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Roads in Ireland
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Ireland, both north and south of the border, has an extensive network of roads. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has well developed primary routes. With the advent of the Celtic Tiger and European Union funding, most national roads in the Republic continue to be upgraded. In the 1990s the Republic went from having only a few short stretches of motorway in the country, to partly expanding the motorways on most major routes.
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Encyclopedia
Ireland, both north and south of the border, has an extensive network of roads. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has well developed primary routes. With the advent of the Celtic Tiger and European Union funding, most national roads in the Republic continue to be upgraded. In the 1990s the Republic went from having only a few short stretches of motorway in the country, to partly expanding the motorways on most major routes. This is part of a National Development Plan. Road construction in Northern Ireland has proceeded at a slower pace in recent years, although a number of important bypasses and upgrades to dual carriageway have recently been completed or are about to begin.
Signposts in Northern Ireland denote distances in miles, while all signposts placed in the Republic since the 1970s use kilometres. Currently miles per hour speed limits are used north of the border. Those in the Republic use kilometres per hour (km/h) introduced on 20 January 2005. This involved the provision of 58,000 new metric speed limit signs, replacing 35,000 imperial signs. The Republic's road signs are bilingual, using both of the state's official languages, Irish and English.
History
There have been routes and trackways in Ireland connecting settlements and facilitating trade since ancient times. Ireland was never part of the Roman Empire and, therefore, Roman roads were not built in Ireland. However, an Iron Age road with a stone surface has been excavated in Munster and togher roads, a type of causeway built through bogs, were found in many areas of the country.
According to an entry in the Annals of the Four Masters for AD 123, there were five principal highways leading to Tara in Early Medieval Ireland.
Early medieval law-tracts set out five types of road including the highway (slighe), the '[regional] main road' (ród or rout), the 'connecting road' (lámraite), the 'side road' (tógraite) which could be tolled, and the 'cow road' (bóthar). Bóthar is the most common term for 'road' in modern Irish: its diminutive form, bóithrín, (or boreen in English) is used as a term for very narrow, rural roads.
The development of roads in Ireland seemed to have stagnated until the eigtheenth- and early nineteenth-centuries. However, in the eighteenth century, a network of turnpike roads (charging tolls) was built: "a turnpike was a primitive form of turnstile - a gate across the road, opened on payment of a toll. The average length of a turnpike road was 30 miles". Routes to and from Dublin were developed initially and the network spread throughout the country. Turnpikes operated between 1729 and 1858 when the extensive railway network made them increasingly unpopular.
Specialist routes to facilitate the butter trade, which centered on Cork, were built in Munster. The first butter road was commissioned in 1748 and was built by John Murphy of Castleisland in Co. Kerry. In other areas, notably in Co. Wicklow, military roads were built to help secure British military control over remote areas. The Military Road through Co. Wicklow was begun in 1800 and completed in 1809. The R115 is part of the Military Road for its entire length.
Railways became the dominant form of land transport from the mid-nineteenth century. This situation persisted until the first half of the twentieth century when motorised road transport (cars, buses and trucks) gradually began to take over from railways as the most important form of land transport.
Pre-independence legislation (the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919) laid the foundation for the regulation of the modern system of public roads in Ireland. The Act gave the Minister for Local Government the power to classify roads: Trunk Road Funds were used to enable local councils to improve major roads and road surfacing was gradually undertaken throughout the 1920s, 1930s and beyond.
By the 1950s an established system of road classification and numbering with Trunk Roads and Link Roads had long been developed. The present system of road classification and numbering began in 1977 when twenty-five National Primary roads and thirty-three National Secondary roads were designated.
Regional roads were first formally designated in 1994, although Regional road route-numbers began appearing on signposts in the 1980s. The also classified all public roads which are not national or regional roads as local roads.
Roads in the Republic of Ireland
The Republic's major road network is focused on Dublin, and motorways are currently being extended to other major cities as part of the Transport 21 programme which aims to have a world class motorway network in place by the end of 2010. By then most of Ireland's main cities (Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Belfast) excluding Derry will be connected to Dublin with motorways or with near-motorway standard roads. Dublin has been the focus of some other major projects, such as the East-Link and West-Link toll-bridges, as well as the Dublin Port Tunnel. Other cities and towns have by-pass projects, most of which are under construction as of 2007. The Jack Lynch Tunnel under the River Lee in Cork was a major project outside Dublin, and a fourth crossing at Limerick under the River Shannon (known as the Limerick Tunnel) commenced construction in 2006.
