SCHEMES CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Scheme	Standard	km	Stage	Work Started	Opening Date
N3 Belturbet BP	SC	6.7	Construction	2011-05-03	2013-05
N5 Longford Bypass	SC	2.6	Construction	2011-05-12	2012-12
N87 Ballyconnell Inner Relief Road	SC	1.4	Construction	2011-06	2012-08
N69/N70/N22 Tralee BP (N22 section)	SC	5.5	Construction	2011-07-12	2013-04
N69/N70/N22 Tralee BP (N69-N70 section)	D2AP	8	Construction	2011-07-12	2013-04
N25 Cork Southern Ring Interchanges	HQDC	3	Construction	2011-07-30	2013-07
N4 Jct 14 The Downs Grade Separation	HQDC	5	Construction	2012-01	2012-12
M1 Jct 3-4 Drinan-Lissenhall 4 to 6 lanes	Widening	0	Construction	2012-01-25	2012-11-30
N52 Carrick Bridge to Clonfad (Dalystown)	SC	5.6	Tender	Early 2012	?
R132 Collinstown Cross to Airport Roundabout	D2AP	1.3	Tender	Early 2012	End 2012
R402 Enfield to Edenderry	SC	10.2	Tender	2012-03
N7 Jct 1B(?) Newlands Cross GS	HQDC	0	Tender	2012-06-01	2013-12
M11 Arklow to Rathnew	M	16.4	Tender	2012-06-01	2014-06
N5 Ballaghaderreen Bypass	SC	13.6	Tender	2012	2013-12
M17/M18 Gort-Athenry-Tuam	M	53.4	Approved; no funding	2013?	2016
N17 Tuam BP	D2AP	4.2	Approved; no funding	2013?	2016

Click here for the full project tracker list, including information on all major previous and upcoming road openings.

NEWS

Update 05/02/2012: The Futures section has been expanded. I've added more proposals for motorway upgrades, proposals for strategic motorway widening, and a new section on proposed junction upgrades. These last only cover Dublin for the moment, as I am less familiar with the traffic needs of the country's regional cities.

Update 21/01/2012: The N4 Downs Grade Separation scheme is underway. This will see 5 km of dual carriageway widened slightly from standard to high-quality dual and the construction of a grade-separated interchange, which will presumably be numbered 14 since it lies halfway between 13 and 15, though this has not been officially confirmed. The median will also be closed to turning vehicles and many side entrances will be closed. (Despite this, it will still not be possible to declare the section a motorway, as some frontage access will remain.)

Works should be complete by December 2012. A map can be found at the bottom of the M4 page.

Update 12/01/2012: M1 Jct 3-4 Drinan-Lissenhall Widening will get underway on the 25th January. This project will continue last year's M1 widening near Dublin Airport, extending the 6-laned section a further 4 kilometres. It will be completed by the end of November.

It was recently announced that the N7/M11 Newlands Cross/Arklow-Rathnew combined PPP scheme has been funded using a combination of European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bank of Ireland (BoI) money. This was possible because the Irish Government now owns a majority stake in Bank of Ireland, due to bailouts resulting from the economic crisis currently gripping the country. Both will start at the same time in around 6 months. However, the other proposed PPP, the M17/M18 project, remains unfunded and no start date is yet known.

Here is the finalised list of projects to take place in 2012.

