M50 upgrade - Phase II

ipodrocker

thats great news to hear the 3 lanes are open north of the bridge, now for 3 lanes ballymount to sandyford and we will be flying!!!

Absurdum

Drove J3 to J9 and back again today, all working brilliantly well

Wibbler

Absurdum wrote: »

Drove J3 to J9 and back again today, all working brilliantly well

Yup, I headed east on M50 to J3 last evening and traffic flow to the N1 slip was smoother than I could ever have hoped. I am really looking forward to the mess around Ballymount to Firhouse being removed in a few weeks (fingers crossed). This will leave the Blanchardstown junction as the only significant pinch point on my daily commute.

D.L.R.

What's the surface like? Hope its less bumpy that the western parkway.

bigbadbear

The new aux lanes make a world of difference. Why oh why are we being patronised with 100km/h speed limits. Surely a motorway is just a motorway. I know one person who wont be abiding by them anyway :rolleyes:

Also the NRA will probably only take a day at most to tell the south section what needs to be done in order to open the road. Its then simply a matter of getting them done and removing the cones. I'd say it will be open for next monday week at the latest but more likely on monday coming.

celticbest

Hi MGT,

Can you please confirm why the Auxiliary lane from Junction 2 on the M1 SB and lane 1 of the Freeflow to the M50 are not opened yet. All lanes are opened now at this junction on the M50. If these lanes were opened it would alleviate a lot of the slowdown around these junction at peak times.

The opening up of the auxiliary lane on the M50N between Junctions 4 & 3 and then all the Freeflow lanes to the M1N & PT have made a massive difference if last night is anything to go by. The only slowdown was when you got onto the M1N


PS,Are there any plans in the near future to upgrade the M1 to three lanes

Cionád

celticbest wrote: »

Hi MGT,

Can you please confirm why the Auxiliary lane from Junction on the M1 SB and lane 1 of the Freeflow to the M50 are not opened yet. All lanes are opened now at this junction on the M50. If these lanes were opened it would alleviate a lot of the slowdown around these junction at peak times.

Also when will the Ballymun Rd -> M50 SB freeflow lane be opened???

rameire

there is still a bit of fencing to do on the southern bit,
but that is mainly it.
shouldnt take too long to put that up.
i was thinking they would start removing the cones aover the weekend of the 12th 13th 14th of february.

M50 Traffic MGT

celticbest wrote: »

Hi MGT,

Can you please confirm why the Auxiliary lane from Junction 2 on the M1 SB and lane 1 of the Freeflow to the M50 are not opened yet. All lanes are opened now at this junction on the M50. If these lanes were opened it would alleviate a lot of the slowdown around these junction at peak times.

The opening up of the auxiliary lane on the M50N between Junctions 4 & 3 and then all the Freeflow lanes to the M1N & PT have made a massive difference if last night is anything to go by. The only slowdown was when you got onto the M1N


PS,Are there any plans in the near future to upgrade the M1 to three lanes

M1 NB is currently being upgraded to 4 lanes between the M50 and Airport. Hopefully this will speed up the M1 NB but from our experience the major slowdown in the evenings appears to be merging traffic from the Airport Interchange. There are no plans for an additional lane from the Airport to Lissenhall yet, but our new gantries on the M1 NB have space for this extra lane along the median, which will join up with our extra lane currently being constructed

M50 Traffic MGT

Cionád wrote: »

Also when will the Ballymun Rd -> M50 SB freeflow lane be opened???

The freeflows at Ballymun cannot be opened until the new traffic signals are erected and commisioned. Otherwise pedestrians would not be able to cross safely. Hopefully by the end of February

M50 Traffic MGT

celticbest wrote: »

Hi MGT,

Can you please confirm why the Auxiliary lane from Junction 2 on the M1 SB and lane 1 of the Freeflow to the M50 are not opened yet. All lanes are opened now at this junction on the M50. If these lanes were opened it would alleviate a lot of the slowdown around these junction at peak times.

