IRL: M50 updates

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

Post Reply
User avatar
nirs
Member
Posts: 3915
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2006 14:51
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Contact:

IRL: M50 updates

Post by nirs »

I subscribe to the M50 AlertService, but am having trouble understanding it as I'm not able to see what's happening on the ground. Would anyone from Dublin be willing to summarise progress on the M50 upgrade to date and what stage things are at now? Might make it easier for me to follow. Thanks!
Last edited by nirs on Wed Oct 08, 2008 09:13, edited 1 time in total.
Northern Ireland Roads Site www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Hi NIRS, I actually have not driven it in quite a while so I dont know myself how it looks on the ground. Hopefully someone will let us know. Id be interested to know myself. I think the website is very good though. It is updated regularly. Only thing I would fault it on is like of progress pictures :roll:

Phase 2 starts in April, with phase 3 shortly after.

Phase 1 - N4, N7, Ballymount should be finished by the end of this year or early 2008.
IrlRon
Member
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 20:01

Post by IrlRon »

I drove the M50 J7-J13 southbound and back northbound last night. Still a building site with a 60kph speed limit in force up to nearly J11. Biggest progress is at J7 where one set of traffic lights has been removed (the first set eastbound) and you can no longer really classify it as a roundabout as they have taken away the ability for traffic on N4 westbound and M50 off-slip northbound to access N4 eastbound, by blocking off part of the roundabout. So you need to travel to Liffey Valley (R113 offlip) and take the N4 back in as far as the M50 roundabout to access these routes.

Nothing substantial seems to have been done at J9 yet. Given these works are now apparently to be finished by Christmas they'd want to get a move on
User avatar
Zoney
Member
Posts: 1252
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 14:15
Location: Limerick, Ireland
Contact:

Post by Zoney »

The location of the mainline lanes on the M50 seems to have shifted every time I've been there in the last number of months. This isn't surprising considering the work in the median and progress along the motorway, but to be honest, the diagrams on the M50 site are complicated enough, and I think you'd be hard put to figure out on the ground which stretches are at which stage of the work.

When I was there about a month and a half ago, the only work at J9 seemed to be a good deal of earth-moving in the centre. There wasn't any use of the new surface in the median yet along any of the stretch being upgraded (I travelled both north and south of J9 at the time), so I think none of it has reached the more advanced stages shown in the diagrams on the M50 website.

It's one impressive construction site - and I thought the N7 work was impressive (indeed it was, it was like someone got a full-scale toy construction set and spewed it along the length of the thing).

I'm really looking forward to anything being done with the Red Cow junction, it's a disaster. Tis a pity Newlands upgrade isn't already underway; until that's done too, getting onto the M50 north of south of J9 coming from Limerick, Cork, Waterford won't be that smooth a trip. Considering it's about three quarters of an hour to get from N7 J18 (start of motorway at Portlaoise) to Newlands, it's going to be pretty sweet when it's all wrapped up. Still, they do need to really think about upgrading the M7 to three lanes along the Naas Bypass and Newbridge Bypass to M9 junction. Time is running out (as in it will surpass recommended traffic for wide D2M this year).
Chris_533976
Member
Posts: 665
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:02
Location: Ireland

Post by Chris_533976 »

I wouldnt hold your breath knowing them :P

The road outside my flat in Galway has been in planning for six years now, its an old urban S2 with no hard shoulders and two sets of traffic lights thrown in. Its to be upgraded to D2 with cycle lanes etc.

Currently its S2 with 55,000 vehicles per day.
User avatar
Zoney
Member
Posts: 1252
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 14:15
Location: Limerick, Ireland
Contact:

Post by Zoney »

Chris_533976 wrote:I wouldnt hold your breath knowing them :P

The road outside my flat in Galway has been in planning for six years now, its an old urban S2 with no hard shoulders and two sets of traffic lights thrown in. Its to be upgraded to D2 with cycle lanes etc.

Currently its S2 with 55,000 vehicles per day.
Hah - just don't ask me to regale you with the story of Groody Bridge on the Dublin Road (Groody-Parkway) upgrade from urban S2 to mostly offline S4. Upgrade goes ahead, and at one point they manage to sabotage the old bridge and cut off all access to/from the city for an evening! Then for over a year (or even two) there's a temporary bridge and improvised chicanes...

I could go into more detail... let's just say that for several months until the new bridge complemented the temporary one, people were choosing hour long walks into the city from the University rather than wait for (and on) the bus.
User avatar
murphaph
Member
Posts: 5334
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 18:43
Location: Brieselang, Brandenburg

Post by murphaph »

I now use J6-J13 daily and they have laid much of the aphalt south of J9 and indeed they have installed the NJ barrier alng here too. Theyn have also begun the new bridge piers at J9. The deck sections are cast offsite so I'd suspect once the piers are done it'll rapidly progress with the decks being ibstalled overnight. See the double NJ barrier looking northbound here (the start of phase I)...

Image
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

HGV City ban comes in tomorrow. Dublin Port Tunnel must take all HGVs over 5 axles and stick them on the M50. Interesting times on the M50 id say.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0218/dublin.html
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Image


N7 interchange. Alot of work going on there now.
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Image


Ballymount interchange looking southbound.
m11ldncam
Member
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 15:29

Post by m11ldncam »

Hi,

Haven't posted about IRL roads before and have searched to see if this has been mentioned and found nothing but apologies if I have missed it.

