M50 Castleknock Roundabout

wildlifeboy

Only used thius for the first time this morning coming from blanch and going south bound and the only way i can see of doing it is to drive right down to auburn avenue and then get onto it. its totally worse that it ever was? is there another way onto it besides this? i saw a road parallel to the the one off auburn aven but not sure where that one comes from?

Pat Dunne

wildlifeboy wrote: »

Only used thius for the first time this morning coming from blanch and going south bound and the only way i can see of doing it is to drive right down to auburn avenue and then get onto it. its totally worse that it ever was? is there another way onto it besides this? i saw a road parallel to the the one off auburn aven but not sure where that one comes from?

You're going from Blanchardstown Village, on to the M50 south bound?

Two ways of doing it. If you exit Blanchardstown passing The Bell, you turn right on to the city bound carriage way keeping in the left lane progress to the centre lane on your approach to the actual Round about as the left lane is for the M50 north bound (Airport). Enter the roundabout and get into the left lane and exit for the City Centre on doing this indicate left and take the slip road immediately on your left this brings you oppisite the entrance of the Travelodge, turn right and right on to the N3 keeping in the left lane for M50 Southbound.

The second way of leaving Blanchardstown is to use the fly over at the Snugsbourough Road, exit the Waterville roundabout slip road, on to the N3 and follow the signs for M50 Southbound.

who_ru

i have to say it is a totally ridiculous 'upgrade' if that's what they are calling it. in no way can it be deemed a better, or even safer for that mater, access route than what was there before. taking that slip road left after exiting for the city/M50 southbound is like taking your life in your hands, it literally is a split second decision....'will i ....won't' i? type of scenario - failure to take the slip road and you're up auburn ave trying to turn it round.

daymobrew

who_ru wrote: »

i have to say it is a totally ridiculous 'upgrade' if that's what they are calling it. in no way can it be deemed a better, or even safer for that mater, access route than what was there before. taking that slip road left after exiting for the city/M50 southbound is like taking your life in your hands, it literally is a split second decision....'will i ....won't' i? type of scenario - failure to take the slip road and you're up auburn ave trying to turn it round.

The project was the "M50 Motorway Upgrade", not the N3 upgrade, hence the improvement of the M50 and not the N3.

Another option is to go past Auburn Ave and turn at Phoenix Park train station. You do not have to make a split second decision and it may even be quicker, especially when the slipway to Travellodge/Auburn Ave is busy.

Rosita

[QUOTE=who_ru;68454428

taking that slip road left after exiting for the city/M50 southbound is like taking your life in your hands, it literally is a split second decision....'will i ....won't' i? type of scenario - failure to take the slip road and you're up auburn ave trying to turn it round.[/QUOTE]


I totally agree. For anyone unfamiliar with the roads especially it is as dangerous a spot as I have seen in terms of the potential for accidents. It is astonishing that a route between two of the main roads in the country could be be so incompetently and dangerously planned.

daymobrew

Rosita wrote: »

I totally agree. For anyone unfamiliar with the roads especially it is as dangerous a spot as I have seen in terms of the potential for accidents. It is astonishing that a route between two of the main roads in the country could be be so incompetently and dangerously planned.

If you cannot make a turn or slip road safely you must pass it by. You will not die or injure yourself or others by not taking a turn.

The junction is more complicated than the others because of buildings so close to it e.g. Total Fitness and Castleknock Tennis Club.

DublinDilbert

The most dangerous junction is the new one at the entrance to the travel lodge on dunsink lane/river road. Four times now I've seen cars coming from dunsink lane / river road, come over the brow of the hill and break the red light infront of them as they are focusing on the green light at the next junction (n3).

There's going to be some amount of acidents at that junction.

jack presley

The last minute panic swerve from drivers following the signs for the city centre from the middle lane to the left lane on the N3 inbound is what gets me. They only find out about 100m before they go over the bridge onto the M50SB that the sign they have been following is actually wrong and that they should have been in the left lane!

daymobrew

jack presley wrote: »

They only find out about 100m before they go over the bridge onto the M50SB that the sign they have been following is actually wrong and that they should have been in the left lane!

