M7 - Castletown to Nenagh

kilinick · 05-01-2011 1:04pm

Sorry if this has been covered already but i was looking at google Maps on Iphone and coming from Kerry to Durrow it gave a route using Junction 20 at Aghaboe which doesnt exist as far as i can see...

Must be very confusing for tourists.

Anyone know what the plans are for Junction 20?

popebenny16 · 05-01-2011 1:11pm

Stark wrote: »

Serves them right for building private entrances onto a national route miles from anywhere.

those houses and their enterences are there for over a hundred years. long before it was a national route or any kind of route.

roosterman71 · 05-01-2011 3:10pm

kilinick wrote: »

Sorry if this has been covered already but i was looking at google Maps on Iphone and coming from Kerry to Durrow it gave a route using Junction 20 at Aghaboe which doesnt exist as far as i can see...

Must be very confusing for tourists.

Anyone know what the plans are for Junction 20?

Was removed due to money, and also it would mean lots of people using the road through Ballacolla and Abbeyleix for toll dodging. That road wouldn't be able for the extra traffic.

Hopefully, in the future, they'd build those junctions so you can move between the M7/M8

Mc Love · 05-01-2011 6:19pm

The new section is great. A good bit still has to be finished (roadside/hard shoulder areas). I saw the unfinished overpass on the way down this afternoon.

I have to say thought this section is a lot better than the Borris - Portlaoise section apart from the LILO sections, particularly exit 22 northbound. And it looks as someone has had an accident already!

Amtmann · 05-01-2011 6:24pm

How is the McDonalds at Roscrea doing now? Have they put up advertising along the M7?

Mc Love · 05-01-2011 7:04pm

The only advertising I saw was on the LILO for J22

L1011 · 05-01-2011 9:52pm

Furet wrote: »

How is the McDonalds at Roscrea doing now? Have they put up advertising along the M7?

The advertised their distance from the junction extensively along the old N7 before the motorway opened and gave out voucher books with a map on them. Obviously hoping to retrain the regulars beforehand.

NedNew2 · 05-01-2011 11:00pm

Just wondering (as I am not familiar with the area), if those two dodgy junctions (22 and 23) were to be 'corrected', how big a job would it be? Is there any physical characteristics of the area that may prevent it or make it difficult?

Danke.

NewHillel · 05-01-2011 11:36pm

roosterman71 wrote: »

Got my first look at the junctions in Roscrea today. To say they are a joke doesn't do them justice. An absolute travesty in terms of design. 90 degree turn off a motorway, and then a 90 degree turn the opposite way - all up hill. Coming onto the motorway is worse. In the frosty conditions they'd be a nightmare, downhill and 2 sharp turns onto a motorway. Who the hell designed/signed off on that? Whoever it is shouldn't be let near any sort of design project again. :mad:

I agree with you, the engineer who signed off on this should be fired, along with his/her manager. The pictures taken during construction, informative as they are, simply cannot show the full scale of the problem. Add in a combination of ice and frost and they're a death trap.

At the very least, high-visibility warning signs should be installed well in advance. Not the right solution, but better than the current situation.

Geogregor · 06-01-2011 1:52am

NewHillel wrote: »

At the very least, high-visibility warning signs should be installed well in advance. Not the right solution, but better than the current situation.

If those junctions are as crap as everyone here posts such signs are really needed. They use them a lot in US when ramps are tight.
Big, yellow reflective boards with suggested low speed and some diagrams explaining how tight the ramp ii.

Mc Love · 06-01-2011 2:45am

Geogregor wrote: »

If those junctions are as crap as everyone here posts such signs are really needed. They use them a lot in US when ramps are tight.
Big, yellow reflective boards with suggested low speed and some diagrams explaining how tight the ramp ii.

Sign posts wont do enough as there needs to be suitable slowing down lanes and acceleration lanes

JupiterKid · 06-01-2011 3:47am

These junctions will have to be remodelled or rebuilt, sooner or later. They are very, very dangerous in their current form.

ongarboy · 06-01-2011 1:49pm

I have to admit I got a fright on the new stretch of M7 heading down for Christmas when a car came off the sideroad on one of those LILOs onto the joining lane at fast but legal speed. They didn't do anything wrong but as I had the road to myself and was cruising at 120 along the inside lane, it is a bit disconcerting to suddenly see a car come out of no-where looking like it is coming straight at you at a right angle. Of course it isn't actually doing that as it just continued onto the merging lane before joining the main carraigeway safely.

My initial instinct was to veer onto the outside lane abruptly which of course is not safe if there were overtaking cars on that lane. I didn't do that but I wonder if other drivers who also see cars coming at high speed, seemingly directly towards them at a right angle could make such a dangerous swerve. Perception is often everything! My sister who was with me also expressed shock of what the hell is that car doing coming at us even though it was doing exactly what the LILO is designed for. I am also now not a fan of these LILOs and also question why they were put there instead of the typical merging lanes on all other M-Ways.

ongarboy · 06-01-2011 2:05pm

bernardo mac wrote: »

Very good to read about major improvement re.journey.Many thanks but what is a LILO?

The Sticky Thread at the top of the Roads forum entitled TLAs Three Letter Acronyms gives definitions of all sorts of Road terms including LILOs. I have found it helpful in the past!

Berty · 07-01-2011 12:17am

I drove from Limerick to Dundalk and back to Limerick the other day and had a close look at those LILO's and surprise surprise two of them were damaged.

One had the right support pole completely ripped from the ground. It's like the low slung car had taken out the pole and managed to avoid hitting the sign itself. Madness.

