M50 upgrade - Phase II

mackerski

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some odd blue bits

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.38296&lon=-6.36306&zoom=16&layers=M

Motorway regulations, dontcha know...

jlang

MYOB wrote: »

There's no bus lanes or vestigial remains thereof through the N4 junction except the one they marked *last night* to try and help then M50NB-M4WB merge.

And on last night's evidence, it worked. No queue to get off the M50NB->N4WB at Palmerstown and seemingly no significant effect on the N4 traffic either, although it would still be held back by the lights at Palmerstown Village.

(And I was only giving out about this days ago!)

celticbest

Hi

I had to laugh to myself this morning....

After all the news about the full opening of Junction 6 Blanchardstown on the News (both TV & Radio) yesterday and again this morning, not one motorists travelling on the M50SB to N3 Outbound used the newly opened Freeflow slip while I was driving up the off-ramp or while I was queueing at the top to go onto the N3 Inbound, instead they all still went up to the R/A to get to the N3 Outbound, how much information do people require ??

I used this Freeflow last night & have to say it was brilliant apart from one very tight bend, I can actually understand why they have the speed limit set at 30km/h at this point as in the winter when it's wet / icy this bend would be a bit dodgy at a higher speed.

On a side note why are they calling this junction Freeflow when you have to still stop at lights when travelling M50SB to N3 Inbound ?

The Dark Knight

celticbest wrote: »

Hi

I had to laugh to myself this morning....

After all the news about the full opening of Junction 6 Blanchardstown on the News (both TV & Radio) yesterday and again this morning, not one motorists travelling on the M50SB to N3 Outbound used the newly opened Freeflow slip while I was driving up the off-ramp or while I was queueing at the top to go onto the N3 Inbound, instead they all still went up to the R/A to get to the N3 Outbound, how much information do people require ?? ......

The signs leading up the this slip are extremely poor. They don't adequately show you should be in the left land for N3-Outbound.

celticbest wrote: »

.......On a side note why are they calling this junction Freeflow when you have to still stop at lights when travelling M50SB to N3 Inbound ?

The haven't officially called it FreeFlow. The have used the "Partially FreeFlow" term.
Personally I think they should have spend a little more money and made it fully free-flow. (Although there are some unique design constraints a this junction).

celticbest

The Dark Knight wrote: »

The signs leading up the this slip are extremely poor. They don't adequately show you should be in the left land for N3-Outbound.

I thought the signage was at the same standard as other junctions that were already upgraded, they even have N3 & the destination painted on each lane.

The Dark Knight wrote: »

The haven't officially called it FreeFlow. The have used the "Partially FreeFlow" term.
Personally I think they should have spend a little more money and made it fully free-flow. (Although there are some unique design constraints a this junction).

Cheers for the clarification, I know it would have been next to impossible to have made this junction Freeflow.

ThisRegard

mackerski wrote: »

And here's the new junction to scale.

Ah, that helps. Yesterday evening while I was driving over the Castleknock bridge I noticed there were still lights on the NB exit at the roundabout and it was down to one lane. Made no sense at all but I now see that will be for those wishing to go into Blanchardstown village or the city centre and there's a free flow exit for the N3 west.

Chris_5339762

jlang wrote: »

And on last night's evidence, it worked. No queue to get off the M50NB->N4WB at Palmerstown and seemingly no significant effect on the N4 traffic either, although it would still be held back by the lights at Palmerstown Village.

(And I was only giving out about this days ago!)

What have they done there exactly as they told me they were going to do something? Have they just made the merge longer and gotten rid of a bit of the bus lane?

jack presley

The signage inbound on the N3 is wrong as well. If you follow the signs and stick to the middle lane you'll end up going onto the M50SB. The correct lane to be in is actually the inside land which is signposted as being for the M50NB.

L1011

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

What have they done there exactly as they told me they were going to do something? Have they just made the merge longer and gotten rid of a bit of the bus lane?

Crossing the bridge Lane 1 is flicked and then marked as the world's shortest bus lane, the merge off then M50 merge then takes this lane. It also has a broken/solid line combo to tell Lane 2 traffic to stay out for a few hundred yards.

Chris_5339762

Sounds much better to me. Will give that a shot next time I head off to M&S in Liffey Valley.

oddiot

Well, the M50S to N3 outbound was very smooth at 5:45 this evening for the first time... ever! A very welcome upgrade!!

Random

The design goal of the junction was to freeflow all movements between N3 and M50 on the outside of the M50. The Man doesn't want you to be inside the M50, so he hasn't invested any money in helping you if you do drive in there.

what do you mean by this?

oddiot

Random wrote: »

what do you mean by this?

I guess it means that if you're travelling from Leixlip to Ashbourne or vice versa, it's free flow all the way. But if you want to enter the city side of the M50, be prepared for some lights.

spacetweek

oddiot wrote: »

I guess it means that if you're travelling from Leixlip to Ashbourne or vice versa, it's free flow all the way. But if you want to enter the city side of the M50, be prepared for some lights.

That's right. It's been stated policy for years now that there'll be no more big road upgrades in Dublin *within* the M50. The unspoken assumption seems to be that public transport upgrades are all you'll get in there while outside it the car will rule.

