M1 New Section of D3 (three lanes) at Swords

cargo

First stretch of concrete barrier laid SB on Saturday am when I was passing. Only a few metres but a start. Still some layers been put down near the SB end and there's still plenty to do on the NB side. I'd say the SB lanes will open ahead of the NB side. They seem a few weeks apart at the minute.

Bluetonic

cargo wrote: »

First stretch of concrete barrier laid SB on Saturday am when I was passing. Only a few metres but a start. Still some layers been put down near the SB end and there's still plenty to do on the NB side. I'd say the SB lanes will open ahead of the NB side. They seem a few weeks apart at the minute.

I would imagine they need to resurface the complete three lanes and hard shoulder? So the next layer on the new bit might also cover some of the old road, then we'll move onto these two lanes for the the rest to be resurfaced and Drynam interchange to be blended in. The old hard shoulder is in bits.

sk8board

Bluetonic wrote: »

The old hard shoulder is in bits.

its in absolute ribbons. just goes to show what happens to the top layer when you put probably the heaviest traffic in the country into the hard shoulder

SB is way ahead of NB, but on the NB side all the top layer soil is now gone and the foundations are down.
SB theres only one more layer to go.

Irish and Proud

You can view (live) progress on the scheme - there's a couple of good webcams focussed on the M1 widening works:

http://www.dublincity.ie/dublintraffic/#M50

It now appears that the concrete barrier on the SB carriageway is going full steam ahead!

sk8board

just noticed this morning that the SB lane top layer appears to be on? Its definitely level with the current road anyway

cargo

sk8board wrote: »

just noticed this morning that the SB lane top layer appears to be on? Its definitely level with the current road anyway

I dont think it is. I thought that too a few weeks ago but it was just a bit of an illusion. As you look at it SB it appears level but if you look across as you head NB you'll notice the ledge between new & old. I'll have a look again this pm as I pass.

Amtmann

How much is this costing per kilometre? It seems to be an easy and quick deliverable. If it's cheapish are there any prospects of getting the M7 widened at its busier sections?

Chris_5339762

Difficult - the minute you suggest bridge replacement you're in the ****. You would require CPOs and big junction modifications

cargo

NB traffic pushed over onto hard shoulder and down to one lane. Some digging at edge of current road.

sk8board

cargo wrote: »

I dont think it is. I thought that too a few weeks ago but it was just a bit of an illusion. As you look at it SB it appears level but if you look across as you head NB you'll notice the ledge between new & old. I'll have a look again this pm as I pass.

yeh, you're right; saw it this morning from a van; the current layer is about 2-3 inches below road level.

lots of cement trucks there today pouring the SB central barrier.

roll on completion

celticbest

There really seems to be a push on to complete the SB side, I wouldn't be surprised if it is completed by the end of the month, (once all required sign-off are completed by the NRA, FCC etc).

cargo

Looking at this over the past few weeks in the morning I think this will make a significant improvement to the am flow. i know the problem stretches back to the Donabate junction but lately this has been clear and the blockage has started after it as you are about to cross the estuary. It wont be 100% every am but I'm sure it'll get rid of alot of the congestion for a good art of the time.

sk8board

what the heck is going on NB this week? They've closed the hard shoulder (in addition to the work on-going on the new lane in the central divide) so its chronic slow all the way from the M50, at 5pm!

KevR

Irish and Proud wrote: »

However, I do agree that the M1 should be widened to as far as Lissenhall at the very least - it should be made a priority in the programme for the next government.

In the context of widening existing motorways (not in the context of road building overall), I agree that it should priority to do the M1 as far as Lissenhall. But beyond Lissenhall, I don't think it's any busier than say the M4 as far West as Maynooth (delays experienced on the M4 at peak times too, just don't hear about it as much as the M1); often bad delays on the M7 as far as the M9 diverge also.

