The Tourist National Secondary Upgrades - time for another package?

marno21

Over the last 8 years, several stretches of abhorrent national secondary road in environmentally sensitive, low traffic areas have been upgraded:

N56 Dungloe-Glenties
N59 Westport-Mulranny
N59 Oughterard-Clifden
N86 Tralee-Dingle

These upgrades are still underway in most cases, with the N56 scheme closest to completion. In contrast, the first sod on the N59 project in Galway was turned this year. These schemes are all being done in many phases.

These upgrades consist of realignment/straightening online except in exceptional circumstances where the existing alignment is very substandard. The cost per km is cheap in places but expensive where ground conditions are challenging, such is the case along many stretches.

One of the key elements of these upgrades is the provision of walking/cycling facilties. In addition to the obvious road safety benefits, the provision of facilities for active transport make these type of upgrades stand out with the Green Party now pushing for high levels of active transport funding.

In line with this, is there 4/5 stretches of 20-30km sections of such national secondary upgrade worth upgrading like this? With the existing schemes trending towards completion, it seems prudent to start early planning on a new tranche of ~100km worth of similar schemes.

The N59 from Mulranny to Bangor Erris is an obvious one that comes to mind. It's along the WAW, it's also along the route to Ballycroy National Park, it's very quiet but it's still quite dangerous and narrow in places. The section immediately north of Mulranny for about 2 miles is particularly windy and narrow as it hugs the coast to one side and a sheer cliff in other places. It would be a significant boost for tourism and a gateway to Erris and the Mullet Peninsula, where plans ought to be developed for a greenway all the way to Fál Mór IMO.

There would be huge objections from An Taisce and NPWS no doubt, even though it would greatly expand walking and cycling opportunities in Mayo. The section I've referred to above would require a large amount of blasting and there's a very narrow bridge closer to Bangor that would need to be replaced, perhaps using the original one for the greenway.

L1011

There is an obvious problem with the N56, namely that traffic does not use the full route to go from Donegal to Glenties and instead cuts across the R262

Either the N56 needs very extensive upgrades to make it quicker to stay on (the county development plan does include a bypass of Dunkineely and Bruckless, with an option to cut off significant distance - but Ardara would need to be bypassed too to have any chance of beating it time-wise); or the R262 needs to be treated as a Tourist Secondary for purposes of a scheme.

The N56 loop is the road to Killybegs and Glencolumbkille so there's tourist traffic there already.

Anything that can improve the N71 between Bantry and Killarney...

marno21

L1011 wrote: »

There is an obvious problem with the N56, namely that traffic does not use the full route to go from Donegal to Glenties and instead cuts across the R262

Either the N56 needs very extensive upgrades to make it quicker to stay on (the county development plan does include a bypass of Dunkineely and Bruckless, with an option to cut off significant distance - but Ardara would need to be bypassed too to have any chance of beating it time-wise); or the R262 needs to be treated as a Tourist Secondary for purposes of a scheme.

The N56 loop is the road to Killybegs and Glencolumbkille so there's tourist traffic there already.

Would it make sense to redesignate the R262 as the N56 ? It's quite a dogleg via Ardara

The bypasses/upgrade to the Five Points always seemed more of a plan to connect Killybegs than as a strategic element of the N56 loop. The N56 loop is more than double the distance of the R262 route.

If the R262 was upgraded to the N56, what would happen to the Inver to Killybegs section? I don't believe it can be downgraded as Killybegs is a major port. The plan to bypass Dunkineely and Bruckless seems logical but it still wouldn't stop people using the R262.

It's a similar situation to the R327 and R360 being used as an effective bypass of Ballyhaunis, Ballinlough and Castlerea, even though the former routes are totally substandard.

steeler j

The N71 could do with some work and more of the N59 , I do feel that these small upgrades are of great value for the spec of road u are getting

Chris_5339762

The N71 is awful in general but its a nice drive for tourists.

Motorway to Bandon for sanity reasons, plus an S2 bypass of Clonakilty and Bantry would be my priorities.

yermanoffthetv

The N85 Ennis to Ennistymon (25km) should definately be a candidate if there was another package. It's a pretty awful tourist road that could do with a serious upgrade. Alot of tourists have the cliffs of Moher on their list and are left traumatised from the narrow roads and huge tour busses rocketing past. It's would vastly improve the tourism potential for the area concidering you have the cliffs, well known golf courses, surfing, burren national park, Aran islands and many nice beaches in that area. It would also link up with the wild Atlantic way. All very outdoorsey stuff that would keep the greens happy!

DumbBrunette

I'd say the N67 in Clare should be a contender - it's a far worse road than the N85 AFAIK.

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

The N85 Ennis to Ennistymon (25km) should definately be a candidate if there was another package. It's a pretty awful tourist road that could do with a serious upgrade. Alot of tourists have the cliffs of Moher on their list and are left traumatised from the narrow roads and huge tour busses rocketing past. It's would vastly improve the tourism potential for the area concidering you have the cliffs, well known golf courses, surfing, burren national park, Aran islands and many nice beaches in that area. It would also link up with the wild Atlantic way. All very outdoorsey stuff that would keep the greens happy!

yermanoffthetv

DumbBrunette wrote: »

I'd say the N67 in Clare should be a contender - it's a far worse road than the N85 AFAIK.

Very true, many of the tour busses from Galway and Dublin use that road over the N85, it's shocingkly bad concidering it leads to the second biggest tourist attraction in the country. 1.5m visitors a year!

Carawaystick

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

If the R262 was upgraded to the N56, what would happen to the Inver to Killybegs section? I don't believe it can be downgraded as Killybegs is a major port. The plan to bypass Dunkineely and Bruckless seems logical but it still wouldn't stop people using the R262.

N83 is the next number free I think.
Theres a short national primary route using the N29 to the Bellvue port near Waterford, and the N27 is a short link to Cork Airport.
Or have a 3 ended route
the N52 already has 4 ends

marno21

N57 (now the N26), N64 (became N18, now R381), N79 (now N30), N82 are all free as is every number above 87.

Redesignating the N56 west of Inver as an R road wouldn't be the end of the world. After all, the N56 doesn't go all the way into Killybegs, the last 4km is via the R263.

BelfastVanMan

Carawaystick wrote: »

N83 is the next number free I think.
Theres a short national primary route using the N29 to the Bellvue port near Waterford, and the N27 is a short link to Cork Airport.
Or have a 3 ended route
the N52 already has 4 ends

N83 already exists; it shadows the N17 roughly between south of Charlestown to as far as Tuam, taking in Ballyhaunis along the way.

From Tuam, it is the old N17 as far as Galway.

L1011

Redesignating the R262 as the N52 without doing something for Inver - Five Points would just end up leaving a *different* future problem instead. The easiest way out might just be opening a specific programme for funding works on tourist R roads. There are other R roads with high tourist demand around the country.

Random sample at half 3 of a Tuesday in July shows these routes are very busy with tourists. It's great for the economy and such a relief to see Irish people holidaying at home (I won't get into the yanks etc).

However, it highlights the need for these routes to be prioritised, even if they're only busy for a few months in summer. In the case of Wesport, Killarney, Ardara and Glenties, congestion is a daily issue. Along sections of the N71, N59, N56, N67, N86 etc, it's a really hazardous situation for tourists and locals alike, and it's simply neither enjoyable nor safe to walk or cycle on large swathes of these routes.

I really hope the milion a day for walking and cycling facilities will be aimed at these routes and large towns and cities in particular. There's so much potential for tourism, decarbonising our economy and making a healthy lifestyle a normal, viable and safe option for citizens if we get this right.