So the lights at River Rd wouldn't be grounds for describing the junction as partial freeflow. The fact that N3 outbound movement isn't freeflowed is, however.

jlang wrote:

And on last night's evidence, it worked. No queue to get off the M50NB->N4WB at Palmerstown and seemingly no significant effect on the N4 traffic either, although it would still be held back by the lights at Palmerstown Village.

Dunno what you mean mate. I tried M50NB->N4WB tonight and as usual, the tailback was about a kilometre. Also as usual, I skipped the queue and merged in at the last minute

spacetweek

Lads I'm confused. Why are they saying the M50 upgrade is complete if the N2 junction is still ongoing? It is, right?

L1011

spacetweek wrote: »

Dunno what you mean mate. I tried M50NB->N4WB tonight and as usual, the tailback was about a kilometre. Also as usual, I skipped the queue and merged in at the last minute

You realise that this kind of bad driving causes more stop/starting of the queue and increases the time it takes?

You're also likely to get hit by a granny in a Micra some time, and be classed as entirely at fault...

oddiot

spacetweek wrote: »

Lads I'm confused. Why are they saying the M50 upgrade is complete if the N2 junction is still ongoing? It is, right?

All the cones are gone and all lanes are open on all movements at the n2 interchange.

jlang

jlang wrote: »

And on last night's evidence, it worked. No queue to get off the M50NB->N4WB at Palmerstown and seemingly no significant effect on the N4 traffic either, although it would still be held back by the lights at Palmerstown Village.

(And I was only giving out about this days ago!)

Such a simple thing to do, makes you wonder why it wasn't done right at the start!

OK don't answer that! (Iknow) :pac:

Jayuu

Looking at the map I can't see any easy way they could have created an M50NB > N3 Inbound freeflow so I suppose they never could have made a completely freeflow junction here.

However I can't understand why they couldn't have created a second lane where the M50SB > N3Outbound lane is and continued that lane straight on to a merge with the Navan Road creating a M50SB > N3Inbound freeflow.

I know it would have been a tight space to merge into before the traffic lights at Auburn Avenue but I'm sure it could have been done. That would have taken a little pressure of the roundabout. It seems like a missed opportunity to me.

The Dark Knight

celticbest wrote: »

I thought the signage was at the same standard as other junctions that were already upgraded, they even have N3 & the destination painted on each lane..

N3 is painted above the lane, however the signage problem with the M50SB>N3OB is that they signs don't give enough notice that you need to switch lanes (into the new freeflow), until you're at the free-flow entrance.

The signage currently is

• Over the Aux lane (once you pass N2 Junction) = N3; Blanchardstown; Cavan.(This is OK)
• Once the Aux lane splits into two lanes = N3; Blanchardstown; Cavan over both lanes (Not OK

Once the Aux lane splits into two lanes the Signs should be.

• Right Lane should say = N3; City Centre; Blanc Village, Hospital; Catleknock.
• Left lane should say = N3; Cavan, Navan, (and maybe Blanch Centre), with a Up-Left Arrow indicating that you need to change lane for this.
• Then at the Junction a Down-Left arrow to say change now for N3; Cavan, Navan

Ideally I think the Road Marking should also be changed so that the Left (of the Initial two lane split) be for N3 OB, with the right lane for City, etc. (the right lane with then split into two lanes after the N3-OB slip).

Hope this makes sense?

sk8board

apologies of this has been discussed to death:

was coming out the Chapelizod bypass to go M50N this evening (to get around the traffic carnage between Tallaght & Lucan exists), and I went straight past the M50 lane thinking it was M50S; its very counter-intuitive and you can't until its too late if the lane isn't just an on-ramp for the M50S;

Was vexed I got it wrong! I went out to lifey valley, under the N4 abd back in to the M50N, so no harm done.

why not just add the words "nothbound & southbound" to the "M50" sign ...

Amtmann

Just found this video on Noel Dempsey's site:
http://www.noeldempsey.ie/index.php/videopodcast/completion-of-the-m50-010910

Steve

Does anyone know what all the new construction is?

Between Sandyford and Bray, there's at least three sites on each side.

Just curious.

NFD100

VMs/electronic message gantries? Future proofing to install cameras for further tolling?

Alun

Steve wrote: »

Does anyone know what all the new construction is?

Between Sandyford and Bray, there's at least three sites on each side.

Just curious.

VMS signage gantries.

NFD100

They might as well not bother for all the good they do. One message that should be up night and day is

KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING. HARD SHOULDER FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY. NO STOPPING

KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING.

I can just see all the gimps driving in the aux lane. :rolleyes:

Seth Brundle

NFD100 wrote: »

KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING.

It would need to be followed up with this though...

rameire

please help.

I drive from the N7 inbound to M50 southbound in the morning.
and from m50 Northbound to N7 outbound in the evening.

I have been doing this for years, before during and after the upgrade.
i have just been advised by two people that there are some traffic lights when coming from the m50 northbound to the n7 outbound before you even get to the luas turn on the N7.
I have never seen these lights.
are they there.
are these people mad or am i mad?

mackerski

rameire wrote: »

i have just been advised by two people that there are some traffic lights when coming from the m50 northbound to the n7 outbound before you even get to the luas turn on the N7.
I have never seen these lights.
are they there.
are these people mad or am i mad?

You are correct. The people claiming this are probably thinking of the lights at Turnpike Road, but those are on the city side of the junction and you never see them.