N4 road (Ireland)
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* 2+2 bypass completed November 2007. † Inner relief road ‡ Roosky itself is in County Roscommon. |
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The N4 road is a National Primary Route in Ireland, running from Dublin to the northwest of Ireland and Sligo Town. The N6 road to Galway diverges from this route after Kinnegad, while the N5 road to Castlebar and Westport diverges at Longford town. The section of the N4 that is motorway standard is designated the M4 motorway.
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[edit] Road Standard
The road is a dual carriageway from O'Connell Bridge, Dublin to Mullingar (including the motorway section). The section following the north and south quays in Dublin between O'Connell Bridge and Heuston Station has the River Liffey as its median. [1] This section of road intersects with the M50 motorway at Junction 7. The Liffey Valley Shopping Centre is located at this junction. It has three lanes and a bus lane in each direction between the M50 and east of Lucan. The speed limit was initially 40mph (60 km/h from January 2005) after its upgrade in 1999, despite the quality of the road. In June 2005, the speed limit was increased to 80 km/h. The N4 is the only one of the main inter-urban national routes whose dual carriageway section runs right into the city centre. For this reason, the start point of the N7 was changed to its junction with the M50 in 1994, with N7 traffic encouraged to use the M50 and N4 between the city centre and Red Cow rather than its original route through Inchicore. Heading west, the PPP motorway section (see below) ends west of Kinnegad, 5 km of road built to motorway standard (ie grade separated, no junctions and no median crossings) connects the M4 to a 5 km stretch of low-grade dual-carriageway with crossings which connects in turn to the Mullingar bypass. The Mullingar bypass is grade separated and to near-motorway standard. Dromod and Rooskey were bypassed in late 2007. This section of road consists of 3 roundabouts and Type 2 Dual Carriageway, ie: 2 lanes in each direction and no hard shoulder. The road becomes near-motorway standard dual carriageway again at Collooney, approaching Sligo town.
[edit] M4 Motorway
The section from Leixlip to west of Kinnegad is the M4 motorway. The first section of this motorway (Leixlip - Kilcock) was opened in 1994.
[edit] Tolled Section of the M4 Motorway
Under the Government announcement of the pilot projects on 1 June 1999 this project was to be assessed by the NRA for its suitability to be advanced as a PPP. Subsequently the project was included as one of the projects approved under Tranche II of the PPP Roads programme as announced by the NRA in June 2000. The project involved the construction of 39 km of motorway from Kinnegad to Kilcock and is an extension of the Kilcock-Maynooth-Leixlip motorway on the N4/N6 Sligo/Galway to Dublin route. The Motorway by-passes the towns of Enfield and Kinnegad.
The PPP contract was awarded in March 2003 to the EuroLink Consortium (SIAC Construction Ltd and Cintra - Concesiones de Infraestrucutras de Transporte S.A.) and allows for them to collect tolls for 30 years from that date.
This tolled section from (Kilcock - Kinnegad) opened on 12 December 2005, and is the most expensive toll road in Ireland. A toll of €2.70 for cars is charged at a toll plaza just west of Kilcock and at smaller toll plazas at on and off ramps at Enfield. Between Enfield and Kinnegad no further access to the M4 is possible.
Eurolink operate this toll scheme, the first in Ireland not operated by NTR plc. From 2005 to 2007, Eurolink started to accept several tags issued by other Motorways such as M1, M8, eTrip and Dublin Port Tunnel tags. Finally on 14 June 2007 NTR plc joined the Nationwide Electronic Toll Payment System introducing their popular EazyPass tags on the system and allowing all other Toll Plazas in the Country (different from those owned by NTR plc) to accept them [1], meaning that each toll company's electronic tag will work on all toll roads in the State.
In the July 1, 2006 edition of the Meath Chronicle it was claimed that up to 10% of the €420 million road project had "to be ripped up and replaced" shortly after it opened due to rushed construction, however this cost would have had to be carried by the toll operators, not the state, as per the contract.
The bypassed former N4 road, has been reclassified as the R148.
