Where should Ireland's priorities be in relation to road investment?

I have a number of points to express that I will put in a separate post as follows (wanted to leave the first post as a neutral one):

1. The A5. The A5 will be the main route to North Donegal and Derry, the latter of which is in a different jurisdiction, which is undergoing a departure from the EU and is facing an uncertain future regarding its border and travel freedoms. I personally believe that one red cent should not be spent on the A5 until the main route from Dublin to the border at Aughnacloy and the border at Strabane to Letterkenny is upgraded down to the last kilometre. If the A5 is being dualled in full then the N2 from Ardee to Emyvale and N14 from Letterkenny to Lifford are done in full. It does not make sense for a person from Letterkenny to be driving on a shocking road (the N14) in their own country and then they enter another country where the road vastly improves but is paid for by his own Government. I don't see the UK Government reciprocating and donating money for N14/N2 upgrades as part of a "cross border gesture".

2. The North West and accessibility. The North West is receiving substantial investment in the NDP with substantial sections of the N2, N4, N17, and parts of the N13, N14, N15 being upgraded, along with 60km of upgrades to the N5. These are comparatively lightly trafficked routes compared to other parts of the country. Take the south west for example. The N20, N21 and N22 have improved parts and are wider in places than the north west routes, but they also carry double the traffic. The North West has done exceptionally well from this NDP and there should be more focused investment in the southwest which has lots of bottlenecks remaining. I don't disagree that the N2/N4/N17 and the others require investment but the north west is getting a substantially disproportionate amount of funding compared to the rest of the country in this plan.

If I think of more I will post them

annfield1978 wrote: »

N2 and N4 will see investment soon

Mullingar-Longford, Ardee-Castleblayney & Clontibret-Border?

Kevwoody wrote: »

In the last 10 - 15 years the southwest has seen 2 direct motorway links to Dublin in the M7 and M8.

The M7 and M8 were built as part of a nationwide plan to connect all cities to Ireland. The northwest got improved access via the M1 and M4. The M8 (and indeed the M1) were TEN-T core routes and required upgrading anyway.

Kevwoody wrote: »

Major upgrades to junctions on the N40.

Which should have been done when the then N25 was built. The upgrades on the N40 brought the junctions up to the same standard as the pre-upgrade M50 junctions. The Kinsale Road roundabout remains congested post upgrade.

Kevwoody wrote: »

The Jack Lynch and Shannon tunnels.

The Jack Lynch tunnel was opened in 1999, that's a long time ago now. The Jack Lynch tunnel was also absolutely critical and without it Cork wouldn't function. The Shannon tunnel was a PPP funded by the private sector, although does require ongoing state subvention, which is mitigated by the requirement of the PPP concessionaire to operate the road.

Kevwoody wrote: »

The M20 will probably be delivered long before any proper links from Donegal to Dublin is complete.

Parts of the A5, the N4 dual carriageway in Sligo, the Slane bypass will all be delivered by the M20. I know it's not much

Kevwoody wrote: »

I dont understand why this has to be about the northwest versus the southwest. Every project in each region is deserving of funding.

You may call it an imbalance in this development plan, but the northwest has been neglected for long enough.

Me either. The northwest and the southwest have both been neglected, but the northwest has got a massive treasure chest in the plan. I am in agreement with you about the northwest requiring massive investment, but I also agree that the southwest needs similar investment. The southwest (by which I mainly mean Cork and Kerry) is not getting the investment it requires in the plan, comparable to what the NW is getting.

I am more than happy to see the investment the NW is getting especially in relation to the N14 which is a joke, the N2 in Monaghan which is a massive safety issue, the Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass, the N4 in Sligo, the N17 from Charlestown to the N4 roundabout which is very slow and dangerous, the extra bridge over the River Swilly in Letterkenny etc. Don't for a second think I am suggesting defunding these and spending it on the SW, but a bit of balance wouldn't go a stray. We do have better roads on a km per km basis in the SW but we also have multiples of traffic volumes.

Irish_rat wrote: »

The N17 needs an upgrade from Tubbercurry to Colooney.

Agreed, it's in the NDP. I think at least some of it will get done. The fact that Claremorris-Tuam was omitted further helps this

Irish_rat wrote: »

The N15 through Sligo county needs to be sorted.

Badly so, but it won't be done in the next 10 years

Irish_rat wrote: »

The N4 needs few sections upgraded.

I think Mullingar-Longford and the Carrick bypass is pretty much a shoe in for the NDP funding. That just leaves Castlebaldwin-Carrick and Roosky-Longford, the former which can be online widened to 2+2 and the latter a short scheme for dualling.

Irish_rat wrote: »

I think the A5 needs to be dualled to Dublin as the road is so poor right now and the traffic levels can be very high on it.

I think so, but not funded by the South until the South have fully upgraded the approach roads to the A5 (N2/N14) and there is clarity on the border issue.

Irish_rat wrote: »

The N24 is beyond dire, needs serious upgrades.

Cork and Galway need dual rings done, N22, N25 need upgrading.

N21 will be need a bit done.

Big issue here is that those 3 lines require about €3bn of funding. The N24 (110km - approx cost 900m-1bn), Cork North Ring (400m), Galway Ring (600m), N22 Macroom-Ovens (24km 200m) + Macroom-Ballyvourney (22km 160m) + N25 in Cork (30km 220m) + N21 Abbeyfeale-Rathkeale (33km 250m)

Annabella1 wrote: »

Limerick to waterford road
Responsible for all trucks travelling to rosslare from the west and Midwest

I agree, and Limerick Junction-Waterford made it into the NDP.

Donegal Storm wrote: »

The reason the NW is getting proportionally more investment is that it was largely ignored for the entirety of the Celtic Tiger years, aside from some bit-part N2 and N4 upgrades and the Bundoran to Donegal road, access isn't much better than it was in the 90s. The Derry/Letterkenny corridor is, I would estimate, the fourth biggest population centre on the island after Dublin, Belfast and Cork yet it's connected to the rest of the country by old donkey track alignments and as a result it's still an economic backwater.

I'm not at all familiar with the roads in the SW but by all accounts there's also a dearth in infrastructure so would agree there should be more of a focus there as well. I'd have no issues with diverting A5 money to the Cork - Tralee road given the current mess with the border

I would divert all money being spent on the A5, not to Munster but to the N2 and the N14. I see absolutely no reason why 1km of the A5 should be done before the roads that connect to it in the Republic are done. There's little point in upgrading a road in another jurisdiction when the roads that connect to it in your own jurisdiction are a disgrace. It's important to note the relatively high proportion of deaths on the N2 between Ardee and the border also.

Derry/Letterkenny would have huge potential were it not for the border. As long as the border remains in place no amount of dualling of roads is going to solve the issues the border causes. Same with parts of Cavan/Monaghan that are severely economically constrained by the border.