Under Construction:
M1 Jct 3-4 Drinan-Lissenhall Widening to 6 lanes (4 km)

To Start ASAP:
N4 The Downs Grade Separation (5.4 km)
N52 Carrick Bridge to Clonfad (6 km)

To Start June 1st:
M11 Wicklow-Arklow (16.5 km)
N7 Newlands Cross Interchange (Junction 1B?) (1.8 km)

To Be Progressed to Construction by Year End:
N5 Ballaghadereen BP (13.5 km)

Budget Assigned for 2012 but PPP Uncertainty:
M17/18 Gort to Tuam (56 km)

Update 09/08/2011: Disaster! The Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, has suspended 45 active road schemes in a move to slash spending as part of austerity measures. Work will continue on each project until a preferred route is identified, at which point no further work is to occur until further notice. This puts most of the road projects for 2012 and onwards on ice, only leaving a very short list:

M1 Jct 3-4 Drinan-Lissenhall (Widening from 4 to 6 lanes)
N5/N59 South Westport Relief Road - This appears to be an oversight as it has not appeared in any other short-range plans.
N7 Jct 1B Newlands Cross Interchange & M11 Arklow to Rathnew
M17/M18 Gort-Athenry-Tuam & N17 Tuam BP
M20 Limerick-Cork (Northern Section)
M20 Limerick-Cork (Southern Section)

Nearly all of the above plans are PPPs, meaning that even though they are still active, they will be contingent on borrowing being possible - which is unlikely with Ireland's credit rating being what it is.

Update 04/08/2011: The Tralee Bypass is underway. It does not have its own page, but appears on the map. It involves a dual carriageway bypass east of Tralee and a single carriageway link to the N22 at Bealagrellagh.

Update 30/07/2011: The Cork Southern Ring project is underway. According to this article, there seems to be discussion ongoing over whether the route should be declared a motorway when works are complete. However, it is doubtful that this could occur until the N25/N8 Dunkettle Interchange project is upgraded, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2014 according to the dedicated site.

Update 06/07/2011: The N25 Cork Southern Ring Interchange project, a scheme to grade separate two of the roundabouts on the Cork southern ring road, kicks off on the 30th. When this is complete around July 2013, the whole southern ring road, from Ballincollig in the west to Dunkettle in the east, will be built to a very high standard. In the next few weeks, the N22/N69/N70 Tralee Bypass dual carriageway bypass scheme will also commence construction. Both of these schemes are listed on the full project tracker list.

RECENTLY COMPLETED MAJOR SCHEMES TRACKER

Sep 1st, 2010: M50 upgrade, which comprised widening from 4 to 6 or 8 lanes and reconstruction of most of the motorway's junctions. It cost €950M and took a total of 4 years for all three phases. Launch article.
Sep 9th: M9 Carlow-Kilkenny motorway. The scheme is 30 km long and completes the M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway.
Sep 28th: M7 Nenagh-Birdhill road was completed following its delay due to collapsing into a bog. Significant reinforcement works were needed.
Nov 12th: M18 Crusheen-Gort motorway. This bridged the penultimate gap in the road between Galway and Limerick.
Dec 22nd: M7 Castletown-Nenagh, which is the final section of the M7 and completes the Interurban Motorway Programme.
June 17th, 2011: M1 Jct 2-3 Airport-Drinan Widening is complete. This minor project expanded 2 km of the motorway from 4 to 6 lanes.

Click here for the full major project tracker list, including information on all previous and upcoming road openings.

EXISTING ROAD PROGRAMME MAP
Originally to be completed by 2015. In 2010, the programme was slowed due to the economic crisis. 2020 is a more likely date.
	Key to map Blue : Motorways Red : HQDCs - High Quality Dual Carriageways; many of these are likely to be redesignated motorways Dark Green : Standard dual carriageways or 2+2s (DC without stopping lanes) Light Green : Major single carriageway roads

MOTORWAY MATRIX

Bolded roads exist or will soon; unbolded may potentially be created in the future. Futher discussion on this.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0   M1 M2 M3 M4   M6 M7 M8 M9 1 M10 M11           M17 M18   2 M20 M21 M22   M24 M25     M28   3     M32               4 M40                   5 M50                   In addition, no sections of the N25 are motorway but the Waterford Bypass narrowly missed getting the designation in 2009 and it is likely that some may be created in future. Therefore it has its own page.

CITY ROAD NETWORKS

Click here to see views of the future road networks around the various cities of Ireland.