[Traffic at the Balbriggan South counter is roughly the same as Maynooth East. M7 to the M9 diverge has almost 10k more vehicles.
I know people like to make out the the Dublin-Belfast route is insanely busy compared to all the other inter-urbans but it's not really once you move a bit away from the M50/PT/N1 which all converge on the M1 near a very busy airport which can only be accessed by road]

celticbest

KevR wrote: »

In the context of widening existing motorways (not in the context of road building overall), I agree that it should priority to do the M1 as far as Lissenhall. But beyond Lissenhall, I don't think it's any busier than say the M4 as far West as Maynooth (delays experienced on the M4 at peak times too, just don't hear about it as much as the M1); often bad delays on the M7 as far as the M9 diverge also.

[Traffic at the Balbriggan South counter is roughly the same as Maynooth East. M7 to the M9 diverge has almost 10k more vehicles.
I know people like to make out the the Dublin-Belfast route is insanely busy compared to all the other inter-urbans but it's not really once you move a bit away from the M50/PT/N1 which all converge on the M1 near a very busy airport which can only be accessed by road]

I think the majority of people agree that the widening should have taken place up to Junction 4 (Lissenhall) as this junction takes traffic for Swords North, Donabate, Portrane, Rush, Lusk & Skerries which relieves a lot of the load on the M1 from this point & which in turn allows traffic continuing on the M1 to spread out from this point apart from the odd fool that hogs lane 2 at 80km/h to 100km/h slowing down all other traffic.

KevR

Elephant racing and slow progressive overtaking by cars causes an unnecessary slow down and big bunching of traffic on busy sections of motorway like that.

Someone in lane 1 doing 90kmh and someone else in lane 2 overtaking them at 91kmh. It's really ignorant and causes unnecessary chaos/frustration. :mad:

Don't know if much can be done about it though.

celticbest

KevR wrote: »

Don't know if much can be done about it though.

The Gardaí could enforce the law that's in place - your only allowed in lane 2 / 3 depending on how many lanes are on the Motorway while overtaking....

The M50 is a great example of the misuse of lanes on a motorway, Lane 1 is usually empty, lane 2 is full of people who won't use lane 1 & lane 3 is full off p!ssed of people who want to overtake but can't get anywhere because of slow moving people overtaking even slower moving people.

Carawaystick

celticbest wrote: »

I think the majority of people agree that the widening should have taken place up to Junction 4 (Lissenhall) as this junction takes traffic for Swords North, Donabate, Portrane, Rush, Lusk & Skerries which relieves a lot of the load on the M1 from this point & which in turn allows traffic continuing on the M1 to spread out from this point apart from the odd fool that hogs lane 2 at 80km/h to 100km/h slowing down all other traffic.

Yeah, I reckon building the third lane to Lissenhall where you'ld get a lane drop would solve a lot of the problems, however I reckon we'll have to see how the current scheme works.

I was critical of the existing works not just building an auxilliary lane between the Airport and Holywell, but the fact it's gone further, means ther's gonna be pressure to extend it to Lissenhall. The Malahide estuary has room in the median for an extra lane, It's about 50mm proud of the existing surface but nothing insurmountable I'd say.

amacachi

Carawaystick wrote: »

Yeah, I reckon building the third lane to Lissenhall where you'ld get a lane drop would solve a lot of the problems, however I reckon we'll have to see how the current scheme works.

I was critical of the existing works not just building an auxilliary lane between the Airport and Holywell, but the fact it's gone further, means ther's gonna be pressure to extend it to Lissenhall. The Malahide estuary has room in the median for an extra lane, It's about 50mm proud of the existing surface but nothing insurmountable I'd say.

Problem with the bridge as far as I can see is not that there's no space on the "median" but that there's almost no hard shoulder. To close the outside lane would mean single-lane traffic for the duration of the work.

NFD100

celticbest wrote: »

The Gardaí could enforce the law that's in place - your only allowed in lane 2 / 3 depending on how many lanes are on the Motorway while overtaking....

The M50 is a great example of the misuse of lanes on a motorway, Lane 1 is usually empty, lane 2 is full of people who won't use lane 1 & lane 3 is full off p!ssed of people who want to overtake but can't get anywhere because of slow moving people overtaking even slower moving people.