[edit] Motorway Route
| M4 motorway | |
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| Part of National Route |  |
| Length | 55 km (34 miles) |
| Direction | East - West |
| Start | Lucan |
| Primary destinations | Leixlip Kilcock Enfield |
| End | Kinnegad |
| Construction dates | 1994–2003 - 2005 |
| Motorways joined | 11 -  M6 motorway |
| Other National Routes joined | None |
(Note: Junction numbers are being reassigned). Currently, Junction 2a is the only motorway junction number in the Republic of Ireland to have a letter, as it was constructed later between the present junctions 2 and 3. New tourist signage at this junction refers to it as Junction 6, though the original directional signage has as of 2008 not been altered. As of March 2008 junction 1 has appeared on the recently erected sign at the newly reconstructed junction with the M50. Also maps on the National Roads Authority website for the Leixlip to M50 upgrade show new numbers for the junctions and count from the M50 westwards [2]
The Mullingar bypass also has a separate set of junction numbers beginning with J9.
| M4 Motorway | ||
| Westbound | Junction | Eastbound |
| Start of motorway | 2 | Leixlip, Celbridge R148 |
| Leixlip West, Celbridge West R449 | 2a (new signs read 6) | Leixlip West, Celbridge West R449 |
| Maynooth, Clane, Naas | 3 | Maynooth, Naas |
| Kilcock, Clane R407 | 8 | Kilcock, Clane R407 |
| Toll plaza | ||
| Enfield, Edenderry R402 | 9 | Enfield, Edenderry R402 |
| Kinnegad R401 | 10 | Kinnegad R401 |
| Galway, Athlone N6 | 11 | No exit - traffic joins from M6 |
| Kinnegad | 12 | Start of motorway regulations |
[edit] Future upgrades
Work is ongoing in upgrading the N4/M50 interchange to a freeflowing fully grade separated junction. As of May 2008, all movements at this junction were are free-flowing, however, re-alignment and landscaping work is ongoing. For more details, see the M50 motorway article.
In late 2007, clearance work began on an upgrade to the section between the M50 junction and the Leixlip interchange which will see the road upgraded to three lanes in each direction, the remaining median crossings removed, and the junction with the R120 road upgraded to a fully grade-separated junction. Private accesses and some left turns will remain after this upgrade thus preventing the section from being designated a motorway, in addition, the speed limit will still be 80 km/h after the upgrade is completed. As of May 2008 construction work on this project is progressing well. [2]
[edit] Planned improvements to the route
- N4 at The Downs, east of Mullingar; 5 km upgraded dual carriageway ; at constraints study stage, existing road is low quality dual carriageway [3]
- Mullingar bypass to Longford; 40 km dual carriageway ; at constraints study stage [4]
- Dromod to Carrick on Shannon; 11 km; at feasibility study stage [5]
- Carrick on Shannon Bypass; 10 km; preliminary design stage [6]
- Cortober to Castlebaldwin; 28 km retro upgrade of standard single carriageway road to 2+1 road; at constraints study stage [7]
- Collooney to Castlebaldwin; 15 km greenfield 2+2 road; at preliminary design stage [8]
- Sligo Western Relief Road; 8 km; at feasibility study stage [9]
- The motorway-style dual carriageway of the N4, running from Collooney - 15 km outside Sligo - to Summerhill in Sligo town is expected to be re-classified as Motorway in the near future.
[edit] References
- Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 (PDF)- Department of Transport
- Roads Act, 1993 (Classification of National Roads) (Kilkock - Kinnegad Route) Order, 2003
- Eurolink Motorway M4 website
- ^ Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads Order) 2006 http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/7616-0.pdf
- ^ Map of Leixlip to M50 Upgrade http://www.nra.ie/RoadSchemeActivity/SouthDublinCountyCouncil/N4LeixliptoM50Junction/Map,11578,en.pdf
- ^ N4 The Downs Grade Separation
- ^ N4 Mullingar to Longford
- ^ N4 Carrick on Shannon to Dromod
- ^ N4 Carrick on Shannon Bypass
- ^ N4 Cortober to Castlebaldwin
- ^ N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin
- ^ N4 Sligo Western Relief Road
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