You should report this to the M50 people.

jack presley

daymobrew wrote: »

You should report this to the M50 people.

Technically it's an N3 issue so they'll only pass the buck onto the NRA or Fingal Co. Co. or whoever.

BostonB

Its not an intuitive junction.

A very fundamental failing for a new junction. Also it would have been cheaper to move the buildings than distort the junction around them.

You need to get into lane very early, even when you know it. As people undertake and make it hard to get into lane.

Gaspode

I've driven those junctions quite a few times now, and I cant see any issues. Drive at a reasonable pace, and look at the signs and you cant go wrong.

jack presley

Gaspode wrote: »

I've driven those junctions quite a few times now, and I cant see any issues. Drive at a reasonable pace, and look at the signs and you cant go wrong.

Read my post up above though. If you do follow the signs on the N3 inbound you will be in the wrong lane! And the first time you see a correct sign, you only have a very short time to get into the correct lane before you're brought over onto the M50. It's all well and good and driving at a reasonable pace but if the inside lane is full and no one lets you in (this is Ireland remember - letting people in isn't one of our strong points!), it's a recipe for crashes

Gaspode

I havent noticed anything wrong with the signs, it's all very well marked in plenty of time from what I've seen.

hotmail.com

Gaspode wrote: »

I've driven those junctions quite a few times now, and I cant see any issues. Drive at a reasonable pace, and look at the signs and you cant go wrong.

Unfortunately there are idiots on the road.

Gaspode

Sadly, yes this is true, but it applies to any and all junctions, not just this particular one in D15.

BostonB

Gaspode wrote: »

I've driven those junctions quite a few times now....

That was my point. I don't think you should need to drive through a junction a few times to get to know it.

daymobrew

jack presley wrote: »

Technically it's an N3 issue so they'll only pass the buck onto the NRA or Fingal Co. Co. or whoever.

BostonB wrote: »

That was my point. I don't think you should need to drive through a junction a few times to get to know it.

So who is volunteering to take some photos and report it to NRA/FCC/whomever?
(I cycle so I use the ped/cycle bridge at 12th Lock to cross the M50).

BostonB

I just avoid the area now. I usually cycle or go that back roads around Castleknock College.

wildlifeboy

So in plain english if you are coming from Blanch to get southbound on the M50 you have to join the n3 beside the garda station which the worse junction in D15 by far...or you can end up queueing at the travel lodge for 20 minutes to use the other option which is also crap. if you live in blanch and want to go southbound both options are crap. I will be using the n3 option beside tractamotors from now on.

BostonB

AFAIK thats how it works.

Not sure why they did it like and took the off ramp away on the roundabout.

daymobrew

BostonB wrote: »

Not sure why they did it like and took the off ramp away on the roundabout.

If you are on the roundabout looking at where the south bound on-ramp used to be you will see that there is a road in the way (the M50N to N3W).

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

BostonB

daymobrew wrote: »

If you are on the roundabout looking at where the south bound on-ramp used to be you will see that there is a road in the way (the M50N to N3W).

Its hard to concentrate with all the screaming in the car...

ThisRegard

wildlifeboy wrote: »

.or you can end up queueing at the travel lodge for 20 minutes to use the other option which is also crap.

That's a silly way to go, just go to the bridge and come back around, takes what, 2 or 3 minutes ?

BostonB

Well you've got two sets of lights at the Chef + whatever on the bridge another set of lights? 2 or 3 mins seems unlikely.

Turbulent Bill

Gaspode wrote: »

I havent noticed anything wrong with the signs, it's all very well marked in plenty of time from what I've seen.

The signage is my biggest issue with the new road layout. Coming from the M50 (north or sounthbound) some of the markings painted on the road look like:

North
N3
Blah blah blah...

