M50 upgrade - Phase II

whosedaddy?

Now that we have seen the first part (M1 to N2) of the northern section roadwork prep completed - loosing hard shoulder in the process.

It looks like same is about to happen on the souther end of the M50.

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/Roads/M50_SpeedLimit.htm

Change of Speed Limit on M50 from Junction 14 (Leopardstown Interchange)
to the County boundary with South Dublin County Council

Notice is hereby given that in exercise of the powers vested under Section 10 of the Road Traffic Act, 2004 and in the interests of Road Safety, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council propose to apply a Road Works Speed Limit Order of 60km/h as follows:

On the M50 motorway, from border with South Dublin County to Junction 14 (Leopardstown Interchange)to the County boundary with South Dublin County Council.

The speed limit reduction is to facilitate the safe construction works associated with the Upgrade Project – Contract No. 2 (the widening of M50).

The speed limit of 60km/h shall apply for a period of 8 months from 18th February, 2008 to 17th October, 2008.

I've also noticed on M50 south from the Firhouse exit they have started closing the hard shoulder to remove the cateye reflector thingies.

I can only hope they won't do anything before the Phase I mainline has been opened for 3 lanes... Otherwise only 6km of the 32 km from M1 to past exit 14 will have a hard shoulder for broken down cars/trucks/dead horses, etc.

Any word when the roadworks on northern section is about to start...
http://www.m50concession.ie/ is still under construction, just like the M50 itself.

jkgvfg

Roadworks have started last week on the northern section. Most of the bushes in the middle have been removed at this stage and now they are removing earth. Fascinating sight, nearly everyone slowed down this morning to have a good look at a digger putting dirt in a lorry. Took 40 minutes to get from the toll to the M1.

Can you read into the fact that they are only putting the limit in place for 8 months that this is all it is going to take?

Given it is different crowds constructing it, I would doubt there has been any thought about staggering the works between phase 1, 2 and 3. End of March is supposed to be the 3 lanes and September the completion of phase 1, probably with a big do by Bertie of opening the toll barriers. I would think Phase 3 is probably complete already, they just won't open it until something else opens. The whole Ikea opening in September has gone quiet lately and if they do complete the northern section in 9 months and the southern section in 8 months, then I don't know why it took so long for phase 1.

whosedaddy?

jeah - heard of the impact that one digger had on the M50 northbound.. So figured work had started.

they've started painting temp road markings on the southern section...

Irish and Proud

whosedaddy? wrote: »

jeah - heard of the impact that one digger had on the M50 northbound.. So figured work had started.

they've started painting temp road markings on the southern section...

Work on Southern Section confirmed - see www.m50.ie (www.m50concession.ie is still not up )

Let's hope the work reflects the methodology of Phase 3 rather than the circus of Phase 1! :rolleyes:

Regards!

whosedaddy?

hmm Phase III isn't exactly progressing at light speed either.
work started 11th June 07. Switchover to newly constructed lanes 10th Nov 07 (5 month) now its Feb 08 and still not exactly finshed. Its 8 month since start and remember its only a 3 km stretch.
While the remaining northern and the southern section are 10km each!

Sundy

The date for the completion of the mainline and N4 junction is the 14th of march. Not likely to happen. Its close to being completed but there are a few things which could delay it for a few weeks.
Phase 1 is by far the most difficult of the 3 sections with two complete junction changes and its also the oldest section of the M50 meaning everything had to be replaced. Little or no drainage was reused. The efficiency of SIAC might be a factor too.

D.L.R.

Anyone come across photos of construction of Phase 1? For such a large project you'd think there would be plenty, especially of the junctions.

Watch it live


edit: at the time of linking only the median hedge had been removed.

Sundy

D.L.R. wrote: »

Anyone come across photos of construction of Phase 1? For such a large project you'd think there would be plenty, especially of the junctions.

Thats because most of the other junctions on the next phase are not being changed very much.

whosedaddy?

ROAD WORKS SPEED LIMIT ORDER

M50 (from 340m south of the Greenhills Road overbridge and the County Boundary with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.)
....
The Road Works speed Limit of 60 km/h will apply from Monday 25th February 2008 until Tuesday 24th February 2009.

http://www.sdublincoco.ie/index.aspx?pageid=939&pid=14050

At least a year for Phase II to be completed...

lost marbles

speaking of speed limits
right so your driving on the m50 south doing 100k and the speed on those porta signs then wants you to do 60k now the road is clear of everything except a few cones so doing the 100k is safe can i get done? i thought that speed limits are only from fixed road signage .now im not a speed merchant but some of these porta signs are abit stupid dont yous think

Stark

Afaik, you can get done even if there's no speed limit sign.

The 60Kmh limit is from the first sign to the first sign displaying a different limit.

mackerski

Deleted User wrote: »

The 60Kmh limit is from the first sign to the first sign displaying a different limit.

No - well, possibly, but only assuming good co-ordination. It applies over whatever stretch the legal paperwork says it does, irrespective of signage. This would obviously weaken your case if stopped on the written-up stretch and without having passed a sign raising the limit.

Ice_Box

spotted some lines painted today...

