Worst road in Ireland...

...this was done a few months back in the context of grim drives, countryside etc.

But for travelling, delays etc. what's the worst road you face?

Mentioned it on the Ballyvourney thread, but the road between there and Macroom (and indeed on to Lissarda) is one that should have the country bowing its head in shame. It's the main road to Kerry and yet, for the best part of 10 miles, it's a well tarred donkey trail winding around (lovely) countryside with only one place to overtake, on the Kerry side of Macroom. Of course, it's not a big deal to Cork politicians because it's a road at the edge of their county, affecting few voters. And while Kerry politicians grumble, I guess they have limited interest in big projects outside their county.

Another real head scratcher is the main Sligo Galway road. Drove it a couple of years back and I recall traffic lights and a T junction at Claregalway. I mean, a T junction on a main connecting road...

James Bond Junior

The road to work. The road home is great though.

NegativeCreep

Old cabra road and Navan road. Day or night you're always guaranteed traffic!

CINCLANTFLT

I had a theory that the roads on the side of the county facing Dublin were better than those on the other side... thus you'd start on bad roads, they would get better then BAM back to bad roads as you entered the next county on the way to Dublin...

who the fug

Deleted User wrote: »

...this was done a few months back in the context of grim drives, countryside etc.

But for travelling, delays etc. what's the worst road you face?

Mentioned it on the Ballyvourney thread, but the road between there and Macroom (and indeed on to Lissarda) is one that should have the country bowing its head in shame. It's the main road to Kerry and yet, for the best part of 10 miles, it's a well tarred donkey trail winding around (lovely) countryside with only one place to overtake, on the Kerry side of Macroom. Of course, it's not a big deal to Cork politicians because it's a road at the edge of their county, affecting few voters. And while Kerry politicians grumble, I guess they have limited interest in big projects outside their county.

..

Think that stretch or road has a protection order, it was the same in the seventies, you could tell where Cork ended and Kerry started with your eyes shut because of the difference in road surface

CINCLANTFLT

CINCLANTFLT wrote: »

I had a theory that the roads on the side of the county facing Dublin were better than those on the other side... thus you'd start on bad roads, they would get better then BAM back to bad roads as you entered the next county on the way to Dublin...

That holds in the one I gave.

Another obvious one is Limerick. On the Kerry side, Abbeyfeale can be bad and as for Adare on a Friday evening, forget it. But lovely motorway out the other side of the county. Which I guess is a main route between 2 cities...but you'd think they'd sort Adare at least.

JCX BXC

The N20 is always a sight for sore eyes.

whiskeyman

Deleted User wrote: »

But for travelling, delays etc.

M50

I don't even take it, but it seems a disaster due to numpties who don't know how to use it, and very heavy volumes.

One incident, an the whole thing is turned into a car park.

Special Circumstances

JCX BXC wrote: »

The N20 is always a sight for sore eyes.

For the volume of traffic on a dangerously unsuitable road, the fact that this cattle track connects the 2nd and 3rd cities in Ireland and the fact that you can be stopped on it while cattle cross and sh1te all over, the N20 surely wins the worst road in terms of impact and danger to the most amount of people.

Well... I don't see that much of them but the M50 farce seems to be having a real effect on people. The N7/M7 as far as the turn off for Waterford is a joke too.

If you're counting "making a LOT of people's lives hell" rather than "road in sh1te but only johnjoe and the postman and the milktruck use it" you could pick any one of those at peak commuting times.

Skyfarm

the road to death is the worst one..

mind you the road to boards prison is littered with wannabe mods and the like.

Mr McBoatface

N78 going through Athy..... they missed a great chance to bypass the town when the new link from the M9 was built

Conor Bourke

N16 Sligo to Blacklion. Pretty much continuous 'S' bends for almost 50km and no political appetite to make any improvements coz they want to keep the nordies from comin' down here an' shtealin our jerbs and our wimmin.

road_high

Mr McBoatface wrote: »

N78 going through Athy..... they missed a great chance to bypass the town when the new link from the M9 was built

Live in North KK and always used to use that road going to Dublin. With the M9 open it's no longer worth the hassle and bottleneck of Athy.
I'd say the extra bypass would have cost a lot more, I read clips every so often about it going ahead etc but nothing ever seems to happen.

Winterlong

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

N16 Sligo to Blacklion. Pretty much continuous 'S' bends for almost 50km and no political appetite to make any improvements coz they want to keep the nordies from comin' down here an' shtealin our jerbs and our wimmin.

I am not a regular user of that road, but I do love driving it for some reason.

dundalkfc10

Road to Dublin

CINCLANTFLT

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

N16 Sligo to Blacklion. Pretty much continuous 'S' bends for almost 50km and no political appetite to make any improvements coz they want to keep the nordies from comin' down here an' shtealin our jerbs and our wimmin.

And our horses!!!

