N7 and M50 junction MADNESS!!!!!!!

REDZ

Hi
I hated driving to citywest before, but today was unreal. 1 hour and 20mins to get from long mile road to Citywest. I might have to move jobs.
I rang the council traffic dept on 01 4149301, they were pretty sound but said the these road works are going to run for 1 YEAR!
The contractors are going to modify the layout tonight or tomorrow night but its still going to be chaos for a YEAR.
Anyway the M50 upgrade has a comment line so i suggest ringing them.
it is 1800 24 34 54
i just left a mildly abusive message and felt a bit better.

Fratton Fred

Two questions spring to mind.

1) Why did they not complete the Ballymount and Lucan junctions before doing the Red Cow, this would have allowed the traffic to use those junctions instead and taken the weight off the Red Cow.

2) Why did they decide to alter the road layout on a Monday night? these things always over run and this is what caused the chaos this morning. If they had done it on a Saturday night, they would have had till more time and it would have caused less chaos.

I hope to god that these roadworks will be going on 24x7 otherwise there will be war over this.

DublinWriter

The M50 Northbound of the toll was a complete car park today with tonnes of trucks on it.

Was this a consequence of the Red Cow works anyone?

stipey

Don't know how you folks stick it in a car.

I travel down the N7 from Rathcoole to the Long Mile Road on a motorbike for work every morning (and back again every evening).

On mornings with "normal" rush hour traffic it takes 20 minutes.
On mornings of pure traffic bedlam (like today)... it takes about 20 minutes.
In the summer, when the schools are off... it takes about 20 minutes.

I had to take the car a few weeks back, it took about 45 minutes. I think the only thing that stopped me going up the walls was that it was a nice change of pace (literally) and I was in a very laid back mood. No way I could do it every day though!

Roddy23

DublinWriter see here

comer_97

i live in lucan and commute by motorbike to the citycentre. The M50 upgrades and the outer ring road are even affecting me on the bike. Adding 15 minutes each way. Doing it in a car would crack me up.

DublinWriter

Roddy23 wrote:

DublinWriter see here

But that protest is scheduled for next week?

Maybe they were just having a dry-run today.

fletch

How was it for people heading home today?

Zebra3

It was on the 6.1 news that the tailback went as far as Naas.

DerekP11

Tailback didn't reach Naas. Got as far as the Blackchurch though.

This evening the N7 outbound was a dream, because most people took the N4and N81 to avoid it. Needless to say, both those routes were bedlam.

Tarabuses

Fratton Fred wrote:

I hope to god that these roadworks will be going on 24x7 otherwise there will be war over this.

Any time I travel that section of the M50, weekdays or weekends, I never see anyone working on the roadworks.

Brian CivilEng

Fratton Fred wrote:

I hope to god that these roadworks will be going on 24x7 otherwise there will be war over this.

They can't do that, it was a condition of the the planning permission that they didn't work 24x7. The M50 does go through a lot of residential areas.

AlekSmart

abitofacomedian wrote:

They can't do that, it was a condition of the the planning permission that they didn't work 24x7. The M50 does go through a lot of residential areas.

True Tommy Cooper stuff alright..

Remember a couple of years ago how Seamus Brennan brough over Senor Melis from Madrid.
The bould Senor M had caught Seamuseens eye what with buildin the Madrid Metro on time and under budget etc etc.

Anyway Senor Melis had only a couple of hints for Paddy.
1. Agree a plan before you start.
2. Keep everything simple.
3. Once work begins it continues 24/7/365 until the Finis.

Needless to say Senor Melis`s fancy hi falutin notions did not recieve much in the way of understranding from Our Native Administrators....Largely the same bunch who presided over the construction of the original ill planned M50 in the first place.

John R

AlekSmart wrote:

.Largely the same bunch who presided over the construction of the original ill planned M50 in the first place.

Well there is the real focal point.

TBH I can't blame the residents close to the M50 for objecting to the work, plenty of the houses would have been there before the motorway was built.

Living next to the thing must be unpleasant enough without 24/7 construction work as well.

The motorway and it's low grade junctions along with the corrupt farce that was/is planning in the Dublin region has made it an unrepairable joke that is completely unsuitable for it's intended purpose.

The current works are maybe going to buy 5-10 years extra before it is once again at daily gridlock levels. It is putting a sticky plaster on a wound infected with flesh-eating bacteria and expecting a magic recovery.

Ice_Box

This morning the N4 was taking over an hour. Must be because people were avoiding the N7.
Take deep breaths and think of the finished products.


N4


Red Cow

markf909

Take deep breaths and think of the finished products.

Someone forgot to put traffic on those artist mock ups

dave2pvd

markf909 wrote:

Someone forgot to put traffic on those artist mock ups

Lanes too.

Fratton Fred

That's because by the time it is finished, we will all have our own flying saucer to take us to work:D

DublinWriter

Fratton Fred wrote:

That's because by the time it is finished, we will all have our own flying saucer to take us to work:D

Work?!? Robots will do it all for us!

penexpers

Question: does the N7 junction work affect the rest of the M50?