Major roads are either known as motorways or national roads. There are two classes of national roads:
- National Primary Routes are currently numbered from 1 to 33 and 50 (route numbers 34-49 are not currently allocated).
- National Secondary Routes are currently numbered from 51 to 87 (however, the N57 was reclassified as the N26, the N64 was reclassified as a section of the N18 and the N79 was reclassified as the N30).
Non-motorway sections of national routes are sign-posted with the N prefix, motorway sections are signed with the M prefix.
Motorways
In the Republic of Ireland, the highest category of road is a motorway, indicated by the prefix M followed by one or two digits. The motorway network is focused on Dublin. The first motorway section in the state was the M7 Naas by-pass, which opened in 1983. As of 2008, all motorways in Ireland are part of, or form, national primary roads. At the end of 2004 there were 192km of motorway in the Republic and 286km of dual-carriageway. This was extended, by the end of 2005, to 247km of motorway and 297km of dual-carriageway. As of December 2008 - there is 435km of motorway in Ireland, with a further 387km of new motorway or high-quality dual carriageway is currently under construction and a further 150km at various planning stages. In addition, 17km of dual-carriageway has been reconstructed, specifically 15km between Naas and Dublin (see thumbnail) and 2.4 km on the Cork Southern Ring road. Most of the new dual carriageways being built in Ireland are built to motorway standards with full grade separation and controlled access, however to avoid the lengthy statutory motorway planning process and in instances where no alternative non-motorway route is available the motorway designation [M] is not used.
In June 2007, it was announced that around 800 kilometres of 'new' motorway will be created; however, this will result from the re-classification of most of the country's high quality dual carriageways to motorway standard. This will affect most of the major inter-urban routes and some of the Atlantic Corridor along the West coast. In December 2007, it was announced that a planned high quality dual carriageway scheme between Galway and Tuam would be built as a motorway, the first such new motorway project to be announced since the early 2000s.
- Another new motorway, the M20, is being planned as the main route between Cork and Limerick.
- By 2015, there will be an estimated 941 km of motorway in Ireland, comprising the M50 (45 km), M20 (90 km approx), M17 (25.5 km), M11 (8 km), M9 (116.5 km), M8 (155 km), M7 (175 km), M6 (144 km), M4 (55 km), M3 (47 km) and M1 (80 km).
- It is possible the 26.6 km Gort to Oranmore scheme may designated motorway as it links into the proposed M17. If that were to be the case, the route would be designated the M18. On 30 September (see below), it was announced that this scheme was to be included in the 2nd tranche of motorway re-designations.
National primary roads
This category of road has the prefix "N" followed by one or two digits. The most important routes are numbered N1-N11 (radiate anti-clockwise from Dublin), with those in the range N12-N33 being cross-country roads. National secondary roads (see next section) are numbered under the same scheme with higher numbers. On road signage, destinations served but not on the route in question are listed in brackets, with the connecting route also listed (see thumbnail).
Northern Ireland route sections (which are classified separately according to NI schemes) are in some cases included in a theoretical complete cross-border route – for example the N3 route, which re-enters the Republic. These are listed here in brackets for completeness (and are present on southern road signage).
