R132 Upgrade Works

nordydan

Don't think this has been mentioned before, fyi:


http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Roads/R132UpgradeWorks/

spacetweek

This scheme is much-needed as the R132 (old N1) is the first thing a lot of foreign visitors see when getting the bus/taxi out of Dublin Airport. Currently the standard is very poor with rough surfacing, worn-out lining, no cycling facilities and poor or missing footpaths. I followed up with Fingal County Council and - good news! - I got a response. Work will start by the end of the year:

From: Jim xxxxxx
Sent: 20 July 2011 10:05
To: xxxxx
Subject: RE: R132 Upgrade Works

Scheme is out to tender at the moment. Aim is to begin works before the end of the year.

Regards,
Jim


The EIS is a good read. The traffic count along this stretch is very high - on PDF p.122 (document p.96) it says that in 2010 the AADT was 51100 between Corballis Road and Collinstown Cross and is expected to be 58k by 2025.

The road is being widened from a pokey S4 with minimal or missing footpaths to a generous D2 with bus lanes and a hard central divider, with 2 metre footpaths and 1.5 m cycle lanes on both sides. It's an opportunity to replace rusty, expired lighting and untended overgrown grassy areas too. All in all a nice piece of work.

Additionally, the EIS mentions that it is planned to eventually connect the Collinstown Cross junction (here) east to the proposed North Fringe Corridor. However I know this is unlikely to be built in the short to medium term since there isn't the same level of demand for housing on the Northern Fringe as there once was.

L1011

The tenders published aren't for this, though (as far as I can see). They're for resurfacing from Santry Avenue to Collinstown Lane, and another which I think may be dualling from the Cloghran RAB to the Pinnock Hill RAB (the gap in dual between the airport and Swords) but it may also just be re-surfacing.

There are notes on the EIS maps which would suggest this scheme must be done soon asit mentions junction upgrades being a condition of another planning permission - hazard a guess at T2s.

spacetweek

MYOB wrote: »

The tenders published aren't for this, though (as far as I can see). They're for resurfacing from Santry Avenue to Collinstown Lane, and another which I think may be dualling from the Cloghran RAB to the Pinnock Hill RAB (the gap in dual between the airport and Swords) but it may also just be re-surfacing.

There are notes on the EIS maps which would suggest this scheme must be done soon asit mentions junction upgrades being a condition of another planning permission - hazard a guess at T2s.

Ah - do you think the bloke in the email thought I meant the resurfacing tenders? Didn't think of that. Though in my original email to them I put the link into the Fingal page for the right scheme - but of course they mightn't have clicked through and just thought I meant the resurfacing.

I think the Airport-Pinnock Hill tender is just for resurfacing alright. There's another thread about those tenders which I've already read.

lucernarian

The R132 is a very long route, stretching as it does towards the border. I see this only applies to a short stretch near Dublin Airport.

There's a clear need for resurfacing of the route, but dualling it? There are already bus lanes present and a poor cycle lane that needs serious improvement. The route has a low volume of traffic compared to other roads in Fingal's area, roads that actually have congestion problems.

There are so few pedestrian destinations in the area that I can't see why both sides need a wider-than-typical footpath when one side already has a perfectly satisfactory footpath continuously.

The dangerous road alignments with footpaths less than 1m wide in parts of Swords and Malahide would be more worthy of their attention methinks. Places where people actually do walk regularly on the paths and where there is traffic congestion!

L1011

FCC want to dual close to all the R132 through their county and the traffic figures on it do justify it for the most part - including this section here.

They've had about a km north of the previous end of the Swords BP dualled by developers recently, but there's more planned.

lucernarian

That section they dualled, north of the old Swords Bypass, is a worthy addition as it is a relatively busy stretch firstly and secondly it's the main route between Swords/Dublin and Rush and Lusk with their significant combined populations. It was also in a poor state of repair.

Dualling between the road junction to Ballyboughal and Balbriggan is madness, that road has even less traffic on it than the Collinstown stretch has and the traffic betwen Swords and Balbriggan already has a certain motorway linking the two. There are practically no destinations between that Tower petrol station and Balrothery that generate any significant traffic and through traffic can use the motorway.

I'll say no more, that's enough off-topicness from me:o

spacetweek

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

There's a clear need for resurfacing of the route, but dualling it? There are already bus lanes present and a poor cycle lane that needs serious improvement. The route has a low volume of traffic compared to other roads in Fingal's area, roads that actually have congestion problems.

There are so few pedestrian destinations in the area that I can't see why both sides need a wider-than-typical footpath when one side already has a perfectly satisfactory footpath continuously.

There are extremely poor bus lanes, no cycle lanes at all and one extremely poor footpath on one side. This is nowhere near a good enough standard for an urban road.

Additionally it's a case of good first impressions as it's the first road many tourists see after arrival.

lucernarian

Many tourists? Between the Airlink/Aircoach and other private bus operators, and the taxis and private cars, are there relatively many tourists taking the 41 or 16a to the airport?

