N11/N25 - Oilgate to Rosslare Harbour [route options published]

That's the one thing that it was agreed it would not be. From the beginning the plan was to have a mix of new 2+2 road and an extension of the Type 1 DC M11.

South of Wexford, even 2+2 is excessive in terms of capacity.. it's only being done as a dual carriageway because of the amount of HGV traffic using this stretch.

The issue with this is that there will almost certainly be a roundabout at the end of the motorway. If that is at the junction with the N25, it'll be a source of congestion. If it was 2+2 from the end of the current M11, you could have a GSJ at that junction and generally have a better flow of traffic. A roundabout further south on the Wexford bypass would not be such an issue as there would be less traffic using it.

My assumption is that the reason for the ridiculous delays here is that they are designing motorway south of the N25 junction, thereby requiring a full motorway junction there, and it's creating lots of issues.

I didn't say I think the N25 won't be 2+2. I think 2+2 would be the best solution for the N11/N25 junction as it could then be freeflow from N11 and N25 to/from Rosslare. If motorway meets 2+2 then you'll have a roundabout.

Overpass with a slip road onto the N 11.

If it's going to be motorway all the way there will be no need for roundabouts. Be madness IMO not to, it's only twenty odd kilometres from Wexford.

Building a motorway would be a lot more expensive and bring multiple other issues. And no, there wouldn't be a small cost difference between DC and motorway in this case. Upgrading the Wexford bypass to DC would be straightforward; build two new lanes on one side while the existing two lanes continue to function as normal. Once the two new lanes are built and the adjustments at junctions are in place, an easy switch to DC can happen. If motorway, you still need a parallel non-motorway road so the existing bypass has to remain and an entirely new motorway needs to be built beside it.

The cost difference is more like the cost of building a single carriageway v building a motorway (i.e. a significant difference). Then there are all the environmental issues, Climate Action Plan, etc. plus motorways being an objector magnet. There is no benefit to motorway as traffic volumes are nowhere near that level. It would be madness to propose motorway all the way, it almost certainly won't happen.

Attempting to build a motorway is the only reason I can think of for it taking 5 years to complete the Phase 3 design here.

The existing N 25 follows it pretty closely. There's not much between Wexford and Rosslare anyway bar a few villages.

The will be no M25. Not here.

A reminder once again that a "motorway" is a set of legal restrictions. It is not a kind of road, or a speed limit. The widest road in the state isn't a motorway, and Cork has a motorway with a 100 km/h limit (M8) connected to a national road (N25) with a 120 km/h limit.

There's nothing to prevent a Type 1 DC being built, and having a 120 km speed limit, but also being called N11 and having green signs. And there would be no need for a parallel road.

For N25, a Type 1 is out of the question. The traffic counts on this road really are tiny, and the only reason a Type 2 DC is even being proposed is that most of that traffic is in heavy peaks around ferry arrivals and departures, so the divided road type is to stop impatient car tourists from endangering everyone else by recklessly trying to overtake HGVs.

There's a decent chance that the Slaney crossing will not be under motorway restrictions, and that the motorway restrictions will begin either at a a new junction north of the river and south of Oilgate, or where M11 starts already.

That doesn't mean it won't be as wide as a motorway.

The reason to make the crossing an all-traffic road,is because there’s so few other crossings available. This was part of the rationale for not making the Suir crossing on N25 a motorway.

As for why the M11 stopped before Oilgate, it’s the usual reason: the route of M11 onwards across the Slaney had not been decided, and bringing the road south of the village would limit the future options. That said, there should have been a single-carriageway relief road for Oilgate built in conjuction with the M11 project, so that the village didn’t get landed with all the motorway’s traffifc.

This won’t be happening any time soon (to repeat the blindingly obvious). When did the Wexford bypass open, 1988/89? If you jettison the roundabouts it would still be a perfectly good section of road. The rest of the N25 must have been all widened/upgraded around that time too