New layout at M50's Red Cow interchange

patrickc · 13-01-2008 11:57am #1

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0113/m50.html

M50 motorists are set to benefit from a number of improvements at the Red Cow interchange that come into operation this morning.

From 8am onwards a series of new lanes and free flow over-bridge links will be open.

Motorists are advised to familiarise themselves with the revised road layout and South Dublin County Council is asking drivers to exercise care when using the new routes.

it looks like only the monastery lane bit is really changed this time.

rameire · 13-01-2008 12:57pm

people also coming along the n7 towards the mad cow , who are going north and south bound on the m50 will also be using a new stretch of road, they will be driving on this new stretch from where the traffic lights are at the now old junction of monastery road.

heathersonline · 13-01-2008 1:21pm

Looking at the diagram, how do you get from monastery road to M50 Northbound? I see the red lines leading southbound and city bound?

Tom Dunne · 13-01-2008 1:45pm

heathersonline wrote: »

Looking at the diagram, how do you get from monastery road to M50 Northbound? I see the red lines leading southbound and city bound?

Yeah, looks the same as what they did with the N4 - you have to go onto the southbound lane of the M50 and do a U-turn at the Ballymount exit and head back north.

Painful.

anotherlostie · 13-01-2008 6:32pm

I reckon there will be more mayhem tomorrow thanks to this.

I was coming from the red cow inn side trying to get to M50 northbound. There were no signs as far as I could see until you are on that steep downward hill where previously you turned left to head back to town and to the M50 slips. I didn't see the electronic sign in time and ended up back at the Nangor Road junction before I could turn and have a second go. Not good for the blood pressure when you are dropping someone to the airport.

patrickc · 13-01-2008 8:30pm

will it be any quicker just going to the luas car park now due to this?

cargo · 14-01-2008 10:28am

Any feedback on this new layout yet this morning? Has the actual road from Newlands onto the slips changed? i.e. do you still do a sharp right to go onto the M50 Northbound or has some of the final layout been opened?

seamus · 14-01-2008 10:39am

Am I to believe that the ridiculous set of lights 100m from the roundabout (eastbound) are now completely gone and monastery road merges like any other road? Singularly one of the biggest problems they had to fix at the red cow IMO.

Uuuh Patsy · 14-01-2008 10:42am

No they are still there for those needing to go east on N7 from North on M50.
Makes no difference whatsoever to N7 drivers. Great for Monastery road users

joemc99 · 14-01-2008 10:45am

I was traveling westbound on the N7 this morning. Here are a couple of observations

- There was NO traffic on the inbound (M50 north) lane, incredible, this is usually the worst!
- Middle and right lane still looked heavy, although better than usual.
Stupid lights 100m west of junction are still there. This still accommodates M50 -> N7 east and monastery lane north traffic. Traffic on N7 west using these coming off M50 was bad this morning, sequence obviously changed.

Uuuh Patsy · 14-01-2008 11:12am

Of course because the North Bound lane is empty, its being used by muppets to get to the top and then slipping in to the sounthbound/city lane. And there are still people using the bus lane. We need Terminator style traffic cops.

jkgvfg · 14-01-2008 11:38am

It was great this morning coming in from Naas to go northbound on M50 - 10 minutes from Kingswood interchange to M50 Northbound. But I think that was beacuse a lot of people avoided the area thanks to the RTE and AA scaremongering yesterday rather than it being a major fix.

Scruff · 14-01-2008 12:03pm

Took me a few mins to realise what was going on as a i sat bleary eyed on the bus in from clondalkin this morning!
Got the 51b\c bus later than usual this morning (8:45) so cant say how much this change will effect us Monastery Road users as there had been a crash further in on the Naas Road\Longmile road junction so traffic was bascked up from there. But the bus was merging with the traffic on the Red Cow 5mins after it started the normaly turtle speed 700m journey up Monastery hill to the junction. But seeing as how it was taking from 10 to 20 mins to do this before today it hopefully cant be any worse....
Also the fact that you cant get onto the M50 Northbound might mean more drivers will decide to get onto the Naas Road at Newlands Cross and lessen the traffic volumes on Monastery Road.

D'Peoples Voice · 14-01-2008 1:54pm

Uuuh Patsy wrote: »

Of course because the North Bound lane is empty, its being used by muppets to get to the top and then slipping in to the sounthbound/city lane. And there are still people using the bus lane. We need Terminator style traffic cops.

Yeah, I still see people coming through the junciton at Newlands cross, driving in the overtaking lane until PAST the Monastery Road junction, then forcing their way into the middle lane at the last minute to go southbound on the M50.
I wouldn't allow them in, and managed to force some guy to take the front right of his wing off against the metal barriers. His fault:), he should have read the MASSIVE big signposts outside Joels restaurant! He'll know for again!

