Calls for further M50 works

THE NATIONAL Roads Authority (NRA) has come under pressure to widen further stretches of the M50, in addition to the ongoing €1 billion upgrade of the route, due for completion next year.

The pressure follows daily congestion northbound between Cherrywood and Sandyford in south County Dublin, an area outside the remit of the upgrade.

Already, plans for a new town with a population of 7,000 and a projected workforce of up to 16,000 earmarked for Fassaroe, on the Dublin/Wicklow border, are contingent on an upgrade of the adjacent M50/M11 merge.

In addition, a Bord Pleanála inspector has said the capacity of the road is not sufficient to serve a proposed €2 billion mixed-use centre on the former golf club lands in Bray.

Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council has also expressed concern about the capacity of the M50/M11 junction.

Chairman of Wicklow County Council Derek Mitchell and the chair of the council’s transport committee, Bill O’Connell, have met the NRA to press for an upgrade, pointing out that annual average daily traffic at this location is 1.75 times its capacity.

While the NRA has said it has no funding for the expansion of the motorway south of Sandyford, Mr Mitchell told The Irish Timeshe believed if it did not happen, access between Dublin and Wicklow could seize up.

"There are large traffic jams in both directions at rush hour," Mr Mitchell told The Irish Times.