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

Alkers · 20-07-2016 10:26pm

They are strengthening the hard shoulder to allow it to be trafficked in advanced of widening works taking place further down the line.

VincePP · 20-07-2016 10:30pm

Simona1986 wrote: »

They are strengthening the hard shoulder to allow it to be trafficked in advanced of widening works taking place further down the line.

Correct - hard shoulder is not made to same strength as main lanes (probably is these days), so strengthening is required to allow constant traffic for a long period to use it.

I notice plenty of breakdown areas also being built.

As for cameras - legislation for av speed cameras was passed recently, so I suspect we'll see a few zones introduced.

pad199207 · 21-07-2016 9:16am

It's going to be a huge project. Adding in new lanes, installing a new junction and rearranging another junction. While keeping the second busiest road in the country moving!

marno21 · 21-07-2016 2:20pm

pad199207 wrote: »

It's going to be a huge project. Adding in new lanes, installing a new junction and rearranging another junction. While keeping the second busiest road in the country moving!

Will be great to see when done though. The widening is probably the element of this project that will relieve the least congestion. The new junction and the rearranging of J10 will be huge especially with the expansion of Millenium Park. And of course the Sallins BP

OldMrBrennan83 · 21-07-2016 2:25pm

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rameire · 21-07-2016 2:28pm

Jn 11 is for the m9.

Jn 10 is newhall naas.

marno21 · 21-07-2016 2:30pm

Patww79 wrote: »

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J10 is the Newhall/Naas South interchange, J11 is the M9 one. There are no alterations being made to the M9 interchange.

The current J10 will be shut and it will be moved slightly further south to where the old N7/Naas-Newbridge DC crosses over the M7. I don't think detailed design has been done yet, or hasn't been made public yet anyway

OldMrBrennan83 · 21-07-2016 2:33pm

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marno21 · 21-07-2016 2:36pm

Patww79 wrote: »

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A lot of people using the junction for Newbridge getting stuck in all the traffic around J10's business park etc. before they actually get onto the Newbridge Road.

Now the new J10 will give direct access to the R445/Newbridge Road, so it will sort that issue out. Only thing we have to wait and find out exactly how they will make a mess of the new junction.

rameire · 21-07-2016 6:53pm

find two docs attached.

one is a screenshot of an eis showing some details of the new jn10
the pdf is an eis overview of the whole road.

spacetweek · 21-07-2016 11:11pm

Where is Osberstown interchange in that PDF?

VincePP · 22-07-2016 9:12am

spacetweek wrote: »

Where is Osberstown interchange in that PDF?

That's a totally separate project that is still in consultation.

The preferred route and location is closer to the Naas Ball - if you drive through millenium park, it will be the at the second roundabout after coming from the monread road and will form part of the Sallins ByPass project.

rameire · 22-07-2016 11:48am

Sallins bypass and osberstown interchange will be in sheet 6 on the overview page which is page 7 in the doc.
I have seen the preferred design and will upload later if i can find it again.

marno21 · 22-07-2016 12:31pm

They would want to be progressing with J9A fairly lively too. Millenium Park and Kerry especially need the relief.

spacetweek · 22-07-2016 1:36pm

VincePP wrote: »

That's a totally separate project that is still in consultation.

Ok but I'm pretty sure that both will ultimately be constructed at the same time.

VincePP · 22-07-2016 2:31pm

rameire wrote: »

Sallins bypass and osberstown interchange will be in sheet 6 on the overview page which is page 7 in the doc.
I have seen the preferred design and will upload later if i can find it again.

here's the preferred layout

Jayuu · 23-07-2016 5:51pm

Just looking at that image for the new junction, is it just me or does the southbound sliproad for traffic coming off to the new roundabout seem quite short given that the same volume of traffic will be coming off here?

