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M7 - Naas/Newbridge Bypass Upgrade [Junction 9a now open]

JupiterKid

Following on from the suggestion of a poster, this thread has been set up to discuss the need for widening the M7.

The section of the M7 IMO in immediate need (really a backlog need) for widening is the section from the Maudlins Interchange at Naas to the M9 interchange - basically the original 1983 Naas Bypass and half of the 1993 Newbridge Bypass. Is this likely to proceed in the near future?

Would the central median be wide enough for widening to D3M here? I'm pretty sure it is wide enough on the Newbridge bypass section but I'm not so sure in the case of the Naas Bypass.

Also, what bridges will need to be demolished and rebuilt? Or would it be more practical to drop the hard shoulder through the existing bridges?

What about the proposal a few years back to build a new junction at on the Naas Bypass at Osberstown? Will it still go ahead?

In the longer term, does anyone see a need to widen the M7 to the N7/M8 junction?

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Kermit.de.frog

I don't get the complaint. It's a promotional video.

So what?

regedit

regedit wrote: »

Taken on 17 Feb 2019

Taken on 23 Feb 2019

Taken on 02 Mar 2019

Chris_5339762

So.... what was it tonight with the roadworks and the snow that still has it backed up from Kill to Newbridge at 1015pm on a Sunday evening? Every other route cleared except for this one. Anyone caught in it? People trapped overnight in vehicles and running out of petrol, which I guess is now a possibility, is unheard of in Ireland.

Avatar MIA

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

So.... what was it tonight with the roadworks and the snow that still has it backed up from Kill to Newbridge at 1015pm on a Sunday evening? Every other route cleared except for this one. Anyone caught in it? People trapped overnight in vehicles and running out of petrol, which I guess is now a possibility, is unheard of in Ireland.

Really, I'm due there around 7am tomorrow morning.

Edit. Just seen RTE website.

marno21

There's 2 breakdowns between J10 and J9 northbound which is contributing to the delays for starters.

Avatar MIA

Seeing as the M7 is on my mind.

Will they open as complete or will they open the full J8 to J11 together for the wow factor?

gilly1910

The M7 is a nightmare full stop, honestly the M50 is a walk in the park compared to the M7. It took me 2hrs and 15 mins to get from Dundrum to Kildare Town last Friday (left work at 3pm to beat the traffic and the M50 was clear) and I then had the misfortune last night (like thousands of others) to get stuck on the M7 between J13 and J8, with it taking me 4hrs and 30 mins to get from Kildare Town to Dundrum. Last night was just ridiculous, the snow or conditions on the M7 were not even that bad, yet it was just total gridlock with nothing moving. How can that be so, yes know I the roadworks exacerbated the situation massively, but a bit of snow should not have caused the mayhem that it did last night. Definitely the usual case in this country of a bit of unexpected weather, and the country shuts down.

Geimhreadh

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

People trapped overnight in vehicles and running out of petrol,

Where were people trapped in their vehicles overnight and running out of petrol?

SoupyNorman

gilly1910 wrote: »

...yes know I the roadworks exacerbated the situation massively

I mean, you answered your own question here.

On any normal stretch of motorway, in snow, if there is a breakdown the car gets pushed into the hard shoulder.

There is no hard shoulder along the upgrade stretch. A breakdown backs things up severely in good driving conditions so add the bad snow and multiple breakdowns, almost impossible for recovery vehicles to get in and you have your gridlock.

Believe me, I sympathize and would have hated to be caught in it but it was so bad because of the temporary roadworks. I get people were cold, tired and angry but to call the N7 a disaster is just incorrect.

beertons

Geimhreadh wrote: »

Where were people trapped in their vehicles overnight and running out of petrol?

I think it stemmed from a Martin Heydon tweet, it took him 2.5 hours to travel a distance that normally takes 20 minutes.

Tomrota

gilly1910 wrote: »

The M7 is a nightmare full stop, honestly the M50 is a walk in the park compared to the M7. It took me 2hrs and 15 mins to get from Dundrum to Kildare Town last Friday (left work at 3pm to beat the traffic and the M50 was clear) and I then had the misfortune last night (like thousands of others) to get stuck on the M7 between J13 and J8, with it taking me 4hrs and 30 mins to get from Kildare Town to Dundrum. Last night was just ridiculous, the snow or conditions on the M7 were not even that bad, yet it was just total gridlock with nothing moving. How can that be so, yes know I the roadworks exacerbated the situation massively, but a bit of snow should not have caused the mayhem that it did last night. Definitely the usual case in this country of a bit of unexpected weather, and the country shuts down.

You couldn’t pay me to use the M7 after half 3 with those roadworks. Would be faster crawling through Naas.

AugustusMinimus

Tomrota wrote: »

You couldn’t pay me to use the M7 after half 3 with those roadworks. Would be faster crawling through Naas.

Is there any viable alternative by going via M4 and then cross country?

Emme

Tomrota wrote: »

You couldn’t pay me to use the M7 after half 3 with those roadworks. Would be faster crawling through Naas.

A lot of Kildare people use the rat runs and avoid the M7 altogether. Having said that it would be impossible to use some of these side roads in the snow.

_Kaiser_

Emme wrote: »

A lot of Kildare people use the rat runs and avoid the M7 altogether. Having said that it would be impossible to use some of these side roads in the snow.

Problem with that is most of the secondary roads in Kildare are in shyte condition. I've tried it a few times and some of them are little better than dirt tracks.

