[article] 10 years of Ireland's intercity motorways

marno21

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/driving-force-10-years-of-ireland-s-inter-city-motorways-1.3829476

10 years since the M4/M6 Dublin-Galway route opened, here's a timely reminder from the Irish Times of the scale of what was completed last decade. What we would give for some of the motorway building will of this period in these quiet years.

What Bertie and Brian didn't manage when it came to regulating banks or the construction sector, they certainly did manage it when it came to roads.

Chris_5339762

However, the first non-stop motorway between major cities – the 194km M4/M6 linking Dublin and Galway – is just a decade old later this year, although parts of it, including the Athlone bypass, remain designated an N or national route.

Motorways to remaining cities and the Border were opened the following year.

Is it wrong that I know they are wrong? The M1 to the border opened before the Dublin-Galway interurban IIRC.

Northern Ireland was brought within an hour of Dublin. Belfast could be reached in two. By 2014 the Newlands Cross flyover was installed, meaning journeys between Cork and Belfast could be made without meeting a traffic light.

Very carefully put but you still have to pass through the mess that is Sprucefield.

AugustusMinimus

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Is it wrong that I know they are wrong? The M1 to the border opened before the Dublin-Galway interurban IIRC.



Very carefully put but you still have to pass through the mess that is Sprucefield.

I think they’re mixed up. Neary bypass didn’t open until later. I think that’s what they’re getting at but they did clearly state motorway to the border.

Vic_08

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

I think they’re mixed up. Neary bypass didn’t open until later. I think that’s what they’re getting at but they did clearly state motorway to the border.

And while the N6 Athlone section is freeflow without conflicting movements there are still 3 roundabouts on the Dublin - Belfast and far too many open crossings on the A1 still open so by any reasonable standard the route is still not fully Motorway.

I've had too many close calls and seen too many crashes to consider that route to be classified in the same category as ROI motorways or HQDC.

JupiterKid

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt the Inter-urban motorway system (whilst still incomplete) is the enduring and best legacy of the so-called “Celtic Tiger” years. This has massively cut road deaths, spurred economic development and reduced journey times.

I hate to give any credit to Bertie, Biffo or FF in general, but investing in our roads was one thing they did right.


As for the A1 in the North, it was dualled piecemeal from the early 1970s to the 90s on the relative cheap in lieu of a planned (and aborted) M11 which would have run from the NI M1 to Newry. All part of hugely ambitious motorway plans in the mid 1960s for the North which were scrapped when the Troubles broke out.

It was great at the time it was dualled, but given the drastic improvements in the Dublin-Belfast route South of the border since the early 1990s and the volume of traffic it now handles between the two biggest cities on the island, it is now well below spec.

Markcheese

I remember some civil engineers on the radio saying they went looking for the national motorway /roads plan, and there wasn't one..
More a load of political "we'll build a new road to Dublin" promises,
And that's what we've got, a transport system that hubs off Dublin, because of this Dublin Airport always going to hoover up flights, Dublin Port is always going to be the easiest place to bring goods in for distribution, and the M50 is the best place for national distribution,
And so the m50 doesn't really work, and won't, and we have to go round connecting regional cities,
Having said that it does make Dublin to anywhere transport really easy, and they could have just not built anything..

Chris_5339762

JupiterKid wrote: »

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt the Inter-urban motorway system (whilst still incomplete) is the enduring and best legacy of the so-called “Celtic Tiger” years. This has massively cut road deaths, spurred economic development and reduced journey times.

I hate to give any credit to Bertie, Biffo or FF in general, but investing in our roads was one thing they did right.


As for the A1 in the North, it was dualled piecemeal from the early 1970s to the 90s on the relative cheap in lieu of a planned (and aborted) M11 which would have run from the NI M1 to Newry. All part of hugely ambitious motorway plans in the mid 1960s for the North which were scrapped when the Troubles broke out.

It was great at the time it was dualled, but given the drastic improvements in the Dublin-Belfast route South of the border since the early 1990s and the volume of traffic it now handles between the two biggest cities on the island, it is now well below spec.

There are indeed plans to stop up all of the remaining median crossings on the A1 and build four new junctions make the whole thing a lot safer than it is at the moment. Sprucefield has a bypass waaaay off in the future as well.


But I agree. The entirity of the A1 should be replaced by an A1(M) from Sprucefield to the end of the Newry bypass. But the cost benefit analysis of replacing an ok D2 with motorway that couldn't be online due to the amount of private access would be very hard to justify, sadly.

Carawaystick

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Is it wrong that I know they are wrong? The M1 to the border opened before the Dublin-Galway interurban IIRC.

Is it wrong to know that the M1 only goes to Ballymacscanlon? and not to the border?

riddlinrussell

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is it wrong to know that the M1 only goes to Ballymacscanlon? and not to the border?

And is followed by one of the few places in Ireland where you can (legally) travel 120km/h on an N road!

EDIT: N25 E Cork parkway, N22 Ballincollig Bypass and Parts of the N40 are the others?

L1011

riddlinrussell wrote: »

And is followed by the only(?) place in Ireland where you can (legally) travel 120km/h on an N road!

There are others in Cork

BelfastVanMan

L1011 wrote: »

riddlinrussell wrote: »

And is followed by the only(?) place in Ireland where you can (legally) travel 120km/h on an N road!

There are others in Cork

N25 East Cork Parkway, N22 Ballincollig Bypass, can't think of any more..

Chris_5339762

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is it wrong to know that the M1 only goes to Ballymacscanlon? and not to the border?

Its even worse to say that I have walked on the old N1 that was there before it, most of which got subsumed (which is why its not M1) but there are a few bits remaining.


I also fell down a hole on the same bit of road.

AugustusMinimus

riddlinrussell wrote: »

And is followed by one of the few places in Ireland where you can (legally) travel 120km/h on an N road!

EDIT: N25 E Cork parkway, N22 Ballincollig Bypass and Parts of the N40 are the others?

Only a single part of the N40 between junctions 1 and 2.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Only a single part of the N40 between junctions 1 and 2.

Soon to be (hopefully!) M40. Presumably the N22 will also be redesignated and perhaps the N25 may be a candidate

Carawaystick

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Its even worse to say that I have walked on the old N1 that was there before it, most of which got subsumed (which is why its not M1) but there are a few bits remaining.

The old road is there until the half junction at Ravensdale, why was the Mway not brought to there? Were the lands acquired back in the days when a Motorway order was used, rather than redesignate?

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I also fell down a hole on the same bit of road.

This sounds like either great or terrible story