First Dual Carriageways in Ireland

JupiterKid · 03-07-2007 5:39pm #1

OK - now this may be a strange question. But I'd like to see how many posters know when the first dual carriageways were built in Ireland. I know that the very first stretch was a narrow 1km affair between White's Cross and Foxrock chruch on the N11, built in the 1950s (and rebuilt and widened in 2000)

The recently upgraded Naas dual carriageway was also one of the first, built in stages between 1963 and 1969.

There were two or three very short stretches outside Cork city.

Another old stretch of dual carriageway is between Limerick and Shannon.

Anyone got dates for these or know any other early duallers?

corktina · 03-07-2007 6:42pm

yes indeed you are correct...although the first one was for Donkey carts in the left hand carrigeway and bicycles and the Car in the right hand one....:)

ardmacha · 03-07-2007 6:44pm

The first dual section in Foxrock was built in something like 1939-40, I think the Bluebell part of the Naas road was also in the 1940's. Wesley Johnston's site suggests that the Sydenham Bypass is Belfast's oldest dual-carriageway having been begun in 1938.

Oireachtas debates in 1944 envisaged

Class 1 roads would be of the dual carriageway type, having two 24 ft. carriageways, a 14 ft. central strip and two 14 ft. verges flanked by cycle tracks and footpaths on each side. Class 2 roads would have a 24 ft. carriageway, two 14 ft. verges and two cycle tracks and footpaths; class 3 roads, a 20 ft. carriageway, two verges 10 to 12 ft. wide, and one cycle track and footpaths; and class 4 roads, an 18 ft. carriageway and two 6 ft. verges.

murphaph · 03-07-2007 10:36pm

I'd love some early pics of early DCs and the likes of the Santry and Naas bypasses. Local libraries maybe?

1huge1 · 04-07-2007 12:40am

^^ ya Id love to see those myself

steve-o · 04-07-2007 7:59am

O'Connell Street? Baggot Street?

loyatemu · 04-07-2007 10:36am

early ones in wicklow were between Kilmacanogue and Fassaroe, and between Glen of the Downs and Newtown - both built in the early 80s afaik with median crossings that might as well have been designed to kill people.

popebenny16 · 04-07-2007 12:07pm

Ballymun was built with the Dual Carriageway from Griffith Avenue to Santry Avenue (BTW it was always Ballymun Cross there - unill some dopes built private hosing and a hotel and renamed it Santry Cross). That was 67 I think. At the same time the Malahide Road and the Finglas Road were likewise converted into DC.

The Longmile Road was a DC in the 40's ( there was a postcard in the Indo recently showing Travelers on it as it was being built).

We know about the Nass DC. Tallaght Bypass was the late 1970's/early 80's. Santry bypass early 80's (81???). The Western Parkway was a closed DC from Firhouse to Nass Road (?) in the early 80's...

Bray Road... Donneybrook to Stillorgan must be the 70's.

Funny there was a lot of DC built around Dublin when the Westlink came in... Chapelizod bypass was the last link in a DC that ran from Lucan to Heuston and that was early 90's.

Wishbone Ash · 04-07-2007 2:41pm

popebenny16 wrote:

The Longmile Road was a DC in the 40's ( there was a postcard in the Indo recently showing Travelers on it as it was being built)

1950s?

murphaph · 04-07-2007 4:53pm

When was the Belgard Road dualled?

Zoney · 04-07-2007 5:01pm

What parts of the route between Bunratty/Newmarket-on-Fergus and Shannon were significantly new build even the parts not dual carriageway? When were they built? Dualling was certainly still being done along a number of stretches (i.e. other than Bunratty bypass) in the early 1980s.

When was the Ennis Road out of Limerick towards Setrights dualled/built?

dermo88 · 04-07-2007 5:35pm

Belgard Road was dualled between 1981-1984

JupiterKid · 04-07-2007 7:12pm

The Santry bypass was opened in late 1983 or early 1984. Originally, it only ran from Whitehall to Coolock Lane and was extended in 1985 to the airport and renamed the M1.

Palmerstown was bypassed in 1984. Lucan followed in 1988 and Chapelizod in 1990.

The Finglas road from the Royal Oak pub to Mellowes Road was dualled in 1972, forming a bypass of Finglas village.

When was the short stretch of dual carriageway just north of Swords opened - was it the 70s?

On the N11, the Bray to Kilmacanogue section was dualled in 1973 and from Glen Of The Downs to Kilpedder in 1974.

E92 · 04-07-2007 10:45pm

Would I be right in saying that the first HDQC/ Motorway was the M50 in 1984?

murphaph · 05-07-2007 12:11am

E92 wrote:

Would I be right in saying that the first HDQC/ Motorway was the M50 in 1984?

