Contents:

  • Introduction -->
  • New motorways, dual carriageways and single carriageways -->
  • Motorway upgrades -->
  • Motorway widening -->
  • Junction upgrades -->
  • Overview Maps -->
  • Motorway Widening Map -->
  • Junction Upgrades Map -->


The now-defunct Transport21 road building plan was a well conceived plan for the creation of a network of trunk roads for the island, but it had several flaws and omissions. Some areas of the country would remain isolated from the trunk road network - the nearest motorway could still be more than 100 km away. Additionally, although moving between large towns and cities would be facilitated, roads in between and perpendicular to these routes would still be very poor, making cross-country journeys awkward and difficult.

Below are listed some ideas for these additions to the network. They include some strategic motorway building, which will be very modest compared with recent efforts. Most of the remainder will consist of a lot of good quality dual carriageways criss-crossing the midlands, and extending into peripheral areas. There will be over 600 km of these.

In addition, a large number of schemes need redesignation to motorway to fill in gaps in the strategic route networks: the Interurbans and the Atlantic Corridor. Also some redesignations are necessary in order to maximise the value of expensively-provided infrastructure. Phase I involves roads which are ready to go, meaning they are already suitable for blue signs or only require minor alterations. Phase II roads will require reconstruction first or are dependent on the standard chosen for the scheme as it moves towards construction. Some further discussion on this is here.

It is roughly envisaged, assuming the original schemes from the Transport21 plan are completed by 2025, that the below list could reasonably be implemented in the period 2020-2040, assuming modest to good economic growth.

Your comments are welcome for each scheme. Please feel free to comment on as many as possible!


MOTORWAY UPGRADES

Phase I - Ready to go - Little or no remedial work needed

 M1 Dundalk-Newry
 M2 Jct 1A-2 Newtown-Cherryhound
 M3 Jct 1-4 M50-Clonee
 M11 Newtownmountkennedy-Ashford
 M18 Limerick Southern Ring Road
 M25 Waterford BP


MOTORWAY UPGRADES

Phase II - Project not yet constructed, or some remedial work needed

 M4 Downs-Mullingar-Longford
 M6 Galway BP
 M7 Outer Ring Road-Naas
 M22 Macroom-Ballincollig-Northern Ring-M8
 M25 Southern Ring-Midleton

MOTORWAY WIDENING

Segments that will need widening from 4 to 6 lanes


Full discussion


 
 M1 Jct 4-6 Lissenhall-Balbriggan
 M3 Jct 1-3 M50-Blanch Centre North
 M4 Jct 5-7 Leixlip-Maynooth
 M7 Jct 9-11 Naas-M9
 M50 Jct 14-17 Sandyford-M11
 M11/N11 Jct 4-6 M50-Fassaroe-Kilmacanogue

JUNCTION UPGRADES

Junctions that should be grade-separated (converted to a flyover)


          Naas/Long Mile/Nangor Rd
 N3/New Dunsink Ln
 N4 Kennelsfort Rd
 N4 Con Colbert Rd
 N11/R113 & N11/N31
 M50/N81 Rebuild

Map of Future Roads



Click here to see the map in Google Maps.

Click here to see the map overlaid on the Current Road Programme map.


MOTORWAY WIDENING MAP

Purple indicates sections that should be widened from 4 to 6 lanes





JUNCTION UPGRADES MAP

Dark Blue shows upgraded junctions


Red shows associated road closures