National Primary Route 55

As detailed in other proposals, the Border area of the Republic suffers from poor road access. Routes like the proposed N34 create movements where none is currently provided, while other upgrades consist of replacing or upgrading an existing road. The N55 is one such linkage, which will create a single-carriageway road from Athlone in the centre of the island northwards to the N34 and onwards to Northern Ireland.

The current standard of the route is very poor. It has never received meaningful improvements and an entirely new offline build will be necessary to bring it up to international norms.

The route can be divided into two sections with a good quality part in between that does not require an improvement. The southern section originates at junction 8 of the M6 - moved from the inappropriate junction 10 which is by now an Athlone urban road - from where it parallels closely the existing N55 before terminating east of Edgeworthstown, 37 kilometres later.

The 23 km northern section takes up the challenge around Granard just at the entrance to the town. It cuts a deviation off the existing route by heading directly northeast and finishes up one and half kilometres south of Cavan town and the proposed N34. From here, motorists can continue on the N3 to the Border and Enniskillen, or further north along a reconstructed N54 to Monaghan and the N2, listed in a separate proposal.

Wikipedia page on this road