Newlands Cross Upgrade EIS - European Investment Bank

South Dublin County Council N7 Newlands Cross Upgrade
Environmental Impact Statement
Arup Consulting Engineers
The existing boundary treatment has been retained as far as practicable throughout the
scheme. Safety Fences and Barriers are proposed at locations as required under the NRA
DMRB. The various utility companies have been consulted to determine the location of
existing services in the vicinity of the junction. All utility diversions will occur within the
extent of the permanent landtake for the scheme and will be lowered or protected as
appropriate.
The proposed scheme street lighting will have an improved performance compared to the
existing installation as it will use more modern lantern types and control gears. The lighting
columns will be a maximum 14m in height, and lanterns will not exceed 400 watts in line with
those currently in existence at the junction. To minimise the light pollution, it is proposed that
all the lanterns will be flat glass, full cut-off type.
The scheme drainage design includes for carrier drains and filter drains for both surface water
drainage and subgrade drainage respectively to ensure separation of both. Petrol/Oil
interceptors, silt traps and spill containment will also be provided.
The scheme construction is estimated to take approximately 22 months to complete. It is
anticipated that construction work would commence in 2009 with an opening date in late
2010. It is anticipated that approximately 100 people could be employed on the scheme
construction works. An outline construction method has been developed indicating feasible
temporary traffic arrangements to ensure that the scheme can be built within the site
constraints.
The proposed scheme will be constructed in a manner which will minimise, as much as
possible, any disturbance to the local residents and road users. To minimise inconvenience to
the road user, all existing traffic movements at the junction will be facilitated within the
proposed overall temporary traffic management scheme. In addition, access to existing
residential areas, business premises and public facilities will be maintained during
construction. In order to minimise disruption to existing traffic, a Traffic Management Plan
for construction traffic will be developed whereby construction vehicles would be confined to
appropriate roads and safe access and egress points would be identified along the extent of the
scheme. All construction activities will be separated from public traffic. All construction
works will be undertaken in a clearly delineated site area which will have specific entry and
exit points for construction related traffic onto the public road network.
A construction compound will be located within the lands being made available to the
contractor. The site offices will be located to the south of the N7. Material and equipment
storage will be located within the body of the construction site. The construction compound
will be fully engineered with appropriate services and will be fenced off for security purposes.
Access to the compound will be restricted to site personnel and authorised visitors only.
Construction methods and phasing will also be developed to minimise noise, air quality and
other impacts on the community. Construction works will also be undertaken in a manner
which will minimise impact on the environment including residential properties, amenity
areas, water features, flora and fauna habitat and archaeological and architectural sites.
In line with the principles of sustainable development, the scheme will seek to minimise the
amount of materials brought into the construction site. This will be achieved by re-using as
much of the materials generated during construction as possible, provided that they satisfy the
specified engineering standards.
December 2007 Page NTS4