AlekSmart · 14-01-2008 2:29pm

I`m wit d`Peoples Voice all d`way on this.
The driving attitudes experienced are symptomatic of how a huge number of us define our driving.

it`s not about sharing road space or co-existing with others it`s all about getting one over on the other lad,of exerting maximum ignorance to impose one`s will on EVERYBODY else.

Ordinarily or in other somewhat civilized societies I would see dPV`s attitude as counter productive BUT the reality of Irish Driving Attitudes makes it a Positive contribution.

The ONLY way to enforce the rules of behaviour is by the Mailed Fist and until our Driving Attitudes make that turn then we deserve to be Gobsmacked at every hands turn,especially at locations like the RCR.

The situation at the N7/RCR as described by dPV merits the FULL attention of the Garda Traffic Corps..It is HERE that they need to be deployed to ensure the safety of EVERY road user even if it means Mr/Ms/Mrs Independent Minded Driver having to take a hike in the opposite direction to their intended one !! :eek:

Roll on the revolution !!!

Scruff · 15-01-2008 10:23am

Well so far so good. No tail backs what so ever on the new road from Monastery Road! Straight run in to the Nass Road, hope it lasts.
Now if only they could do something about the taibacks from the Kylemore Road junction into the BlackHorse Inn......

15-01-2008 11:54am

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

I wouldn't allow them in, and managed to force some guy to take the front right of his wing off against the metal barriers. His fault:), !

Road rage!!! :mad: you're lucky he didn't use the "f*ck U" approach and smash you into the next lane! :eek:

He should have stayed in lane and turned round at the next junction!!;)

Two wrongs don't make it right.

mobpd · 15-01-2008 10:53pm

Is it possible to now go from Monastary Road to the Luas ?

Stark · 16-01-2008 12:56am

Deleted User wrote: »

Road rage!!! :mad: you're lucky he didn't use the "f*ck U" approach and smash you into the next lane! :eek:

It would be fun making the insurance claim if someone did that. I'm with DPV on this one. People jump the queues all the time because they know that there'll always be plenty of soft touches at the top of the queue who'll let them in. People should hold their ground and let them stew in the empty lane. As for the wing mirror incident, it's not DPV's fault that he wasn't looking where he was going while trying to bully his way in. I remember a near miss I had the M50 before when driving past the queue at the Red cow exit. A gap opened up near the top of the queue and without looking to see what was coming in the mainline, some dickhead swung out into mainline traffic and made a go for it. I just about managed to avoid a collision with him. One example of where allowing queue jumping was actually a hazard itself.

16-01-2008 9:03am

Have to agree, I hate queue jumpers as well, just sometimes it's better to just back off for safetys sake.

Stark · 16-01-2008 11:15am

Depends if they're coming at you at speed or creeping along the bus lane/hard shoulder with their right indicators flashing I suppose.

trellheim · 16-01-2008 1:56pm

Is that section unbroken white line ?

If it's broken then it's not illegal is it ? Annoying - yes. But not illegal.

D'Peoples Voice · 16-01-2008 2:50pm

trellheim wrote: »

Is that section unbroken white line ?

If it's broken then it's not illegal is it ? Annoying - yes. But not illegal.

It's more than annoying, it's extremely dangerous because it means that I have to jam on, as does every other car behind me(who incidentally are in the correct lane)! Lane swapping should only be allowed where it is safe to do so - not where it's absolutely necessary to get yourself into the lane to get where you're going!

I've never had any problem allowing in a foreign reg car or a car with a reg plate from rural ireland(yes including Kildare and Meath reg plates in that), as I make the assumption that they don't know the road that well and in which case deserve.
For example the otehr day, I was coming form Dundrum, hopped off the M50 at Ballymount (exit 10 I believe). Anyway at the top of the slip lane at the traffic lights, the road splits into two, the right hand lane for turning ..right... and the left hand lane for turning .....left..so this girl in a cork registered car drives in the left hand lane. She realizes after she takes the left and goes up the hill alongside the luas tracks past a set of traffic lights that she is going the wrong way - I say this because about 100 meteres past the traffic lights to the Kingswood housing estate, she jams on, and does a 3 point turn. I stopped behind her, and allowed her do this without blowing my horn (although one of two behind me were blowing) because I saw she was lost. This is an honest mistake - queue hopping is not.

AlekSmart · 16-01-2008 4:33pm

Gosh D`PV your restraint is truly commendable.

Your description of the Girl Jamming On and doin a U turn fills me with awe and wonderment,especially as she was WELL past any point where she could have made her manouvere in safety.

This particular stretch of road (R838) is fast becoming a very hazardous place indeed for several reasons,most of which centre around pizz-poor design.