Seth Brundle

It could as because less traffic is coming onto the M50 from the N7 because of the N7 delays.
In saying that - is the N7 still brought down from three lanes to one lane?

Fratton Fred

kbannon wrote:

It could as because less traffic is coming onto the M50 from the N7 because of the N7 delays.
In saying that - is the N7 still brought down from three lanes to one lane?

The N7 is back to normal, in fact it is quite good heading into town in the evenings because there are no lights to get onto the roundabout. Coming out of town is pretty bad though from what I can gather.

g-punkteffekt

Yes you can get anywhere in dublin in 30 mins by motorbike. I used to get from Artane to the Naas road in 25-30 mins, going through town, regardless of the traffic. I cycled for a couple of year from Artane to the four courts, that also took 25 mins door to door. You only have yourselves to blame if you are driving cars on these roads in Dublin. THEY ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR MASS COMMUTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Therefore DO NOT DRIVE A CAR. Buy a motorbike (or pushbike)!!! You have no idea how stupid you all look as we whizz by you in the mornings. Seriously, you all need to see shrinks or something.

mikemac

g-punkteffekt wrote:

You only have yourselves to blame if you are driving cars on these roads in Dublin. THEY ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR MASS COMMUTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Therefore DO NOT DRIVE A CAR. Buy a motorbike (or pushbike)!!! You have no idea how stupid you all look as we whizz by you in the mornings.

QFT....how many times do I see huge lines of traffic and >75% of cars have only one person in them.
By all means drive your car around Dublin but don't moan if you can't get there quickly. And if you're not comfortable with a motorcycle, why not try a scooter? No quicker way around a city, look how popular they are on the continent.

As an example is look at our European Car Free Day which we stage every year. Everybody gets the idea that traffic will be light so they drive and it ends up being a disaster.

g-punkteffekt

I don't think people like the idea of filling your tank for 7 euro or paying 80 euro a year road tax... No lets pay 1000 euro road tax to sit on atrocious roads for 4 hours a day

zootroid

And if you're not comfortable with a motorcycle, why not try a scooter? No quicker way around a city, look how popular they are on the continent.

yeah but we have the irish weather to put up with, and I know where I'd rather be when it's raining

penexpers

A couple of hundred euro on wet gear will have you dry as a bone on the scooted. I cycle every day even when it's raining. I have decent wet gear and the rain doesn't bother me. If anything, the wind can be harder to deal with.

stipey

zootroid wrote:

yeah but we have the irish weather to put up with, and I know where I'd rather be when it's raining

So do I... on a bike.

The average speed of traffic drops considerably when its wet. It seems many people don't feel comfortable driving on a wet surface and reduce their speed for safety reasons.

So while the average card driver's journey time increases, I still get home in 20-25 minutes. Then within 5 minutes of being in the door I have the bike gear off and I'm warm, dry and sitting down to the dinner Mrs. Stipey has lovingly incinerated.

talkingclock

I'm driving on a scooter as well.
But you cannot expect anybody riding a motorbike. Some people just don't feel safe enough if there is no metal box around them.
I still feel a bit uncomfortable. But mainly because of the stupid car drivers who are ignoring everything on 2 wheels...

_Kaiser_

stipey wrote:

The average speed of traffic drops considerably when its wet. It seems many people don't feel comfortable driving on a wet surface and reduce their speed for safety reasons.

So while the average card driver's journey time increases, I still get home in 20-25 minutes.

Maybe that's because the road surface becomes slick and grip is reduced thus in fact the CORRECT thing to do is indeed to slow down - or "driving at an appropriate speed for the conditions" if you prefer.

I'm afraid you're only reinforcing the stereotype that bike riders don't think the law applies to them for some reason as you tear past the "stupid" people in their cars whilst breaking speed limits, weaving through traffic and crossing solid white lines as you do so. :rolleyes:

talkingclock

Kaiser2000 wrote:

I'm afraid you're only reinforcing the stereotype that bike riders don't think the law applies to them for some reason as you tear past the "stupid" people in their cars whilst breaking speed limits, weaving through traffic and crossing solid white lines as you do so. :rolleyes:

As a regular cyclist and scooterist you come to a point where you change your driving style from defensive to offensive. For me it happend when i was overtaken a few times by a car from the right side going to the left and cutting my way, forcing me a dangerous full stop. This doesnt only happened one single time and not only to me. As said earlier, if you have two wheels cardrivers just ignore you...

stipey

I'm afraid you're only reinforcing the stereotype that bike riders don't think the law applies to them for some reason as you tear past the "stupid" people in their cars whilst breaking speed limits, weaving through traffic and crossing solid white lines as you do so.

Much as I hate to rain on your biker bashing parade....

I travel down the Naas road from the long mile road junction to Citywest. There are 3 lanes all the way so at no time am I driving on the opposite side of the road. Equally there are no continuous white lines for me to cross so I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you there too.

