Due to the slow pace of change in Ireland back then and the tiny trickle of money that was available for large-scale road building, it wasn't until the mid-eighties that any work took place on constructing sections of the road. It seems that a single-carriageway connection between the N7 and N81 Tallaght Bypass opened early but it wasn't followed by any more activity for a few years. Information on this is scant however. Then a decision was taken which would have far-reaching consequences.
The Irish government decided to allow a private company to build the expensive section of the M50 that would cross the Liffey Valley on a high bridge - and to toll it. This seemingly innocuous choice ending up shaping the lives of thousands of motorists for years afterwards.
After battling outrage from environmental groups opposed to the high-level crossing of the Liffey Valley, which is an area protected from development, the M50 section between N3 to N4 junctions 6 and 7 finally opened to traffic in March construction pictures. It opened under the name "Westlink", mirroring the Eastlink bridge in Dublin's docklands, though it is no longer referred to by this name. Just before its opening, pedestrians were permitted to walk the length of the bridge, the only time they would be allowed there before motorway restrictions came into force.
Shortly afterwards, in May, the section from N4 to N7 Junctions 7 and 9 opened. Junction 8 doesn't exist - it was reserved for a new M7 motorway which would run from here to Naas.
This motorway has since been dropped and will never be built. The 3-part road opening was completed in December of the same year when the extension to the N81 Tallaght Bypass Junction 13 opened, presumably incorporating the old single carriageway section. The toll at the booths was only 60p 76c , and traffic levels were only a few thousand cars a day.
Nowadays, the area gets more traffic than this in an hour. Soon after, work began on the extension up to the M1 so as to provide access to the airport. This finally opened in December and covered junctions M1, N2 and N3.
This involved rebuilding Junction 6 to allow for the N3, the M50, a canal, and a railway line to all pass through the same point. The new junction was on three levels: the lowest level was the motorway mainline, the next level up was the canal and the railway, running on viaducts, and the final level was the roundabout and entry and exit ramps.
The arrangement at the M1 was less than optimal: the M50 terminated at a roundabout, which quickly had traffic lights attached. Traffic making a left turn movement had slips, but a right-turn movement i. M50 to M1 south, or M1 south to M50 necessitated coming to a stop at lights before threading one's way around a rotary roundabout. So far, all segments of the M50 had low capacity junctions. These were of the rotary type which provided for a straight-through movement only on the M Traffic on the intersecting road, such as the N3, N4, N7 and so on, had to stop at the roundabout and long queues developed.
The roundabouts were signalised shortly afterwards and long tailbacks began to develop. Most infamous of all was Junction 9, the Red Cow roundabout, which was nicknamed the Mad Cow due to the frustration of the gridlocked motorists that threaded their way through it. Most traffic on the M50 in its early stage had been the hoped-for long distance motorists and truckers, as well as industry making its way around the large industrial estates of southwest Dublin.
Later, plans that had been on the books for years to develop "town centres" code for shopping malls in the areas outside the road began to come to fruition. First Tallaght, then Blanchardstown, then Lucan opened large malls between and The primary means of access to these centres was via the road network. Congestion was starting to become intolerable especially near the main interchanges. Their poor design was causing huge tailbacks both on the approaches, and on the M50 mainline itself.
With only two M50 lanes each way, any queuing traffic taking the exit or entering the mainline disrupted the traffic flow, causing speeds to drop and weaving. In response, as a temporary measure, left-turn ramps were added to the N4 and N7 junctions and certain other junctions received minor upgrades. This work was completed in but could only ever have a very minor role to play in congestion alleviation. After a lengthy construction period, the M50 was extended from Junction 11 N81 to Junction 13 Ballinteer and opened in July The road passes here through the foothills of the Dublin Mountains which are really just hills , so the sides are yellow-brown granite cliffs with an Australian feel.
The upgrade occurred in conjunction with some major distributor road construction in the Ballinteer and Sandyford areas to fuel their development for retail Dundrum Centre and office Sandyford Industrial Estate respectively. The strategy to increase the ease of access of the car to the areas was certainly successful, as they are now flooded with vehicles.
In September , two light rail lines were opened in Dublin. The system was known as the Luas. The Red Line originated in the centre of Dublin and ran as far out as Tallaght town centre. Needless to say, this made congestion at the junction even worse, as well as delay the Luas's crossing by several minutes at peak times. Coming relatively quickly after the previous section, construction of the final long section of the M50 began as soon as possible. Straight away the project ran into major difficulty.
The remains of the long lost Carrickmines castle, which appears on ancient maps of Dublin but whose exact location was unknown, were discovered when the bulldozers moved in.