 
| Name | Description |
|---|
| N1 | Dublin – Border (North of Dundalk) – (A1 Newry – Belfast) | | N2 | Dublin – Monaghan – (A5 Omagh – Derry) | | N3 | Dublin – Cavan – Ballyshannon | | N4 | Dublin – Sligo | | N5 | (N4 from Dublin) – Longford – Castlebar with planned extension to Westport | | N6 | (N4 from Dublin) – Kinnegad – Galway | | N7 | Dublin – Limerick | | N8 | (N7 from Dublin) – Portlaoise – Cork | | N9 | (N7 from Dublin) – Kilcullen – Carlow – Waterford | | N10 | (N9 from Dublin) – Paulstown – Kilkenny – Ballyhale – (N9 to Waterford) | | N11 | Dublin – Wexford | | N12 | Monaghan – (A3 to Belfast) | | N13 | (N15 from Sligo) – Stranorlar – Letterkenny – (A2 to Derry, A6, M22, M2 to Belfast) | | N14 | Letterkenny – Lifford – (A5 to Strabane) | | N15 | Sligo – Donegal – Lifford – (B72, A5 to Derry) | | N16 | Sligo – (A4 to Enniskillen, A4, M1 to Belfast) | | N17 | Galway – Claremorris – Collooney – (N4 to Sligo) | | N18 | (N4, N17 from Sligo) – Claregalway – (N6 from Galway) Oranmore – Ennis – Limerick | | N19 | (N18 from Limerick/Ennis) – Shannon Town – Shannon Airport | | N20 | Limerick – Cork | | N21 | Limerick – Castleisland – Tralee | | N22 | Cork – Killarney – Farranfore – Tralee | | N23 | (N21 from Limerick) – Castleisland – Farranfore – (N22 to Killarney) | | N24 | Limerick – Waterford | | N25 | Cork – Waterford – Rosslare Europort | | N26 | (N4, N5 from Dublin) – Swinford – Ballina | | N27 | Cork city centre – Cork Airport | | N28 | Cork – Ringaskiddy | | N29 | (Spur off N25 east of Waterford to Belview Port) | | N30 | (N25 from Cork, Waterford near New Ross) -– Enniscorthy – (N11 to Dublin) | | N31 | (Spur off N11 at Dublin to Dún Laoghaire) | | N32 | (Continuation of M50 to Malahide Road) | | N33 | (Spur off M1 to Ardee) | | (N50) | Dublin ring-road. Only exists as the M50, but route set out in legislation as a primary (N) route. |
National secondary roads
National secondary roads are also indicated with a "N" prefix. Routes N51 and higher (currently to N87) are national secondary routes.
There are 2683.974km of national secondary roads in Ireland, making up slightly less than 50% of the entire national route (national primary and national secondary) network. National secondary routes are generally more poorly maintained than primary routes (although their quality can vary widely), but often carry more traffic than regional roads. Almost the entire network of national secondary roads is single carriageway, although there are some short sections of dual carriageway on the Tallaght bypass section of the N81, on the N52 at Dundalk, on the N85 at Ennis, on the N62 at Athlone and on the N71 between Cork and Bandon. Typically, national secondary roads are of a similar standard or higher than regional roads although some are of lower quality than the better sections of regional roads. Many of them have been resurfaced with higher quality pavements in recent years with relatively smooth surfaces and good road markings and signposting. However, road widths and alignments are often inadequate, with many narrow and winding sections.
National secondary roads generally do not bypass towns on their routes although there are a number of exceptions: the N52 bypasses Nenagh, Mullingar and the centre of Dundalk (as a relief road) with a further N52 bypass of Tullamore planned, the N55 (along with the N3) bypasses Cavan, the N56 forms part of the Donegal bypass, the N61 and the N63 bypass Roscommon, the N71 bypasses Halfway and Skibbereen, the N74 bypasses Cashel, the N76 bypasses Callan, the N77 forms the northern part of the Kilkenny ring road, the N80 bypasses Carlow and the N85 bypasses Ennis. When the Fermoy (Moorepark) to Kilbehenny section of the M8 is complete, the existing N8 bypass of Mitchelstown will be re-classified as the N73.
Examples of national secondary roads are:
- N52 Dundalk via Mullingar and Birr to Nenagh joining M7 to Limerick
- N59 Galway – Clifden – Westport – Bangor Erris – Ballina – Ballysadare
- N62 Athlone – Horse and Jockey
- N74 Cashel – Golden – Tipperary Town
- N81 Dublin – Tullow
- N86 Tralee – Dingle via Lispole
Regional roads
While funding for national primary roads is administered centrally by the National Roads Authority (NRA), regional and local roads are less well funded (although funding has increased in the 2000s). Local councils are responsible for these roads, as opposed to the NRA.
Regional roads are numbered with an "R" prefix and a three-digit number, ranging from R1xx in the north-east to R7xx in the south-east of the country, with newer regional roads numbered R8xx and R9xx. Some of the more important regional roads such as the R136 Outer Orbital, Dublin and the R710 Waterford Outer Ring Road are dual-carriageway in whole or part. Most regional roads are however single carriageway roads, and many are rather narrow country roads.
Local Roads
All public roads which are not motorways, national roads or regional roads are local roads: "a public road, other than a national road or a regional road, shall be a local road".
Local roads vary greatly in quality, from wide urban streets to very narrow, rural lanes, known as boreens in Ireland. There are three types of Local Road: Local Primary (local roads wider than 4 metres), Local Secondary (local roads narrower than 4 metres) and Local Tertiary (cul-de-sacs and other minor roads).
Local roads are not generally referred to by number, but are registered with a four- or five-digit "L" number, taking the form Lxxxx. It used to be rare to see these numbers on signposts (and these numbers do not appear on Ordnance Survey maps), but in 2006 the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government began a programme of new signage for regional roads that incorporates local
road numbers on directional signage (see thumbnails).
Old system
The Republic of Ireland had a different road numbering system prior to the introduction of the National Route numbering system.
Major roads were marked with "T" for Trunk Road, less important roads were marked with "L" for Link Road.
The first nine Trunk Roads (T1, T2, T3, T4, T4a, T5, T6, T7, T8) radiated out from Dublin (with the T8 branching off the T7 at Enniscorthy) and followed an anti-clockwise pattern. This pattern was similar to the existing anti-clockwise pattern which the routes radiating out of Dublin follow.
Unlike the present system, where each road (whether N- or R-) has a unique number, under the Trunk/Link system, the L-roads were numbered separately beginning with L1. These L (for Link Road) classifications are not related to the current Lxxxx numbers for Local Roads. Confusingly, some old road signs still show the former (now obsolete) road numbers.
Trunk Roads were broadly equivalent to the present National Roads, and Link Roads to the present Regional Roads. Most of the National Primary and National Secondary routes had been Trunk Roads and generally they followed the routes of these Trunk roads, albeit with a different numbering system. However, some National Primary and Secondary roads also incorporated Link Roads and unclassified roads into their routes. Furthermore, many Trunk Roads were downgraded to Regional roads, effectively 'de-trunked'. Some newer National Primary routes were built as new roads in the 1990s and therefore did not incorporate former Trunk, Link or unclassified roads into their routes.
Former Major Trunk Roads in Ireland & Current Equivalents
- T1 = Dublin - north of Dundalk (Belfast). Mainly present R132, old N1; largely replaced by M1
- T2 = Dublin - north of Monaghan (Derry). Mainly present N2 road
- T3 = Dublin - Sligo. Mainly present N4 road
- T4 = Dublin - Galway. Mainly present N6 road (& R348).
- T5 = Dublin - Limerick. Mainly present N7 road
- T6 = Dublin - Cork. Including parts of present N9 road, N8 road and N30 road
- T7 = Dublin - Waterford. Mainly present N11 road
- T8 = Enniscorthy - Rosslare. Mainly part of present N11 road and N25 road.
- T11 = Cork - Sligo. Mainly present N20 road, N18 road and N17 road
- T12 = Cork - Wexford. Mainly present N25 road
- T13 = Limerick - Waterford. Mainly present N24 road
- T18 = Sligo - near Strabane (Derry). Mainly present N15 road
- T28 = Limerick - Tralee. Mainly present N21 road
- T29 = Cork - Tralee. Mainly present N22 road
- T35 = Dublin - Cavan - Donegal. Mainly present N3 road
- T77 = Dublin - Ballina. Mainly parts of present N5 road & N26 road
Roads in Northern Ireland
The main roads in Northern Ireland, which connect well with those in the south, are classified "M"/"A"/"B" as in Great Britain. Whereas the roads in Great Britain are numbered according to a zonal system, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers in Northern Ireland, though their numbering is separate from the system in England, Scotland and Wales.
Motorways
The most important roads are motorways, designated as in the Republic and Great Britain by the letter "M". The motorway network is focused on Belfast. Legal authority for motorways existed in the Special Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 similar to that in the Special Roads Act 1949 in the Great Britain. The first motorway to open was the M1 motorway, though did so under temporary powers until the Special Roads Act had been passed. Work on the motorways continued until the 1970s when the oil crisis and The Troubles both intervened causing the abandonment of many schemes. The final scheme to open has been the M3.