I stay between the middle lane of traffic and the right lane of traffic - which is called filtering and is, in fact, perfectly legal (sorry ).

I travel at approximately 15-25km/h when in heavy traffic (that's 15mph at the upper limit) - so hardly "tearing" past the traffic or smashing speed limits on what is a 60km/h stretch of road. I didn't mention driving any faster than normal. In fact I said "I still get home in 20-25 minutes" which means I travel at the same rate. (For what its worth. Roughly 7 miles in 20 minutes is an average speed of 21 miles per hour -now take into account that the lighter traffic between Newlands Cross and Citywest on the N7 means it is possible to travel at the sign posted 100km/h what does that make my average speed between the long mile road and Newlands Cross?)

My point was that the average speed of traffic slows considerably when its wet. (Note: Not once did I say that this was inapproriate for the conditions. Neither did I have a go at people who alter their driving behaviour to suit the conditions - this is perfectly reasonable behaviour). However, given that I travel at 15mph in heavy traffic (even when its dry) I don't really need to slow down (remember now, if i should slow below 15mph in the wet then surely car drivers should too). So when you put all of this together I still get home on a bike quicker than somebody doing the equivalent journey would in a car and (as I said) once I get in, I have the gear off and am dry within 5 minutes.

Finally, as for suggesting that people in their cars are "stupid"... well I'm afraid again you are trying to put words in my mouth or reading something that is not there. Perhaps though, judging by your inability to read, assimilate and comprehend a short post without mis-interpreting, it there are signs your statement might be correct in at least one instance anyway!

_Kaiser_

*sigh* alright then...

With regards to you saying that I misread your post, let's go through it shall we:

Stipey wrote:

The average speed of traffic drops considerably when its wet. It seems many people don't feel comfortable driving on a wet surface and reduce their speed for safety reasons.

Now to me this suggests that you are (somewhat condecendingly) implying that car drivers are somehow not as "able" to drive in the wet as you are, and instead slow down for their own safety and "comfort" whereas YOU however can drive on regardless.
Now I may be wrong here, and if so I apologise, but that's how it came across, in which case you might want to consider adding all that additional information you supplied in your second post to make a more balanced point.

That said there are a lot of bikers around (maybe not you specifically which is fair enough) who DO weave through moving traffic (have a look at the recent cycle from Fairview to Connolly video that was posted a few days back), habitually speed, and overtake regardless of road markings (and yes I know that car drivers do this too but neither is acceptable in my opinion).

HOWEVER.. the tone of your second post (and that of other bikers in this thread and others I've seen lately) suggests that you have some sort of issue with car drivers beyond legitimate safety concerns which I happen to agree fully with you on - far too many car drivers out there don't watch closely enough for bikers.

With regards to my "biker bashing", please read what I said. I said that you were reinforcing a stereotype. By it's very nature this is a negative generalisation of a group. Obviously it does not apply to everyone in the group (as I mentioned your additional clarification provides a more balanced view), so don't take it so personally.

(Edits for clarity)

stipey

Looks like we'll have to agree to agree....

Looking back over it now I can see how "It seems many people don't feel comfortable driving on a wet surface and reduce their speed for safety reasons" could be misconstrued as being condescending or a result of misplaced bravado. I can assure you it was nothing of the sort. More than likely it was a result of trying to edit and re-edit the post to make a coherent point and being interrupted by co-workers with troublesome development matters. The "It seems" was the left overs from a previous incarnation of the sentence that somehow escaped deletion and in the process put a completely different slant on what I meant to say. If you omit these words it offers a better representation of what I was trying to say.

I will agree with you that there are a lot of bikers who think they are invincible or above the law (or both). A lot of them seem to think its an extension of ... well you know yourself... and it gives us all a bad name. Not all bikers are like this. Personally I learned a long time ago that the real time savings on a bike come from not having to watch the lights change 4 or 5 times before I get through them as opposed to straight line speed. As it happens, when not filtering through traffic I rarely overtake anybody.

I have no axe to grind with car drivers. I drive a car myself (its awfully hard to carry golf clubs on the back of a bike) and each mode of transport is not without its charms. You are right that many drivers don't think to look for bikes but equally many bikers don't make themselves as visible as they could. Ultimately however, nobody is more responsible for my own well being than me - so I have no chip on my shoulder about that.

Finally, I may have overreacted a little so I will apologise for that. In my defence it was a reaction to the suggestion that I was to be tarred with the great big biker stereotype brush - especially as it wasn't a message i was making any effort to convey. Quite the opposite in fact - but its water under the bridge now.

Capt'n Midnight

John R wrote:

TBH I can't blame the residents close to the M50 for objecting to the work, plenty of the houses would have been there before the motorway was built.

Let's not forget that some of the land originally earmarked for the motorway was rezoned for housing. Nothing to do with the home owners in most cases ( remember yer man at the M50 bridge :rolleyes: ) a lot to do with the politicans who rezoned.