Wyckham Way Extension now open

Steve Conway

Hi all,

A short, but very significant piece of road has opened without any fanfare, the Wyckham Way Extension south of Dundrum.

This piece of road goes from the junction of the Dundrum bypass and Sandyford Road (at the southern end of the new shopping centre site) and cuts across virgin territory, past Balally LUAS and up to the Kilmacud Road Upper, which it now bisects, and then on down to Taney Road.

There are no direction signs at either end, but once properly signed, it should take away a lot of the East/West traffic from Dundrum Cross, as it provides a far superior link from M50 Ballinteer across to the R112 to Belfield / Dun Laoghaire.

dmeehan

does anyone have a map of this? i am trying to picture the route at the taney rd end

stiofanD

Steve Conway wrote:

This piece of road goes from the junction of the Dundrum bypass and Sandyford Road (at the southern end of the new shopping centre site) and cuts across virgin territory, past Balally LUAS and up to the Kilmacud Road Upper, which it now bisects, and then on down to Taney Road.

AFAIK it doesn't exactly 'bisect' the Kimacud rd upper. Rather traffic from Dundrum will turn right onto the Kilmacud rd and then left on to Birches Lane, which will lead them to the Taney rd.

Steve Conway

The way it's been constructed, it becomes the main through route.

Traffic on Kilmacud Road Upper coming from Dundrum is realigned to the right as they approach the junction, and then turn 90 degrees left onto the new road which then curves around to regain the old alignment.

Birches lane as was is unrecognisable now, easily more than twice it's former width.

stiofanD

I stand corrected. Haven't been up that way for about 2 weeks, but it explains the strange 'kink' they appeared to be putting in the Kilmacud rd

Steve Conway

Ah well, I always thought the planners were kinky.

Well, actually I didn't, just seemed like a good line . . .

The more interesting thing is what happens if you are coming the other way along the Kilmacud Road Upper (i.e. from Lakelands / Stillorgan).

You approach the junction with a set of lights, and carry on straight, and then curve gently to the left, the default route now becoming the hill down the new road. I've seen several confused motorists wavering in the middle of the road, because the fact that you have to turn right, and off the road, in order to continue "straight ahead" is not immediately obvious.

Time and a little signage will cure that.

enterprise

Steve,

They built that fast I must say. When I was up there at the end of May they were only earth clearing!

Steve Conway

I know! That was the famous 86 trip wasn't it?

The thing with this road, is that they bypassed (if you'll pardon the pun) the usual 2-month long "leave it sitting there looking as if it's finished, but with a few trucks parked on it" stage.

enterprise

Indeed it was.

jlang

The new traffic lights at Taney Road/Birches Lane are killing traffic flow from The Goat to Taney Cross. I hope it's just timings that need to be worked on, but I'm not too hopeful.

It'll take a while for traffic in the area to settle in to using the new roads, of which there's been quite a few in the last few years - M50, Wyckham Way/Bypass/Extension, Drumartin Link Rd, Dundrum Bypass (and the Luas effect too). But then, the opening of the new shopping centre and the rest of the M50 will mix things up again next year.

Another note: The Kilmacud Rd Upr crossing/realignment got built quite quickly, but the work on widening Birches Lane has been in that "leave it sitting there looking as if it's finished" state for a long long time. Didn't really matter too much to too many people though, as the road is easily avoided.