I don't know where this idea of one extremely poor footpath is coming from. There are footpaths on both sides for much of that stretch except basically where it runs along the perimeter of the airport and I had no problems using the footpath from the airport to santry last year. I thought it was old but otherwise adequate and without any problems with obstacles or parked traffic on them. The lack of a decent cycle line for most of the route between Santry and the airport is an issue, I agree there. It's not the only place in Fingal that needs those improvements though. The route above isn't really an urban route anyway, more of a suburban mess I'd say;). I see no issue with footpath/lane improvement along with a general resurfacing in any case.

The AADT figures have shocked me, and I am a little skeptical of them to be honest. I also wonder how much of an increase could be expected after the completion of the M1/M50 upgrade works and also the removal of the bottleneck of traffic around the M1 airport junction...

How much should this improvement/dualling scheme cost?

spacetweek

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

How much should this improvement/dualling scheme cost?

Will ask.

JupiterKid

The section of the R132 immediately north of the Swords bypass was duallled long before the Swords bypass was built. It actually dates back to the early 1970s.

I think the R132 should be dualled between Swords and the Airport.

lucernarian

What section is this now? Are you talking about the stretch where the petrol station is or where the commercial units are?

I also see the Swords to airport stretch being a good place to carry out dualling in the medium or long term but the traffic lights at Boroimhe are a pain that would limit traffic capacity far more than the road surface itself would. It's a 4 lane single carriage for practically the entire length, and with better footpaths and signage.

Carawaystick

JupiterKid wrote: »

I think the R132 should be dualled between Swords and the Airport.

How many crossover accidents have there been on this stretch since the m1 opened?
What's the benefit for the cost of dualling

L1011

Carawaystick wrote: »

How many crossover accidents have there been on this stretch since the m1 opened?
What's the benefit for the cost of dualling

The traffic figures are at the level where you'd dual rather than S4. S4's aren't safe at any decent speed and IIRC the limit along here is 60 or 80.

ardmacha

The section of the R132 immediately north of the Swords bypass was duallled long before the Swords bypass was built. It actually dates back to the early 1970s.

I think the reference to dualling funded by a developer was north of this section, near the Tesco depot and the road to Donabate. Improvement here was were much needed.

spacetweek

Got a response. They did indeed mean the section I was referring to. So it is being progressed this year.


Hi xxx,

The upgrade of the road you make reference to in your email is currently out to tender. Therefore no cost can be finalised or associated with this particular project.

It is hoped that once the contract has been awarded that the works will commence before the end of the year.

Regards

Irish and Proud

The tender drawings (Revision B02) differ from the draft (Revision A01) in that the cycle lanes are now 'behind verge' affairs - this will narrow the overall road profile by 1.5m each way - all junction slips and movements have been retained as far as I can see.

Original Post (over on M1 Widening thread):

Irish and Proud wrote: »

Work on the the R132 dual carriageway from Collinstown Cross to Airport Roundabout is due to get underway shortly according to Fingal County Council's website as this page shows!

The work consists of upgrading approximately 1.3km of existing 4 lane single carriageway (I've included the makeshift bit) to Dual 3 lane (1 bus lane and 2 general traffic lanes each way) - also included is a 1.5m on-road cycle lane each way bringing the carriageway pavements to 11.75m (1.5m + 3.25m + 3.5m + 3.5m) each.

Regards!

Revision:

The work consists of upgrading approximately 1.3km of existing 4 lane single carriageway (I've included the makeshift bit) to Dual 3 lane (1 bus lane and 2 general traffic lanes each way) - also included is a 1.5m off-road cycle lane along with a 2.0m footpath each way. Therefore, the carriageway pavements will be 10.25m (3.25m (bus lane) + 3.5m + 3.5m) each.

Regards!

JupiterKid

This is good news. The existing 4 lane arrangement of the R132 dates back to the early 1970s and is a pretty dangerous type of road configuration - replacing it with D2 makes perfect sense.

I wonder will Fingal CC dual the section of R132 between the Airport and the Swords bypass? That would be a very welcome development.

L1011

JupiterKid wrote: »

I wonder will Fingal CC dual the section of R132 between the Airport and the Swords bypass? That would be a very welcome development.

Saw rough plans for that somewhere, possibly even in a GP surgery in Swords (public info notice style thing) AGES ago.

Irish and Proud

JupiterKid wrote: »

<snip>
I wonder will Fingal CC dual the section of R132 between the Airport and the Swords bypass? That would be a very welcome development.

Not yet - AFAIK the road from the Cloghran Roundabout to the Pinnock Hill Roundabout has recently been resurfaced to a high standard. I heard it is still the intention of Fingal CC to upgrade this road to DC eventually - I guess the provision will be for 1 bus lane and 2 general traffic lanes each way - would make sense as the existing Swords Bypass and the 'about to get underway' Collinstown Cross to Airport Roundabout DC will have the same provision.

