Atlantic Corridor - the future

There would probably be a violent uprising in Dublin and Cork if another ghost motorway is built way out wesht. As it is we're forking out hundreds of millions for an untolled motorway to Tuam that won't ever reach it's design capacity.

Carawaystick wrote: »

The "Atlantic" bit is fair celtic tiger exaggeration. The most important bit is the linking of Cork and Limerick. which is on the back burner for some reason.

Clarinbridge, Baile an Chlár and Tuam are being bypassed.

Ballyshannon, Bundoran and Donegal town are bypassed, as you pointed out. Is there the traffic to justify better bypasses of them?

No.

Nothing north of Galway, west of the Shannon has near the traffic volume to need a dual carriageway. The only reason people think it does is because of the awful driving standards so many have that cause hold-ups for everyone else.

When the current M18/M17 scheme is finished you'll have motorway/dual-carriageway from the southern outskirts of Limerick to north of Tuam, with a decent enough single-carriageway road from there to Charlestown in Co. Mayo. There's a couple of villages that could do with being bypassed between Tuam and Claremorris (Milltown and Ballindine) but apart from that the N17 north of Tuam is fairly decent as far as Charlestown.

The main problem between Cork and Sligo is the N20. At the very least the northern section of the M20 from Mallow to near Croom should be done as a priority as the southern section from Cork to Mallow is fairly acceptable.

After that, the N17 from Charlestown (including an N17 bypass of Charlestown) to its junction with the N4 could be sorted next (I'm assuming that the N25 New Ross bypass is a done deal at this stage), and you'd have a very good road from Cork to Sligo.

On the N25, once New Ross is bypassed I'd prioritise extending the dual-carriageway east from Midleton to the western end of the Youghal bypass, incorporating bypasses of Killeagh and Castlemartyr, which can be a pain in the hole to drive through.

Once you get past Youghal, most of the road to Waterford is decent enough and I don't think there's enough traffic between Waterford and Wexford to justify dualling that entire segment, although maybe the section between the western end of the New Ross bypass and the eastern end of the Waterford bypass could become dual-carriageway.

East of New Ross the N25 just needs some consistent overtaking opportunities which should be easy to implement since most of the road is a decently wide single-carriageway with hard shoulders.

But given budgetary constraints I'd definitely prioritise the northern section of the M20, followed by the N17 from Charlestown to the N4, then N25 upgrades between Midleton and Youghal, followed by N15 upgrades in northern Co. Donegal (including bypasses of Stranorlar/Ballybofey, Lifford and the small villages between Lifford and Stranorlar/Ballybofey), followed by the Co. Sligo section of the N15, then the southern section of the M20 and finally upgrades to the missing bit of the N25.

At the very least the entire route, from Rosslare to Cork and from Cork to Lifford, should be high-quality single-carriageway (along the lines of the Croom bypass) with as many motorway and dual-carriageway sections as are affordable.

On the N25, once New Ross is bypassed I'd prioritise extending the dual-carriageway east from Midleton to the western end of the Youghal bypass, incorporating bypasses of Killeagh and Castlemartyr, which can be a pain in the hole to drive through.

Once you get past Youghal, most of the road to Waterford is decent enough and I don't think there's enough traffic between Waterford and Wexford to justify dualling that entire segment, although maybe the section between the western end of the New Ross bypass and the eastern end of the Waterford bypass could become dual-carriageway.

East of New Ross the N25 just needs some consistent overtaking opportunities which should be easy to implement since most of the road is a decently wide single-carriageway with hard shoulders.

It's a decent road however get stuck behind a lorry between Youghal and East of Dungarvan you have very few opportunities to pass out. There should be scope for developing 2/2 within existing roads for some decent sections to allow traffic flow better. UK do it fairly well on A roads.

Ideally 2+2 Cork-Rosslare will happen at some stage granted a long time off but it's such a critical route it needs to be of a high standard, it connects 3 ferry ports and carries a decent level of freight.

Currently New-Ross-Wexford is lowest usage of the whole route with but overall usage has bounced back over the last 3 years.

The main problem between Cork and Sligo is the N20. At the very least the northern section of the M20 from Mallow to near Croom should be done as a priority as the southern section from Cork to Mallow is fairly acceptable.

From current M20-South of Croom and Mallow-Cork should be top priority for M20 usage data for the rest is below 10.,000