Anyway was on the SANEF website and saw this press release. The proposed system sounds impressive but not knowing what the queues are likely to be at the barriers how much will it improve flow?

link
csd
Member
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2003 17:55
Location: Dublin

Pics update

Post by csd »

I've posted some pics (RoI - Motorways gallery) of the work taking place around J10. Hope to get some more of other parts of the works over the weekend.

Some updates of note:

- The temporary pedestrian overbridge on the N7 inbound just before the Red Cow has been removed. This is the bridge I took a set of pictures from around Christmas.

- The works at the N4 interchange are quite advanced, especially the digging at the north-eastern corner of the interchange that will form the M50 S to N4 W sliproad.

- Work on the N7 interchange is also progressing well. The piers and abutments for the new Luas bridge are now in place, ready for beam laying. Also starting to take shape are the piers for the other new bridges at this junction.

- The former median between the Red Cow (J9) and the southern limit of works is now almost completely surfaced, ready for the planned moving of traffic onto the new centre running lanes at Easter. Also evident are the reinforced concrete foundations for the gantry signs along this section.

- Work on the Ballymount junction (J10) is also progressing well (see photos).

/csd
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Re: Pics update

Post by odlum »

csd wrote:I've posted some pics (RoI - Motorways gallery) of the work taking place around J10. Hope to get some more of other parts of the works over the weekend.

Some updates of note:

- The temporary pedestrian overbridge on the N7 inbound just before the Red Cow has been removed. This is the bridge I took a set of pictures from around Christmas.

- The works at the N4 interchange are quite advanced, especially the digging at the north-eastern corner of the interchange that will form the M50 S to N4 W sliproad.

- Work on the N7 interchange is also progressing well. The piers and abutments for the new Luas bridge are now in place, ready for beam laying. Also starting to take shape are the piers for the other new bridges at this junction.

- The former median between the Red Cow (J9) and the southern limit of works is now almost completely surfaced, ready for the planned moving of traffic onto the new centre running lanes at Easter. Also evident are the reinforced concrete foundations for the gantry signs along this section.

- Work on the Ballymount junction (J10) is also progressing well (see photos).

/csd
CSD, most of the Mway is suppoed to be complete by the end of the year. Do you see this happening?
csd
Member
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2003 17:55
Location: Dublin

Re: Pics update

Post by csd »

odlum wrote:CSD, most of the Mway is suppoed to be complete by the end of the year. Do you see this happening?
odlum,

My understanding is that the sections around the Ballymount (J10) and Lucan (J7) interchanges will be complete by August 2007. The section including the Red Cow interchange (J9) won't be complete till mid-2008, probably because work on this section started last.

Phase 2 of the project, the M1 interchange to the N2 and N81 to Sandyford is due to start this year, with phase 3 (Blanchardstown/N3 to N4) following next year. The whole lot is supposed to be finished by 2010.

/csd
User avatar
Zoney
Member
Posts: 1252
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 14:15
Location: Limerick, Ireland
Contact:

Post by Zoney »

csd - Good photos BTW! I'm very interested to see the M50 work again first-hand!
csd
Member
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2003 17:55
Location: Dublin

New photos 31.03.07

Post by csd »

Folks,

I've just uploaded some pics taken in and around M50 J7, showing progress on the widening and interchange upgrade there. It's handy to use this page when viewing the pics. Note that this page has the N4 running bottom-left (E) to top-right (W), with the M50 flowing underneath from bottom-right (N) to top-left (S).

/csd
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Great photos, thanks for that!
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Re: Pics update

Post by odlum »

csd wrote:I've posted some pics (RoI - Motorways gallery) of the work taking place around J10. Hope to get some more of other parts of the works over the weekend.

Some updates of note:

- The temporary pedestrian overbridge on the N7 inbound just before the Red Cow has been removed. This is the bridge I took a set of pictures from around Christmas.

- The works at the N4 interchange are quite advanced, especially the digging at the north-eastern corner of the interchange that will form the M50 S to N4 W sliproad.

- Work on the N7 interchange is also progressing well. The piers and abutments for the new Luas bridge are now in place, ready for beam laying. Also starting to take shape are the piers for the other new bridges at this junction.

- The former median between the Red Cow (J9) and the southern limit of works is now almost completely surfaced, ready for the planned moving of traffic onto the new centre running lanes at Easter. Also evident are the reinforced concrete foundations for the gantry signs along this section.

- Work on the Ballymount junction (J10) is also progressing well (see photos).

/csd
Interesting to see the three flows east bound taking shape on the eastern approach to the former roundabout.

Image[/img]
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Just looking at the camera of the mainline there on the Western Parkway above and it looks like they have started 'phase 2 of phase 1'. It was not dug up yesterday ;)
odlum
Member
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 15:07
Location: Ireland

Post by odlum »

Should have updated this thread.....

Image

The rectified (again) N7 interchange. The complexity seems to increase every time we get a new look at it. New slips added North West section. Very good engineered solution at least on an initial look at it.

Luas bridge acts like a kind of sling shot back toward the city - clever.


RTE news today
https://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0412/luas_a ... 6,null,230

www.M50.ie
Post Reply