M50 Phase 1

Amtmann

I see it's supposed to be completed this quarter.

Does anyone know when exactly? Will this make any difference? I must say, the N7 junction looks very impressive.

jimmycrackcorm

Haven driven through it today from the m50, it looks a complete mess.

Amtmann

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Haven driven through it today from the m50, it looks a complete mess.

I should have qualified my statement by adding "on paper" to it! I haven't driven past it since early last May, so I'm just looking for an update.

Fratton Fred

I joined the M50 from the N7 (Coming from Naas direction) for the first time in about 9 months yesterday and the junction looks further from completion than it did in January.

The designs look good, but I can't help thinking that they have over complicated it.

The rest of Phase 1 looks good though, it is a massive improvement.

fletch

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The designs look good, but I can't help thinking that they have over complicated it.

Personally I think the loops are too tight and am shocked that more trucks haven't tipped over. I'd say this winter we'll see a good few crashes from cars understeering into the barriers.

murphaph

Unfortunately our wonderful county councillors and other assorted crooks down the years have allowed building way to close to the M50 and in particular its junctions. The poor engineers on the current upgrade works have been constrained from the start-it was always going to be a challenge to deliver fully freeflowing junctions. The tight loops are disappointing but we have to remember they are freeflow, not freeflowing at highway design speed but a huge improvement and probably the best that could be delivered given the constraints.

The loops are no tighter than are commonly found on the Autobahn network fwiw.

murphaph

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The designs look good, but I can't help thinking that they have over complicated it.

The solutions do look 'over complicated' at first glance, ie, when compared to clover leaf or similar basic and elegant freeflow junctions, but the land was not there for a simple, elegant solution and in some case (the N3 especially) a hideous hybrid has become necessary to overcome the land constraints placed on the engineers by crooked 'planning'.

Heroditas

What doesn't exactly help is people insisting on jumping from one fuppin' lane to another as they navigate those bends. I can never understand their insistence on doing this. Drives me up the wall. :mad:

AlekSmart

It`s good to see,from murphaph and other posters,a firming of the view that much of our present "headless chicken" status comes directly from "CROOKED" Planning.

The entire M50/Westlink/M7/N11 saga which continues to unfold apace derives in it`s entirety from a truly decrepit era in terms of Ethical Standards.

What SHOULD be an issue today is why,when the general public now know the basics of what went on at the highest levels in Irish Public Administration,the same Public are being forced to continue Funding the descendants and successors of the Criminals who began the assorted scams.

In the current scheme of things it gives carte blanche to these successors to continue the process in the same mode which provided them with their ill gotten gains in the first place !!

bawn79

AlekSmart wrote: »

It`s good to see,from murphaph and other posters,a firming of the view that much of our present "headless chicken" status comes directly from "CROOKED" Planning.

The entire M50/Westlink/M7/N11 saga which continues to unfold apace derives in it`s entirety from a truly decrepit era in terms of Ethical Standards.

What SHOULD be an issue today is why,when the general public now know the basics of what went on at the highest levels in Irish Public Administration,the same Public are being forced to continue Funding the descendants and successors of the Criminals who began the assorted scams.

In the current scheme of things it gives carte blanche to these successors to continue the process in the same mode which provided them with their ill gotten gains in the first place !!

I dont want to take things too far off topic but if allegedy there was criminal involvement then surely the Criminal Assets Bureau could go after them.
I always wondered would it be possible for CAB to go after the profits of the M50 Tollbridge if as allegedy the contracts were crooked?

aquascrotum

I can't see it being finished this quarter. Also I'd have to say that the layout is unnecessarily poor in places. My own particular grievance is the N4 eastbound to M50 northbound - if you dont use the road regularly and make the mistake of observing bus lanes, you're left with an incredibly short distance after gantry sign - end of bus lane - start of traffic island seperating the M50 onslip/N4 mainline. That arrangement all happens within maybe 150m over a crest so you can't see the traffic island looming.

Also is it just me or is a lot of the gantry signage not actually centred over the lanes?? Never worry sure, its only Ireland.

mysterious

I HOPE THE NRA, will sort out the redcow, turnpike entrance. hopefully they will raise or build a small free flow link (like monastery road) over the outbound lanes to give local/turnpike road onto the mainbound lanes without traffic lights.


It would make the road planners look pathetic if they put traffic lights here!! Also it would be stupid. There is plenty proper road links, space and a bridge at this point is needed of some sort, since the luas alignement is further east now.


AWAITS to see what will the NRA have installed:rolleyes:

Heroditas

aquascrotum wrote: »

Also is it just me or is a lot of the gantry signage not actually centred over the lanes?? Never worry sure, its only Ireland.

Haha, and there was me thinking I was going mad too! The gantry is centred but the problem is that the road curves to the left as it approaches it so it appears off-centre when you first see it. They really need ones further back but the other problem is that the road that swings up from Liffey Valley becomes the inside lane - a completely fresh lane. Drivers in that lane insist on pulling out of it ASAP and crossing the other two lanes when in fact they have loads of time to cross over if they're going into town or heading south onto the M50 Southbound.
Couple that with the usual middle-lane-huggers and also the buses pulling out from a ridiculously placed bus stop and it's a recipe for a serious coming-together one of these days.
I've seen several near misses and a minor crash since May.

murphaph

AlekSmart wrote: »

It`s good to see,from murphaph and other posters,a firming of the view that much of our present "headless chicken" status comes directly from "CROOKED" Planning.