There needs to be at least one motorway-grade link between the M4 and M7 between say CityWest and Kildare town (I'd have one there, and another from Naas South to the Maynooth exit)

pad199207

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Problem with that is most of the secondary roads in Kildare are in shyte condition. I've tried it a few times and some of them are little better than dirt tracks.

There needs to be at least one motorway-grade link between the M4 and M7 between the Red Cow and Kildare town.

Yeah a high quality road should be built connecting the M7 at Naas to the M4 at Maynooth.

gilly1910

pad199207 wrote: »

Yeah a high quality road should be built connecting the M7 at Naas to the M4 at Maynooth.

This is why the The Leinster Outer Orbital or Dublin Outer Orbital Road (M45) should have been built http://www.irishmotorwayinfo.com/inex/roads/m45/m45.html, as it would have got rid of so many of the problems that we currently have. As things stand we funnel all traffic on our motorways towards the M50, and we now see the disaster that has become, with the M50 already way over capacity, and no room to expand further. An outer ring road would be a godsend, it would take so much traffic away from the M50, and it is such a shame that it was never built. We are world leaders in this country at coming up with great plans, such a shame that so few of them are ever actually followed through.

Emme

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Problem with that is most of the secondary roads in Kildare are in shyte condition. I've tried it a few times and some of them are little better than dirt tracks.

Why do you think the tougher SUVs are so popular in Kildare? It isn't just to tow the horsebox.

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

There needs to be at least one motorway-grade link between the M4 and M7 between say CityWest and Kildare town (I'd have one there, and another from Naas South to the Maynooth exit)

I agree that it's needed but could you imagine the years of chaos and driving at 60kmph building that would cause? Another suggestion would be a large business park in Kildare town if some Dublin based companies could see outside the Pale and move out there.

_Kaiser_

pad199207 wrote: »

Yeah a high quality road should be built connecting the M7 at Naas to the M4 at Maynooth.

Definitely. Two of the bigger town adjacent to two of the main motorways - it's a no-brainer IMO.

Instead we'll get an extra lane on the M7 that probably won't make that much of a difference really given the traffic volumes and hold-ups on the 3-lane section (particularly inbound at peak) as it is.

_Kaiser_

Emme wrote: »

I agree that it's needed but could you imagine the years of chaos and driving at 60kmph building that would cause? Another suggestion would be a large business park in Kildare town if some Dublin based companies could see outside the Pale and move out there.

The problem is that the employees that many of these companies hire don't want to live there - think the likes of Facebook etc .. all younger Europeans who want to be in the city.

You'd have to seriously invest in facilities, services and transport links (DART for example) to make it viable .. but then Naas is pretty much an extended suburb anyway so why not

Odyssey 2005

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Definitely. Two of the bigger town adjacent to two of the main motorways - it's a no-brainer IMO.

Instead we'll get an extra lane on the M7 that probably won't make that much of a difference really given the traffic volumes and hold-ups on the 3-lane section (particularly inbound at peak) as it is.

Yep. A link between Maynooth and naas and a third lane outbound would have been more beneficial. The M50 can't handle the volume of traffic coming onto it now,what's it going to be like when there are no delays getting onto it from the M/N8

AugustusMinimus

The M9 should never have been merged with the M7. Both should independently hit the M50.

Odyssey 2005

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

The M9 should never have been merged with the M7. Both should independently hit the M50.

I'm at a loss here,were they not always merged? Right at the end of Naas village for cork and straight for Waterf6/Kilkenny?

AugustusMinimus

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

I'm at a loss here,were they not always merged? Right at the end of Naas village for cork and straight for Waterf6/Kilkenny?

M9 should have been rerouted in by the N81. Funnelling 3 motorways into one on the way into Dublin was madness.

jmkennedyie

Anyone know what is going on at Halverstown cross here? Field levelled. Maybe nothing to do with upgrade...maybe some sort of temp work site

Mantis Toboggan

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Anyone know what is going on at Halverstown cross here? Field levelled. Maybe nothing to do with upgrade...

Is that the new Applegreen?

jmkennedyie

seems a bit remote? And not on an M7 interchange road. Ddidn't find anything on Kildare planning enquiries. Was thinking maybe staging site for bridge elements? But site still a bit awkward...

beertons

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Anyone know what is going on at Halverstown cross here? Field levelled. Maybe nothing to do with upgrade...maybe some sort of temp work site

Asked about it in the Naas thread. It's to do with bringing sewerage from Newbridge to Osberstown treatment facility.

Bonzo Delaney

beertons wrote: »

Asked about it in the Naas thread. It's to do with bringing sewerage from Newbridge to Osberstown treatment facility.

Was just about to post there's similar happening up at floods cross up the road from it is that osberstown too
Will they be doing road crossings at those points
At floods cross they seem to be drawing in clay
Thought it might be a holding yard for top soil then truck it back to the green areas at the new slip roads and flyovers

jmkennedyie

Dunno about Flood's Cross.
Re M7, current split removal tonight. No word on bridge beam install...guess not this weekend. http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/N7M7LaneMovementsEastbound.html

Nice to see kerbing going in on various off/on ramps, and approaching surface tarmac on some of them at new J10 / Naas South. Smells like at least some of them could go live within a few weeks...

Working on Sallins bypass stretch (north of canal) during the week too. Piling progressing/probably nearly complete on both sides of canal bridge.

WishUWereHere

Kevwoody wrote: »

Yes, and it's on schedule and budget, and people are still complaining!

Still waiting for proof to justify Your statement that the works are on schedule!