No. The first motorway was the M7 Naas Bypass in 1983.

Owen · 05-07-2007 12:16am

I think, and I stand to be corrected on this, but the smallest Dual Carriageway is in Youghal town, connecting the two main streets. It's about 30 metres long.

Wishbone Ash · 05-07-2007 12:27am

E92 wrote:

Would I be right in saying that the first HDQC/ Motorway was the M50 in 1984?

M50 opened in 1996 although the Westlink Bridge part opened several years earlier.

JupiterKid · 05-07-2007 1:25am

The M50 Opened in the following stages:

Westlink Toll Bridge (Blanchardstown to Palmerstown) March 1990
Western Parkway (Palmerstown to Red Cow) May 1990
Western Parkway (Red Cow to Tallaght) December 1990
Northern Cross (Blanchardstown to Santry) December 1996
Southern Cross (Tallaght to Dundrum) July 2001
South Eastern Motorway (Dundrum to Leopardstown) November 2004
South Eastern Motorway (Leopardstown to M11) April 2005

Victor · 05-07-2007 4:11am

JupiterKid wrote:

There were two or three very short stretches outside Cork city.

Midleton-Carrigtohill was probably 1970s. Midleton bypass mid-1980s.

Lower Glanmire Road was probably 1970s.

South City Link Road "the motorway" was about 1984.

South Ring Road (first phase Kinsale Road - Douglas) circa 1989.

Bandon Road (Chetwynd) - 1980s, however this was merely cheating. They built a new S2 and then made it one carriageway and the old windy road the other carriageway. It would probably have been better to separate local and through traffic.

Mallow bypass mid-1980s.

There are some urban sections that are more traffic measures than roads measures, including the 'drive on the right' section on Parnell Bridge.

Victor · 05-07-2007 4:22am

steve-o wrote:

O'Connell Street? Baggot Street?

O'Connell Street was quite open (monuments only) until the 1980s refurbishment. I suspect Baggot Street is an 'original'.

popebenny16 wrote:

At the same time the Malahide Road and the Finglas Road were likewise converted into DC.

I imagine the Malahide Road (Coolock Bypass) was built at the same time as the houses. The Darndale section was I think 1984 (there used to be a plaque).

We know about the Nass DC.

Don't forget the Newbridge-Naas DC!

The Western Parkway was a closed DC from Firhouse to Nass Road (?) in the early 80's...

Wasn't this only a single carriageway? What was the story behind it?

Bray Road... Donneybrook to Stillorgan must be the 70's.

I think this was built in lots of stages. I think the Cabinteely Bypass dates from the late 1980s

JupiterKid wrote:

When was the short stretch of dual carriageway just north of Swords opened - was it the 70s?

I'm not sure about the non-bypass bit, but I understand the bypass is from the mid-1980s - I remember reading and article on the slipform kerbs in my brother's Engineer's Journals.

ned78 wrote:

I think, and I stand to be corrected on this, but the smallest Dual Carriageway is in Youghal town, connecting the two main streets. It's about 30 metres long.

Traffic measure rather than road measure.

Wishbone Ash · 05-07-2007 8:04am

popebenny16 wrote:

Bray Road... Donneybrook to Stillorgan must be the 70's

I don't think some of it was done until the 1980s (i.e. the section along by St John of God Hospital and Stillorgan village by-pass).

Andrew Duffy · 05-07-2007 12:44pm

The Long Mile Road was dualled in 1967 according to this:

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0227/D.0227.196704060029.html

... which would suggest that it was done as part of the Naas Road scheme.

Wishbone Ash · 05-07-2007 2:00pm

Andrew Duffy wrote:

The Long Mile Road was dualled in 1967 according to this:

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0227/D.0227.196704060029.html

... which would suggest that it was done as part of the Naas Road scheme.

Interesting debate but they refer to the 'completion' of the Long Mile Road. As popebenny16 says in his post, one of the postcards that came with the Indo recently depicted a group of traditional travellers on that road in the 1950s (possible prior to it being opened to traffic). We were interested in the postcards and I remember remarking to the lads at work, that it must have been one of the earliest dual carriageways.

ardmacha · 05-07-2007 2:22pm

I don't think some of it was done until the 1980s (i.e. the section along by St John of God Hospital and Stillorgan village by-pass).

The Stillorgan village bypass was built in the late 1970's. The section from Mount Merrion ave to Trees Rd remained single carriageway after other sections were completed, perhaps until 1982 or so. .

