The island ofIreland, comprisingNorthern Ireland and theRepublic of Ireland, has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries, from trackways suitable only for walkers and horses, to surfaced roads including modernmotorways. Driving is on the left-hand side of the road. The major routes were established before Irish independence and consequently take little cognisance of the border other than a change of identification number and street furniture. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has a well-developed network of primary, secondary and local routes. The Republic started work on its motorway network in the early 1980s; and historically, the road network there was once somewhat less well developed. However, theCeltic Tiger economic boom and an influx ofEuropean Union structural funding, saw national roads and regional roads in theRepublic come up to international standard quite quickly. In the mid-1990s, for example, the Republic went from having only a few short sections of motorway to a network of motorways,dual carriageways and other improvements on most major routes as part of aNational Development Plan. Road construction in Northern Ireland now tends to proceed at a slower pace than in the Republic, although a number of importantbypasses and upgrades to dual carriageway have recently been completed or are about to begin.
Roads in Northern Ireland are classified as either Highways, motorways (shown by the letter "M" followed by a route number, e.g. M1), A-roads (shown by the letter "A" followed by a route number, e.g. A6), B-roads (shown by the letter "B" followed by a route number, e.g. B135) and other roads. There are two types of A-roads: primary and non-primary.
Roads in the Republic are classified as motorways (shown by the letter "M" followed by a route number, e.g. M7), national roads (shown by the letter "N" followed by a route number, e.g. N25),regional roads (shown by the letter "R" followed by a route number, e.g. R611) andlocal roads (shown by the letter "L" followed by a route number, e.g. L4202). There are two types of national roads:national primary routes andnational secondary routes.
Road signs in Northern Ireland follow the same design rules as the rest of theUnited Kingdom. Distance signposts in Northern Ireland show distances in miles, while allsignposts placed in the Republic since the late 1970s use kilometres. The Republic's road signs are generally bilingual, using both official languages,Irish and English. However, signs in theGaeltacht (Irish speaking areas) use only Irish. The Irish language names are written in italic script, the English in capitals. Signs in Northern Ireland are in English only. Warning signs in the Republic have a yellow background and are diamond-shaped, those in Northern Ireland are triangle-shaped and have a white background with a red border.
Speed limits in Northern Ireland are specified in miles per hour.Those in the Republic usekilometres per hour (km/h), a change introduced on 20 January 2005.[1] This involved the provision of 58,000 new metric speed limit signs, replacing and supplementing 35,000 imperial signs.
There have been routes and trackways in Ireland connecting settlements and facilitating trade since ancient times. Ireland was never part of theRoman Empire and, therefore, Roman roads were not built in Ireland. However, anIron Age road with a stone surface has been excavated inMunster,[2] and togher (Irish:tóchar) roads, a type ofcauseway built throughbogs, were found in many areas of the country.[3]
According to an entry in theAnnals of the Four Masters forAD 123, there were five principal highways (Irish:slighe) leading toTara inEarly Medieval Ireland.[4]
Early medieval law-tracts set out five types of road including the highway (Irish:slighe), the '[regional] main road' (Irish:ród or Irish:rout), the 'connecting road' (Irish:lámraite), the 'side road' (Irish:tógraite) which could be tolled, and the 'cow road' (Irish:bóthar).[5]Bóthar is the most common term for 'road' in modern Irish: itsdiminutive form,bóithrín, (orboreen in English) is used as a term for very narrow, rural roads.
The development of roads in Ireland seemed to have stagnated until the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries. However, in the 18th 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 fromDublin 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.[6]
Specialist routes to facilitate the butter trade, which centred onCork, were built inMunster. The firstbutter road was commissioned in 1748 and was built by John Murphy ofCastleisland inCounty Kerry.[7] In other areas, notably inCounty Wicklow, military roads were built to help secure British military control over remote areas. The Military Road through County Wicklow was begun in 1800 and completed in 1809.[8] TheR115 is part of the Military Road for its entire length.
Railways became the dominant form of land transport from the mid-19th century. This situation persisted until the first half of the 20th 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 laid the foundation for the regulation of the modern system of public roads in Ireland.[9] 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 withtrunk 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. TheRoads Act 1993 also classified all public roads which are not national or regional roads aslocal roads.
