Newlands Cross Upgrade EIS - European Investment Bank

South Dublin County Council N7 Newlands Cross Upgrade
Environmental Impact Statement
Arup Consulting Engineers
Nevertheless, the Belgard / Fonthill Road (R113) will continue to carry a substantial
volume of traffic due to the large amount of residential development in the area and the
number of local businesses. Indeed, the reduced delay at Newlands Cross due to the
interchange is expected to induce an additional volume of traffic in the short-term.
The two sets of traffic lights on the Fonthill Road will continue to result in some peak
hour congestion on this road. In addition, traffic lights will be needed at the interchange
to permit N7 traffic to join the Fonthill or Belgard Road. Urgent journeys by emergency
service, specifically by the Fire Service located on the Belgard Road, will also be
facilitated by the interchange. For local vehicle journeys, the improved journey time and
time reliability represents a moderate positive impact.
The same level of improvement in journey time and journey time reliability will apply to
pedestrian and cycle journeys. Pedestrians heading to and from the bus stop will benefit
most given the number of signalised lights that they must currently negotiate. A
pedestrian route with signalised crossings will be provided on the west side of the junction
to connect the existing footpaths on Belgard Road and Fonthill Road where there is no
such current provision. All pedestrians will benefit from much reduced waiting times.
Cyclists will benefit from reduced waiting times up to a level experienced by vehicle
traffic.
Construction
During construction temporary diversions of N7 traffic will be accommodated to the south
of the existing lanes. Pedestrian routes across the Naas Road could either run alongside
lanes for the Belgard / Fonthill Road (R113) or be diverted elsewhere, possibly to a
footbridge. It is likely that construction will itself induce additional delays to traffic at
some stage, although the time over which these delays are significant should be much
shorter than the full construction period. Furthermore, on-going improvements to the Red
Cow interchange and to the M50 will be complete by this time, reducing the cumulative
impact on journey times for N7 traffic.
13.2.3.2 Severance
Do-Minimum Option
Although safe pedestrian crossings of the N7 Naas Road west of the pedestrian bridge at
the Red Cow are confined to the signalised crossing at Newlands Cross junction,
significant severance along the road is reduced by the absence of community facilities in
the area south of the road with the exception of the golf club. Severance is experienced by
householders on the east side of Belgard Road who may wish to access facilities in
Clondalkin, but only around a dozen houses are affected. In addition, a level of severance
would apply to bus users who are returning from visits from similar social facilities in
town. The direct causes of the severance are the long crossing delay and the contribution
of heavy traffic to poor journey amenity.
A high proportion of the cycle journeys which involve crossing of the Naas Road at
Newlands junctions are undertaken for the purpose of commuting. Some journeys
continue to the Luas station at the Red Cow for work or non-work purposes, although an
alternative crossing option is provided by a footbridge nearer the station. A minority of
cycle journeys may be destined for community facilities such as colleges in Tallaght. The
latter would also be true of some local vehicular journeys, including journeys made to the
golf course. In these cases, a degree of severance is again introduced by the long crossing
delay or poor journey amenity.
December 2007 Page 210