National Primary Route 1

The first motorway in Ireland to be fully completed end to end, the M1 is highly strategically important as it links Dublin with Belfast via the Northern Ireland road network. It was built between 1985 and 2007.

The N1 route begins in O'Connell St in the very centre of Dublin. It uses the street network to make its way northwards via the inner suburb of Drumcondra. When it reaches Whitehall, the old route swings west and continues to the suburb of Swords as R132, while the newer M1 motorway continues directly north and intersects with the M50 Dublin Ring Road. The old road passes under the M50, then enters and passes Swords, all bypassed and dualled in the 1980s.

This was rendered unnecessary by the bypass-of-the-bypass M1 which ran to the east of the old road and bypass and opened in June 2003. Both old and new routes run north parallel northwards, crossing the Broadmeadow estuary and the village of Lusk, before meeting again near "The Five Roads". North of here, the old route has been dualled for a short distance as part of the Balbriggan bypass which opened in 1998. This section was no longer needed once the motorway was completed to the south in 2003. The old route took a winding route through the rapidly growing beachside town of Balbriggan before resuming its northward way outside the town.

The large regional town of Drogheda lies next on the route. When the old road ran through the town, negotiating the narrow bridge over the mighty Boyne river, this town was a major bottleneck. The M1 bypass opened in June 2003 just before the Airport-Balbriggan extension, taking a winding western route through the countryside. In the distant future, it is possible that the Dublin Outer Ring Road, running in a ring around 40 km from the centre of Dublin, will intersect with the M1 somewhere around this point. The DORR is still very firmly on the drawing board however and will stay there for some time.

Wikipedia page on this road

PICTURES OF THIS ROAD: M1