I now have a car with cruise control and the journey back down was a freakin dream.

no1beemerfan · 07-01-2011 12:28pm

I went to a friends house in Toomevara last night and went to there from Roscrea on the old N7 but coming out of Moneygall coming home I decided to go back on the M7.

The LILOs will take a bit of getting used to as you HAVE to take it slow right up until you get to the join-in lane on the M7. I see the sign at the Roscrea exit has been hit too.

I don't think they have half enough signs/warnings up to let people know the exits etc for Roscrea and Moneygall are so sharp and mabey it would help if they could put up decent warning signs.

Sponge Bob · 07-01-2011 3:00pm

They need to educate people on the new 90 degree left exit signs they have on the LILOs. As most junctions will be like this in future they should do so immediately.

popebenny16 · 07-01-2011 5:16pm

driving on the n62 today i spotted a car stopped on the LILO southbound with its hazards on, thus blocking the entire off ramp in a fairly blind bend.

Spongebob - do you mean LILO's will be all the junctions for the M20 ect or just for improved N roads?

NewHillel · 07-01-2011 8:55pm

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They need to educate people on the new 90 degree left exit signs they have on the LILOs. As most junctions will be like this in future they should do so immediately.

Well shame on whoever approved this, then. By no stretch of the imagination are they appropriate, or safe, for motorways. Just because we're broke doesn't mean we should abandon good engineering practice.

Mr E · 07-01-2011 9:15pm

Just FYI, I was supposed to go to Carlow from Limerick tonight. Got as far as Nenagh (took 40 mins) and turned around to come back. The road markings and catseyes are covered.

The M7 is brutal.... Take care if you need to drive tonight.

I had a steak in Carlow with my name on it.

blackwarrior · 07-01-2011 10:48pm

ACCIDENT!

Passed J23 (Moneygall) on the N7 south tonight at 7:45 and there was a car stuck in the barrier. Looked like it couldn't slow down sufficiently to take the exit, went straight through the red/white sticks and hit and damaged the armco barrier where it was wedged when I passed. Garda directing traffic on the LILO.

crucamim · 07-01-2011 11:12pm

This LILO. Does that mean that, at those entrance points and exit points, there are no slip roads and merely sharp turns?

Amtmann · 07-01-2011 11:37pm

blackwarrior wrote: »

ACCIDENT!

Passed J23 (Moneygall) on the N7 south tonight at 7:45 and there was a car stuck in the barrier. Looked like it couldn't slow down sufficiently to take the exit, went straight through the red/white sticks and hit and damaged the armco barrier where it was wedged when I passed. Garda directing traffic on the LILO.

Wow - that's a lot of misadventures only recently reported here in relation to J22 and J23. A newspaper article is imminent, where some local councillor will criticise the NRA and the NRA will defend itself, just as what happened when the Ennis Bypass was redesignated.

blackwarrior · 08-01-2011 12:11am

Furet wrote: »

Wow - that's a lot of misadventures only recently reported here in relation to J22 and J23. A newspaper article is imminent, where some local councillor will criticise the NRA and the NRA will defend itself, just as what happened when the Ennis Bypass was redesignated.

My worry is that they will need to designate both of these exits as 100 km/h - a pity, but will be necessary to save lives...

highlydebased · 08-01-2011 12:33am

blackwarrior wrote: »

My worry is that they will need to designate both of these exits as 100 km/h - a pity, but will be necessary to save lives...

They will probably do that as a method of "resolving" the problem and it will do very little in reality. The junctions are a mess, end of.

NewHillel · 08-01-2011 12:40am

blackwarrior wrote: »

My worry is that they will need to designate both of these exits as 100 km/h - a pity, but will be necessary to save lives...

My fear is that lives will be lost before anything is done. One doesn't have to be a Civil Engineer to see that these exits are extremely dangerous. Imagine a situation where there is ice and fog on that section and its an accident waiting to happen. I've now driven it four times and each time I feel stronger that a formal complaint is required. Anyone know who I should write to. (EU/national, I don't care at this stage.)

L1011 · 08-01-2011 2:24pm

blackwarrior wrote: »

My worry is that they will need to designate both of these exits as 100 km/h - a pity, but will be necessary to save lives...

Just needs what they have on sharp exits on NI DCs (which are 70mph generally). The exit itself has a cornering speed with no change on the mainline, "max exit speed 25mph" for the corner.

marmurr1916 · 08-01-2011 3:49pm

MYOB wrote: »

Just needs what they have on sharp exits on NI DCs (which are 70mph generally). The exit itself has a cornering speed with no change on the mainline, "max exit speed 25mph" for the corner.

I've seen those signs often on LILOs on British dual-carriageways. They're usually advisory speed limits.

LILOs like those are acceptable on British dual-carriageways because there are so many of them that drivers expect them.

They're not acceptable on motorways because they're so rare and drivers don't expect them.

IMO, these M7 LILO junctions should be closed pending re-engineering works.

The reports of crashes etc show that it's only a matter of time before someone is killed.

ItHurtsWhenIP · 08-01-2011 4:11pm

Berty wrote: »

I now have a car with cruise control and the journey back down was a freakin dream.

Good for you! But it's as useless as a condom in a convent on the M50 and N7 out as far as the M7 past Kildare!

But you're right, for the rest of the road it' feckin awesome, I get lots of sleep from that point on. :eek:;):p

JupiterKid · 08-01-2011 8:17pm

I think a formal campaign to get J22 and J23 on the M7 redesigned should get underway. They are a fatal accident waiting to happen.

I'm seriously considering writing a letter to the NRA.

M7 - Castletown to Nenagh

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