N20 road (Ireland)

N20 road
Route information
Length:	93 km (58 mi)
Location
Primary destinations:	(bypassed routes in italics) County Limerick Limerick City Dooradoyle Raheen Patrickswell Croom Rockhill County Cork Charleville Buttevant Newtwopothouse Mallow Ballynamona Blarney Killeens Cross Cork
Road network
Roads in Ireland Motorways • Primary • Secondary • Regional

The N20 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting the cities of Cork and Limerick. Buttevant, Croom, Charleville, Mallow and Blarney are major towns along the route. Part of the route is a motorway, designated as the M20 Motorway.

Route

N20 on the dual carriageway bypass into Limerick, approaching the exit for Dooradoyle. This section has been redesignated motorway, effective 28/8/09.

The N20 near Mallow. There is a short stretch of dual-carriageway before it reverts to the single-carriageway layout.

M20 Rosbrien Interchange (Limerick) to Patrickswell

The route starts at junction 1 at the Rosbrien interchange (south of Limerick City) where it connects to the M7 and the N18 which form the Limerick Southern Ring Road. The route continues from this interchange as motorway (see thumbnail). This route was redesignated as motorway in August 2009. The route bypasses Dooradoyle and Raheen, through which the old N20 route used to run until the early 2000s. Interchanges and link roads connect to these locations. Two further interchanges are located on the motorway, at either end of Patrickswell. At the latter, the M/N20 route leaves the main road (which continues as the N21 to Tralee), i.e. one must turn off the dual carriageway to stay on the M/N20.

N20 Patrickswell to Cork City

A wide two lane road brings traffic along the Croom bypass (prior to the opening of this bypass at a cost of €20 million on 12 July 2001, the route went through the town).^[1] Past this new section of road, narrow two-lane road commences, ending at Charleville. The route passes through the town, running along Main Street. The road between Charleville and the next town, Buttevant is of similar design. At Mallow a relatively high specification road is encountered , with an older bypass of the town (early 1990s) passing up the hill from it as dual carriageway. A viaduct brings the road across the Blackwater River and Valley. The rest of the route to Cork is of high quality wide two lane, with a section of 2+1 road (a pilot installation) south of Mallow. The route becomes dual carriageway on the approach to Cork. New relief roads in Cork bring the route into the city centre while avoiding the winding streets through which the route ran until around 2000.

M20 motorway

The M20 outside Limerick city approaching junction 2 northbound

A distance sign on the M20

M20 motorway
Route information
Part of
Length:	8 km (5 mi) Planned length: 90 km (56 mi)
Existed:	2001 – present
History:	Postponed due to lack of funding
Major junctions
From:	Rossbrien
To:	Attyflin
Location
Primary destinations:	Cork City, County Cork, Limerick
Road network
Roads in Ireland Motorways • Primary • Secondary • Regional

Under the government's collapsed Transport 21 initiative,^[2] the Atlantic Corridor road project aimed to link Letterkenny to Waterford via Limerick and Cork with high quality roadway. A major part of this project involved the upgrading of the N20 route between Cork and Limerick.

It was proposed to upgrade or replace the entire N20 with a new M20 motorway, approximately 90 km (56 mi) in length, with up to eight newly constructed junctions or re-configured junctions. It was to be constructed in two stages: a southern section and a northern section.^[3] It is hoped that this project will be progressed as a PPP scheme. Details of progress on the scheme can be found on the Cork National Roads Office website.^[4]

The first segment of M20 motorway came into existence on 28 August 2009 following the approval by the Minister for Transport to redesignate a 10 km (6 mi) of existing N20 dual-carriageway between Rossbrien and Attyflin as motorway.^[5]

On 10 November 2011, owing to funding issues caused by the current financial crisis in Ireland, the government announced that the planned completion of the M20 motorway is to be shelved for the foreseeable future, along with a number of other insfrastructural projects.

Junctions

M20 motorway
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit
Dublin (M7 ), Limerick, Galway (N18)		Start of motorway
Dooradoyle (R926)		Dooradoyle(R926)
Raheen(R510)		Raheen(R510)
Patrickswell(R526)		Patrickswell(R526)
Start of motorway	—	Cork, Mallow (N20) Tralee, Castleisland, Adare (N21)
M20 motorway (in planning)
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit
Adare (N21), Croom	—	Adare (N21), Croom
Bruree, Kilmallock (R518)	—	Bruree, Kilmallock (R518)
Services
Charleville,	—	Charleville,
Buttevant	—	Buttevant
Doneraile, Mallow East (N72)	—	Doneraile, Mallow East (N72)
Mallow South	—	Mallow South
Rathduff, Grenagh	—	Rathduff, Grenagh
Blarney	—	Blarney
Cork Northern Ring Road (N22)	—	Cork Northern Ring Road (N22)
Cork	—	Cork

See also

• Roads in Ireland
• National secondary road
• Regional road

References

1. ^ The Irish Times, July 13, 2001, p. 2.
2. ^ Atlantic Corridor
3. ^ http://www.transport.ie/pressRelease.aspx?Id=46
4. ^ http://www.corkrdo.ie/m20_cork_limerick_motorway_scheme_publications.php
5. ^ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0714/1224250638091.html

External links

• Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 – Department of Transport
• Mallow to Croom scheme
• M20 Cork to Limerick Motorway Scheme Public Consultation Brochure