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Live: Title Now playing. Added to queue. Removed from queue. Now playing Schedule On Air. Episode title. You currently have no podcasts in your queue. Go to podcasts. On Air. But to get traffic as far as Ross, a new road was needed. Therefore, the M50 was built first, not because it was seen as more important, but so that when the M5 opened, attracting lots of traffic and encouraging journeys south from the West Midlands, the route to South Wales was already open.
Think of it as a very clever bit of pre-emptive planning! I would think that it is a shorter version of what it was originally intended to do. It was also good for accessing the Malvern Hills as well! I found that it was a delight to use and was a lot better than the A49 that took an age. However, I didn't like those sharp junctions that were just conventional T-Junctions that don't really comply with Motorway regs! But they weren't lit for a start and they didn't have those markings that slow you down, you know the ones - they are yellow or red.
I can see why it ends with Roundabouts, as it says there isn't a lot of traffic, so why build a large cloverleaf junction? It is also a roundabout because of the M5 services coming onto it as well!
So I think that parts of it are good and parts of it are bad but there is one very good thing about it. It is mainly tree lined with fantastic scenery at the Ross end! Could I add a second thought about this nice pathetic motorway?
Great Britain is the homeland of the heritage railways. Unfortunately, we have no heritage motorways, to display to our children how it began with our motorways. Completely with pre-Worboys signs, wonky-motorway signs, no asphalt but "white" beton, etc. Well I have now travelled the entire length of the M50 westbound and can offer the following comments. It's just like driving on a dualled A road - the southern section of the A34 sprang immediately to mind.
Only because it's always been a motorway there are no buildings or frontages anywhere along it and consequently it's rather boring running through one field after another between junctions. It's virtually empty. I passed no more than about ten HGVs on the entire route. Compare that to the M5 where I could pass the same number in a few minutes.
The hard shoulder varies between narrow, poor quality and nonexistent, and is absent for every single bridge. The sliproad coming off the M5 southbound to the M50 roundabout is unusually long.
Wonder why this is? Junction 3 is great, and has to be driven to be believed. Getting off isn't too tricky as due to the absence of traffic you have plenty of time to brake and take the handbrake turn, but getting back on involves going from a near standing start onto a motorway carriageway! Truly hair raising. I also noticed a lack of "chopstick" signs coming onto this junction, which begs the question of whether one could legally cycle on the M50 between junctions 3 and 4. The main road past junction 4 is signed "A40" without brackets.
The A40 joins at the next roundabout along. Crash barriers were added to the M50 after a very unfortunate and tragic accident that occurred between junctions 2 and 3.
In those days crash barriers only appeared in short sections on this motorway around the central piers of some of the bridges. One day in , a jack-knifed lorry happened to crash end on a section of crash barrier around a bridge pier between junctions 2 and 3, the lorry rode up the crash barrier and straight into the pier of the bridge.
The impact of the crash not only caused the tragic fatality of the lorry driver, but resulted in the collapse of the road deck above the motorway. As has been documented in a number of different sources, the M50 was built as an experimental motorway and the bridge that was destroyed had been the first of its type to have been built on the British motorway network.
As a result all bridges of the same design had to be checked over to ensure that the same mode of failure could not happen again. Crash barriers were extended on other bridges deemed vulnerable, resulting in standard motorway practice of having crash barriers in the central reservation of nearly all of the motorway network.
A milk lorry was travelling on the bridge over the motorway as the bridge collapsed. Amazingly both the driver and lorry escaped with little damaged, although the lorry was stranded as a result of the collapsed road deck, it was successfully recovered.
When the bridge was rebuilt and reopened about 12 months later, the lorry and driver were the first to cross as part of the reopening ceremony. The new section of bridge can be clearly seen from the motorway, as part of the original bridge remains, resulting in two different shades in the concrete due to the difference in age.
Most of the M1, M4, M5 and M6 are at least projected at this point. It also included the completed M50 with an extra projected section along what is now the A40 and A as far as Hirwaun. This is repeated in the main map with a project motorway running from Abergavenny to Hirwaun on what was to become the A Heads Of The Valleys Road, built a few years later.
Unfortunately it's long since been thrown out otherwise I'd find it and scan it but it does beg the question of whether the M50 was supposed to go all the way to Swansea? I may as well add my tuppence worth. Comments have been made regarding the handbrake turns on leaving Junction 3 have any of your other correspondents used J2 the A? If that's bad enough then arriving at the T-junction you find yourself on the inside of a bend.
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