The roadworks in the Dublin area between Donnybrook and Loughlinstown are only the start of a series of big resurfacing and widening projects to be carried out in the next few months on this, the main artery to the south-east.
It is going to be a classic case of "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" for southside commuters who have been complaining vociferously about the daily massive congestion. The situation will be exacerbated with the reopening of the schools next week.
Mr Conor Faughnan, of AA Roadwatch, said the return to school will add another 15 to 20 per cent traffic to the log-jam. "Once parents join the traffic bringing children to school the situation will become much worse. In a way, it is good that the council is getting so much done before the extra traffic arrives."
Mr Des Taylor, deputy county manager, said the N11 was a national primary road and many parts of it had not been resurfaced for 20 years. It will have to be resurfaced from Nutley Lane, Donnybrook, to White's Cross, at Leopardstown Road.
He said the work which started on August 10th would take about 14 weeks. This week they had been working at the Fosters Avenue junction and that had caused a lot of disruption. Before that they had worked at the Mount Merrion Avenue junction and Stillorgan. It had been hoped to start work in July, but that had not been possible. They would now be working through until November.
Mr Taylor said they were trying to carry out the works outside peak traffic times. Work does not start until 10 a.m. each day but even then, because of the barrels and single lanes, disruption still takes place. "Fosters Avenue caused huge delays this week. There was even more disruption in the evenings than in the mornings and this went on until 7 p.m."
They had received a lot of money from the EU and the Department of the Environment for road works and improvements and were spending it now.
Answering criticism by the public that such works should all be done in one clean sweep and not on a piecemeal basis, Mr Taylor said that was not possible. They could only carry out works when they knew what money was available. They worked within their budget.
In addition, further south on the N11, at Loughlinstown, roadworks have resumed, and this is causing more disruption. This may last for another two or three weeks.
Major road-widening is also taking place on the Bray Road at the junction of Leopardstown Road. The next step will be to continue the re-widening to Foxrock Church, which will probably cause more headaches for motorists. This is expected to get under way before the end of the year. There is 85 per cent EU money for this.
"It is going to get worse before it gets better," Mr Taylor said.
Mr Trevor Keegan, of AA Roadwatch, said the congestion on the N11 in recent weeks had been "quite bad". The work at Fosters Avenue had caused huge tailbacks. Before that there had been problems at Mount Merrion Avenue and earlier at Stillorgan. "It has all mounted up and people are frustrated."
However, he said it was work that had to be done and it was necessary. "It is terrible for motorists when it is being done, but it is great when it is finished. Of course, then it is time to start off all over again."