N7 road (Ireland)
N7 road | |
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Bóthar N7 | |
Route information | |
Part of | |
Length | 186.89 km (116.13 mi) |
Location | |
Country | Ireland |
Primary destinations | (bypassed routes in italics) |
Highway system | |
The N7 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting Limerick and Dublin. The majority of the route (between Naas and Limerick) is motorway standard and is designated as the M7 motorway. At the Rosbrien interchange in Limerick the route continues as the N18 dual carriageway to Galway, Shannon and Ennis. The road passes through the midlands of Ireland, and acts as a trunk route out of Dublin for the N8 and N9 national primary routes to Cork and Waterford respectively. It forms part of European route E20.
Route
N7 - Naas Road
From the
At Newlands Cross a flyover and exit slip roads replaced the at-grade signal-controlled crossing in November 2014.[1] This eliminated the last signal-controlled crossing on the N7/M7 route between the M50 and Limerick. Traffic for Clondalkin to the north and Tallaght to the south leave the N7 by slip roads connecting to the R113. The N7 continues southwards to bypass Citywest, Saggart, Rathcoole, Kill and Johnstown in County Kildare. These locations are all served with grade-separated interchanges which were constructed as part of the upgrade works completed in the mid-2000s. The old junctions consisted of traffic lights with a break in the dual-carriageway median. The three-lane section used to end at junction 9 (Naas, Sallins) with a left-hand lane-drop/lane-gain for traffic leaving/entering here.
The section of the N7 between Naas and the M50 Motorway is the second busiest road in the country with frequent daily tailbacks from the Naas North junction on the southbound side.
This part of the route is the only section that remains designated as N7 as the road is not motorway standard. Left-in/left-out access is provided to minor roads and to homes, farms and businesses along this section.
M7 - Naas to Limerick
From Naas, motorway restrictions are enforced and the route is designated as the M7 motorway. The route continues in a south-west direction bypassing the towns of
History
Originally the N7 was a single carriage-way route between Dublin and Limerick and passed through the main towns on the route that are now bypassed. The old N7 route was downgraded to regional road status (as soon as sections of the M7 motorway were complete) and is currently designated as the R445 road. The R445 is an alternative route between Limerick and Dublin.
Until 2012, the N7 was the only one of the inter-urban routes out of Dublin which did not commence in Dublin city centre, but rather at the M50. The original N7 route (under the Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act, 1974 (Declaration of National Roads) Order, 1977) started the route in Dublin city centre, like the other national routes, with the route originally running through
rather than the original route through Inchicore.The N7 is noted for two firsts in the history of Irish roads - the first substantial length of dual carriageway in Ireland, running 26 km (16 mi) from Dublin to Naas which was completed in 1968 and also Ireland's first section of motorway, the 8 km (5.0 mi) Naas Bypass, opened in 1983 bypassing the original route through the town.
The old N7 route (now R445/R110) also formed most of the T5 trunk route between Dublin and Limerick. This was an old method of designating routes in Ireland before the current method was introduced.
History of upgrades to the N7 and M7
Towards the start of the 21st Century, a substantial effort was made to upgrade all sections of the N7 road to motorway standard, creating a high-quality standard connection between Dublin and Limerick. Prior to the year 2000, only short sections of the N7 were of motorway or dual-carriageway status:
- Widening of the N7 between Dublin and Naas to dual carriageway status - 1960s (the third lane constructed each way completed in 2006)
- M7 Naas Bypass - completed 1983
- M7 Newbridge Bypass - completed 1993
- M7 Portlaoise Bypass - completed 1997
As part of the
- M7 Kildare Bypass - completed 2003
- M7 Monasterevin Bypass and Limerick Bypass - completed in 2004
- M7 Nenagh to Limerick, Portlaoise to Castletown and Castletown to Nenagh - all completed in 2010.
Map of route
Junctions
This section is missing kilometre posts for junctions. |
The junctions on the Naas Bypass and Newbridge Bypass sections of the M7 were previously numbered J7-J11 (now renumbered Junctions 9–13), in the expectation that an M7 motorway would be built along a new alignment. Instead, the Naas Road dual-carriageway was upgraded. There remain some private accesses and minor exits prior to J9, the beginning of the M7 motorway.
Junctions 9–30 apply of the motorway section of the N7.
County | km | mi | Junction | Destinations | Notes | |
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County Dublin | ||||||
1 | M 50 – Dublin Airport, Dublin Port, Dún Laoghaire | Continues as R110 towards city centre. | ||||
L 1019 – Clondalkin | Red Cow Luas Park and Ride
LILO junction. Westbound entrance and exit only.
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1a | R 113 ‒ Tallaght, Clondalkin | |||||
L 1003 – Boot Road | Eastbound exit only. | |||||
2 | R 136 – Grange Castle, Kingswood | Cheeverstown Luas Park and Ride | ||||
3 | L 2011 – Blessington, Citywest | LILO junction.
Partially signposted as defunct N82 road.
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3a | L 2002 – Saggart, Citywest | LILO junction. Westbound entrance and exit only. | ||||
L 2006 – Baldonnel | Casement Aerodrome
LILO junction. Eastbound entrance and exit only. | |||||
4 | R 120 – Saggart, Rathcoole, Newcastle | |||||
L 2004 – Rathcoole | LILO junction. Westbound entrance and exit only. | |||||
L 6062 – Tootenhill | LILO junction. Westbound entrance and exit only. | |||||
L 6012 – Colmanstown Lane | LILO junction. Eastbound entrance and exit only. | |||||
5 | L 6010 – | LILO junction. | ||||
County Kildare | ||||||
6 | R 446 ‒ Castlewarden, Kilteel | |||||
7 | L 2014 – Kill (North) L 2007 – Straffan |
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8 | L 2014 – Johnstown, Kill (westbound)
Kill (South) (eastbound) |
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9 | R 445 – Naas (North) (westbound) | Continues as M7 motorway. | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
- Roads in Ireland
- Motorways in Ireland
- National secondary road
- Regional road
References
- ^ "Newlands Cross flyover opens ahead of schedule". irishtimes.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015.