Considering you're coming from a north-south road (or vice versa) and want to go east-west, this is just confusing. Similarly, the N3 westbound has 4 lanes reducing to two without much advance indication of where you should be.

I'm a fan of the junction, but the signage will cause incidents.

ThisRegard

BostonB wrote: »

Well you've got two sets of lights at the Chef + whatever on the bridge another set of lights? 2 or 3 mins seems unlikely.

You won't get stopped at the lights every time, N3 traffic gets decent light time so it really is quick, I do it myself when I want to get into Castleknock from that side.

smelltheglove

The mro roundabout there was always dangerous enough going southbound. Even before the works the amount of people in the lane to go straight who would turn was unreal.

Now the southbound 'skip road' is absolutely lethal! Not only is it like a sharp knee jerk reaction kind of turn it is just over a bit of a bump in the road which is an accident waiting to happen really. Thankfully I only use this junction at off peak traffic times and use the back roads the rest of the time but I can only imagine what its like now. I used to live beside Brigids and I have to say Im glad I dont have to deal with those junctions now, never mind the fact they were dangerous before then. The lucan junctions are just so simple and straight forward in comparison.

jack presley

After being only open for a couple of months they've finally realised that the signs and lanes on the N3 inbound didn't match up and corrected it.

I would have been happy with this if I wasn't on auto-pilot yesterday at 6:30am in my usual left hand lane heading into town and before I had could say "I wish they'd sort out this junction and have the lanes match the signs" I was on the M50 on my way to Finglas so the joke was on me!

Seriously though, aren't these the sort of things that should have been sorted at the design stage and not after the junction's been open for a couple of months. And more importantly, I presume the taxpayer has to foot the bill for fixing the initial poor design.

ThisRegard

jack presley wrote: »

I would have been happy with this if I wasn't on auto-pilot yesterday at 6:30am in my usual left hand lane heading into town and before I had could say "I wish they'd sort out this junction and have the lanes match the signs" I was on the M50 on my way to Finglas so the joke was on me!

Ha Ha, almost happened to me too. Stayed in the left lane as usual which is normally fairly quiet compared to the others. I noticed some of the road markings were burned off which set me on alert and so further up the way I saw that the lane I was in was now the M50 NB one. Managed to get out unlike yourself.

anniehoo

Lol so im not the only one who was confused by the signs!:D

Loving the "tailback-free" N3 inbound in the mornings though. It could take me 20mins or so just getting from Waterville to the M50 roundabout,flying it now.

jack presley

anniehoo wrote: »

Lol so im not the only one who was confused by the signs!:D

Loving the "tailback-free" N3 inbound in the mornings though. It could take me 20mins or so just getting from Waterville to the M50 roundabout,flying it now.

Isn't it only delaying the queuing though? I find the traffic to get onto Ashtown roundabout is back to the new bridge at the train station these days whereas before after you got through the heartbreak of the M50 roundabout, you were plain sailing until the Navan Road.

BostonB

Back in the 1980's the Navan road was 2 lanes, all the way to Cabra, now its one lane from Ashtown, and theres vastly more traffic, due to all the development of the commuter belt out into D.15 and Meath and beyond.

You can't fit a gallon into a pint glass.

Driving just isn't an option if you want to avoid all the traffic. Not around D.15

ThisRegard

anniehoo wrote: »

Loving the "tailback-free" N3 inbound in the mornings though. It could take me 20mins or so just getting from Waterville to the M50 roundabout,flying it now.

It's a bummer for anyone heading into the city though. All it has done, as I predicted long before the works were completed, is to move the queue of traffic to the next roundabout. So now you basically have 3 lanes of traffic starting at the Little Chef queueing to merge into one lane at the bridge to wait to get through the Halfway House roundabout.

For city bound motorists any benefits of the free flow junction are negated by simply moving a large amount of traffic to the Halfway House roundabout much quicker, which can't handle the increased amount of traffic arriving quicker and therefore creating a large queue.

