Any other poor sod out there making the daily pilgrimage from the North side to the Southside on the M50.  It seems to have become a total disaster in the last month or so and I do not accept the back to school rubbish.

The queue now starts back down the M50 extenstion towards the Malahide road. 

From Portmarnock Tecaco (93.9 per litre) to the flyover at City west, 19 miles, 1hr 20mins average speed 14.25mph on alleged motorway and dual carriage.  This has been the case for the last two mornings - Sad that I know this but not a lot else to do while I sit there.

I reckon its going to be screwed completely once the tunnel opens in Jan 05 and dumps 2.5k of trucks onto it in the am!!!

Martin

96 328i Coupe

They are proposing to create a third lane on the old sections of the M50 and until they do that it will still remain the largest carpark in Ireland, when the weather gets bad or there are special events down the country the M50 & Naas Road ( which is also getting three lanes out near Kill & Johnstown) become a drivers nightmare all I can say mate is get up earlier and avoid the carpark. At around 6.30am onwards the traffic starts to build up but at least it's moving at a good pace and not the one you are travelling at present.

Topazman

E46 Section    

Heard about the three lanes but can't imagine that it will make much difference as the problem really is that you can't get on or off the M50.  Three lanes will mean we can park more cars on it which I suppose gets them off the feeder roads.

If you come back along the route in the evening trying to get onto the M50 from the Naas road is a complete waste of time.  I go accross through Newcastle and Lucan on the way back as its worthwhile.

I appreciate what you are saying about get on the road earlier, but at €1000 a year in road tax I think I should be able to get on the road at a decent hour and expect to travel somewhat quicker than the Ass and Cart.  Plus if I drop the rugrats off at the minder at 6:20am I can double the mortgage taht I already pay for them.

I came back from hols on the 23rd of August and its been absolutely brutal from then.  Has anyone got an alt route as I tried the back of the Airport which is hopeless, also wonder what its like up through Ballymum, Finglas and out past Dunsink to rejoin at Blanchardstown.

On the plus side - the 2.8 is fairly economical for this type of driving.  I am getting about 31mpg, where as if I bring the 520i I only get 27/28mpg

The NRA and The National Toll Roads - a great bunch of lads.  I believe the toll guys are more interested in Building wind farms, reclycling and developing various other Profitable ventures with our cash from the tolls rather than improving the service that is the back bone of thier business.

We're just a bunch of suckers - Certain US Toll roads running the equivalent of EazyPass offer high speed dedicated lanes with no barriers plus the incentive that if you use the automated system there can be a 50% reduction in price as opposed to paying cash.  But hey we're stupid so we'll pay more to use an automated system that costs less to administer and has a higher throughput of vehicles .............Thud!!!!!!

Sorry just fell off my Soapbox!?!?!?

Well thats what happens when tree huggers, crusties and the like start interfering I could suggest that if they are so interested in a wall the developers should just bury them under the Motorway and then they can be with their wall full time and let the rest of us commute around the city without sitting in gridlock and causing more pollution. The wall will always be there but we might not. I want to enjoy the open road without one of these spolit yuppies b*****ds who have everything handed to them enjoying what I work hard to get namely BIMMERS

Topazman

E46 Section

Horsetan wrote: On my annual visits to Ireland, I still get stuck in the N4/M50 interchange at Liffey Valley. And much of it's due to one thing: ...the Toll plaza.....

Couldn't agree more Horsetan. If the toll plaza has to go somewhere why just before a bridge which is immediately before an intersection? It could happily sit in the huge stretch between the Blanchardstown (N3) interchange and it current place where there would have been (when it was built) plenty of room to have about 15 booths in each direction like in US toll plazas.

I suppose there is no point in trying to understand the though process of those public officials responsible for it. They saved IR£60 million by not putting in the third lane when it was constructed initially and then gave away the only revenue producing aspect of the scheme to a private firm for a relatively token amount. Strange

In fairness, the 'tree-huggers' existence is down purely to political corruption. If the politicians hadn't decided on that particular route (due to backhanders, etc.) then it would not be an issue.

Something similar is about to begin up near Tara. The NRA want to repeat the Stonehenge fiasco beside one of the most important archaeological areas in this country.

Furthermore, a third lane on the M50 is not the answer to the gridlock problem. It is all caused by bad planning and bad driving. If drivers obeyed the box junction rules then traffic would flow more freely on many of the M50 interchanges. If many of the right hand turns arund the city were gone traffic would improve overnight!

@ Horestan - The budgeted cost is actually about €600m, being an Irish govt civil eng budget double it for a start

kbannon wrote: ... Furthermore, a third lane on the M50 is not the answer to the gridlock problem. It is all caused by bad planning and bad driving. If drivers obeyed the box junction rules then traffic would flow more freely on many of the M50 interchanges. If many of the right hand turns arund the city were gone traffic would improve overnight!

Just got me thinking there about driving standards Killian. How many people driving in Ireland have actually done and passed the driving test. I don't know the answer to this but it'd be interresting.

For a start there's about 300,000 odd drivers on provisional licences. Then there's also the load of people who got licences without having to do the test about 12 years ago because they were on the waiting list too long and then there's also nearly all the drivers over the age of about 58 who didn't have to do the test because it was only brought in about 1962.

It can't be that high a percentage who have actually done and passed the test!

sure most who have done the test can't drive!
As an example, I drove through Clonee tonight behind a Fabia with front & rear wipers on full. I wouldnt have given it much thought except it wasnt even wet! The driver was oblivious to their immediate environment

Don't even get me started about the M50!!!!

I sometimes have to use the toll bridge 5 or 6 times a day. I too travel from the Northside to the Southside regularly including most weekends. My wife also travels it every day in our 323CI, not bad on the mpg for a big engine.

We both have the eazypass and it makes very little difference during the week. The amount of pathetic L drivers and people doing 50 in the fast lane can be so frustrating.