Gardai can issue penalty points and a fine for anyone who does not DRIVE on the left. They would make a fortune for the government if they did this. In Germany the police regularly fine people on the spot for poor lane driving. I have also seen British police do it on motorways. The message will soon get out!

celticbest

amacachi wrote: »

Problem with the bridge as far as I can see is not that there's no space on the "median" but that there's almost no hard shoulder. To close the outside lane would mean single-lane traffic for the duration of the work.

Could they do the works at night & keep two lanes open during the day ?

runway16

amacachi wrote: »

Problem with the bridge as far as I can see is not that there's no space on the "median" but that there's almost no hard shoulder. To close the outside lane would mean single-lane traffic for the duration of the work.

I'd imagine they could use a pre-cast section on the bridge though, so removing the need to close a lane on the bridge.

I may be wrong, im certainly no expert when it comes to road construction.

cargo

sk8board wrote: »

what the heck is going on NB this week? They've closed the hard shoulder (in addition to the work on-going on the new lane in the central divide) so its chronic slow all the way from the M50, at 5pm!

looks like they are laying new power & dat ducts in the verge coming up to the partial junction NB. Also there's a few steel cages still in the central work area so I imagine they may be for Gantry bases. I see a few new gantry bases constructed in the median so will probably need a corresponding partner in the verge along the hard shoulder. Still a good bit of work to do at the ends of the scheme but will be very well advanced by the end of this month.

Bluetonic

runway16 wrote: »

I'd imagine they could use a pre-cast section on the bridge though, so removing the need to close a lane on the bridge.

I would hazard a guess that the bridge is ready to go, just skim the top layer of concrete off the and resurface the lot making three lanes. One would imagine that the bridge can't really be messed around with too much i.e. digging etc..,

Appears to be some services southbound but in theory could be done very quickly over a weekend. I also imagine it would lead to 100 kph limits which no doubt the new three lane section ahead will be.

celticbest

Bluetonic wrote: »

I would hazard a guess that the bridge is ready to go, just skim the top layer of concrete off the and resurface the lot making three lanes. One would imagine that the bridge can't really be messed around with too much i.e. digging etc..,

As far as I'm aware the full length of the M1 was planned with a contingency to expand to Three lanes were & when required. So therefore upgrading the Estuary Bridge to three lanes should not be that big an issue.

Bluetonic wrote: »

Appears to be some services southbound but in theory could be done very quickly over a weekend. I also imagine it would lead to 100 kph limits which no doubt the new three lane section ahead will be.

You are probably right about them implementing a lower speed limit on the upgrade even though as far as I'm aware the lanes will be the same width as the ones that are currently in place and it is not an Urban Motorway, both of which were the reasons given for the M50 speed limit being lowered.

It will be interesting to see what the speed limit is set at one the upgrade is complete, let's hope they do not keep it at 80km/h which was the limit that was in place until you passed the Airport before the upgrade works began.....

cargo

they looked to be gearing up to apply the final wearing layer this am SB as I passed. Road sweepers and washers working away and guys out with the spraycans and laying guides etc.. No trucks waiting but looked like it'll be today or tomorrow for the final layer.

Still work going on in the HS NB. I also noticed a large underground settling tank that is still overground so it'll need to be sorted as well on that side.

irishdub14

cargo

not a whole lot going on on-site today. Some works in the NB HS and more of the NB concrete barrier going in but all SB works stopped with the rain. Only put in a strip of top layer SB yesterday.

celticbest

cargo wrote: »

not a whole lot going on on-site today. Some works in the NB HS and more of the NB concrete barrier going in but all SB works stopped with the rain. Only put in a strip of top layer SB yesterday.

View from Traffic cams this morning, still doesn't seem to be to much movement today.....


I really thought the Top Layer would have been layed by now going SB.

KevR

Not sure about Dublin but it was pretty cold here in the midlands this morning - I wonder if it was/is too cold for them to do work on laying the final layer today?