The
National Roads Authority (
NRA) is a state body in the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the
Roads Act 1993, and commenced operations on 23 December 1993 in accordance with S.I. 407 of 1993.
County councilA county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
s remain responsible for local and
regional roadA regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is...
s, as well as various tasks like setting speed limits.
The
National Roads Authority (
NRA) is a state body in the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the
Roads Act 1993, and commenced operations on 23 December 1993 in accordance with S.I. 407 of 1993.
County councilA county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
s remain responsible for local and
regional roadA regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is...
s, as well as various tasks like setting speed limits. The NRA, meanwhile, is responsible for the planning, maintenance and construction of National Primary Routes and
National Secondary RoutesA national secondary road is a category of road in Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network, but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as national primary roads. National secondary roads are designated with route numbers higher than those...
as well as establishing safety measures. Ireland's national road network consists of of National Primary Routes and of National Secondary Routes.
The body also plays an environmental and archaeological role as part of the road building programme, publishing an archaeology magazine,
seanda, since 2006. Since 2007 it has operated the
eTolleToll is a National Roads Authority run interoperability system allowing cashless payment on all of Ireland's toll roads. Based on an RFID tag attached to the windscreen of a participating vehicle, it allows drivers to travel on the tolled sections of them M1, M4/M6, M8 and M50 as well as the East...
toll payment interoperability system.
The NRA is headed by a
Chief Executive OfficerA chief executive officer or chief executive is one of the highest-ranking corporate officers or administrators in charge of total management...
(CEO) who reports to the NRA's board which in turn reports to the Minister for Transport. There are four departmental heads who report to the CEO: the Head of Finance and Administration, the Head of Engineering Operations, the Head of PPP (Public Private Partnerships), Strategic Planning and Commercial Operations and the Head of Corporate Affairs and Professional Services.
At present, the NRA is mainly concerned with the extensive expansion of Ireland's motorway network under the
National Development PlanNational Development Plan is the title given by the Irish Government to a scheme of organised large-scale expenditure on national infrastructure. The period covered by the seven year plan runs from 2000 to 2006. A second National Development Plan is currently in progress and is due to run until...
(NDP). The
Transport 21Transport 21 is an Irish infrastructure plan, announced on 1 November 2005 in Dublin Castle by the then Irish Minister for Transport Martin Cullen. It aims to greatly expand Ireland's transport network...
element of the NDP involves improvements to Ireland's transport networks including its roads. The NRA is responsible for making major improvements to key roads, especially the Major Inter-Urban Routes
http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/transsitdocs/2007ireland.pdf. These routes are the N1/M1 (
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
- north of
DundalkDundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland, situated close to the border with Northern Ireland, within legally defined boundaries it is the second largest town in Ireland. It was granted its charter in 1189. It is sited on the lowest bridging point of the Castletown River...
), the N4/M4/N6/M6 (Dublin -
KinnegadKinnegad is a town on the County Westmeath/County Meath border, Ireland. It is located at the junction of the N6 and the N4 - two of Ireland's main east-west roads...
-
GalwayGalway is the fastest growing and is the fifth largest city in Ireland and the only city in the province of Connacht. The city is located on the west coast of Ireland...
), the N7/M7 (Dublin-
LimerickLimerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland,
[Information based on Central Statistics Office figures from 2006, which is the most recent census information available.] and the principal city in County Limerick...
), the
N8/M8The M8 motorway is an inter-urban motorway in Ireland, forming the most part of the N8 Dublin to Cork national primary road. At 129 km it is currently the longest motorway in Ireland, having overtaken the previous record holder, the M1, on 8 December, 2008...
(Portlaoise-
CorkCork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster...
) and the N9/M9 (near
NaasNaas is the county town of County Kildare, Ireland. With a population of over 23,000, it is also the largest town in the county....
-
WaterfordWaterford is the primary city of the South East region of Ireland. Founded in 914 AD by the Vikings, it is country's oldest city and its fifth largest. The city is situated at the head of Waterford Harbour...
).
Major improvements are also being made to many other national primary and national secondary routes, most notably the Atlantic Corridor routes (N15, N17, N18, N20, N24, N25) and the N11/M11 (Dublin -
WexfordWexford is the county town of County Wexford in Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern tip of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to the capital Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route , and the national rail network...
).
See also
- Roads in Ireland
The island of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced, existing throughout the island. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries from trackways suitable only for walkers...
- Motorways in the Republic of Ireland
In Ireland, the highest category of road is a Motorway , indicated by the prefix M followed by one or two digits. The Motorway network predominantly consists of two-lane dual carriageways primarily focused around Dublin, although a few Motorways contain three lanes and the M50 has four at some...
- National primary road
A national primary road is a road classification in the Republic of Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. In short, they are the backbone of the Irish road network...
- National secondary road
A national secondary road is a category of road in Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network, but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as national primary roads. National secondary roads are designated with route numbers higher than those...
- Regional road
A regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is...
- Local Roads in Ireland
A Local Road in Ireland is a class of public road not classified as a National road or as a Regional road but nevertheless forming a link in the national network of roads...
- Atlantic Corridor
The Atlantic Corridor is a road project in Ireland that eventually will link Waterford in the South-East to Letterkenny in the North-West by high-quality dual carriageway or motorway. A major infrastructure project, the scheme was announced as part of the Transport 21 project and is due to be...
- Dublin Port Tunnel
The Dublin Port Tunnel is a road traffic tunnel in Dublin, Ireland, that forms part of the M50 motorway....
- Jack Lynch Tunnel
The Jack Lynch Tunnel , or Tollán Seán Ó Loinsigh in Irish, is an immersed tube tunnel and an integral part of the N25 southern ring road of Cork in Ireland.It takes the road under the River Lee...
- History of Roads in Ireland
There have been routes and trackways in Ireland connecting settlements and facilitating trade since ancient times and the country now has an extensive network of public roads connecting all parts of the island....
- Trunk Roads in Ireland
Ireland has an extensive network of public roads which connect all parts of the country with each other. Roads in Ireland are currently classified as motorways, National Primary routes, National secondary routes, Regional roads and Local roads. The introduction of this classification system began...
- Road signs in the Republic of Ireland
Road signs in the Republic of Ireland mostly differ from the traffic signs used elsewhere in Europe. Directional signage is similar to that of the United Kingdom, but is bilingual. Distances are in kilometres, unlike in the UK where Imperial measurements are still used...
- Road speed limits in the Republic of Ireland
Road speed limits in the Republic of Ireland apply on all public roads in the country. These are signposted and legislated for in kilometres per hour. Speed limits are demarcated by regulatory road signs . These consist of white circular signs with a red outline. Speed limits are marked in black...
- Vehicle registration plates of Ireland
- Northern Irish Vehicle Registration Plates
- Transport in Ireland
Most of the transport system in Ireland is in public hands, either side of the Irish border. The Irish road network has evolved separately in the two jurisdictions Ireland is divided up into, while the Irish rail network was mostly created prior to the partition of Ireland.In the Republic of...
- List of Ireland-related topics