Red Cow roundabout

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The Red Cow roundabout is a grade-separated junction in Dublin, Ireland on the M50, meeting the N7 Naas Road (to Cork and Limerick) at grade as a signal-controlled roundabout. The N7 route commences at this junction, junction 1 on the N7 and junction 9 on the M50, and the Naas road from the city centre via Inchicore to the Red Cow roundabout comprises part of the R110 and the R810. The roundabout is the busiest road junction in the Republic of Ireland.

Extra traffic was added to the already-busy junction with the opening of the Red Line of the Luas tram system. This crosses the slip roads on the southern side of the junction, as well as crossing half of the road from the city centre before it meets the junction (the tram line reaches this point by following the median of the road). The issue of the traffic disruption added by the tram system was seemingly ignored during the original planning of the Luas system. After an outcry over this, government ministers were involved in discussions about the system passing over the junction on "stilts", while the actual construction of the system was underway. There are no immediate plans to actually execute any such plans, until the upgrading of the road junction as a whole.

The junction is to be upgraded as part of works on the M50 motorway. The plans are intended to alleviate some of the junction problems by providing a third level of grade-separation, allowing Dublin–Cork/Limerick traffic to travel from the M50 to the N7 without having to navigate the roundabout. It is likely that Luas trams will also be separated from other traffic. As of 2006, there are no concrete plans, although plans for a similar upgrade of the N4/M50 interchange have been published [1].

The nickname Mad Cow roundabout is commonly used to refer to the junction, referring to the slang term given to cattle suffering from the brain disease BSE. The actual proper name of the roundabout refers to the adjoining Red Cow Moran's Hotel.