M4 - Maynooth to Leixlip [planning and design underway]

Typical Irish second rate cheapest options on display. This should be minimum 3×3 lanes both directions, all junctions made freeflow with no bus lanes which are a safety hazard on a motorway and should only be on secondary roads. This is what proper countries do, but not Ireland.

We'll be coming back to this to add more lanes in 15 years, probably less.

What an absurd country. Saving cents at the expense of common sense.

Traffic lights at junctions in Maynooth are an absolute nightmare. Of course it has an impact for motorway traffic at peaks times. The next set of lights that go in in the town should be ripped out.

The lights at the junction for lidl in maynooth and the meadowbrook link road cause havoc for traffic coming into maynooth from motorway and straffan direction.

I think you seriously don't understand the concept of Induced Demand.

Surely you've heard of it, it's hardly a new concept. Basic principle - if you widen roads you simply encourage more people into cars and soon enough you're back to where you began.

Endlessly chasing your tail building more and more, wider and wider, roads. Public transport is the solution. You fact you are giving out about adding bus lanes is laughable.

If there was a surplus of vacant houses available immediately in a good location and free to absolutely anyone for their private use, then yes, more people would probably come to take advantage of them.

"Improving people's lives" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that post.

Kildare Co Co have already prepared a Part 8 and its out to consultation for eastbound Bus Priority Measures between Junction 7 Maynooth and Junction 5 Leixlip. They propose to convert the hard shoulder to a bus lane and add some emergency refuge areas instead. I know it would be more disruptive and expensive but I think a better solution would be to keep the hard shoulder and take the space from the central reserve, replacing it with a concrete barrier.

Does anyone else find these climate measures to be little more than penny pinching.

Widen the road and quit the madness.

Chapeltizod bypass isn't a motorway chuck.

Judging by the plans online this will be a conversion from hard shoulder to buslane, which is a mistake in my book although the cheapest option I assume.

Documents available here

kildarecoco.ie/en/consultation/part-8-proposed-m4-bus-priority-measures-planning-ref-p8202220

I regularly travel the M4 and exit at Maynooth. The emergency lane is frequently used by cars when the driving lanes stop moving.