The M50 motorway () is a C-shaped orbital motorway in Dublin and the busiest motorway in Ireland. The current route was built in various sections over the course of 27 years, from 1983 to 2010. It begins at Dublin Port, running northward through the Dublin Port Tunnel and along a portion of the Airport Motorway. It then turns west at its junction with the M1, circling the northern, western and southern suburbs of Dublin, before merging with the M11 at Shankill in South East Dublin. The road forms part of European route E01. An orbital motorway for Dublin was first proposed in the Dublin Transportation Study of 1971. Construction began on the first section, the Western Parkway (J6-J11) in 1987, and opened to traffic in 1990. This was followed by the Northern Cross Route (J3-J6) in 1996, the Southern Cross Route (J11-J13) in 2001, and the Southeastern Motorway (J13-J17) in 2005. The M50 route was extended to Dublin Port in 2006, via a section of the 1985 Airport Motorway (up to then a part of the M1) and the newly opened Dublin Port Tunnel. A massive upgrade project commenced in early 2006 due to the motorway's chronic capacity problems. Lanes were added J3-J13, and many of the low-capacity roundabout interchanges were replaced with free-flowing interchanges. These upgrades were completed in 2010. Layout The M50 was originally planned to divert traffic travelling on National Primary Routes away from the city (a full bypass of Dublin). Due to urban expansion and sprawl it now runs through Dublin's suburbs and serves as a route within Dublin, connecting the suburbs. All of the National Primary Routes radiating from Dublin begin at their junctions with the M50. The junctions were originally in the form of grade-separated signal-controlled roundabout junctions, not free-flowing interchanges. The M50 mainline itself was free-flow through all junctions. The other primary routes served are the N2 to Derry/Monaghan, N3 to Navan/Cavan/Northwest, N4/M4 to Galway/Sligo/Mayo, N7/M7 (M8) to Cork/Limerick/Waterford, and the N11/M11 to Wexford. Additional junctions along the motorway serve other suburbs of Dublin such as Ballymun, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, Dundrum, Sandyford and Cherrywood. Most of these interchanges were subject to high levels of traffic congestion, as was the former toll-plaza north of the West-Link bridge. The busier roundabout junctions were signal-controlled, with tailbacks extending for several kilometres at rush hour. The most infamous was the Red Cow roundabout junction with the N7, formerly