JupiterKid · 06-07-2007 1:56am

The Naas to Newbridge section of dual carriageway that goes past The Red House (now bypassed by the Newbridge bypass) must be quite old - maybe the 1970s? Anyone know when exactly?

The Swords bypass opened in 1984 or thereabouts, but the section of dual carriageway north of the bypass is much older - 1970s vintage.

The line of the Present M50 from Greenhills to Tallaght was an unopened single carriageway road that ran between the Tallaght Road at Spawell and the Greenhills Road parallel to the old Tymon lane. It was built at some stage in the 1980s, but was never used and was later subsumed into the M50. There must be a story behind this road.

The N11 Stillorgan Dual Carriageway opened in stages - from Donnybrook to Mount Merrion Avenue about 1975/6, Stillorgan Bypass (Mount Merrion to Whites Cross) in October 1979, Cabinteely Bypass 1984, Loughlinstown Dual Carriageway - 1960s or early 70s?

The N71 Bandon road dual carriageway shows up in a 1975 Michelin map, so it must be pretty old, as does the N8 Lower Glanmire Road stretch and the N25 between Carrigtwohill to Midleton.

Before it was subsumed into the N4 Chapelizod bypas and widened, the Con Colbert Road in Inchicore was an early dualler - 1960s? The adjecent St. John's Road was also dualled early on, around 1972.

GospelGroupie · 06-07-2007 2:21am

popebenny16 wrote:

Ballymun was built with the Dual Carriageway from Griffith Avenue to Santry Avenue (BTW it was always Ballymun Cross there - unill some dopes built private hosing and a hotel and renamed it Santry Cross). That was 67 I think.

There's a framed aerial photo of the Ballymun dual-carraigeway hanging on the corridor leading to the library at the UCD buildings on Earlsfort Terrace (soon to be handed back to the NCH. If you get a chance, it's quite interesting.

murphaph · 06-07-2007 11:20am

This is turning out to be an interesting thread. Where do you get your info jupiter? The unused single carriageway (N50?) is interesting.

Occidental · 06-07-2007 11:36am

The old N1 north of Swords dates from at least the 70's

Artane roundabout to Tayto in Coolock was done in the late 60's. The old road routed through Coolock village and down by the entrance to Cadburys. The carriageway was extended to Darndale when Darndale was built in the 70's.

murphaph · 06-07-2007 11:51am

Any info on the N81 stretches of dualler from Templeogue to Tallaght West?

Happy Bertie · 06-07-2007 3:42pm

Zoney wrote:

What parts of the route between Bunratty/Newmarket-on-Fergus and Shannon were significantly new build even the parts not dual carriageway? When were they built? Dualling was certainly still being done along a number of stretches (i.e. other than Bunratty bypass) in the early 1980s.

When was the Ennis Road out of Limerick towards Setrights dualled/built?

Maybe JupiterKid's 1975 Michelin map could show what was dualed on the Limerick to Shannon road, I've heard that prior that in the 60s and 70s the quality of the road to Shannon was terrible.

This reminds me to ask the question, when did the standard for S2 roads with hard shoulders with yellow dashes on the sides begin? Was it in 50s or 60s? This begs a second question when were most of the current S2 roads with hard shoulders built? (like the ones between Dublin to Cork/Limerick) I know the horse track version of the route may have there since Cromwell but I'm referring to current "modern" i.e. 12ft lanes with 9ft shoulders.

jjbrien · 06-07-2007 4:20pm

What about the Quays surly these are the original dual carrage way.

Zoney · 06-07-2007 4:30pm

Happy Bertie wrote:

This reminds me to ask the question, when did the standard for S2 roads with hard shoulders with yellow dashes on the sides begin? Was it in 50s or 60s? This begs a second question when were most of the current S2 roads with hard shoulders built? (like the ones between Dublin to Cork/Limerick) I know the horse track version of the route may have there since Cromwell but I'm referring to current "modern" i.e. 12ft lanes with 9ft shoulders.

I think a lot of the hard shoulder additions/upgrades were done in the 1980s (and indeed continuing into the 1990s and 2000s). Certainly I think in the very early 80s most of Limerick-Dublin didn't have them.

JupiterKid · 06-07-2007 5:15pm

Originally Posted by Happy Bertie
This reminds me to ask the question, when did the standard for S2 roads with hard shoulders with yellow dashes on the sides begin? Was it in 50s or 60s? This begs a second question when were most of the current S2 roads with hard shoulders built? (like the ones between Dublin to Cork/Limerick) I know the horse track version of the route may have there since Cromwell but I'm referring to current "modern" i.e. 12ft lanes with 9ft shoulders.

