A plan to close a substandard dual carriageway junction at Herbert Road in Bray in order to provide bus lanes on the hard shoulder of the N11 is included in the latest update for the wider project.The revised plan includes a major upgrade of the nearby Junction 7 Bray South. The closure and upgraded junction are included in a report on the Phase 2 Option Selection stage of the N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme, which has been published by the authorities involved and runs from Loughlinstown Roundabout to Junction 9, Glenview.There was heavy political pressure on all local politicians from groups in Bray to keep the minor junction at Herbert Road open, despite Bray having three major junctions for the relatively compact town. Tanaiste Simon Harris called the plan crazy, poorly thought out, simply insane and makes no sense. Officials at the time stated that the rationale is clear: the road is overcapacity at peak times, the junction is below safety standards, and there will still be three other junctions into the town within a 4 km distance of each other.IMAGE: Herbert Road and Junction 7 in Bray.Ina video posted to Instagram in July 2025, Tnaiste Harris said: Ive just come from a meeting with my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Daragh OBrien, and indeed the other TDs for Wicklow, as you know, were working on a cross-party basis. Ive no interest in playing politics on the Herbert Road. The Herbert Road in Bray needs to stay open; to shut it is simply insane. It makes no sense, and it would cause traffic chaos in Bray.Harris said that he and a cross-party contingent of Wicklow TDs met Minister for Transport DarraghOBrien and that they outlined to him the extraordinarily strong view of people of Bray, in Graystones, right across County Wicklow, as to why this road needs to stay open.At the time, the Tanaiste added: Im really pleased to say that Wicklow County Council has now agreed that they will appoint consultants, excuse me, contract for tender for that will close on July 25th, and those consultants will now be asked to identify an alternative route so that we can see the benefits of the bus corridor while not shutting the Herbert Road.The project details, including a video of the updated scheme, can be found at n11m11bpis.ie/publications.