New road works on M7 Naas

Mocking Burd

Does anyone know what exactly they are doing at the new road works coming up to the 'big ball' junction at Naas ? Just curious..

darkman2

Mocking Burd wrote:

Does anyone know what exactly they are doing at the new road works coming up to the 'big ball' junction at Naas ? Just curious..

Probrably just tie in works with the N7 upgrade

murphaph

I assume you men the more recent road works on the motorway proper as opposed to the longer standing N7 upgrade works around Johnstown. The N7 upgrade scheme also consists of widening the 7 for a certain distance beyond the big ball junction, not sure how far but it's not much AFAIK.

corktina

it seemed to me it was due to a sliproad being built for southbound traffic joining the M7 at Naas.........

murphaph

corktina wrote:

it seemed to me it was due to a sliproad being built for southbound traffic joining the M7 at Naas.........

Oh yeah, you're right they did add a slip from that junction for Johnstown traffic to head southbound when the median crossing is eventually closed. There are works on the M7 northbound carriageway too, perhaps to narrow the median to allow the wider southbound carriageway.

Mocking Burd

murphaph wrote:

I assume you men the more recent road works on the motorway proper as opposed to the longer standing N7 upgrade works around Johnstown. The N7 upgrade scheme also consists of widening the 7 for a certain distance beyond the big ball junction, not sure how far but it's not much AFAIK.

Ok thanks, was wondering if they were going to widen it on that side, but I didn't see how they could with the slip road and the bridge (moreso on the Northbound side).

mysterious

I'm not convinced that this road is high spec, the D3 lane road is very tight, the slips are unbelievable short lengths, the new bridges don't allow for further upgrades. The Median is almost non-existent, barely enough space for the steel barriers itself.

The lane widths look narrow, or is it just me? This is ridiculous? They could have just had a proper D3M like any other UK/ EU road; it is Cleary acceptable and fit for a Motorway. Plus it would of being cheaper to build the M7 on the original alternative by the Canal and Arrow rail. Instead the NRA goes the long, frustrating solution, a half arsed road,
For such as small country every few miles of new road an alarming number of different roads designs and speeds :rolleyes:

The M1 is a fantastic road, The NRA don't tell us enough that it was in fact funded almost entirely by the EU, which why Ireland will never get a road that will be up to spec with this route.

spacetweek

mysterious wrote:

I'm not convinced that this road is high spec, the D3 lane road is very tight, the slips are unbelievable short lengths, the new bridges don't allow for further upgrades. The Median is almost non-existent, barely enough space for the steel barriers itself.

The merge from the M7 east of Naas into the newly widened road is too sharp a turn; they should have straightened this out. Also, much of the road will not have a parallel non-motorway route even after the upgrade; these two things rule out a motorway designation.

It's not a motorway-spec road (that was never the intention), but it should be. A road of this importance and with this level of traffic should be a 6-lane motorway at least. And no tolls please!!

mysterious wrote:

Plus it would of being cheaper to build the M7 on the original alternative by the Canal and Arrow rail.

On a side note, I remember seeing a few years ago the M7 (along a route following the canal) was marked in on the Kildare Dev Plan as a long-term goal. So it looks like they are still planning on building it! Nonsense, there's nowhere for it to tie into at Dublin (The Outer Ring Road? I think not) and the existing road is to such a high spec that it would just be unnecessary duplication.

They should just make it into the Naas motorway and be done with it. All these incremental upgrades are wrecking my head.

murphaph

I think you're being a bit hard on the N7 upgrade mysterious! The alternative M7 along the canal would have needlessly destroyed a lot of countryside, running parallel to anoyjer D2/3 (the N7) road! It made sense to upgrade the N7 IMO. The road will be fine, even with the short left on/left off merges/exits and possibly slightly narrower lanes and 100km/h limit. You can already see the benefits now that some of the movements have been taken off the Kill and Johnstown traffic lights. When traffic can flow freely to the M7 at a steady 100km/h it'll only be marginally slower than if it were 120km/h motorway. There is no alternative road for much of this upgrade to allow it to be designated M7, maybe the bits nearest the existing M7 could in time be designated M7 and non-motorway traffic diverted along the link roads from Kill through Johnstown and Naas. This probably won't happen but it could as far as I can see.

darkman2

What are you guys on about, I reckon the N7 to Rathcoole anyway is probrably the best road in the country, and City West maintain 'their' stretch beautifully. Not withstanding its not motorway however it is a damn good road. The M1 is yet another joke with silly roundabout interchanges that will ultimatly have to be upgraded in the future and only 2 lanes on a road that surely should have been at least three as far as Donabate anyway, granted they left plenty of space for it to be widened. The M7 you must remember is comparatively old compared to the latest stretches of motorway, indeed it was the first Mway road to open in the country. Narrow lanes or not three lanes is three lanes. I would also note that the N7 from the M50 to Rathcoole does have decently wide lanes so there is nothing to suggest that the present work will be any different:rolleyes: