Colas was selected to build a bypass on the busy M7 Motorway in Sallin, Ireland. This town of nearly 6,000 inhabitants is suffering from its close proximity to the Motorway, which is the main route to the capital city of Dublin, some 40 km away.
Traffic in Sallins is often very heavy, and the bypass project will bring back peace and quiet to the town. The M7 bypass is Colas' first major project in Ireland, and it also includes road widening work to regulate traffic, which increased by 40% between 2006 and 2013.
Five new bridges
Teams from Colas Projects and Colas Ltd are responsible for widening the road from a 4-lane carriageway to a 6-lane configuration, over a 14-km stretch. The program also includes the installation of concrete barriers on the central median, for a total length of 25 km. Five new bridges are being created so that the route can bypass Sallins. On the project’s largest structure, a crane was needed to position the 18 prefabricated beams, each weighing up to 114 tons, one by one. In order to preserve resources, the materials used for the backfill come from nearby construction sites.
Controlled traffic management
To minimize inconvenience to the 78,000 motorists who use the M7 every day, traffic will be maintained during construction. Traffic management is therefore an essential aspect of the project, to ensure optimal efficiency and safety, for crews and users alike. A lot of the work takes place at night, when traffic is lighter. When the lanes open to traffic change, an emergency access lane is systematically marked out. At the end of the work, local residents and businesses benefit from more convenient access to the capital, and see the attractiveness of their region grow.
