Why doe sthe M9 sway rather than go straight line to Waterford

veryangryman

Looked at a mpa today, it seems to not do the most direct route from the souther half and i dont see mountains or bogs in the way. I know the M8 has mountains near Michelstown so has to sway but not sure what is up with M9

artanevilla

To get close to towns while still bypassing. For example, a straight line from where it leaves the N7 would go, at a glance, through Carlow town and be further away from Kilkenny. Also swerves to avoid a few towns along the way.

KrisW1001

An online upgrade was not possible here as there were too many villages in the existing road, so there were two options: either run west of the old N9 or to the east, between the old N9 and Thomastown.

Running to the east would be shorter to Waterford, but it would be further from Kilkenny, and also or would have run right through Jerpoint and/or the Mount Juliet estate.

Now I can't stand golf, but even I would have second thoughts about that..

road_high

When they were building it they rightly designed so as to replace both the crappy old N9 and much of the N10 which shadowed eachother. Also follows the path of least resistance in terms of terrain.

Around Carlow it was proposed to take a more direct route west of Carlow in Laois but there was mini uproar in Carlow coco about that at the time i seem to remember. Think that would have been slightly shorter