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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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_Kaiser_

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Exactly what I said would happen last night

To be fair, the storm probably impacted on things but they should be out removing the now incorrect signage ASAP and replacing with the permanent 120 signs as soon as conditions permit.

.... Although it's probably just as likely that the council will request an emergency order to extend the current reduced limits too I suppose

jmkennedyie

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Indo page 8 Today suggests speed limit remains 80 for most sections and 100 for some areas Dublin bound around the merge, all until dec 23rd.

I thought would be safer open j9a before bumping up to 120...I guess this is now a possibility

I should have been more explicit. The Indo piece was not an article. It was a formal notice of KCC setting temporary speed limits till Dec 23rd.

jmkennedyie

now here: http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/PressReleasesAdverts/TemporaryRoadWorksSpeedLimitOrderM9M7N7Mon9Dec.html

_Kaiser_

So.. More delays then - shocker! :rolleyes:

BuzzFish

Its a farce at this point alright.

http://www.m7upgrade.com/ still says
The 80Km per hour speed restriction will be removed on the M7 Motorway and will return to 120Km per hour on 09th December 2019.

They really do not have a clue at this stage. KCC are pretty poor at controlling this contractor it seems.

harr

I wonder what would happen if you were caught doing 120 this morning? If you said your were going by the intended return to 120 posted on the M7 upgrade page. Probably tell you to stick to posted speed limit signs on road.

Sam Russell

harr wrote: »

I wonder what would happen if you were caught doing 120 this morning? If you said your were going by the intended return to 120 posted on the M7 upgrade page. Probably tell you to stick to posted speed limit signs on road.

No chance - there is no enforcement.

Cazale

harr wrote:

I wonder what would happen if you were caught doing 120 this morning? If you said your were going by the intended return to 120 posted on the M7 upgrade page. Probably tell you to stick to posted speed limit signs on road.

I drove it this morning. Was lucky to get to the 80 at times never mind 120.

emfifty

BuzzFish wrote: »

Its a farce at this point alright.

http://www.m7upgrade.com/ still says
The 80Km per hour speed restriction will be removed on the M7 Motorway and will return to 120Km per hour on 09th December 2019.

They really do not have a clue at this stage. KCC are pretty poor at controlling this contractor it seems.

Agreed. Someone needs to be brought to account for this.
If you want poor road safety, deliver two conflicting messages from two different sources and then hope that people join the dots.
It seems the contractor is giving the proverbial two fingers to the council... Or just maybe, it's the other way around.

road_high

emfifty wrote: »

Agreed. Someone needs to be brought to account for this.
If you want poor road safety, deliver two conflicting messages from two different sources and then hope that people join the dots.
It seems the contractor is giving the proverbial two fingers to the council... Or just maybe, it's the other way around.

Probably equally culpible but one things for sure the communication on this project is dire and has deteriorated since the 3 lane mainline opened. It's as if they've sat back and just tipped away at their own pace.

GhostyMcGhost

road_high wrote: »

Probably equally culpible but one things for sure the communication on this project is dire and has deteriorated since the 3 lane mainline opened. It's as if they've sat back and just tipped away at their own pace.

Around the same time as the guards simply gave up enforcing it too

The word astronomical is back

Darc19

Whatever about a couple of weeks here and there regarding the finishing, I think everyone can agree that the communication on this project by Siac Colas, Kildare CC and TII has been nothing short of abysmal.

MaceFace

The following press release went out yesterday morning and was posted on the KCC facebook page.

Agreed that there should be much better communication on the status and updates, but it is pretty clear that no one is owning this. I can understand the contractor not wanting to put out updates, and I don't think this is a KCC project, so they are probably in the dark as much as anyone else. I assume this is an NRA/TII led project, so it should be them to own it.

Part of the problem I think is many people involved in the different agencies are still years behind in terms of the power of communication. However, I can see how they can justify this to themselves - this thread as an example had lots of posters complaining that the contractors weren't working 24x7 in the summer, and talking about penalties and deadlines based upon hearsay and rumours. They are probably thinking to themselves "just keep schtum" as much as possible because whatever happens, they'll never win.
There were also local politicians making pre-mature announcements probably just to get their name out there and claim they know things they obviously don't.

Not that I think any of that is right because these agencies and contractors need to realise that social media is full of unreasonable and unknowledgable people and they will always be there.

Also, as an aside to the conversation about improving public transport, the Irish Times had an article yesterday and you can see it is affecting every part of the commuter belt, not just the N7.

regedit

while we wait for the speed limit to be 'adjusted', I am curious are other people facing the phenomenon that on your way home, in the evening, traffic is building up as early as Red Cow and staying very slow until Castlewarden after which it's clearing up. Not sure what the logic is? Feeder roads such as Citywest etc hitting the N7 at the same time but this is not something I ever witnessed before, especially since it's 3 lanes from red cow all the way

mrsoundie

regedit wrote: »

while we wait for the speed limit to be 'adjusted', I am curious are other people facing the phenomenon that on your way home, in the evening, traffic is building up as early as Red Cow and staying very slow until Castlewarden after which it's clearing up. Not sure what the logic is? Feeder roads such as Citywest etc hitting the N7 at the same time but this is not something I ever witnessed before, especially since it's 3 lanes from red cow all the way

It may appear that the only option at the moment would be to out Traffic Lights on all the on-ramps to the M7/N7 and use them to control the amount of traffic entering the M7/N7. I can't think of what Motorways have this in the UK.