Also, although it doesn't seem clear from the image, I assume that traffic coming off but then heading for Naas (i.e. going back to the Bundle of Sticks roundabout) doesn't actually have to go on to the new roundabout.

marno21 · 02-08-2016 6:09pm

Tender has gone out today for Ground Investigation of the route:

https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_frameset.asp?PID=101776&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE&PS=1&PP=ctm/Supplier/publictenders

spacetweek · 02-08-2016 11:19pm

Thankfully I see the Sallins bypass and new Osberstown junction are in there too.

munchkin_utd · 04-08-2016 4:30pm

Jayuu wrote: »

Just looking at that image for the new junction, is it just me or does the southbound sliproad for traffic coming off to the new roundabout seem quite short given that the same volume of traffic will be coming off here?

Also, although it doesn't seem clear from the image, I assume that traffic coming off but then heading for Naas (i.e. going back to the Bundle of Sticks roundabout) doesn't actually have to go on to the new roundabout.

is it though ?
I think those maps are a 1km grid, meaning that the slip road is approx 500m which is plenty long to stack up the traffic.

on a tangent, was chatting to a lad at work about how you are more likely to get killed on the roads than by a terrorist, and he told me that he was coming off at a busy junction on the motorway outside Munich where the Microsoft HQ is towards the airport, and the traffic was backed up onto the slip road on the motorway, when a truck jacknifed after being cutup by a jeep looking to exit, and took out a heap of cars parked on the slip looking to get off, killing a family in one of them
He was only a couple of cars in front of the last car to be crushed by the truck.
(twice similar incidents have happened in Bavaria in the past month, only at the end of a normal traffic jam, and again 3 or 4 killed at a time, crushed by a truck)

So, anyhow, 500m might well be long enough to keep the cars off the mainline but it does leave cars in a vulnerable positon with cars and trucks zooming by at a differential speed of 100kmh.

OldMrBrennan83 · 09-08-2016 7:56am

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rameire · 09-08-2016 8:28am

I drove through it this morning, and stuck to the 60 between the cameras, I was the only one.
It is dangerous having the speed limit at 60.

OldMrBrennan83 · 09-08-2016 8:30am

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VincePP · 09-08-2016 8:55am

rameire wrote: »

I drove through it this morning, and stuck to the 60 between the cameras, I was the only one.
It is dangerous having the speed limit at 60.

Patww79 wrote: »

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I think many drivers think the av speed cameras are where the signs are and then think that as the signs have ended, they are out of the area when in fact they haven't reached the area yet.

They certainly won't be targeting motorists at 62 / 63kmh - I'll have to try and find out, but I would suspect that it will be at least 70kmh and possibly 80kmh.

I would also guess that they are not live yet and this is testing traffic flow before the holiday season is over and the real traffic returns - If it means far less accidents in the morings which cause inordinate delay and I can travel at a constant 60kmh from M9 junction to junction 10 at 8am in the morning, then I'll be happy.

rameire · 09-08-2016 10:02am

I have sent an email to kildare coco. The Garda traffic. Kfm. And transport infastructure ireland this morning advising them i think the limit is too low and its dangerous.
Kfm wanted to speak about it so announced out on the radio.
And kildare coco have sent it for review to the Speed limit team and safety department team.

Charles Babbage · 09-08-2016 10:22am

rameire wrote: »

I have sent an email to kildare coco. The Garda traffic. Kfm. And transport infastructure ireland this morning advising them i think the limit is too low and its dangerous.
Kfm wanted to speak about it so announced out on the radio.
And kildare coco have sent it for review to the Speed limit team and safety department team.

I'd say your email will not lead to change. This reflects laziness on the part of rule makers. What road works need is the possibility of imposing a 60 kph limit when particular work is taking place, without leaving it in place for the entire duration of the works. Modern electronic signs can be used to change this. But, as far as I aware, the legal provision for this does not exist, so they just put the lowest limit all along. This is ridiculous, of course, especially as the contractors will clear off for 2 weeks at Christmas etc, but leave the speedlimit in place all along.

rameire · 09-08-2016 11:19am

The Gardaí have now responded, saying they have forwarded the concern onto the Chief Super in the Naas Garda Station.

spacetweek · 09-08-2016 2:05pm

rameire wrote: »

The Gardaí have now responded, saying they have forwarded the concern onto the Chief Super in the Naas Garda Station.