The use of yellow dashed lines for hard shoulders as far as I know began around 1972, when the system of National Primary and National Secondary roads was established, and the old Trunk (T) roads became N roads. This was also around the same time the green raod signs appeared and kilometres replaced miles. Of course, this being Ireland, replacing all the signs took about a decade or more, and the old Link (L) roads weren't reclassified as Regional (R) roiads until well into the 1980s.

Most of the current wide National routes (with hard shoulders) were widened/realigned in the 1970s and early 1980s. I remember, as a small kid in the early 80s, a lot of work still being done of the N6 Kinnegad to Athlone section.

JupiterKid · 06-07-2007 5:23pm

What about the Quays surly these are the original dual carrage way.

Nope. The quays were, believe it or not, actually two way traffic on both sides until around 1970, when the one way system was introduced. The original one way system on the Dublin quays was contra-flow to normal traffic, and the current flow (eastbound north, westbound south) only came in with the opening of the Frank Sherwin Bridge near Heuston Station around 1981/2.

Zoney · 06-07-2007 5:48pm

Very interesting information JupiterKid, thanks.

Victor · 06-07-2007 8:00pm

murphaph wrote:

Any info on the N81 stretches of dualler from Templeogue to Tallaght West?

From the M50 west was done in the early 1980s - there was an infamous stand-off with a group of travellers on the bypass section.

I think the section east of the M50 was later and was associated with the M50 works.

The current northbound bridge on the M50 over the Dodder was originally a two-way road and the only section ever to be N50 instead of M50.

JupiterKid · 06-07-2007 8:28pm

The short Ferrycarrig dual carriageway in Waterford city on the N25 must be quite old - anyone got a date for its opening?

Victor · 06-07-2007 8:37pm

I think its late 1980s - I'm sure Mike65 will know better. Note that some of it is built over the river on columns.

Church Road in Ballybrack was done in two phases - one in the early 1990s and then the extension towards Dun Laoghaire about 5 years ago. The interchange with the N11 and M50 were done over the last few years.

murphaph · 06-07-2007 8:57pm

What about the N3 between the Halfway House and the M50? That predates the Northern Cross Route, doesn't it?

Victor · 06-07-2007 9:02pm

Probably. I think the section outside the M50 followed the Western Parkway and then the inner section was done.

It is one of the meaner DCs around.

Prof_V · 06-07-2007 9:58pm

Victor wrote:

From the M50 west was done in the early 1980s - there was an infamous stand-off with a group of travellers on the bypass section.

The road sat idle for a few years because of this. From personal memories, I think the footbridge at the back of what was once H. Williams in Tallaght village was there by about 1981, so the works must have been pretty far advanced by then, but I think it might have been 1984 or so by the time the road opened.

I've seen maps seeming to indicate that the section between the roundabout that became the M50 junction and the next one to the west (the link road at Balrothery) opened later than the western end - the N81 goes west along the old road past the end of Tymon Lane, then down the hill and sharp right onto the Bypass - but I can't verify this.

I think the section east of the M50 was later and was associated with the M50 works.

As I recall it, it was certainly later than the rest but earlier than the M50. The dual carriageway was finished by the time I started using the 65 bus in autumn 1988; the M50 only reached the N81 in November or December 1990. I have hazy memories, which I think are from 1987, of the stretch outside Cheeverstown House being almost but not quite finished.

The current northbound bridge on the M50 over the Dodder was originally a two-way road and the only section ever to be N50 instead of M50.

Yes; it seems (judging by OS street maps and my memories) to have been built after the bypass but before the M50 - I think I remember 1986, but I could be mistaken. Indeed, maybe this was done at the same time as the eastern end of the dual carriageway.

And that's before we get on to the fact that one carriageway of the M50 from Greenhills Road to the N81 was built around the same time as the Bypass but never opened in its original form (I think the then Dublin County Council figured building single carriageways and upgrading them later would be a way to get motorway schemes off the ground when money was scarce, but obviously they thought better of it pretty quickly).

ardmacha · 06-07-2007 10:03pm

one carriageway of the M50 from Greenhills Road to the N81 was built around the same time as the Bypass but never opened in its original form

I recall cycling up this road when it was closed, so I suppose I cycled on the M50!

The use of yellow dashed lines for hard shoulders as far as I know began around 1972,

Much before that, yellow lines at the edge of a road are mentioned in S.I. No. 284/1956 — Traffic Signs Regulations, 1956. This standardisation came after a discussion document which discussed the merits of yellow and white line for edge markings.

The section of the old N1 south of Dunleer, to the Monastraboice Inn, was built in the 1950s and had narrow shoulders and I imagine yellow lines.

