N/M11 motorway (for discussing COMPLETED sections)

Hi all,

New to posting on this webgroup but have read others posts many times over the years. Although living in the UK I have an active interest in the developing Irish motorway network.

I drove the M11 Gorey bypass recently at night and was surprised at how difficult it was to read the blue luminous motorway signs. It seems that there has been a problem with the application of the luminous paint in that some areas do not "shine" but stay dull instead.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the habit of blocking out the lettering with grey spray paint prior to opening new stretches of road and then presumably respraying them later. It's very rare on Irish roads to have signs with dedicated downlighting, but this needs to be done I reckon. Otherwise you can only read the signs (at night) when you are very close to them.

Anyone else notice this ?

I suppose dew would be possible, but not very common at night. The dull areas seemed to outline areas where the text had changed.

I don't think I have noticed this on the M8 or M50 or M11 Bray bypass so may be specific to the Gorey bypass

I've noticed this on signs also - I've generally assumed its where signs have been sprayed over with whatever they use to obscure them in advance (this stuff doesn't seem to come off as easily as it should).

It's usually dew (actually very common from Autumn - can be pretty much every night at times), or indeed, frozen dew/ice when it gets colder.

murphaph wrote: »

to counter the problem reported in this thread. If the dew is severe enough no measure of retrofelctive surface will work, especially on gantries.

How would lighting it up by a light not a headlight fix this?

Unless you mean the plastic gantries they used in France that were lit internally?

In the Wicklow Draft County Plan 2010-2016 (long way off) there is a plan to upgrade the N11 to D3 as far as Glen of the Downs, remove a few junctions off the Bray bypass and add another interchange to the Arklow Bypass. It also confirms that Rathnew/Arklow is to be motorway and not Type 2 DC:

Works Objectives for the N11 (see Map 11.01 in this chapter)
- The Rathnew to Arklow North upgrade, comprising the upgrading of the existing single carriageway
route to dual carriageway / motorway standard (Road objective (A) Map 11.01);
- The provision of a third interchange on the Arklow by-pass, linking the N11 to Vale Road, which
would allow direct access from the N11 to the R747 to Woodenbridge, Aughrim and the southwest
of the County and to the proposed future Arklow Western Distributor Road;
- Upgrading (including widening to three lanes) between the County boundary and Kilmacanogue /
Glen Of The Downs and the provision of free flow junctions at the Killarney Road interchange
(Road objective (B) Map 11.01);
- Removal of Herbert Road and Silver Bridge junctions by the provision of a collector road between
Dargle Road and Killarney Road (Road objective (B) Map 11.01).

spacetweek wrote: »

These objectives are all great news. It also implies that the 6-laning will continue north over the border into county Dublin, at least as far as the M11/M50 split, and maybe as far as Sandyford.

Note the the M11 part of the Bray bypass won't have any junctions removed; it's the messy DC section after the motorway ends that's getting cleaned up.

Great, I can hardly wait for the chaos that will ensue when that's being done (not). My experience with this stretch is that the majority of the problems in the rush hour result from incompetent drivers who can't cope with busy traffic and merging rather than any real capacity problems as such. Same goes for the M50/M11 merge where drivers seem to lose all ability to drive properly when it becomes even slightly busy.

Anyway, I can't realistically see where they're going to get the space from .. it's a pretty tight squeeze there where the new pedestrian overbridge is.

Closing off the Herbert Road junction and forcing all the traffic into the southern end of Bray via the Killarney Road will be 'fun' too, although it will depend a bit on where this new 'collector road' will be. There's quiet a bit of height gain to be overcome between the Dargle Valley where the N11 is and where an eventual road would join up to (northern end of Herbert road, I presume), which would make for some interesting engineering challenges I think, not to mention all the houses on the upper slopes of the land overlooking the valley.

spacetweek wrote: »

These objectives are all great news. It also implies that the 6-laning will continue north over the border into county Dublin, at least as far as the M11/M50 split, and maybe as far as Sandyford.

Note the the M11 part of the Bray bypass won't have any junctions removed; it's the messy DC section after the motorway ends that's getting cleaned up.

As one package, I suppose they could:

-Widen the M50 between J14&J17 to D3M
-Widen the M11 between J4&J5 to D3M+1
-Widen the M11 between J5&J6 to D3M
-Widen the N11 between J6&J7 to D3, with a lane drop/gain at J7
-Widen the N11 between J7&J8 to D2+1
-Close of there access to these roads indicated
-CPO the petrol station at J8 S/B and adjoining business

Junction numbers here (generally unsigned)

Hi,
Thanks for an update So what date aprox. they can start doing something with this road? It would be sweet to have it... Gorey-Bray everyday isnt best way of spending time This would make it shorter trip!

nordydan wrote: »

In the Wicklow Draft County Plan 2010-2016 (long way off) there is a plan to upgrade the N11 to D3 as far as Glen of the Downs, remove a few junctions off the Bray bypass and add another interchange to the Arklow Bypass. It also confirms that Rathnew/Arklow is to be motorway and not Type 2 DC:

Looks like a plan to upgrade to motorway.

bout time, although I am sure there will be a speed restriction at Glen of the Downs

The signage for Junction 5 N/B on the M11 has been upgraded at some stage in the last few weeks.
Interestingly, its signed as an L road (Old Connaught Road), which I think is the only L-road signed directly off a motorway(?)

An new RCS with distances is in place southbound

Jayuu wrote: »

Actually could some explain to me why this junction is Junction 5?

Is this something to do with the fact that the M50 Eastern Bypass was supposed to connect with Junction 13 of the M50, and therefore the current Junctions 14-17 on the M50 would become Junctions 1 - 4 on an extended M11? Or did they just pick a number at random for the junction?

Yeah I think that's the case and would make sense. There are zero plans for GSJ's on the existing N11 into Dublin (as far as I know)


Edit: There are still no telephones on the redesginated sections of the M11 in Wicklow as far as I know

BigMoose wrote: »

I noticed the Jn 5 sign going north too this week and couldn't work out how they'd come up with 5. Seemed random to me!

Its been Junction 5 for years. Haven't been out that way in a while but I did direct a show in Bray last year and every time I came off at Junction 5, I always wondered about it.

I think it is future proofing in case the eastern by pass is built. If it was built it would join the current m50 at the Sandyford intersection (and be designated m50). Everything after Sandyford junction (heading towards Wexford) would be designated n11. The junctions would then be renumbered. The Stillorgan Dual carriageway would become a regional road. I think the NRA wants N road designation to be revoked within the M50

{just noticed this had been said previously}