Did they say whether they have started enforcing it?

rameire · 09-08-2016 2:15pm

spacetweek wrote: »

Did they say whether they have started enforcing it?

No. They haven't

VincePP · 09-08-2016 6:07pm

Charles Babbage wrote: »

I'd say your email will not lead to change. This reflects laziness on the part of rule makers. What road works need is the possibility of imposing a 60 kph limit when particular work is taking place, without leaving it in place for the entire duration of the works. Modern electronic signs can be used to change this. But, as far as I aware, the legal provision for this does not exist, so they just put the lowest limit all along. This is ridiculous, of course, especially as the contractors will clear off for 2 weeks at Christmas etc, but leave the speedlimit in place all along.

I think the legislation was changed recently and came in with the av speed legislation - i know that this is in the plan for the M50 where alternating speeds combined with av speed cameras are planned (up to 3 years). the idea is that it is ridiculous to put a 80km limit 24/7 when the 80km limit is suited for 2-3 hours a day.

On M7 - 80kmh during hours of roadworks is OK and 100kmh when roadwork contractors are gone from the site.

rameire · 09-08-2016 6:37pm

VincePP wrote: »

I think the legislation was changed recently and came in with the av speed legislation - i know that this is in the plan for the M50 where alternating speeds combined with av speed cameras are planned (up to 3 years). the idea is that it is ridiculous to put a 80km limit 24/7 when the 80km limit is suited for 2-3 hours a day.

On M7 - 80kmh during hours of roadworks is OK and 100kmh when roadwork contractors are gone from the site.

the speed limit is 60 between the average speed camera's.
80 would be ok during work hours, 60 is dangerous

VincePP · 09-08-2016 11:37pm

rameire wrote: »

the speed limit is 60 between the average speed camera's.
80 would be ok during work hours, 60 is dangerous

Exactly - current 60 will cause a lot of issues and probable accidents with sudden build up of traffic.

As it's probably a long term limit with start of upgrade imminent, 80kmh would have respect of motorists. Hopefully they see sense.

gilly0512 · 10-08-2016 8:10am

VincePP wrote: »

Exactly - current 60 will cause a lot of issues and probable accidents with sudden build up of traffic.

As it's probably a long term limit with start of upgrade imminent, 80kmh would have respect of motorists. Hopefully they see sense.

Where exactly are the cameras, I travel this road every day and I keep forgetting to look out for them, not to mention I've probably about 12 points at this stage :mad: Yeah 60 is way too low, it's the usual Irish effort of shooting fish in a barrel

markpb · 10-08-2016 8:52am

Maybe this will be seen as trolling but there's nothing dangerous about the limit. As long as it's signposted appropriately and stepped down from 120 appropriately, the limit could be 80, 60, 30 or even 5 and no motorist should have a problem driving at that speed. It might feel frustrating to drive at 60 on a motorway but telling yourself that it's dangerous is a fallacy.

It's a road, you have brakes to slow down and brake lights to tell people behind you what you're doing.

I drove along there yesterday, slowed down (especially when I saw the average speed camera sign!), put the cruise control at 60 and didn't get rear ended, cause carnage behind me or any of the other rubbish that has been suggested here.

Don't picture me as some kind of saint, I recently bought a 160bhp car, I love the extra speed, panic every time I see a speed camera van and will happily do 140+ on a motorway but I also know that I can drive at 60 when I need to and so can everyone else.