The opening up of the auxiliary lane on the M50N between Junctions 4 & 3 and then all the Freeflow lanes to the M1N & PT have made a massive difference if last night is anything to go by. The only slowdown was when you got onto the M1N


PS,Are there any plans in the near future to upgrade the M1 to three lanes

For the NRA Audits the M1 Interchange is seperate to the M50, and so is the M1 Mainline, and this audit cannot be completed until works on the N32 are completed. Due to adverse weather over the last week, this work is still not completed but once the audit is done, the NRA once again will have the 20 day window to voice any concerns before it opens

M50 Traffic MGT

bigbadbear wrote: »

The new aux lanes make a world of difference. Why oh why are we being patronised with 100km/h speed limits. Surely a motorway is just a motorway. I know one person who wont be abiding by them anyway :rolleyes:

Also the NRA will probably only take a day at most to tell the south section what needs to be done in order to open the road. Its then simply a matter of getting them done and removing the cones. I'd say it will be open for next monday week at the latest but more likely on monday coming.

The reason the M50 will permanently be 100km/h is that it is classed as an "urban motorway". This is because the lanes are narrower than traditional motorways, due to restrictions in space, boundary walls, bridges etc.

The Gardai have had a notable presence along the M50 Northern Cross this week since the auxiliary lane has been opened and there have been plenty of motorists pulled over.

Also, in case anybody was wondering, the hard shoulder as you might have seen between Ballymun and the N2 has two yellow lines. The yellow line closest to the verge marks the back of hard shoulder, a requirement if the hard shoulder exceeds the NRA spec

darkman2

Hi M50 TM,


Can you tell us what is the design of the N2 junction currently being built? Are there any drawings?


Some posters said it is now different to the picture provided - with more freeflow. Is this true?

mysterious

Have they fixed the lane allowcations on The M50 easbound to the M1/N32

3 lanes to M1, port tunnell and City and 1 lane to N32.

To our Councillors and contractor, - Sort it ****ing out. Thanks

Absurdum

mysterious wrote: »

Have they fixed the lane allowcations on The M50 easbound to the M1/N32

3 lanes to M1, port tunnell and City and 1 lane to N32.

To our Councillors and contractor, - Sort it ****ing out. Thanks

the lane allocations are working perfectly as they are

Davy

Absurdum wrote: »

the lane allocations are working perfectly as they are

Ye, the only hold up at junction 3 is the N32 which backs up in both direction at all times now cause of the on going works

celticbest

mysterious wrote: »

Have they fixed the lane allowcations on The M50 easbound to the M1/N32

3 lanes to M1, port tunnell and City and 1 lane to N32.

To our Councillors and contractor, - Sort it ****ing out. Thanks

Absurdum wrote: »

the lane allocations are working perfectly as they are

I agree Absurdum.

mysterious, you obviously never use this junction as you would have seen since it opened that it is working perfectly as stated by Absurdum above.

I have always maintained that this junction layout would work well and from what I can see since its opening this is the case, there is plenty of time for merging once you are in the correct lane coming up to J4 Ballymun and not in lane 3 cutting across to Auxiliary lane 1 (5 lanes), as I have seen one or two people doing!

Absurdum

celticbest wrote: »

I agree Absurdum.

mysterious, you obviously never use this junction as you would have seen since it opened that it is working perfectly as stated by Absurdum above.

I have always maintained that this junction layout would work well and from what I can see since its opening this is the case, there is plenty of time for merging once you are in the correct lane coming up to J4 Ballymun and not in lane 3 cutting across to Auxiliary lane 1 (5 lanes), as I have seen one or two people doing!

I'd go as far as saying that if it were reduced to one lane for the N32, it would be quite dangerous if there were tailbacks queuing to enter the roundabout there, as you would have one lane of stationary traffic on the right and 5 lanes passing on the left at ~100km/h.

Now if only people could read signs....

Absurdum

Absurdum wrote: »

Now if only people could read signs....

+1 The first few days of the new layout was chaos because they didn't! :mad:

celticbest

Absurdum wrote: »

Now if only people could read signs....

Too true!

Deleted User wrote: »

+1 The first few days of the new layout was chaos because they didn't! :mad:

dolanbaker, I have to say that was only the case up until they fully opened up all the lanes from J4 Ballymun to Junction J3 M1/N32, since these lanes have been opened it been a dream as there plenty of time for late mergers.

Now all that needs to be done is an upgrade on the M1 so it doesn't keep clogging from J2 Airport to J4 Swords North / Donabate (R132) !!;)

Carawaystick

celticbest wrote: »

there is plenty of time for merging once you are in the correct lane coming up to J4 Ballymun and not in lane 3

So if you were in lane three the Finglas side of Ballymun junction you'ld see the signs for the next junction to inform you of this....

