Ireland is currently undergoing a huge road and motorway building program. The current program, Transport21, runs up to 2015 and provides for the construction of a major motorway and high-capacity trunk road network, as well as a good set of link roads. For decades possessing 19th century road infrastructure, the Republic's network will be catapulted into the 21st century in one go.

Good progress is currently being made, with all motorways linking Dublin with other cities due to be completed by 2010. The rest of the program may be delivered later than the 2015 target date however, due to funding problems and the need to greatly increase the public transport funding envelope too.

Below information can be found on the existing and planned roads. The focus is mainly on motorways.


Update 11/05/2009: Photos added for the M1, N4/M4, M9 and M50, and a video added for the N2, now M2.

Update 21/05/2009: Added discussion on possible new future motorways using currently unassigned numbers.

Update 09/06/2009: Updated Upcoming Roads list with more realistic dates to reflect economic crisis.

Update 24/07/2009: Updated Upcoming Roads list again with revised dates for schemes expected to be delivered using the PPP mechanism such as the M11 Enniscorthy Bypass and the M20 Limerick-Cork motorway.

Update 04/08/2009: Updated Upcoming Roads list one more time(!) with revised dates. This is due to the fact that several projects have currently slipped in their schedule due to the economic crisis. It used to be normal for schemes to come in ahead of schedule so that the construction firm could avail of early completion bonuses, but with little work available to move on to, many firms are preferring to stretch work out and complete on the originally envisaged date instead of earlier.

Update 28/08/2009: Second round of motorway redesignations is now in effect. All affected roads and maps have been updated. Of particular note are the newly created M2, M3, M18, and M20 motorways.

Update 19/10/2009: N25 Waterford Bypass now open. Pictures added for the M7 and M18.

Update 01/02/2010: Data and graph for the motorways completed in 2009 are updated.

Update 15/06/2010: Data for all motorways completed up to 1997 has been added. All motorway data is now listed.

Update 21/06/2010: Limerick Bypass Phase 2 renamed N18 from N7. Video and photos uploaded of M4.

Update 12/07/2010: Video and photos uploaded of M3.

Update 03/09/2010: With the completion of the M50 upgrade, the page on the road has been expanded with additional information.

Last road opening: The M50 upgrade, which comprised widening from 4 to 6 or 8 lanes and reconstruction of most of the motorway's junctions, was completed on September 1st.

Next road opening: The M9 Carlow-Kilkenny scheme will open on September 9th. The scheme is 30 km long and completes the M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway.


Click here for information on recent and upcoming road openings in list format.