The road simply cannot cope with the volume and TYPE of traffic (HGV) which utilises it.
Keen eyes will spot the poigniant commerative plaque to the two young children killed at that Kingswood Junction way back when the road first opened,a tragedy which eventually resulted in the Traffic Signals now in place.

The current layout of Junction 10 certainly cannot be said to be a model of good roads and traffic layout especially when one considers the benefits of good sight lines and general ability to monitor conflicting traffic.

Added to this now is a highly suspect decision to impose a yellow "Hard Shoulder" line which,if observed forces M50 Belgard bound traffic to conflict with R838 Belgard bound traffic instead of using the merge principle which I mistakenly thought was the reason for all the work in the first place..

The amount of inappropriate U turning now taking place (with vastly differing success rates) on this stretch of road is now becoming a real issue and should merit some action.
If twere me,I would have the entire stretch Armco`d with NO break except the Kingswood Right Turn and all "Lost Souls" directed by appropriate signage to the Belgard Rd/Newlands/N7/Red Cow ALTERNATIVE route......Circuitous...Sure...but hey thats the principle of Big Roads and Traffic Flow :rolleyes:

Until our Driving stock get themselves comfortable with the principle of Road Signs actually having a relevance to THEM,I cannot see much hope for any real progress. :eek: :eek: :eek:

ardmacha · 16-01-2008 5:44pm

This is an honest mistake

Because you are a tourist doesn't entitle you to drive like a bollix. You need to go somewhere to make your turn that does not interrupt traffic that is in its correct lane.

WhatsGoingOn · 17-01-2008 10:26pm

jkgvfg wrote: »

It was great this morning coming in from Naas to go northbound on M50 - 10 minutes from Kingswood interchange to M50 Northbound. But I think that was beacuse a lot of people avoided the area thanks to the RTE and AA scaremongering yesterday rather than it being a major fix.

So after 4 days is it still quicker than it was with the new changes?

jkgvfg · 18-01-2008 2:36pm

Still looking fairly good. Tuesday was bad but seemed to be related to a crash at the Boot Road junction. If it is very heavy southbound on the M50, the clots that stay in the inside lane and then try and cut out at the top can cause problems but the biggest problem seems to be, it is working so well, Chapelizod bypass and Inchicore seem to be all clogged up.

patrickc · 19-01-2008 2:52am

I got the bus twice from Clondalkin into town and it flew in past the red cow anyhow,

JackieChan · 19-01-2008 11:35pm

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

It's more than annoying, it's extremely dangerous because it means that I have to jam on, as does every other car behind me(who incidentally are in the correct lane)! Lane swapping should only be allowed where it is safe to do so - not where it's absolutely necessary to get yourself into the lane to get where you're going!

I've never had any problem allowing in a foreign reg car or a car with a reg plate from rural ireland(yes including Kildare and Meath reg plates in that), as I make the assumption that they don't know the road that well and in which case deserve.
For example the otehr day, I was coming form Dundrum, hopped off the M50 at Ballymount (exit 10 I believe). Anyway at the top of the slip lane at the traffic lights, the road splits into two, the right hand lane for turning ..right... and the left hand lane for turning .....left..so this girl in a cork registered car drives in the left hand lane. She realizes after she takes the left and goes up the hill alongside the luas tracks past a set of traffic lights that she is going the wrong way - I say this because about 100 meteres past the traffic lights to the Kingswood housing estate, she jams on, and does a 3 point turn. I stopped behind her, and allowed her do this without blowing my horn (although one of two behind me were blowing) because I saw she was lost. This is an honest mistake - queue hopping is not.

Have to say I appreciate this driving and usually find that someone takes sympathy on my LS reg when I'm driving in Dublin(not often).Although 3 pt turnabouts on busy roads I'd not be doing!!

jkgvfg · 22-01-2008 1:51pm

jkgvfg wrote: »

Still looking fairly good. Tuesday was bad but seemed to be related to a crash at the Boot Road junction. If it is very heavy southbound on the M50, the clots that stay in the inside lane and then try and cut out at the top can cause problems but the biggest problem seems to be, it is working so well, Chapelizod bypass and Inchicore seem to be all clogged up.

False dawn, by the look of things. This week so far has seen the morning queue back as far as Kingswood, as bad as before. Maybe people just avoided the area last week.

L1011 · 22-01-2008 1:57pm

jkgvfg wrote: »

False dawn, by the look of things. This week so far has seen the morning queue back as far as Kingswood, as bad as before. Maybe people just avoided the area last week.

Rain causing higher volumes maybe, we can hope? Would often be back past Kingswood on wet days before.

The Boot Road has been much lighter last week and this to date.

New layout at M50's Red Cow interchange

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