The Republic has an extensive network of public roads connecting all parts of the country. As of May 2018 the lengths of each road type, and overall length of the network, are as follows.[10]
| Road type | Length (km) | Length (mi) |
|---|---|---|
| National roads (including motorways) | 5,413 | 3,363 |
| National primary roads | 2,717 | 1,688 |
| National secondary roads | 2,696 | 1,675 |
| Regional roads | 13,124 | 8,155 |
| Local roads | 81,293 | 50,513 |
| Local primary roads | 23,789 | 14,782 |
| Local secondary roads | 33,366 | 20,733 |
| Local tertiary roads | 24,138 | 14,999 |
| Total | 99,830 | 62,031 |
The Republic's major road network is focused on Dublin. Motorways were extended from Dublin to other major cities as part of theTransport 21 programme which aimed to have a world-class motorway network in place by the end of 2010. At that time, Ireland's main cities (Cork,Limerick,Galway,Waterford andBelfast) excludingDerry were connected to Dublin with motorways or with near-motorway standard roads. Dublin was the focus of some other major projects, such as theEast-Link andWest-Link toll-bridges, as well as theDublin Port Tunnel. Major by-pass projects were also built around other cities and towns. TheJack Lynch Tunnel under theRiver Lee in Cork was a major project outside Dublin, and a fourth crossing at Limerick under theRiver Shannon (known as theLimerick Tunnel) opened in 2010.
The different classes of roads in Ireland are allocated blocks of numbers so that no number is used more than once save in the case of local primary roads. Not all road numbers are currently in use.
In the Republic of Ireland, a motorway forms part of a national primary route, but is indicated by the prefix "M" instead of "N". Motorways are the highest standard roads and certain drivers and vehicles are prohibited from using them. The motorway network has been expanded extensively since the 1990s, through construction of new motorways and redesignation of existing motorway-standard dual-carriageway sections of national primary routes.
The first motorway section in the state was theM7Naas by-pass, which opened in 1983. At the end of 2004 there were 192 km (119 mi) of motorway in the Republic and 286 km (178 mi) of dual-carriageway.[11] This was extended, by the end of 2005, to 247 km (153 mi) of motorway and 308 km (191 mi) of dual-carriageway, including2+1 roads.[12] By the end of December 2009 there were 667 km (414 mi) of motorway in Ireland, with 385 kilometres (239 mi) under construction at the time.[13]
In June 2007, it was announced that around 800 kilometres (500 mi) of 'new' motorway would be created; however, much of this resulted from the re-classification of most of the country'shigh-quality dual carriageways to motorway regulations rather than the construction of purpose-built motorways. This affected most of the major inter-urban routes between Dublin and various towns and cities and some of theAtlantic Corridor along the Western seaboard.[14]
By 2015, TII planned that there would be approximately 1,090 km (677 mi) of motorway in Ireland, comprising theM50 (45.55 km (28 mi)),M20 (90 km (56 mi) approx),M18 (70 km (43 mi) approx),M17 (25.5 km (16 mi)),M11 (62 km (39 mi)),M9 (116.5 km (72 mi)),M8 (147 km (91 mi)),M7 (185 km (115 mi)),M6 (144 km (89 mi)),M4 (62 km (39 mi)),M3 (57 km (35 mi)),M2 (13 km (8 mi)), andM1 (89 km (55 mi)). However theIrish financial crisis brought this target into question.
National primary routes form the main cross country roads in Ireland and include all motorways. This category of road is numbered from 1–50 with the prefix "N" (or "M" for motorway sections). The routes numbered N1-N11 radiate anti-clockwise from Dublin, with those in the range N12-N26 being cross-country roads and N27-N33 being newer short link roads. The N40 is the Cork Ring Road and the N50 is the Dublin Ring Road. National secondary roads are numbered under the same scheme with higher numbers.
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.
National secondary roads fill in the rest of the main cross country routes in Ireland. They connect large towns which are not served by national primary routes, and some routes (such as N59) follow long coastal route connecting many towns. They are indicated with a "N" prefix followed by a number from 51 to 99 (N87 is currently the highest).
