N4 - Mullingar to Rooskey [route options published]

The man is nothing if not consistent. And unrealistic

I know a strictly speaking drivers don’t have to do this (and I know you’re not permitted drive that hard shoulder) but on a road like this with much very generous hard shoulders it would really help traffic flow if slow moochers courteously and safely just moved in briefly and let people off. I don’t see why it’s such a big problem- I’d much prefer do that and safer than 1/2 km of frustrated cars up my car if I was them. It’s quite noticeable in the N4 due to the big traffic volumes and decent quality of much of the sections

I expect no new Type 1 DC, with Type 2 DC for the rest. I am hoping that "Side Road treatments" means the creation of parallel access roads for existing entrances: the high number of entrances is what makes the current road dangerous - in terms of width, sightlines and curves alone, it wouldn't be so bad. (the Carrick-on-Shannon project has far more problems in terms of alignment).

Upgrading the Mullingar bypass to blue signs just creates problems for non-permitted traffic (e.g. tractors - this is a rural town after all).

The person I spoke to at the Mullingar consultation earlier in the week said that where the side roads were marked on the map is where the roads will continue to be accessible from either side but they would not connect with the new N4. Access to/from the new N4 will only be at the purple coloured junctions. He also said the dual carriageway build will be similar to the Rooskey bypass and the speed limit will be 100 km/h, stating that the aim of the road is to Improve safety with any faster journey times being incidental.

When I say it, I mean a town whose hinterland is almost all rural.

The contrast is with towns/villages that are satellites or dormitories to larger towns or cities, or very large towns that are almost cities in their own right and have their own satellite settlements.

As we're taking about traffic, I would say that rural towns have lower traffic, but a greater share of that traffic would be agricultural or heavy goods, and the level is steadier through the day; while the satellite towns and near-cities would have much more traffic overall, but almost all of that extra is private cars and it would be a more tidal pattern (morning and evening peaks).

Are we talking about this bridge?

The most likely cross-section here is Type 2 DC (16.5 m paved). What’s there already is 13.5 m wide, so that only needs an extra 1.5 m on each side, which should be possible without disrupting the bridge.

I don’t think Type 1 is very likely here. The short stretch of M4 around Mullingar might be relatively busy (22,000 AADT, still well within the capacity of the road type, though), but a lot of that volume looks to be due to local traffic - the rest of this corridor is only just above the capacity of a single carriageway (14.0 k at Edgworthstown, 13.5k at Longford, 8.0 k at Dromod).

Not surprising for Dromod as the road splits in two after Longford