Darc19

regedit wrote: »

while we wait for the speed limit to be 'adjusted', I am curious are other people facing the phenomenon that on your way home, in the evening, traffic is building up as early as Red Cow and staying very slow until Castlewarden after which it's clearing up. Not sure what the logic is? Feeder roads such as Citywest etc hitting the N7 at the same time but this is not something I ever witnessed before, especially since it's 3 lanes from red cow all the way

I think that once you are past rathcoole / applegreen that there is less on/off traffic at subsequent junctions and therefore motorists feel they can increase the speed as less likely for sudden stops

mrsoundie

Be well and win

Darc19 wrote: »

I think that once you are past rathcoole / applegreen that there is less on/off traffic at subsequent junctions and therefore motorists feel they can increase the speed as less likely for sudden stops

You also get muppets who don't seem to realise they need to be in the left lane to turn off and suddenly start changing lanes to get off. I found out that the hard way when one of them didn't realise I was in the left lane and nearly piled into me

BuzzFish

Coming past rathcoole and the poitin stil I've always felt is the most dangerous part of the N7 outbound as you climb the hill and then drop back down and into a curve. For a 1/2 km or so there is a very short view ahead so it's much harder to read the flow ahead. I think this contributes to people slowing back a little in this section and being more (appropriately) cautious leaving a larger gap and thus slowing flow.

Could be an area for future improvement.

Anyone else noticed this?

_Kaiser_

Speaking of future improvement, that right bend at the Carlow/Waterford exit on the mainline M7 is a bit ropey and the far right margin is way off vs the curve of the central barrier.

I hope that's not going to be left like that, but I suspect it is

Darc19

BuzzFish wrote: »

Could be an area for future improvement.

Anyone else noticed this?

There are long term plans for a junction just after applegreen and connecting road to N4 (possibly n3 too)

The truck parking area at applegreen is provided under license and subject to reclamation if the junction and road go ahead - it's in the Planning file.
This would be part of the upgrade of N7 section to motorway standard, but not officially deemed a motorway

Big Dec

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Speaking of future improvement, that right bend at the Carlow/Waterford exit on the mainline M7 is a bit ropey and the far right margin is way off vs the curve of the central barrier.

I hope that's not going to be left like that, but I suspect it is

I prefer driving in the left land going around that curve.
Surely it would have been better to follow the concrete barrier...
Maybe it is the OCD in me, but it looks like somebody had a few drinks before adding the road markings in that area.

GhostyMcGhost

Big Dec wrote: »

I prefer driving in the left land going around that curve.
Surely it would have been better to follow the concrete barrier...
Maybe it is the OCD in me, but it looks like somebody had a few drinks before adding the road markings in that area.

I noticed too a few of the road markings have a bang off them like they were done by an apprentice on the lash the night before after 25 pints

emfifty

GhostyMcGhost wrote: »

I noticed too a few of the road markings have a bang off them like they were done by an apprentice on the lash the night before after 25 pints

I'm glad this has been highlighted as I was wondering about the markings myself.
There are definitely a few odd spots along the upgraded route where the broken white lines in particular are off alignment. Hopefully the road safety audit will pick up on this kind of sloppy work but not sure it will.

Re. M7/M9 curve, that one is a good example. I emailed the contractor about it so hopefully that will be rectified as it's a very dodgy alignment at best.

Mantis Toboggan

GhostyMcGhost wrote: »

I noticed too a few of the road markings have a bang off them like they were done by an apprentice on the lash the night before after 25 pints

Yeah and those roundabouts at junction 10 and on the Newbridge road are an absolute disgrace and haven't been touched in months.

regedit

TBH, the whole widening project is sloppy enough.
As if though people have stopped taking pride of the work they do. The final layer is bumpy enough in multiple places and I dont know if there's any way this can be fixed.
The thing was optimistically meant to open in April but while we're nearing the end of the year, there seems to be a lot needed to complete the job. Even announcements on the M7 widening website are incorrect re speed limits etc. Not sure if it's siac or the abysmal KCC. I thought exit 9a was meant to open up but there's still cones and n indication when they may open it up. Hardly any builders or equipment there anymore so they must have shiftd their focus on the Sallins Bypass

Darc19

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Yeah and those roundabouts at junction 10 and on the Newbridge road are an absolute disgrace and haven't been touched in months.

Maybe you're not looking carefully. They are all but finished and just the one nearest Naas needs a top coat of tarmac

Even the signage is complete and metal barriers gone.

regedit

Darc19 wrote: »

Maybe you're not looking carefully. They are all but finished and just the one nearest Naas needs a top coat of tarmac

Even the signage is complete and metal barriers gone.

I am on those on a daily basis (well, almost) and I cannot comprehend why that final layer of asphalt doesn't just gets slapped on those roundabouts. It's surely not a huge job but as per my earlier post, haven't seen any crews on M7, 9A, 910 in a long time

newholland mad

regedit wrote: »

TBH, the whole widening project is sloppy enough.
As if though people have stopped taking pride of the work they do. The final layer is bumpy enough in multiple places and I dont know if there's any way this can be fixed.
The thing was optimistically meant to open in April but while we're nearing the end of the year, there seems to be a lot needed to complete the job. Even announcements on the M7 widening website are incorrect re speed limits etc. Not sure if it's siac or the abysmal KCC. I thought exit 9a was meant to open up but there's still cones and n indication when they may open it up. Hardly any builders or equipment there anymore so they must have shiftd their focus on the Sallins Bypass

Talking to a worker who drives an excavator on that scheme and he said there's a roumor on site that 7km is subsiding and might have to be redone. After driving northbound on Saturday I'd well believe that.

lawred2

newholland mad wrote: »

Talking to a worker who drives an excavator on that scheme and he said there's a roumor on site that 7km is subsiding and might have to be redone. After driving northbound on Saturday I'd well believe that.

Christ