M50

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TarfHead

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh​
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Every now and then I use the M50 to get from Sutton to Sandyford to get in a swim session in Total Fitness Sandyford before heading on to work in South County Dublin.

The normal experience is that it is slow on the N32 getting to the M50, 50mph on the M50 as far as Finglas and then a crawl to the toll booths. After the toll booths, the traffic generally comes to a dead stop at the first interchange sounth of the bridge (Lucan exit ?) and then open road all the way to the Leopardstown exit.

This morning, everything was tickety-boo to the toll-booths. Actually it was as bad as ever but it ws in line with expectations. After the toll-booths - OH MY GOD :eek: . It was a steady crawl all the way to Leopardstown. Even as far as Tallaght, the traffic came to a dead halt.

Is it like this every morning ? I was listening to Newstalk 106 all the way and the road traffic reports didn't remark on anything unusual on the M50 southbound.
 
Hi Tarf,

what time do you set out on your journey?

I heard someting this am about 30 sheets of cladding spilling out at the Blanchardstown junction. Do you think this had any thing to do with it?

aj
 
I got on the M50 about 7am.

But the bane of my morning was all southside so an accident at Blanchardstrown should not have affected traffic heading south through Tallaght.
 
I'd say that you were just on the M50 too late in the morning.

In my experience, if you're not on the M50 at the Finglas sliproad (for me) at just before 7am, you're screwed.

So, joining at the M1 at 7am would be too late.

As an aside, has anyone noticed these days that people are successfully taking shortcuts up some offramps and back down onramps for quieter exits?

Have to say, it's worked at times for me.
 
ronan_d_john said:
As an aside, has anyone noticed these days that people are successfully taking shortcuts up some offramps and back down onramps for quieter exits?

Have to say, it's worked at times for me.
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I hate when people do that. Its causes mayhem for the people trying to get on in the first place.

Firhouse is a perfect example. Just another example of the bad design of the motorway.
 
As an aside, has anyone noticed these days that people are successfully taking shortcuts up some offramps and back down onramps for quieter exits?

Have to say, it's worked at times for me.
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From a fellow sliproad user, it wont keep working if you start telling everyone about it. ;) I'll delete if you will.
 
car said:
From a fellow sliproad user, it wont keep working if you start telling everyone about it. ;) I'll delete if you will.
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Maybe I should have rephrased that it's worked for me twice, and the first time was only because the road I was trying to join was even more hosed than the M50 direction I was going. Honest. :)

Would rather that people didn't do it, so if it stops working, I'm happy with that.

What also bugs me is people getting on at Finglas for example, and immediately driving on the hard shoulder towards Blanchardstown with their indicator on as if they're "just" joining the slip road a "little" earlier than normal.
 
ronan_d_john said:
I'd say that you were just on the M50 too late in the morning.

In my experience, if you're not on the M50 at the Finglas sliproad (for me) at just before 7am, you're screwed.
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Earlier this year, heading south from the toll-booths was open road - 60/70mph all the way to Leopardstown. This morning I was being overtaken by snails. Has it got that bad in just 5 months, or since the last section was opened, or was this morning just 'one of those mornings'.
 
its been getting steadily worse in the mornings from the toll going south, I come on at the finglas exit to go south in the a.m, if I dont think I'll be there by 7, I go cross country as not only do I save the 1.80 but its actually quicker. Since the kids went back to school I only go M50 once a week now.

This morning sounds much worse then usual so Id like to think its a onceoff.
 
TarfHead said:
Has it got that bad in just 5 months, or since the last section was opened, or was this morning just 'one of those mornings'.
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I've noticed traffic being worse since the schools came back. Worse not in comparison to when the schools were out, but worse compared to equivalent times last year.

However, given that we're having such large increases in cars on our road, then it's to be expected I suppose.
 
I think a motorcycle Guard must be using AAM. There was a motorcycle Guard blocking the slip road off the M50 this morning, stopping all those up and down the off ramp bandits.

