[Irish and Proud]

Originally Posted by Carawaystick

<snip>
There's earth moving work going on outside the fence as you exit the M1N

Might be for the site offices - great to see this work underway. Hopefully, the D3 will extend to J7 (Gormanston) by 2020 - a time by which the Balbriggan Bypass section (J5 to J7) will be well overdue resurfacing work.

Regards!

[The Westerner]

What'll be the speed limit on this stretch when completed I wonder? 100 or 120 km/h?

[celticbest]

Originally Posted by ardmacha

Almost. You would have to bear left at the left hand junction and then cross, as there is no direct right turn here.

Not sure what you mean?

[Bluetonic]

Originally Posted by celticbest

Not sure what you mean?

You'll have to follow the flow of the existing roundabout as the three new centre lanes will have no U-Turn on them.

[Irish and Proud]

Originally Posted by The Westerner

What'll be the speed limit on this stretch when completed I wonder? 100 or 120 km/h?

100kph I'd say - all lane widths will be 3.5m which would be very tight for 120kph. It's one thing having 2 lanes of 3.5m lanes each way @ 120kph when motorists can drive slightly closer to whichever edge to allow more room - there's no doing that in the centre lane of a 3 lane carriageway. The centre lanes on the M50 can feel quite confined in heavy traffic (particularly with trucks) - even @ 100kph.

Regards!

[ardmacha]

all lane widths will be 3.5m which would be very tight for 120kph. I

Does it explicitly say that the lane width will be 3.5m?
I ask because the Broadmeadow bridge was designed for 3x3.75m lanes and this is the main point of constriction.

[tharlear]

what do the yellow line across the junction indicate?

Apart from the road going (north south in the pictures) is the rest of the junction on one level, is it just an elongated roundabout?

[Irish and Proud]

Originally Posted by tharlear

what do the yellow line across the junction indicate?

Apart from the road going (north south in the pictures) is the rest of the junction on one level, is it just an elongated roundabout?

The yellow strips represent at-grade (road level) pedestrian/cyclist crossings. Apart from the M1 mainline (North/South road), the junction is at just one level.

Regards!

[Irish and Proud]

Originally Posted by ardmacha

Does it explicitly say that the lane width will be 3.5m?
I ask because the Broadmeadow bridge was designed for 3x3.75m lanes and this is the main point of constriction.

Yes, according to this PDF (2.6MB) on the Fingal CC website, the lane widths will be 3.5m - see the Cross Section on Page 3.

Regards!

[tharlear]

Originally Posted by tharlear
what do the yellow line across the junction indicate?

Apart from the road going (north south in the pictures) is the rest of the junction on one level, is it just an elongated roundabout?

The yellow strips represent at-grade (road level) pedestrian/cyclist crossings. Apart from the M1 mainline (North/South road), the junction is at just one level.

Regards!

Traffic mixing with ped/cyclist at a "rural" junction like this, looks dangerous to me.

Is it rural enough area that ped/cyclist is extremely low?

[sk8board]

Originally Posted by ongarboy

Out of interest, has this existing dangerous right lane merge proven to be dangerous in practice now that it has been there a few months? (when I initially saw it, I did think it was a recipe for accidents but now that I've driven it frequently, there is a long lead time for merging and with plenty of advance signage combined with regular driver familiarity, are such concerns still warranted? Has there been reports of collisions/near misses etc?

it is absolutely rediculous. Its getting worse.

I don't think its exceptional to say that there are 1-2 collisions per week these days; sometimes more.

2 this week, 1 the previous week, 3 in a row the last week before christmas

fridays collision was in the middle lane, back from the merge a bit - 2 cars in bits, especially the one behind - bonnot was in a big V.
Last week there appeared to be 5 cars damaged one of the days.

I'm actually getting sick to the teeth of it! the old way was actually better and less stress.

I think the problem is AFTER the merge. for some reason the traffic takes hundreds of yards to get going even though the volume isn't near capacity, and the inside lane is the faster one, which makes it even more dangerous as you have lads diving down both the outside AND inside lanes.
I think the problem is that slower/careful drivers stay out of the inside lane for the Swords exit, and then end up inadvertently in the overtaking lane after the merge with lads jumping all over them, inside and behind.

(did I mention I was sick of it??!)

[spacetweek]

Originally Posted by Irish and Proud

100kph I'd say - all lane widths will be 3.5m which would be very tight for 120kph.
Regards!

I'd be surprised if they lowered the limit. The main reason the limit on the M50 is 100 is not due to narrow lanes, it's because of close junction spacing. The distance between Drinan and Lissenhall is 4k.

[Kumsheen]

I don't think a 100kph limit is a big deal to be honest, it's not for very long until you pass the Lissenhall exit.

[ardmacha]

I don't think a 100kph limit is a big deal to be honest, it's not for very long until you pass the Lissenhall exit.

It sets a pattern of road improvement to achieve speed reduction. If it eventually made D3M to Ballbriggan, Julianstown or Newry will it then all be reduced to 100Kph?

Traffic moves along at 120KPH for 21 hours of the day here at present, without this "improvement".

[celticbest]

Originally Posted by sk8board

it is absolutely rediculous. Its getting worse.

I don't think its exceptional to say that there are 1-2 collisions per week these days; sometimes more.

2 this week, 1 the previous week, 3 in a row the last week before christmas

fridays collision was in the middle lane, back from the merge a bit - 2 cars in bits, especially the one behind - bonnot was in a big V.
Last week there appeared to be 5 cars damaged one of the days.

I'm actually getting sick to the teeth of it! the old way was actually better and less stress.

I think the problem is AFTER the merge. for some reason the traffic takes hundreds of yards to get going even though the volume isn't near capacity, and the inside lane is the faster one, which makes it even more dangerous as you have lads diving down both the outside AND inside lanes.
I think the problem is that slower/careful drivers stay out of the inside lane for the Swords exit, and then end up inadvertently in the overtaking lane after the merge with lads jumping all over them, inside and behind.

(did I mention I was sick of it??!)

First crash of this week on the first night of the week, two cars @ about 5:25 last night again just at the merge.