National Primary Route 18

The N18 is a very important regional strategic route linking the cities of Limerick and Galway via the large town of Ennis and the major airport at Shannon beside the mouth of the eponymous river.

The old route began in Limerick city centre where it crossed the Shannon. As Cantrell Road, it looped up to the Ennis Road. Turning left, the road reached the townland of Cratloemoyle where Phase 2 of the Limerick Southern Ring Road intersected. This latter project was opened in July 2010 and bypassed the city section. (See the M7 page for more detail). The N18 road then runs for around eight kilometres as a poor-standard dual carriageway, with a lot of hotels and other frontage development. Next the road passes the popular tourist attraction of Bunratty Castle and a few grade separated junctions. At the area known as Hurler's Cross, the road was taken on a new alignment in November 2003 that saw it bypass Shannon. The N19 road, a spur which leads from the N18 through Shannon town to the airport, was also rebuilt nearby as a dual carriageway. The old N19 passed through the town's main street and is now known as R471. Shannon town was a planned town designed to act as a population base for the airport and its nearby industrial zones.

North of here, the new route bypasses (September 2002) the old village of Newmarket-on-Fergus before again bypassing (January 2007) the much larger town of Ennis. The old route wound its way northwest into the town and northeast out of it again, whereas the bypass cuts the corner. The single carriageway N85 route was also replaced with a new alignment that bypassed the town to the west. All of these N18 sections were redesignated motorway in August 2009.

Beyond this point, the old route is a winding, narrow country lane, completely unfit for use as a main road connecting two cities. Two further major schemes will eventually take the M18 as far as the town of Athenry east of Galway. The first brought the motorway to Gort in November 2010, with Athenry following around 2013. The Gort-Athenry scheme will take the route substantially further to the east, intersecting to the west of Athenry with the M6 motorway. From here, the future M17 motorway will continue the road northwards to Tuam by 2013, and a dual carriageway will eventually lead to Sligo.

Wikipedia page on this road

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