VincePP · 10-08-2016 8:56am

gilly2308 wrote: »

Where exactly are the cameras, I travel this road every day and I keep forgetting to look out for them, not to mention I've probably about 12 points at this stage :mad: Yeah 60 is way too low, it's the usual Irish effort of shooting fish in a barrel

One set is is about 1200m before junction 10 and the second set is 500m before junction 10.

OldMrBrennan83 · 10-08-2016 9:09am

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rameire · 10-08-2016 9:19am

gilly2308 wrote: »

Where exactly are the cameras, I travel this road every day and I keep forgetting to look out for them, not to mention I've probably about 12 points at this stage :mad: Yeah 60 is way too low, it's the usual Irish effort of shooting fish in a barrel

One set is behind a road sign and the other set Is behind a variable message sign. The poles are grey and the cameras are yellow.

rameire · 10-08-2016 9:29am

The danger as i see it is the difference in speed between Cars doing the 60 limit and cars doing 100.
This morning when driving the section i had one car stay behind me, i noticed many cars jump out into lane 2 from lane 1 when they reached the car behind me.

marno21 · 10-08-2016 12:02pm

Can someone put up a photo of the average speed camera sign please

OldMrBrennan83 · 10-08-2016 12:29pm

This post has been deleted.

rameire · 10-08-2016 11:08pm

Transport Infrastructure Ireland have replied to me today with the following

the contractor for construction works, accesses the nature of the works and requests an appropriate temporary speed limit, taking account of the health and safety of the workers carrying out the works and motorists alike. Once a temporary speed limit is in place, it’s enforcement is of course a matter for An Garda Síochána.

Squeaksoutloud · 10-08-2016 11:12pm

As someone who has worked behind these barriers on motorway road works the 60kph limit is absolutely appropriate and should be enforced. Its not fun having traffic whizz by at 80kph plus only just over a metre from the works area.

11-08-2016 12:27am

Squeaksoutloud wrote: »

As someone who has worked behind these barriers on motorway road works the 60kph limit is absolutely appropriate and should be enforced. Its not fun having traffic whizz by at 80kph plus only just over a metre from the works area.

You are correct that during the actual working times, it's safer to have a lower limit. It just seems a bit mad that it can't be increased to 80 or 100 when there is no works taking place.

Squeaksoutloud · 11-08-2016 6:52am

Agreed. It should be variable to adjust when no works but until TII manage to get variable speed limits set up on the M50 I don't seen it happening for a while yet. Test signs up at red cow interchange but not a lot happened since they went up.

Pablod · 11-08-2016 8:49pm

Drove this stretch yesterday approx 12:30 (normally pass at 7:20am), was surprised when I joined the M7 the traffic was going just over 60kph, so I stuck to 60kph (didn't go over) and I was being tailed very closely by every vehicle that arrived behind me.
And before I knew it I was being overtaken by not cars but a long line of container trucks, coaches & buses and it was dangerous as the trucks just whip back after they overtake too.

_Kaiser_ · 11-08-2016 9:31pm

Agreed... it's far too low a limit for the current activity. Trying to stick to 60 opens you up to tailgating, lane-weaving and you spend far more time watching for this than the road ahead. 80 would be far more appropriate as things stand now.

cargo · 12-08-2016 10:51am

Are the cameras in operation yet or just setup phase? i.e. is there fines coming out yet?

Redsoxfan · 12-08-2016 8:46pm

cargo wrote:

Are the cameras in operation yet or just setup phase? i.e. is there fines coming out yet?

I am wondering the same?

cros13 · 13-08-2016 4:14pm

Looks like they were being cabled up on Thursday evening.

Just in case, I moved back into the driving lane and clicked on the cruise control to 60km/h on Friday morning at the first set of cameras that were up.
I was the slowest thing on the road by a 30-40km/h margin, and this was rush hour.

There are two additional sets of cameras being put up starting at the M9 merge, only the poles started on so far.

13-08-2016 5:19pm

Once those cameras go live, I will be driving the old way to Kilcullen and join the M9 there. It's going to be a nightmare from next month.

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

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