Heroditas

Ice_Box wrote: »

spotted some lines painted today...

Looks good! I assume traffic will be moved int othose middle lanes for a month or two while they resurface the outer lanes?

If phase I was anything to go by, it would be nearer six months!

But I expect it to be less as I don't think that the outside sections of the carriageway need to be rebuilt.

Stark

I think they'll rebuild them regardless.

LEIN

whosedaddy? wrote: »

http://www.m50concession.ie/ is still under construction, just like the M50 itself.

That site seems to be gone altogether now.

Haven't seen them vans on the M50 for a while.

Wonder if the company went belly up.

ipodrocker

which part of the m50 was the picture from?

near Ballymun.

Davy

ipodrocker wrote: »

which part of the m50 was the picture from?

Its at the Ballymun flyover looking towards the M1/M50 roundabout

aquascrotum

The ex. carriageway won't be rebuilt - top 90-110mm will be taken off and 2 layers of new blacktop will go on.

The fact that it isn't full depth road construction as in the median is irrelevant as I'd imagine its the junction upgrades that will dictate when sections can fully open to 3 lanes.

ipodrocker

its great to see they seem to be doing well on the northside part of the m50 as its needed alot, looks like the new bit of m50 on northside is way aheado the southside part.

johnnyrotten

ipodrocker wrote: »

its great to see they seem to be doing well on the northside part of the m50 as its needed alot, looks like the new bit of m50 on northside is way aheado the southside part.

Different contractor AFAIK

whosedaddy?

the northside section started a good few month ahead of the southside bit.
its more important to get the volume from/to M1 moving me thinks. and then there is the added IKEA factor :-)

but the new junctions need to play catch-up with the mainline alright...

The other reason is, it's the official truck route from Dublin port!

Looking at the cameras it appears that the inner lanes could be in use by Christmas and if all is needed is a couple of layers of top surface on the outer lanes, it may be up to three lanes as well

whosedaddy?

doubt that there will be three lanes before end of year.
if it was three lanes, there would be no room for junction work on the sides. but lets be optimistic until proven wrong...

three lanes between junctions, with the third one acting as a slip should be possible.

D.L.R.

just hope the finish is smoother than Phase 1 - parts of that are like a bloody rollercoaster.

mysterious

I've looked at the width of the M50.


First thing I've noticed is that they should of knocked the two old bridges at the recow and widened them. While building the news ones adjacent to wider widths alas. The new bridges are built to the same width as the older bridges. The Recow bridges now cannot be future proofed or widened as the New bridges are incoporated into the new layout.

Basically the width is 3 . 3.5m lane and slip is the width.

Bridges between the Lucan road and the Recow. Have 3 lanes, Auxillary lane and a HS, with a a verge too beside the bridges in this current upgrade, so it's alot wider than the Redcow section. Therefore the actual bridge widths vary from bridge to bridge thoughout the M50s length. Thus, meaning that if they did widen the old Redcow brdges we could of have had, 4 running lanes between the Tollbridge and Ballymount including under the bridges. 4 lanes with a Auxillary lane then added between the interchanges. This could of easily been done, There is plenty of land at the side where the verges, even at present just from looking at the recent upgrade, the boundaries are still very wide from the HS to the sound barriers walls that were newly built, it looks at least like 10 metres if not more scope of land here..


Also the Median is much wider in some areas for example.

Again the Median under the redcow, is very narrow than, in comparison the the median between the N3 and Ballymun interchanges.

What are the median varients in width, could anyone tell me.


Btw, Ive seen that the N3 interchanged has been changed in many areas. The Mainline traffic coming from Navan and Blanch over a new elevated bridge now is not free flowing onto the city bound road. This slip was actually planned flys by the existing traffic lit junction and then merged up with the city road after these traffic lights, so the main road movements from the Northwest would not have to interfere with the traffic using the junction. In the new layout it now joins into the traffic lit junction just after the interchange. Does anyone know what I'm on about lol.

whosedaddy?

from aaroadwatch.ie...

From 6am Thurs 30th Oct a temporary layout will be in place on the M50 northbound between J5 Finglas and J3 M1 until Wed 12th Nov. Traffic will be separated to make way for works between the two lanes just before J5 Finglas. The two lanes will remain fully operational. However, northbound traffic wishing to exit the M50 should remain in the left lane. Both lanes will allow traffic to continue North on the M50. Signs will be in place giving motorists advanced warning.

BluntGuy

Median width should ideally be 3 metres on narrow-median motorways.

whosedaddy?

whosedaddy? wrote: »

from aaroadwatch.ie...

From 6am Thurs 30th Oct a temporary layout will be in place on the M50 northbound between J5 Finglas and J3 M1 until Wed 12th Nov. Traffic will be separated to make way for works between the two lanes just before J5 Finglas. The two lanes will remain fully operational. However, northbound traffic wishing to exit the M50 should remain in the left lane. Both lanes will allow traffic to continue North on the M50. Signs will be in place giving motorists advanced warning.