As of 2018, there are 2,696 km (1,675 mi) 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 thanregional roads. Almost the entire network of national secondary roads issingle carriageway, although there are some short sections ofdual carriageway on theTallaght bypass section of theN81, on theN52 atDundalk, on theN85 atEnnis, on theN62 atAthlone and on theN71 betweenCork andBandon.
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 bypassesNenagh,Mullingar and the centre of Dundalk (as a relief road) with a further N52 bypass ofTullamore planned, theN55 (along with theN3) bypassesCavan, theN56 forms part of theDonegal bypass, theN61 and theN63 bypassRoscommon, the N71 bypassesHalfway andSkibbereen, theN74 bypassesCashel, theN76 bypassesCallan, theN77 forms the northern part of theKilkenny ring road, theN80 bypassesCarlow and the N85 bypassesEnnis. When theFermoy (Moorepark) toKilbehenny section of theM8 was completed, the formerN8 bypass ofMitchelstown was re-classified as theN73.
Alternative national roads are regional roads which provide an alternative route to a national route. A large amount of national primary routes have been replaced by motorways, which certain drivers and vehicles are prohibited from using. These regional roads provide an alternative route to the motorway for these drivers. They are usually the former national road which was downgraded following the opening of the motorway.
In 2010 new signage was introduced for alternative routes. They are identical to regional road signage, except that their route numbers are shown in black on a yellow background, instead of black on a white background as with other regional roads.[15](p42, Chapter 2) This new signage has been installed on most roads, being included when signage was replaced. Roads where the new signage has been installed include the R132 in Swords (alternative to M1), the R147 in Dunshaughlin (alternative to M3), the entire length of the R448 (alternative to M9), the R712 in Paulstown (alternative to N10) and the R772 from Rathnew to Arklow (alternative to M11).
Regional roads fill in the rest of the main roads in Ireland. They connect many small towns to each other and to the national road network. As of 2018, there are 13,124 kilometres (8,200 mi) of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" (e.g. R105). Route numbers range from R1xx in the north-east to R7xx in the south-east of the country, with newer short urban roads numbered R8xx and R9xx. They are signposted in black with a white background. Some of the more important regional roads such as theR136 Outer Orbital, Dublin and theR710 Waterford Outer Ring Road are dual-carriageway in whole or part. Most regional roads are howeversingle carriageway roads, and many are rather narrow country roads.
Regional roads are subject to a generalspeed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph) or 50 km/h (31 mph) in built-up areas.
While funding for national primary roads is administered centrally byTransport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), 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 TII.
All public roads which are not motorways, national roads or regional roads are local roads.[16] Local roads vary greatly in quality, from wide urban streets to very narrow, rural lanes, known asboreens in Ireland. There are three types of local road: local primary (local roads wider than 4 metres (13 ft)), local secondary (local roads narrower than 4 metres (13 ft)) and local tertiary (cul-de-sacs and other minor roads).
Local roads are subject to a generalspeed limit of 60 km/h (37 mph) (formerly 80 km/h (50 mph) until February 2025[17]) or 30 km/h (19 mph) in built-up areas. While this is the maximum speed allowed, drivers must adhere to the Road Traffic Act and drive with due care and attention and with regard to the road conditions.
Local roads are not generally referred to by number, but are registered with a four- or five-digit "L" number. Local primary roads are numbered from L1000 to L4999, local secondary roads are numbered from L5000 to L8999 and local tertiary roads are numbered from L10001 to L89999 with the first 4 digits representing the local primary or secondary road it starts off from. Local tertiary roads which are unrelated to a local primary or secondary road are given numbers from L90000 up. It used to be rare to see these numbers on signposts (and these numbers do not appear on Ordnance Survey maps), but in 2006 theDepartment of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government began a programme of new signage for regional roads that incorporates local road numbers on directional signage.[18]: 2, Section 1.6
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" fortrunk 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 classifications for link roads are not related to those for local roads. Confusingly, someold road signs still show the 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.
The main roads in Northern Ireland, which connect well with those in the Republic, are classified "M"/"A"/"B" as in Great Britain. Whereas the roads in Great Britain are numbered according to azonal system, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers in Northern Ireland,[19] though their numbering is separate from the system inEngland,Scotland andWales.
The followingEuropean routes include sections in Ireland:
