Red Cow interchange
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Red Cow interchange is a busy road junction in west Dublin, Ireland on the M50, meeting the N7 Naas Road (to Cork and Limerick) as a partially signal-controlled junction. The N7 route commences at this junction, junction 1 on the N7 and junction 9 on the M50, and the Naas Road from the city centre via Inchicore to the Red Cow roundabout comprises part of the R110 and the R810. The junction is the busiest road junction in Ireland and frequently has tailbacks several kilometres long on the routes leading to it.
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[edit] Original configuration
Opened in 1990 as part of the M50 Western Parkway project, the junction was originally a grade separated interchange from the point of view of M50 travellers, however for N7 motorists it was a signal-controlled roundabout with negotiation of traffic lights required for all movements. From 1994 onwards the roundabout became the terminus of the N7 road following the decision to detrunk the road inside the M50 (becoming the R110 road).
Extra traffic was added to the already-busy junction with the opening of the Red Line of the Luas tram system. This crosses the slip roads on the southern side of the junction, as well as crossing half of the road from the city centre before it meets the junction (the tram line reaches this point by following the median of the road). The issue of the traffic disruption added by the tram system was seemingly ignored during the original planning of the Luas system. After an outcry over this, government ministers were involved in discussions about the system passing over the junction on "stilts", while the actual construction of the system was underway.
The nickname Mad Cow roundabout is commonly used to refer to the junction, referring to the slang term given to cattle suffering from the brain disease BSE. The actual proper name of the roundabout refers to the adjoining Red Cow Moran Hotel.
[edit] Upgrade
As of August 2007, the junction is being upgraded as part of works on the M50 motorway. The plans are intended to alleviate some of the junction problems by providing a third level of grade-separation, allowing Dublin–Cork/Limerick traffic to travel from the M50 to the N7 without having to navigate the roundabout. The junction upgrade is proceeding (as of August 2007) and will see Luas trams separated from other traffic. A similar upgrade of the N4/M50 interchange was completed on 20 December 2007. [1].
As of December 2007, works are still in progress and are scheduled to be for several months. However some of the freeflow slip roads are already in place. As a consequence of the works the junction is no longer technically a roundabout, although traffic lights are still in place for several movements.
[edit] See also
- Roads in Ireland
- N25: Kinsale Road Roundabout on the Cork southern ring road is another notable junction in Ireland.
[edit] External links
| Preceding station | Luas | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingswood | Red Line | Kylemore | ||