Greentree_uk

N84 headford road in galway, huge volumes of traffic, on a bog road, bumpy as hell Probably due to the bog and tailbacks every morning. in serious need of an alternative.

GBX

The road to hell.

biko

Commuting through Claregalway

LaChatteGitane

I'll tell you where the best road in Ireland is. Kilgarvan. :pac:

Conor Bourke

Winterlong wrote: »

I am not a regular user of that road, but I do love driving it for some reason.

Likewise, I might go to Enniskillen once a year (if even that often) just to go somewhere different for the day and I enjoy the drive as I'm under no pressure, not tired etc. Used to live in sligo and work in Manorhamilton though, soon grew to hate that section, particularly if it'd been frosty/icy or the morning after a night shift :eek:

One_Of_Shanks

Mr McBoatface wrote: »

N78 going through Athy..... they missed a great chance to bypass the town when the new link from the M9 was built

Yeah that's a killer. My God you could lose half a day there

The N17.

Skylinehead

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Old cabra road and Navan road. Day or night you're always guaranteed traffic!

I just bypass the crap traffic filled hell of the Navan road and go for a zoom on the fun, traffic free River Road. I don't have to deal with Hanlons corner though, I'm other side of Cabra.

NegativeCreep

Skylinehead wrote: »

I just bypass the crap traffic filled hell of the Navan road and go for a zoom on the fun, traffic free River Road. I don't have to deal with Hanlons corner though, I'm other side of Cabra.

I'm afraid I don't have much of a say in which road the bus drives on

ryanch09

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

N16 Sligo to Blacklion. Pretty much continuous 'S' bends for almost 50km and no political appetite to make any improvements coz they want to keep the nordies from comin' down here an' shtealin our jerbs and our wimmin.

Pretty much any road going towards the county border seems dire, apart from the Donegal road. The N4 between Collooney and Castlebaldwin is awful as well. And need I say more about the Ballina road

bodhrandude

I hated the journey sometimes from Limerick to Cork, the roadworks from Buttevant to Mallow used to have some long delays in it, apparently the roadworks have finished there now.

A Battered Mars Bar

All of rural Cork. Hape of sh*t dump of a place.

Andrewf20

I find the road from the old n1 (you take a right at a petrol station) to rush to be a ball of frustration. Zero overtaking oppourtunities for about 12km due to constant bends and often some zombie dawdling along at 35km/h holding up 10 cars.

The dunboyne bypass from the m3 over towards the maynooth direction is a great wide single lane road with a roundabout in the middle. And yet despite large parts of it having perfect visibility to overtake, some genius decides to plant a continuous white line the whole length of it.

joeysoap

Kells to Mullingar. Continuous bends with 'severe bend' signs intersected at intervals. Nightmare in the dark as the road also dips on some of the bends and your lights lose the road for a few seconds. Only use it to go to Galway, hate that stretch.

JMT2016

N24 Limerick to Waterford winner of worst intercity road in the country.

The amount of bends and 60km areas especially from cahir to oola would break your heart. Parts are no better than a boreen!

It would make you want to take the train, except they're closing it down :0

A Battered Mars Bar

A Battered Mars Bar wrote: »

All of rural Cork. Hape of sh*t dump of a place.

You get the odd great stretch.

Glengarriff to Adrigole could be used for testing F1 cars and dragsters.

_Jamie_

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Old cabra road and Navan road. Day or night you're always guaranteed traffic!

Yep, I live near there and avoid the Navan Road at all costs.

JCX BXC

JMT2016 wrote: »

N24 Limerick to Waterford winner of worst intercity road in the country.

The amount of bends and 60km areas especially from cahir to oola would break your heart. Parts are no better than a boreen!

It would make you want to take the train, except they're closing it down :0

The railway bridges are shockingly dangerous on that road, so narrow and the bends are severe.

ScumLord

Galway to Cork is a feckin nightmare. The motorway bit is ruined by the fact no matter which way you're going to end up stuck behind a slow prick once you're off the motorway.

I had to go to Cork last week, I had to go to Dublin first then down to Cork and back to galway. The Galway > Dublin > Cork part was as fast as the Cork to Galway bit because of the motorway.

NiallBoo

N59 galway to Clifden - you eventually get through Galway only to spend two hours trapped behind a tourist going 50k, hoping you don't fall off the side of the road and into the bog.

N2 at slane. It's terrifying watching trucks going down that hill. Plenty of crashes and countless near-misses.
I think they should just abandon the N2 between Ashbourne and castleblaney.

Feckin' Adare.

Cee-Jay-Cee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Another real head scratcher is the main Sligo Galway road. Drove it a couple of years back and I recall traffic lights and a T junction at Claregalway. I mean, a T junction on a main connecting road...

This road is still a national disgrace but just shows the contempt the government have for anything in the north or northwest of the country. It's the most horrible road, it couldn't even be described as a Regional road let alone a Primary Route. There is zero hard shoulder for countless miles, there isn't even a soft verge. The hedges/walls are right on the edge of the road. It carries a huge volume of traffic daily yet hasn't been upgraded in 40 years years or more.

