N18 road (Ireland)
N18 road | |
---|---|
Bóthar N18 | |
Route information | |
Part of | |
Length | 98.47 km (61.19 mi) |
Location | |
Country | Ireland |
Primary destinations | (bypassed routes in italics)
|
Highway system | |
The N18 road is a
forms part of the route.Route
N18 Limerick to Shannon
As of 27 July 2010, the N18 commences at the
The road continues north with junctions at Hurler's Cross and
M18 Shannon to Gort
The N18 continues north of the N19 junction where motorway regulations are enforced and the N18 route is designated as the M18 bypassing the towns of Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ennis and Gort. The motorway currently ends at Gort where the route continues as a single carriageway through County Galway. The dual-carriageway between Shannon and Ennis (including the Ennis bypass) was included in the second tranche of motorway redesignations and gained motorway status on 28 August 2009.[2]
M18 Gort to Claregalway
The Gort to Tuam (M18/M17) scheme consists of 53.2 km (33.1 mi) of motorway and 4.2 km (2.6 mi) of Type 2 dual-carriageway. DirectRoute (Tuam) Ltd., a consortium consisting of Marguerite Fund, InfraRed Capital Partners, Sisk Group, Lagan Construction Group, Roadbridge and Strabag[3] began construction of the scheme in 2015 and was officially opened on 27 September 2017.
It completed the existing M18 motorway, bypassing the towns of Kilcolgan and Oranmore. The route then continues north to the M6 Dublin–Galway motorway, forming interchange junction 19 on the M6. It then continues northwards bypassing Claregalway. The M18 had terminated at a temporary junction near Gort. In addition, a new section of the N17 was constructed as motorway. This motorway begins at a new junction with the M6 near Athenry, and ends with a dual-carriageway bypass of Tuam, which was also constructed as part of the scheme but was not designated a motorway. The N17 then continues into County Mayo towards Sligo.
History
Major improvements to the N18 route were made in the 2000s and 2010s. Originally the route was a narrow single carriageway route that ran through all the main towns and villages between Limerick and Claregalway where the route terminates. The first improvements involved the dualling of the Limerick, Bunratty and Shannon route. The Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass opened in December 2002 and the Ennis bypass opened in 2007. Both were redesignated as motorway in August 2009. The Limerick Tunnel and phase II of the Limerick Southern Ring Road opened in July 2010 forming a continuous motorway dual-carriageway from the N/M18 to the M7 and M20 outside Limerick. On 12 November 2010 the €207 million Gort to Crusheen (M18) bypass was opened. The remaining single carriageway sections from Gort to Claregalway have been upgraded to motorway standard and were officially opened on 27 September 2017.
Junctions
This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table.(December 2021) |
(Junctions numbered south to north) | |||
Northbound exit | Junction | Southbound exit | |
Dual carriageway continues from M7 ()
| |||
(M7 ) Rossbrien, Cork (M20 ) | Rossbrien, Limerick (city centre) (R509), Cork (M20 ) | ||
Dock Road (N69) | Dock Road (N69) | ||
Shannon Tunnel
| |||
Coonagh West | |||
Ennis Road (former N18) | Ennis Road (former N18) | ||
Cratloe, Sixmilebridge (R462) | Cratloe, (Sixmilebridge) (R462) | ||
Bunratty | Bunratty | ||
Hurler's Cross, Shannon Town, (Sixmilebridge) (R471 )
|
Hurler's Cross, Sixmilebridge, Shannon Town (R471) | ||
Shannon Town Centre (R471) | no access | ||
Northbound exit | Junction | Southbound exit | |
N19 )
|
N19 )
| ||
Newmarket-on-Fergus (R472) | Newmarket-on-Fergus (R472) | ||
Clarecastle (R458) | Clarecastle (R458) | ||
Ennis (N85) | Ennis (N85) | ||
Ennis, Scarriff, Tulla (R352) | Ennis, Scarriff, Tulla (R352) | ||
Ennis (R458) | Ennis (R458) | ||
Crusheen (R458) | Crusheen (R458) | ||
Gort (R458) | Gort (R458) | ||
Kiltiernan
|
Kiltiernan
| ||
) | ) | ||
Motorway continues as M17
|
See also
- Roads in Ireland
- Motorways in Ireland
- National secondary road
- Regional road
References
- ^ Atlantic Corridor Archived 2008-12-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Gort to Tuam Motorway". DirectRoute. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 – Department of Transport