M50 live South and drive North is better?

holystungun9

Moving to Dublin in September. Will be doing construction and figure no matter what site I get sent to, being on the M50 is probably a daily reality.

Hopefully I'll just get lucky and end up working not far from where I'm living but it's pure chance right now. I'm curious to know if traffic in one direction is heavier than the other as regards early morning and then evening traffic.

A friend said if you don't know where the site is, it's better to just be in the South as the drive north is less crowed. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Moving and renting is going to cost a packet so I'd like to have as much advice as I can get.

Thanks

KAGY

holystungun9 wrote: »

Moving to Dublin in September. Will be doing construction and figure no matter what site I get sent to, being on the M50 is probably a daily reality.

Hopefully I'll just get lucky and end up working not far from where I'm living but it's pure chance right now. I'm curious to know if traffic in one direction is heavier than the other as regards early morning and then evening traffic.

A friend said if you don't know where the site is, it's better to just be in the South as the drive north is less crowed. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Moving and renting is going to cost a packet so I'd like to have as much advice as I can get.

Thanks

I've been a long time out of Dublin so I can't give any first hand experience, but go to google maps on a desktop/laptop and turn on the traffic layer. At the bottom you can change from the current time to typical conditions at any hour during the week.

marco_polo

holystungun9 wrote: »

Moving to Dublin in September. Will be doing construction and figure no matter what site I get sent to, being on the M50 is probably a daily reality.

Hopefully I'll just get lucky and end up working not far from where I'm living but it's pure chance right now. I'm curious to know if traffic in one direction is heavier than the other as regards early morning and then evening traffic.

A friend said if you don't know where the site is, it's better to just be in the South as the drive north is less crowed. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Moving and renting is going to cost a packet so I'd like to have as much advice as I can get.

Thanks

South to North in the mornings certainly has less traffic but I noticed it getting progressively worse over the past 4-5 years. Can be very heavy between J12 to N7 exit but generally loosens up a bit after. I havent driven much other direction but it often seem like almost the entire length North south is chocablock

amcalester

It really depends where you get on or off and what time, but in my experience the closer you get to the bridge, from either direction, the busier it gets.

Currently I join it from the M1 and aim to be on it by 7 and exit at J9 and that takes about 15/20 minutes.

This time last year I was joining at Sandyford, later at about 7:50 and exiting at J9, and that took about 30 minutes.

OldMrBrennan83

It all depends on how many tips are caused by the get-aheads too. The other evening I was coming from Wexford and purposely stopped for the spuds in Gorey so as I'd hit Dublin around 7, still took me an hour and a half to get from Bray to J6. The traffic can be a complete toss-up in wither direction at any time of day as there are so many accidents on it.

Alkers

In general N-S in the mornings and S-N in the evenings are busier

Toots

If you're in construction, there's a good chance you'll be on the M50 before the traffic builds up too much because of the early start. My husband does south-north in the morning. Leaves the house at 7.20, gets on at J14 and comes off at the M1 exit. He's in work by about 8.10ish.

Traffic is heavier coming home, but if he's on the road by 4pm he will get home before 5. Anything after about 4.15 will take upwards of an hour.

Of course, if there's a crash then all bets are off. Even if it's going the other direction, the traffic will be held up by rubberneckers.

Southbound is busiest in the morning and northbound busiest in the evening from my experience.

Dial Hard

Simona1986 wrote: »

In general N-S in the mornings and S-N in the evenings are busier

This used to be the case alright but the other direction is catching up big time. Unless he can start and finish decently early, stay away from the M50 altogether would be my advice.

Cienciano

I do both regularly enough in the mornings. Definitely northbound is better without a shadow of a doubt. I live half way in Clondalkin for reference. I usually leave late, after 6 and traffic is never an issue inless there's a crash or a police car has stopped someone and everyone has to slow down to take a look at a stopped car as it's so interesting.

holystungun9

Toots wrote: »

If you're in construction, there's a good chance you'll be on the M50 before the traffic builds up too much because of the early start. My husband does south-north in the morning. Leaves the house at 7.20, gets on at J14 and comes off at the M1 exit. He's in work by about 8.10ish.

Traffic is heavier coming home, but if he's on the road by 4pm he will get home before 5. Anything after about 4.15 will take upwards of an hour.

Of course, if there's a crash then all bets are off. Even if it's going the other direction, the traffic will be held up by rubberneckers.

Thanks. Yeah, I’m expecting to be on site at 7:45 or maybe 7:15 if it’s a 7:30 site. I guess knock off time is 5 or 5:30.

holystungun9

Thanks to everyone here. I really appreciate it. As a country lad, like proper rural, traffic just ain’t an issue. Stuck behind the neighbour’s tractor for about a half km is about the worst of it. The big shmoke is clearly a different ball game.

Dial Hard

Cienciano wrote:

I do both regularly enough in the mornings. Definitely northbound is better without a shadow of a doubt. I live half way in Clondalkin for reference.

You're missing the worst of the northbound traffic by far if you're only joining at J9 or 7. From Edmondstown (halfway between J13 and J12) to J9/7 is where it's worst in the mornings.