NiallBoo

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

This road is still a national disgrace but just shows the contempt the government have for anything in the north or northwest of the country. It's the most horrible road, it couldn't even be described as a Regional road let alone a Primary Route. There is zero hard shoulder for countless miles, there isn't even a soft verge. The hedges/walls are right on the edge of the road. It carries a huge volume of traffic daily yet hasn't been upgraded in 40 years years or more.

Weren't there plans to have dual-carriageway/motorway from Galway to Sligo?

They might be holding off on investing in the existing road with a view to completing this instead - though I doubt it'll be any time soon.

Cee-Jay-Cee

NiallBoo wrote: »

Weren't there plans to have dual-carriageway/motorway from Galway to Sligo?

They might be holding off on investing in the existing road with a view to completing this instead - though I doubt it'll be any time soon.

I doubt it's even at pre planning stage as I have never heard a word about it. It's like the many other projects that have been proposed over the years that never made the light of day.

I can't see it happening anytime in the next 20yrs to be honest.

Shannon757

bodhrandude wrote: »

I hated the journey sometimes from Limerick to Cork, the roadworks from Buttevant to Mallow used to have some long delays in it, apparently the roadworks have finished there now.

Yep, they finished a few months back, lovely road now.

Harry Palmr

JMT2016 wrote: »

N24 Limerick to Waterford winner of worst intercity road in the country.

The amount of bends and 60km areas especially from cahir to oola would break your heart. Parts are no better than a boreen!

It would make you want to take the train, except they're closing it down :0

The N24 is a shi't hole of a road, one crappy town/village after another for most of it's length, whatever else you maybe on the N24, do not be late starting out! In fact add 30-40 mins if you are a newbie and have just used AA route planner.

The N72 esp once it leaves Co Waterford going west is dreadful as well. That it is designated as a national route at all is pretty amazing.

retalivity

NiallBoo wrote: »

N2 at slane. It's terrifying watching trucks going down that hill. Plenty of crashes and countless near-misses.
I think they should just abandon the N2 between Ashbourne and castleblaney.

I quite like the N2 drive, as far as monaghan anyway, on my way from dublin to donegal.

Speaking of donegal, the gweebarra bends between dubgloe and glenties were ridiculous, before they half straightened them about 10 years ago, and last time I was up that way they have now ben almost completely straightened out

Atoms for Peace

I like the road through ballyvourney leave it alone its a great road to drive, it would surely be cheaper to build a new road up around marcoom where the land is flat and it could link up with the cork - Dublin road.

pragmatic1

Donegal. The entire county. It's fcukin ridiculous. We pay our taxes like the rest of the country. It wouldn't be so bad if we had any public transport whatsoever.

Atoms for Peace

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

I like the road through ballyvourney leave it alone its a great road to drive, it would surely be cheaper to build a new road up around marcoom where the land is flat and it could link up with the cork - Dublin road.

Oh it's a lovely road in the sense that it's a nice area, with the land become more creased as one west along the Lee Valley into the area where flying columns became legendary, with the mountains of the Boggeraghs to the North and the Derrynasagarts to the South rising over wonderful valleys like Gougane Barra. And all the time winding on towards the county bounds with the magnificent Paps, Crohane towering over the Killarney Road etc.

It's just a bad road.

Lia_lia

Deleted User wrote: »

Mentioned it on the Ballyvourney thread, but the road between there and Macroom (and indeed on to Lissarda) is one that should have the country bowing its head in shame. It's the main road to Kerry and yet, for the best part of 10 miles, it's a well tarred donkey trail winding around (lovely) countryside with only one place to overtake, on the Kerry side of Macroom. Of course, it's not a big deal to Cork politicians because it's a road at the edge of their county, affecting few voters. And while Kerry politicians grumble, I guess they have limited interest in big projects outside their county.

I drive over and back from Cork to Kerry very frequently and this road is a pain in the arse alright. Especially when you have people in front of you that drive really, really slowly. Although I can't blame them I guess if they are not used to it. That road and Macroom (even the shortcut!) make the journey so much longer. Here is a timelapse video of said road: Link..

JupiterKid

In terms of traffic volumes and strategic importance, it has to be the N20 between Cork and Limerick. In the year 2016 it beggars belief how a route that connects the second and third cities of this country is little more than a death trap goat track for much of its length. A national disgrace.:mad:

Other poor roads are the N52 between Nenagh and Ardee. The middle section between Birr and Mullingar has been improved, but so much of this route is well below par. The N24 between Limerick and Waterford is a stinker too.

Although most of the motorway network is in place, there is still so much to do in terms of our road network.

who the fug

Deleted User wrote: »

You get the odd great stretch.

Glengarriff to Adrigole could be used for testing F1 cars and dragsters.

Thats a good road , compared to what else is in the area.