The entire M50/Westlink/M7/N11 saga which continues to unfold apace derives in it`s entirety from a truly decrepit era in terms of Ethical Standards.

What SHOULD be an issue today is why,when the general public now know the basics of what went on at the highest levels in Irish Public Administration,the same Public are being forced to continue Funding the descendants and successors of the Criminals who began the assorted scams.

In the current scheme of things it gives carte blanche to these successors to continue the process in the same mode which provided them with their ill gotten gains in the first place !!

Well, we have a general election next year but having voted FF 1&2 at the second last GE and anyone but FF 1&2&3&... at the last election I find myself worrying about my vote already. I don't trust FG to build the much needed capital infrastructure (Inteconnector etc.) upon which we can truly begin to hang a decent joined up network but I don't trust FF full stop. What does one do?

We could have had integrated fares and suchlike years ago but nobody would take on the senior civil servants. All the major parties have presided over a shambles of a public transport system at one time or another. The current lot just hides the shambolic insides with new buses. We must have one of the newest bus fleets in the world and yet still have dreadul overall public transport-still can't get a through ticket with cash from the driver.

Vested interests run the show. would FG be any more likely to take them on than FF?? I don't know anymore.

Stark

murphaph wrote: »

The solutions do look 'over complicated' at first glance, ie, when compared to clover leaf or similar basic and elegant freeflow junctions, but the land was not there for a simple, elegant solution and in some case (the N3 especially) a hideous hybrid has become necessary to overcome the land constraints placed on the engineers by crooked 'planning'.

Yup, not exactly a pleasant task: "Design us a free flowing motorway junction. With a gym in it".

BluntGuy

murphaph wrote: »

Well, we have a general election next year but having voted FF 1&2 at the second last GE and anyone but FF 1&2&3&... at the last election I find myself worrying about my vote already. I don't trust FG to build the much needed capital infrastructure (Inteconnector etc.) upon which we can truly begin to hang a decent joined up network but I don't trust FF full stop. What does one do?

We could have had integrated fares and suchlike years ago but nobody would take on the senior civil servants. All the major parties have presided over a shambles of a public transport system at one time or another. The current lot just hides the shambolic insides with new buses. We must have one of the newest bus fleets in the world and yet still have dreadul overall public transport-still can't get a through ticket with cash from the driver.

Vested interests run the show. would FG be any more likely to take them on than FF?? I don't know anymore.

FF/FG/Labour/Greens/PDs...

All just one big political lump...

Should we even bother having elections any more when pretty much all our parties are the same?

Anyway, getting back on topic... the Red Cow is a nightmare to navigate and I very much doubt they'll have that mess sorted out before Christmas. Put in terms of design, the N7, M1, N3 and specifically the N4 interchanges are probably the best we could hope for. I just hope that they're properlysignposted (but this Ireland so...)

Wibbler

Stark wrote: »

Yup, not exactly a pleasant task: "Design us a free flowing motorway junction. With a gym in it".

LOL :-) That's a classic, thanks Stark!

murphaph

Stark wrote: »

Yup, not exactly a pleasant task: "Design us a free flowing motorway junction. With a gym in it".

Lol, classic. Or even "Design us a free flowing motorway junction. With a tram in it". The lunatics still run the asylum!

Gonzo

aquascrotum wrote: »

Also is it just me or is a lot of the gantry signage not actually centred over the lanes?? Never worry sure, its only Ireland.

This really gets on my nerves, this and the fact that Irish signage generally is appauling and a disgrace nationwide, not just on the M50.
Many of our newer roadsigns have text just indented and off-centred all over the place. The Irish in italics looks plain messy along with the English text in Capitals underneath it. Imo a complete overhaul of the Irish Roadsign system is needed, I would start with having all our roadsigns in lowercase, the Irish names would be made yellow or orange above the english which would be in white lowercase. We currently have a mixture of american and english signage, I would scrape all that make our road signage more continental like spanish/french signage.

rameire

mysterious wrote: »

I HOPE THE NRA, will sort out the redcow, turnpike entrance. hopefully they will raise or build a small free flow link (like monastery road) over the outbound lanes to give local/turnpike road onto the mainbound lanes without traffic lights.


It would make the road planners look pathetic if they put traffic lights here!! Also it would be stupid. There is plenty proper road links, space and a bridge at this point is needed of some sort, since the luas alignement is further east now.


AWAITS to see what will the NRA have installed:rolleyes:

not going to happen, people keep on asking this question, but the answer is always the same, no.
there is insufficient room to build this fanciful freeflow raised link.
what you will have is a stop/yield sign, you will then have to turn left, the two options then are one to go southbound on the m50 or option 2 which will be over the luas bridge which will bring you back around to the naas road inbound, there may be a third option but will be dangerous, which will mean driving straight out into a hatched area where you will have to stop or yield and then have the option to drive left onto the naas road outbound road.