Another dual carriageway in the 1970's was the Bridge of Peace and relief road in Drogheda, which was something like 1973.

Ham'nd'egger · 06-07-2007 11:19pm

The N 81 from Tymon/Glenview to Templeogue was there mid 80's as I recall going to an event in Cheeverstown on it. 1987 sounds right As to when it was opened, there is a stone on the New Templeogue bridge which should reveal a definitive date of it's being opened; two and two would make the bridge and by pass being of the same project so next time one of use passes it, that is one arguement that can be closed. On the Firhouse road, I can recall walking up it to go to a barbeque about 1996 so it was there at least that long.

Just as a by thought, would it be correct to say that the M 1 from Whitehall to the Coolock Lane turn off is the first dual carriage to be closed permantly in Ireland?

Wishbone Ash · 06-07-2007 11:36pm

ardmacha wrote:

The section of the old N1 south of Dunleer, to the Monastraboice Inn, was built in the 1950s and had narrow shoulders and I imagine yellow lines

The old Drogheda -Dundalk road is particularly interesting as it was originally finished in concrete. Some of the the concrete sections used to be exposed here and there along it and they could also be seen in sharp bends which were long since rectified. I'm not sure if they are still visible as I'm rarely on the old road now.

ardmacha wrote:

Another dual carriageway in the 1970's was the Bridge of Peace and relief road in Drogheda, which was something like 1973.

Again, I'm open to correction but was that not opened around 1979 and named "Bridge of Peace" following Pope John Paul's appeal for peace in Northern Ireland during his mass in Tullyesker Hill in 1979?

fricatus · 06-07-2007 11:49pm

JupiterKid wrote:

The short Ferrycarrig dual carriageway in Waterford city on the N25 must be quite old - anyone got a date for its opening?

You mean the Ferrybank DC (officially known as the Dock Road I believe, though absolutely nobody calls it that).

I think it was completed in 1986, though I could be wrong.

As someone else said, it was kinda cool at the time because it goes up on "stilts" (sorry, sounds cooler than "columns") over the Waterford-Rosslare railway and part of the railway station car park.

ardmacha · 07-07-2007 12:29am

The old Drogheda -Dundalk road is particularly interesting as it was originally finished in concrete.

The N1 in Louth was one of the first concrete roads in the 1920s. My aunt commented on how people had talked about it at the time. Most of it was later rebuilt, as Wishbone Ash said the old sections can be seen where the road was realigned.

Again, I'm open to correction but was that not opened around 1979 and named "Bridge of Peace" following Pope John Paul's appeal for peace in Northern Ireland during his mass in Tullyesker Hill in 1979?

Wishbone Ash, I think we can agree to split the difference. The Oireachtas reports record

Minister for Local Government (Mr. Tully): I am advised that it is expected that the new bridge will be completed and opened to traffic by July, 1976.

murphaph · 07-07-2007 12:30am

Hamndegger wrote:

Just as a by thought, would it be correct to say that the M 1 from Whitehall to the Coolock Lane turn off is the first dual carriage to be closed permantly in Ireland?

No, this is!

murphaph · 07-07-2007 10:30am

Any info on the N13 out of Letterkenny?

Prof_V · 07-07-2007 12:25pm

Hamndegger wrote:

The N 81 from Tymon/Glenview to Templeogue was there mid 80's as I recall going to an event in Cheeverstown on it. 1987 sounds right As to when it was opened, there is a stone on the New Templeogue bridge which should reveal a definitive date of it's being opened; two and two would make the bridge and by pass being of the same project so next time one of use passes it, that is one arguement that can be closed.

I'm not sure the dual carriageway followed immediately on from the new bridge, though they were obviously part of the same overall project. From memory I think the stone says something like 1984 or 1985, though I'm not entirely sure.

mysterious · 07-07-2007 12:53pm

The Rathcoole bypass was built in the late 1950s I think.....

icdg · 07-07-2007 2:02pm

Hamndegger wrote:

Just as a by thought, would it be correct to say that the M 1 from Whitehall to the Coolock Lane turn off is the first dual carriage to be closed permantly in Ireland?

Plus it hasn't really been closed, it just isn't a dual carrigeway anymore. Or a motorway for that matter, though I'm not sure what the legal mechanism for undeclaring it a motorway was. The old Coolock Lane northbound off-ramp is now the exit for non-motorway traffic and motorway regulations begin immediately after this turn-off.

But anyways...I'm wondering what road signage was like on these early dual carrigeways. Surely the pre-1970s road signs would have been woefully inadequate for a dual carrigeway?

First Dual Carriageways in Ireland

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