South Dublin County Council has unveiled new traffic diversions, including the closure of a three-lane off-ramp at the Red Cow roundabout on Dublin's M50 that will come into effect this Saturday.
For the next four weeks, traffic wishing to exit at the N7 southbound off-ramp will be directed to the next interchange at Ballymount, where a dedicated free-flow detour lane will direct traffic back to the N7 (Red Cow) northbound off-ramp.
It is expected disruption will be severe in the morning rush hour when the northbound carriageway between Ballymount and the Red Cow is already heavily congested with northbound traffic.
There will also be diversions at the N4 (Palmerstown) Interchange.
A new free-flow loop for the N4 outbound to M50 northbound will be open to traffic within the next week. This will end the need for the current detour to Liffey Valley Junction.
In mid October the N4 (Palmerstown) southbound off-ramp will be closed to allow completion of construction of new free-flow traffic links at this Interchange.
At the same time traffic currently exiting at the M50 southbound ramp to link with the N4 outbound (West) will divert from the M50 mainline on to a new temporary free-flow ramp.
On the night of the 13th Oct the N4 will be closed between the M50 and the Liffey Valley Junction while the new N4 and M50 Pedestrian Bridges and 2 sign gantries are being erected. Diversions will be in place to guide motorists.
"Work on the new freeflowing N4 (Palmerstown) interchange is likely to be completed several months ahead of the due date of next March," says Frank Coffey, director of transportation, South Dublin County Council.
He added that the council hopes to have sections of the new permanent M50 mainline with three lanes in each direction and an additional fourth lane linking junctions, in place early in the New Year.
Hugh Creegan, head of program management, National Roads Authority advised motorists to be patient during the works.
"We are please with the progress of work so far, but there will be considerable traffic management challenges ahead and we appreciate everyone's patience. We will continue to drive the schedule so that we can complete this major upgrade sooner rather then later." said R Creegan.