Looks like they have moved one lane of traffic onto the new road, but only for the section between Finglas and Ballymun - not all the way to the M1 roundabout.

ipodrocker

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like they have moved one lane of traffic onto the new road, but only for the section between Finglas and Ballymun - not all the way to the M1 roundabout.

Do does this means they are working on the outer lanes and the hard shoulder?

whosedaddy?

the bridge at finglas isn't wide enough to work on two new lanes and maintain 2 traffic lanes. When diverting one lane onto the new surface, they free up the middle lane to add new surface wide enough to then move traffic onto the new two inner lanes. once traffic is moved to inner lanes they will do the outer sections.

not sure they need to do same southbound. (the drainage is on northbound side, reducing the width of available road)

But same will happen at Blanch as well.

mysterious

Guess no one knows the answer to my question. The Irish never pay attention.....:rolleyes:


Ireland eh.

Bluetonic

mysterious wrote: »

Guess no one knows the answer to my question. The Irish never pay attention.....:rolleyes:

I stopped reading after your second sentence.

I've no idea where the recow bridge is.

whosedaddy?

mysterious wrote: »

First thing I've noticed is that they should of knocked the two old bridges at the recow and widened them.

You don't use the N7 for commuting me thinks. otherwise you would know what that would have meant for traffic and joined the resistance....

and to get a proper answer ring the planning department. they work in mysterious ways....

whosedaddy?

lane painting between Blanch and split at Finglas and north of Finglas and M1 has commenced...

Looks like the switch to inner lanes will happen very soon.

I wish they would wait and split the lane at Blanch at the same time when they realign the mainline. That way the inner lane would be permanent and only need for one more realignment.. but that would be too much to ask...

ipodrocker

whosedaddy? wrote: »

lane painting between Blanch and split at Finglas and north of Finglas and M1 has commenced...

Looks like the switch to inner lanes will happen very soon.

I wish they would wait and split the lane at Blanch at the same time when they realign the mainline. That way the inner lane would be permanent and only need for one more realignment.. but that would be too much to ask...

thats so right! one alignment would be the key and waiting a while longer for alignment would be no harm.

Praetorian

Does anyone have any idea when the new flyovers and bridges at M1 / M50 roundabout are due for completion? It seems ver vague on the nra website where they mention a rough 2010. I assume the south side portion will be finished after the northside portion.

Also, are they going to open the 3 lanes before this other work is completed? Or are they waiting for it all to be completed first?

whosedaddy?

just spotted on traffic cams...

M50 north between Finglas works and M1 has been moved to new middle lanes.

ipodrocker

thats interesting, quicker than i thought they would move the traffic.

lynchie

whosedaddy? wrote: »

just spotted on traffic cams...

M50 north between Finglas works and M1 has been moved to new middle lanes.

Yeah that happened overnight... They are currently putting cats eyes on a large stretch of the N3-N2 section at the moment, the line painting has all been done, hopefully they will move another large section of the road to the new inner lanes soon.

ipodrocker

thats cool is the cats eyes n3-n2 north and south bound? so quiet soon the traffic will be moving a good distance along the new carraigway

whosedaddy?

here is "official" timetable from m50.ie

Northbound Carriageway New Traffic Management Scheme

A new traffic management scheme for the northbound carriageway between Junction 5 (N2) and Junction 3 (M1) was implemented on the 11th November. Northbound traffic in this section is now travelling on the newly constructed median lanes. This traffic management scheme will be extended over the coming days to include Junction 6 (N3) and it is intended that by Friday 14th of November all northbound traffic will be travelling on the newly constructed lanes from Junction 6 to Junction 3.

Southbound Carriageway New Traffic Management Scheme

It is planned that the southbound traffic will be diverted onto the newly constructed median lanes between junction 3 and Junction 6 on Thursday 20th November 2008.

another week of pain in the mornings...

johnnyrotten

This seems to be moving at a good pace now. When is the M1 junction due for completion?

ipodrocker

at least by the end of next week we can all drive on the new median lanes, then the progress on the junctions can start full swing

lynchie

ipodrocker wrote: »

thats cool is the cats eyes n3-n2 north and south bound? so quiet soon the traffic will be moving a good distance along the new carraigway

Only travelled N-bound on this this morning. Im sure they are doing it S-bound too but its dark now, so wont be able to see it on my way home.

cargo

Also another notice up on M50.ie for the far end of this upgrade. i.e Southern End. Only affecting traffic during the night.

Upgrade works from Friday night the 14th November 2008 for the next two weeks

Night works will commence on the M50 Mainline between J13 Ballinteer Interchange and J14 Sandyford Interchange, North & South Bound to facilitate the construction of the additional third lane. Works will commence at 10pm and finish at 6am.

The first phase of the works will involve closing both south bound lanes on M50 Mainline from 10pm with Traffic being diverted off the mainline at J13 Ballinteer and rejoining the M50 at J14 Sandyford via the on bound ramp. This phase is expected to last one week. On completion of phase one the second phase will commence and involve both North bound lanes being closed from 10pm with traffic being diverted at J14 Sandyford and rejoining the M50 at J13 Ballinteer. Each morning, traffic will be rerouted back on to the M50 by 6am.