The future of the national secondary network

There was a thread on this subject around the time the motorway network was completed but given the lack of any change since and the resumption of road building with the NDP it may be time for another discussion on the subject

The national secondary road network has remained pretty much as is since the turn of the millennium, meanwhile the national primary network has had a complete overhaul with significant changes on the M1/N2/N3/N4/N5/N6/N7/N8/N9/N10/N11/N17/N18. The national secondary network has had comparatively less investment, and given the large amount of investment required in the national secondary network to bring it up to scratch, it may be time for a reorganisation of the network to reflect needs and the new road network we have.

As mentioned in the last thread, the national secondary network is a very heterogenous network with individual roads serving a wide variety of purposes:

1. Tourist routes: these routes are found in the west of Ireland and are lengthy routes, often coastal or peninsular routes, serving a string of tourist destinations. They are characterised by poor alignment, narrow and twisty sections, and seasonal traffic volumes. Traffic volumes also vary wildly on these roads, especially on approaches to cities and large towns. Roads: N56, N59, N67, N69, N70, N71, N85, N86
2. Interregional arteries: These routes provide connectivity between regions and in most cases intersect many national primary routes. In some cases, end to end journeys on these roads are faster using the motorway network. Roads: N51, N52, N55, N60, N61, N62, N63, N72, N80
3. Short connections between national primary routes and link towns to primary routes: These routes connect national primary routes. Roads: N58 (N5-N26), N60 (Castlebar-N17), N73 (M8-Mallow), N74 (M8-N24), N75 (Thurles-M8)
4. Intertown routes too important for R designation but not important enough for national primary: The inter-regional arteries consist of several of these type of routes chained together, e.g. N72 Mallow-Fermoy, Fermoy-Dungarvan, Mallow-Killarney etc. These routes provide connectivity between big towns and carry reasonably large volumes of traffic. Roads: N53, N54, N58, N65, N68, N69, N70 (Killorglin-Tralee), N76, N77, N78
5. Roads designated as so for political/unexplained reasons: The original national secondary network included the routes N51-N80, from which the N57 (N26), N64 (N18) and N79 (N30) were bumped up to national primary. The N81-N87 routes were added after original designation. Some of these routes parallel primary/improved routes. Roads: N81, N83, N84, N87. Whilst some of these may be contentious, the route of the N81 from end to end is now better served by the M9. The N83 shadows a much improved M17 and N17 (the northern end of the N83 is the quietest section of national road in Ireland). The N84 is a 2nd route from Castlebar-Galway, and the central section is paralleled by an R road that carries more traffic than the N84 itself. The N87 was designated as such after the destruction of Aghalane bridge in the 1970s and the reopening of same has rendered the N87 redundant.

The N66 was detrunked in 2017 as part of the M17/M18 scheme. After the motorway network was opened, several minor changes happened:

• The N52 from Dundalk to Ardee was redesignated R215 and traffic sent via the M1/N33
• The N71 from the N40 to the N22 at Victoria Cross was redesignated R641
• The N77 was extended along the route of the old N8 from Durrow to Portlaoise as the new M8 was built much further west
• The N78 from Kilcullen to Athy was redesignated R418 and the N78 sent via new link road to the M9.
• The N80 from Tullamore to Moate (M6) was redesginated R420 and traffic sent via the N52/M6
• The N81 from the M50 to Dublin City Centre was detrunked along with all other national roads inside the M50 bar the N11 & N31

What are people's opinions on the future of the network? IMO it needs to be overhauled in full, and with a large swathe of new roads planned to open over the next few years as part of the National Development Plan this may be a good exercise to carry out in tandem. The reduced dependency on paper based maps for online ones in these times is another benefit due to the ease of updating.

I will put up another post on what I think needs changing but I'll open it to the floor first.