Surely the fact you need to be in a specific lane for the next junction implies poor design.

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

Surely the fact you need to be in a specific lane for the next junction implies poor design.

Not really, as this is a "terminal junction", as long as there is advance warning of which lane to use for where and a couple of kms to select and move into the correct lane, then there's no real issue.

Regular commuters should be able to correctly place themselves just after the Ballymun merge, I stick to lane one now after the Ballymun slip and it's simple.

Carawaystick

And do you think there will be signage west of J4 for J3?
There hasn't been correct signage for most of the junctions as they opened, I doubt ther's gonna be advance advance signage.

Also the decimal point in the sign for the next exit is far too small and at the wrong level. It looks like 16km instead of 1.6km

Signage should be installed for the first time user, not regular users.

mackerski

Deleted User wrote: »

Not really, as this is a "terminal junction"

It isn't, though - and the fact that the M50 continues through the tunnel via a TOTSO means that drivers looking to follow that route do need to watch their lane in the run up to the junction.

mackerski

mackerski wrote: »

It isn't, though - and the fact that the M50 continues through the tunnel via a TOTSO means that drivers looking to follow that route do need to watch their lane in the run up to the junction.

Yes...OK! But it's still the end of a section of 3+1 lane motorway, as far as the average punter is concerned.

ardmacha

It isn't, though - and the fact that the M50 continues through the tunnel via a TOTSO means that drivers looking to follow that route do need to watch their lane in the run up to the junction.

It can be argued that they don't. The left hand driving lane, i.e. the one on the right of the thick hatched line indicating lanes which exit, carries on the M50 towards the tunnel. Only those in the overtaking lanes might end up in the N32 and of course you shouldn't be driving there.

celticbest

Carawaystick wrote: »

So if you were in lane three the Finglas side of Ballymun junction you'ld see the signs for the next junction to inform you of this....

Surely the fact you need to be in a specific lane for the next junction implies poor design.

I always thought that you were supposed to be in a specific lane for the next junction, if you are cutting across two / three lanes at the last minute then that is dangerous driving.

Carawaystick wrote: »

And do you think there will be signage west of J4 for J3?
There hasn't been correct signage for most of the junctions as they opened, I doubt ther's gonna be advance advance signage.

Also the decimal point in the sign for the next exit is far too small and at the wrong level. It looks like 16km instead of 1.6km

Signage should be installed for the first time user, not regular users.

Most people whom are unsure of were they are would not be flying down lane Three of an urban Motorway were junctions are close together, I'm also sure they would be extra vigilant of signage.

One thing that could be done though is that the lanes could be marked under J4 Ballymun, Lane 1 - M1N / PT, Lane 2 - N32, Lane 3 N32, this ensure that people have sufficient time to get in the correct lane.

Also if you are unsure of a road you should look at a map before starting your journey so you know the junction number which you wish to exit at, or you could use a sat-nav if you have one, even it's not up to date it will still tell you the distance you are from the junction you wish to exit at as none of the junctions have moved significantly.

Redsoxfan

M50 Traffic MGT wrote: »

The Final Road Safety Audit for Ballymount to Sandyford was carried out this week and the NRA have 20 working days to review the findings before they give the green light for it to open. As soon as they give the go ahead all lanes will be opened, just like the Northern Cross, which was audited just before Christmas. As soon as we get word I will post it here

M50 Traffic Management

So M50 Traffic Management, any update from the NRA on how the audit is progressing?

Is the fact that there still appears to be soundproofing work to be completed at Tallaght/Firhouse going to delay things at all?

Redsoxfan

One thing I noticed this morning was that there are quite a few 'cat's eyes' missing from their holders on the inside of the overtaking/outside lane-I presume this is due to the volume of traffic (myself included ) which would drive over these on a regular basis.

rameire

Redsoxfan wrote: »

So M50 Traffic Management, any update from the NRA on how the audit is progressing?

Is the fact that there still appears to be soundproofing work to be completed at Tallaght/Firhouse going to delay things at all?

I noticed this morning that they were placing the Fencing ? sound proofing alon ght etwo most noticable stretches that were needed to be finished, Tallaght / Firhouse and by the Retirement home near the Dundrum Exit.

Also noticed lots of new road markings saying m50 on the road surface on the m50, obviously to keep the idiots in line.