aren't more of them out there. However having read the tragic stories of people being killed while going the wrong way, you hear of loads of witnesses saying that they were flashed and beeped at and the driver kept on going, apparently oblivious to their error. So having some sign saying your going the wrong way may not work either.

I would hope that if these do get triggered that a control center somewhere gets notified and traffic cameras show whether the driver did or did not turn back.

As to the detector - If Lidl can have something in their entrances that set of an alarm if somebody tries to exit by the entrance, then I think it must be as easy to detect a car approaching a gantry.

Deedsie wrote: »

Friday evening traffic coming out of Dublin for the last few weeks has been horrendous, tailbacks on the M50 trying to get off at junction 9 (N7 south), Newlands cross and the Naas dual carriageway out to junction 11 (M9) on the M7 motorway. I find it really hard to believe that Newlands cross flyover will alleviate all of this. I think as soon as the Newlands cross flyover is done the M7 from junction 9 to junction 11 should be widened to 3 lanes?

Is there any possibility of this ever happening? If so how long would the build phase of a project like this take? Is it even feasible for the government to consider a project like this? Or are the more important projects to do first?

http://nra.ie/mapping/n7-naas-newbridge-bypass-/index.xml

It's being planned anyway, hopefully it will happen at some stage.

Hi Deedsie,

This project will happen. As the link states, it is currently in planning and was discussed at the Kildare County Council monthly meeting back in May/ June. The present Government when it came to power stopped the bulk of schemes that were in planning by the NRA. However, this project seems to have quietly came on the list. The NRA publishedt the proposed plans during the summer for public consultation. WIth the Kerry Group due to locate their World R&D centre in Naas, you can be sure that this project will probably go to construction within the next three to four years. AADT on the route is approx 65,000 plus. The design for motorways is 55,000. If the improvement in the economy is sustained, traffic on the route is likely to get worse.

Deedsie wrote: »

Very good, it would be of great benefit to an awful lot of people it seems. Could it be fast tracked or is it 3 to 4 years before construction starts at a minimum?

I could be fast tracked but that will be a decision for the Govt and NRA. The Government's policy is for very limited new road developments over the next few years and instead the focus will be on maintaining the existing network. This in theory might fit into the latter. 3 to 4 years was a guess on my part. It will be in the Government's interest to proceed with this project in the short to medium term. When Newlands Cross is finished, delays from Naas By-Pass Southbound to M7/ M9 will only get worse. This will therefore hamper the efficiency of the network and eat into the time savings of the Newlands Cross scheme which would be factored in to the cost benefit analysis. There may have been promises by Govt to the Kerry Group when they decided to locate in Naas. If that is the case, then construction should definitely start in the next 3 to 4 years.

NedNew2 wrote: »

I was at the public consultation and was told that detailed design and tender issue would take place in 2014 with planned construction to begin in 2015.

Dependent on funding of course.

Sounds promising, badly needs to be done... Hopefully the funding will be made available.