"A" roads
The next most important roads are designated with the prefix "A" and a one-, two- or three-digit number.
| Road | From | To | Notes |
|---|
| A1 | Belfast | Dublin | Via Lisburn and Newry. Becoming the N1 at the border, joining on to the Southern Irish M1 before Dundalk. | | A2 | Derry | Newry | Northern Irish coastal road. Including routes such as Belfast-Bangor, Belfast-Carrickfergus, Newry-Warrenpoint and Derry-Limavady | | A3 | Lisburn | Cavan | Becomes the N12 at Middletownn until Monaghan, then the N54 to Cavan via southern Fermanagh. | | A4 | Portadown | Sligo | Via Enniskillen. Becomes the N16 at the border village of Belcoo. | | A5 | Derry | Dublin | Via Omagh and Strabane. Becomes the N2 after the Aughnacloy at the border. | | A6 | Derry | Belfast | | | A7 | Belfast | Downpatrick | Stemming from the A24 at Carryduff. | | A8 | Belfast | Larne | Stemming from the A2 at Glengormley. | | A11 | | | Belfast Inner Ring Road | | A12 | Broadway | York Street | Westlink dual-carriageway in Belfast | | A20 | Belfast | Portaferry | Via Newtownards | | A21 | Bangor | Ballynahinch | Via Newtownards and Comber. | | A22 | Dundonald | Downpatrick | Via Comber. | | A23 | Belfast | Ballygowan | | | A24 | Belfast | Clogh | Forms the greater part of the route from Belfast to Castlewellan, Newcastle, and Kilkeel. | | A25 | Downpatrick | Castleblayney | Becomes the R182 at the border. | | A26 | Banbridge | Coleraine | Via Lurgan, Antrim and Ballymena. | | A27 | Newry | Portadown | | | A28 | Newry | Augher | Via Armagh | | A29 | Portrush | Dundalk | Via Maghera, Cookstown, Dungannon, and Armagh. At the border it becomes the R177. | | A30 | Lisburn | Glenavy | | | A31 | Moneymore | Castledawson | Form part of the route connecting Cookstown to Belfast. | | A32 | Omagh | Swanlinbar | Becomes the N87 at the border | | A34 | Maguiresbridge | Clones | | | A35 | Irvinestown | Donegal town | Becomes the R234 in Pettigo at the border. | | A36 | Ballymena | Larne | | | A37 (North) | Coleraine | Limavady | Part of the Coleraine to Derry route. | | A37 (South) | Dundalk | Castleblayney | Only a short stretch of this route actually lies within Northern Ireland. The rest of the route being called the N53. | | A40 | Derry City Centre | St Johnston | Goes southwest along the River Foyle to the border, where it becomes the R236 towards Raphoe | | A42 | Maghera | Carnlough | Via Ballymena. | | A43 | Ballymena | Glenarriff | | | A44 | Ballycastle | A26 north of Cloughmills | | | A45 | Granville | Tamnamore | Via Dungannon and Coalisland | | A46 | Enniskillen | Ballyshannon | Becomes the N3 in Belleek on the border | | A47 | Kesh | Belleek | | | A48 | Newtownards | Donaghadee | | | A49 | Lisburn | Ballynahinch | | | A50 | Portadown | Newcastle | | | A51 | Gilford | Armagh | | | A52 | Belfast | Crumlin | | | A54 | Castledawson | Coleraine | | | A55 | | | Belfast Outer Ring Road | | A57 | Belfast International Airport | Ballynure | Forms part of the main route connecting the airport with Belfast City and Larne. | | A76 | M1 | Lurgan | | | A101 | M1 | Sprucefield, near Lisburn | | | A211 | | | Bridge Street and Newtownards Road in Comber, designated when the A21 Comber Bypass was opened in 2004 | | A371 | | | Various roads in Limavady town centre, designated when the A37 Limavady Bypass was opened in 2004 | | A501 | Belfast | A30 just east of Glenavy | | | A505 | Omagh | Cookstown | | | A509 | Enniskillen | Dublin | Becomes the N3 road at the border after Derrylin. | | A512 | | | Old Golf Course link road in West Belfast and North Lisburn | | A514 | | | Derry Ring Road (Crescent Link) | | A515 | | | Derry Ring Road (Foyle Bridge and Skeoge Link Road) |
"B" roads
Less important roads are indicated with the prefix "B" and a one-, two- or three- digit number.
"C" roads
Minor roads can be indicated with the prefix "C" and a one-, two- or three- digit number, though it is very rare to see these marked on signposts or Ordnance Survey maps
Euro Routes
The following Euro Routes include sections in Ireland:
See also
External links
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- (Republic of Ireland)
- A discussion on RTÉ Radio One's science show Quantum Leap about the quality of GPS mapping in Ireland is available . The discussion starts 8mins 17sec into the show. It was aired on Requires Real player.
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