Regards!

Irish and Proud

According to this, work is now underway on the D3 from Collinstown Cross to Airport Roundabout!

Must drive the R132 from Santry soon!

Bluetonic

Irish and Proud wrote: »

According to this, work is now underway on the D3 from Collinstown Cross to Airport Roundabout!

Must drive the R132 from Santry soon!

Indeed, the entrance to the ALSAA has been shut since Monday and there is a new entrance now around the back at the Rent-A-Car facilities.

The old entrance is gone now for good. Was a horrible entrance in heavy traffic.

The bus lanes from the old entrance to the airport to the and from the airport roundabout are a combination of gone/normal traffic lanes also now.

Carawaystick

There's a good bit of soil clearance on the Alsaa side of the road and a few earthmoving machines there. If it's bright tomorrow I'll se what I can photo there.

Irish and Proud

After driving down the M1 today, I took a scenic route back up to see the R132 in it's entirety from Santry Cross to the Pinnock Hill Roundabout (Swords). The 2 recent major resurfacing jobs seem very well done and very well marked - nice ride for the most part.

Regarding the R132 DC Upgrade, things are really starting to move now - the armco barriers are up while there's significant digging happening on the Eastern side of the R132 close to the Airport Roundabout - the R132 from Santry to Swords should look real good by January 2013.

The only negative was the presence of pipe laying works along one of the newly resurfaced sections near the Cloghran - however, the digging did appear to be in the verge - hope it stays that way.

Regards!

Carawaystick

looking back north from near the centreline of runway28

Carawaystick

more shots from near the same place

Basically on the west side of the road, scrub has been cleared to the perimeter of the airport, on the east side it's cleared to the ALSAA boundary.

There's a good bit going on at the crossroads of the old airport entrance/carpark/car rental

The road has gone from a buslane+ driving lane each way to S4

There has been no reduction in speed limit for the works, with black and white 55km/h limit signs ( having no legal force) being put up.

Carawaystick

A new perimeter fence at the start of runway 28 has been put up inside the old one and the old fence was being taken away today.

The new fence was about 6-8m inside the old one, but not completely parallel to the old fence.

this might show the reason for the extra land take from aer rianta
http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Files/Roads/MDT0372Ge1006B02.pdf
See the right hand carriageway has "existing pavement" but the new left hand one is west of the existing carriageway

Bluetonic

Quiet enough thread so here's a little update - the kerbs are now in place for the south bound land between the entrance to Airport Business Park (Kealy's) and the road to the Red Car Park/Alsaa. Between the kerbs there is some layer of ground down, so looks like all the services are done here.

From the Airport Roundabout to Kealy's the kerbs are down in parts.

I'd imagine they will complete the south bound land and move traffic onto it to begin work on the other side.

spacetweek

I couldn't find a more recent thread on this scheme so bump.
Last time I was on this road (3 wks ago) the northern end was finished but still a fair bit of work at the south.

rameire

I was on it yesterday,
It is 99.9% complete, there is just some tidy up work at the southern end by the BOI branch.

its nice and smooth and a welcome improvement,

Idbatterim

I was on it tonight and am roughly every second week, someone please explain to me, why when you are heading towards the quickpark carpark, that the second lane, beside the median, all of a sudden develops do not enter white lines, forcing traffic to merge, then about 100m later, you just reenter that lane to turn right?!!!!

Sheldons Brain

I was on it tonight and am roughly every second week, someone please explain to me, why when you are heading towards the quickpark carpark, that the second lane, beside the median, all of a sudden develops do not enter white lines, forcing traffic to merge, then about 100m later, you just reenter that lane to turn right?!!!!

So you don't suddenly get stuck behind some lube who is turning right and who couldn't be arsed with indicators and the like?

Middle Man

Idbatterim wrote: »

I was on it tonight and am roughly every second week, someone please explain to me, why when you are heading towards the quickpark carpark, that the second lane, beside the median, all of a sudden develops do not enter white lines, forcing traffic to merge, then about 100m later, you just reenter that lane to turn right?!!!!

Indeed, I was a victim of that today when I had to merge only to move back out to turn right - it's so stupid IMO!

This will probably end up being changed - simple solution - overhead gantry signs and lane divider markings for a reasonable distance. I wonder if that's the long term intention once motorists get used to the current layout. Maybe the engineers were afraid of all the panic when motorists would suddenly realize that they need to change lanes.

Middle Man

Took a spin on the new layout and apart from that silly right turn layout towards the end (heading into town), it looks great and improves the area in general - previously, the place looked like a dump - hardly the welcome we want to give to first time visitors coming out of the airport.

Overall, great job!

Carawaystick

The cycle lane on the runway side is badly laid out. There are loads of crossings where left turning traffic off the roadway cross the cycle lane and no warning signs

I haven't been there this year, but I'll see what it's like soon from a bike perspective, probably rubbish, if it's like the m1/r132 cycle lanes at Lissenhall