It was great, meant I could get onto the M50 in no time :)
 
Yeah Firhouse is a nightmare! I noticed over the past couple of weeks the number of people using the Firhouse slip road to skip traffic to go to Tallaght M50 exit... you folks are making it a nightmare for us residents to get out of Firhouse! :mad:

Anyway... handy little radio station to tune in to in the mornings and evenings for commuting is 103.2 (Dublin City Anna Livia FM). It is FAR more reliable as a source of traffic reports than AA! It assume it's run by Dublin City Council... as the guys refer to video cameras when checking traffic conditions, etc. Excellent station to listen to, esp when people text in their commuting times, to give you an indication of how good/bad traffic is.

-soc
 
Wiggles said:
I think a motorcycle Guard must be using AAM. There was a motorcycle Guard blocking the slip road off the M50 this morning, stopping all those up and down the off ramp bandits.
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Why was the Guard stopping people doing this and what justification was he using?? AFAIK this is a perfectly legal manouevre. Where in the Rules of the Road does it say that you can't go up one ramp and down the other. Could it not have been argued that you made a mistake and came off at the wrong exit and wanted to come back on to the motorway. Bloody motorcycle cops. If they spent less time posing and more time directing and assisting traffic, it would be more in their line.
 
tallpaul said:
Why was the Guard stopping people doing this and what justification was he using??



If they spent less time posing and more time directing and assisting traffic, it would be more in their line.
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I think you answered you own question there............ They were directing traffic!!

They were back this morning; once again Firhouse was a breeze to get through!!
 
If everybody drove less selfishly more traffic flow would be the result. I remember reading somewhere that on the M1 in England (one of my fave places) 19MPH was the optimal speed for getting the volume though. Now if you want to quibble about the M50 you could

1. Look at what you used to have before it existed
2. Try the M25
3. Convice the powers that decentralisation is key and turn Dublin into a tourist location (my favourite).
 
quarterfloun said:
that on the M1 in England (one of my fave places)
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The M1 is one of your favourite places, or England itself?

quarterfloun said:
If everybody drove less selfishly more traffic flow would be the result.
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I sort of agree with your thinking here, but maybe in normal street traffic, but not on the M50.

It's the traffic lights at the ends and beginnings of slip roads that's the problem with most of the M50.

For example, got badly caught yesterday evening coming up to Blanchardstown exit going south because of the enormous queue because of the lights at the top of the slip road.

And this morning, flew past the sliproad from the Naas Road going south on M50 because there was no traffic joining because they were all held at the top on the roundabout.

If you want to praise the joys of England and the M1, the main thing we'd need is their cloverleaf junctions.
 
I was once a firm believer that the toll bridge was the one and only cause of all the traffic hold ups on the M50. Now I've come to the conclusion that there are too many exits/entries to it.

They should start building another 4-lane ring motorway further out to accomodate all the new development that's going on. Some of the newer developments advertise proximity to the M50 as being a selling point of the development. Surely it's only going to make things worse.

If building another ring motorway isn't an option then they need to be thinking beyond Transport 21 instead of thinking that's it's the be all and end all of public transport. Sure, Transport 21 might look nice with a view to servicing the people that need it now. But by the time it's complete there'll be even more people needing more transport.
 
Decani said:
I was once a firm believer that the toll bridge was the one and only cause of all the traffic hold ups on the M50.
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Are you really Shane Ross ;) ?

Decani said:
Now I've come to the conclusion that there are too many exits/entries to it.
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Evidently not.

The Senator from Trinity really annoys me when he's on the radio blathering on about NTR being the sole cause of congestion on the M50 and that buying back the bridge would solve everything.

I'd say he never drives it at rush hour.
 
fave was said in a very sarcastic manner I can assure you. The police go around with their heads up their proverbial policing the outside lane for speed offences. Tailgating is never pulled unless down to a car length at 90 MPH and there are days where I could undertake for miles because those stupid lazy coppers don't encourage the proper use of the motorway. The inside lane is where all traffic should be, lanes 2,3 & 4 are for overtaking. I could be on here for hours with the things I've seen. I've probably driven 500K miles in the UK and the standard of courtesy and attention to the rules of the road are bad. Ireland seems worse. I still do not understand on our main roads is the hard shoulder a lane? I've seen a guy driving along the hard shoulder being overtaken by a guy on the road with another guy overtaking on the opposite lane. Nuts.
 
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