It used to take a half hour to get through the old M50 roundabout, it now can take the same amount of time to get passed the Halfway roundabout, therefore the status quo remains.

PauloMN

ThisRegard wrote: »

It's a bummer for anyone heading into the city though. All it has done, as I predicted long before the works were completed, is to move the queue of traffic to the next roundabout. So now you basically have 3 lanes of traffic starting at the Little Chef queueing to merge into one lane at the bridge to wait to get through the Halfway House roundabout.

For city bound motorists any benefits of the free flow junction are negated by simply moving a large amount of traffic to the Halfway House roundabout much quicker, which can't handle the increased amount of traffic arriving quicker and therefore creating a large queue.

It used to take a half hour to get through the old M50 roundabout, it now can take the same amount of time to get passed the Halfway roundabout, therefore the status quo remains.

Have to disagree. The traffic between the new bridge and the Ashtown roundabout builds quicker of course now that the M50 junction is free-flow - I don't dispute that, however that traffic jam moves pretty quickly compared with the nightmare that was the old M50/N3 junction.

I live in Trim now and can get from my driveway to Phibsboro in 40 to 45 mins. I lived in Clonee for 12 years and at the same time in the morning I could spend 20 to 30 mins alone crawling on the stretch of N3 between Blanch SC and the M50 roundabout. Overall it would take me as long and sometimes longer to do the journey from Clonee with the old M50/N3 nightmare junction than it does from Trim now. So imo it's been a great success.

ThisRegard

It does move quicker alright, but there were two days this week were it took me a half hour to get from my house to Blackhorse Avenue which used to be the average pre-good times. I hope they were just once offs though because as you say it normally does move quicker. And to be fair I suppose, I did leave the house well after 8 so I was on the road much later than normal.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Pat Dunne

BostonB wrote: »

Back in the 1980's the Navan road was 2 lanes, all the way to Cabra, now its one lane from Ashtown, and theres vastly more traffic, due to all the development of the commuter belt out into D.15 and Meath and beyond.

You can't fit a gallon into a pint glass.

Driving just isn't an option if you want to avoid all the traffic. Not around D.15

'fraid you have it all wrong there, the Navan Road was not upgraded until the mid to late '90s to a dual carriage way standard and then it only from Halfway House to the very first constructed round about from the section of the M50 to the toll brigde. The Halfway House junction to Old Cabra road and New Cabra road has alway been a single lane which was widened over the years with a bus lane been imposed on it in the late '90's.

BostonB

Bad sign when the memory starts to go. I thought I remembered it without the bus lanes and having two lanes of traffic, from being on the school bus, and seeing cars in the other lane.

TheChrisD

BostonB wrote: »

Bad sign when the memory starts to go. I thought I remembered it without the bus lanes and having two lanes of traffic, from being on the school bus, and seeing cars in the other lane.

I think before the bus lanes it was still pretty much a 3-lane thing but the central lane being hashed off the entire way along.

Or was this even before then?

JupiterKid

Pat Dunne wrote: »

'fraid you have it all wrong there, the Navan Road was not upgraded until the mid to late '90s to a dual carriage way standard and then it only from Halfway House to the very first constructed round about from the section of the M50 to the toll brigde. The Halfway House junction to Old Cabra road and New Cabra road has alway been a single lane which was widened over the years with a bus lane been imposed on it in the late '90's.

The Navan Road was dualled from Halway House to the Meath County Boundary in 1991. The first part to open to traffic was from Halfway House to the old Blanch village roundabout in about March/April 1991. Then in November '91 or thereabouts, the Blanchardstown bypass section to Clonee opened. Finally, in late 1992 the Clonee bypass opened.

Navan oad from Halfway House to Cabra was alwatsy just two lanes, except the very short section between the Screen Road junction and the fork for the New and Old Cabra roads which was dualled in 1983/84.