N24 - Cahir to Waterford [design and planning underway]

Lack of funds also. Probably will be shelved for another 20 years

Tipperary County Council want to improve cycle facilities on the N24 Clonmel bypass. A worthwhile project but will only increase the need for a proper bypass.

I can get to Waterford by going south to the N25 or north to the N24. I always take the southern route as the N24 is such a tedious road to drive, and in places actively dangerous. It will be good to see it improved.

Is this based on information you've received, or just adding to the general Green-bashing that characterises this forum lately?

Money will be the main delaying factor here, I think - overruns on other capital projects will hurt the road budget, and as this one is at the bottom of the list of active projects (and latest to start), it's most likely to be postponed. But the primary justifications for upgrading N24 are safety and health, and it will be a 2+2 not a Motorway. That puts it squarely into the Green Party's stated position of focusing road improvements on addressing dangerous deficiencies and improving the public environment of the settlements on the routes. Yes, the options will provide some travel-time improvement (although Cyan goes out of its way in a few places), but that's secondary to getting trucks out of Carrick-on-Suir, Mooncoin and Killsheelan, and fixing some really nasty narrow, twisty sections.

Does anyone have a link to the route options? Link above doesn't work.

Currently the N24 between around Piltown and Carrick on Suir is a nightmare at night with dizzying rows of blinding/light-reflecting cones and a corrugated surface where the tarmac has been stripped off. And the town of Carrick has been in a state of being dug up for what seems like the last year. In fairness the works seem to be happening pretty efficiently, but there doesn't seem to be any end to it.

Some of the links seem to mistakenly require an Arup login, but the interactive web map can still be viewed:

https://n24waterford2cahir.ie/public-display-of-the-preferred-transport-solution/

Nothing to complain about on this, really. Any other routing at Clonmel would have needed a big detour, and traffic would probably have continued to use the existing N24 anyway as it would be more direct.

Okay, where is the source for this being single carriageways? All I see from the public docs is an intention to "reuse" some of the existing road sections. In a route selection report, that is not the same as leaving them as-is. If people know better, links please...

Clonmel has its own traffic, but none of the other towns along here do: their traffic problems are almost all to do with through traffic, and any kind of bypass will fix them.

I have said before that taking these ultra long sections of road through design and planning as a single project is a waste of time and I think this proves it. The most difficult section becomes a limiting factor for the entire length, even where that limitation does not apply. The N24 here could be improved much faster and to a much higher quality if done in sections.

KCC confirmed CPOs along the stretch as far as Mooncoin last year;

That will obviously involve a combination of on- and off-line upgrade. Those works could be combined with upgrading the existing road to 2+2 as far as current Pilltown bypass upgrade in a single project. That would give about 8km of continuous 2+2. This could be followed by a Mooncoin bypass and new road to the end of the M9 which would give about 18km of DC. Going west, building the CoS bypass and as far as where the new road would rejoin the existing N24 north of the rail line would give another 9km. Now up to 27km and certainly achievable to have completed before 2040 in reasonably sized, uncontroversial sections.

Smaller projects can fly under the radar and get through planning much easier, just keep CPOing like KCC above. It's interesting to look at the N24 in the LDA State Lands map, it shows that a fair bit of the existing N24 has already been acquired for online widening. Keep quietly buying up what is needed (including for parallel access roads as necessary), then the planning process becomes a lot easier. Might also get to buy a few houses on the road on the open market, meaning they can be demolished without issue later.

The next section would be from the above western end point to east of Annerville, approx. 11km (so offline Kilsheelan bypass plus a combination of online improvement and offline new build for the rest). Then you are onto Clonmel which is undoubtedly the most difficult section. If you have most/all of the N24 east of there already upgraded to 2+2, there is little choice then other than a full 2+2 bypass. It would be incredibly expensive but this will be post 2040 and it is probably one of the few towns in the country without a proper bypass.

I actually understand the current project not looking at a Clonmel bypass given the terrain both sides of the town. The disappointing thing is that it doesn't even include a new road of Annerville, bypassing Bulmers, etc. and then rejoining the existing N24 south of where it crosses under the rail line. This should be achievable, even if some of the orchards are lost. That really speaks to the lack of ambition and is proof that certain sections of the road will have to be looked at again separately in the not too distant future.

1 billion circa for a complete new offline motorway like the m9 should be considered.. 4 sections at 30km each as a Design and build contract.. We give 6bn to NGOs each year ffs.. This infrastructure will last 100 years minimum.. Govt wants Ireland to have 10m population by 2040.. How are we supposed to travel inter regionally?