JUST WHEN you thought it was safe to go back to the Red Cow . . . work is to begin on a major two-year rebuilding programme at the nearby Newlands Cross Junction on the N7.
The Newlands Cross scheme, which involves the replacement of the current traffic-light-controlled junction with a one kilometre long, multi-level interchange, is to start construction within weeks of the final completion of the Red Cow this autumn.
The Newlands interchange, which will be completely free-flowing, will lift traffic on the R113 Fonthill/Belgard Road at Newlands Cross up and over the N7.
It will also allow for free-flowing movements between the R113 and the N7, eliminating the current need for traffic to stop at the lights.
This will be the third successive major scheme in the area since November 2004 when work got underway on the widening of the N7 Naas Road, south of Newlands Cross.
When this was completed in August 2006 it had just overlapped with the start of work on phase one of the M50 upgrade, which included rebuilding the Red Cow interchange.
From the latter quarter of this year, drivers exiting the completed Red Cow at the Monastery Road exit will come face to face with new roadworks.
Given that the M50 and the N7 are the State's most heavily and second most heavily trafficked roads respectively, with volumes of about 95,000 vehicles a day on the M50 and about 75,000 on the N7, the potential for delays is significant.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) said the prospect of doing all schemes together was unthinkable.
A spokesman for the authority said the disruption caused by the M50/Red Cow works was severe, and the added disruption of the Newlands Cross scheme would have been too intense.
The Newlands Cross scheme is now likely to be among the last road works on the major inter-urban networks to be completed by the deadline of 2010.
