N18 road (Ireland)

N18 road
Part of
Location
Primary destinations:	(bypassed routes in italics) County Limerick Limerick City Crosses River Shannon via Limerick Tunnel County Clare Cratloe Sixmilebridge Bunratty Shannon Shannon Airport (via N19) Newmarket on Fergus Clarecastle Ennis Barefield Crusheen County Galway Gort Ardrahan Kilcolgan Clarinbridge Oranmore Terminates at N17 in Claregalway
Road network
Roads in Ireland Motorways • Primary • Secondary • Regional

The N18 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting the cities of Limerick and Galway. Ennis and Gort are two major towns on the route, and Shannon Airport is reached via the connecting N19. The west coast route continues on to Sligo as the N17. The section from Limerick to the N19 junction forms part of European route E20, and the entire route is part of the proposed Atlantic Corridor.^[1] The section of motorway from Shannon to north of Ennis is designated the M18 motorway. The tolled Limerick Tunnel forms part of the route.

Route

Looking South from the Ennis junction flyover. This section of HQDC has been redesignated as motorway, effective 28/8/09.

N18 Limerick to Shannon

As of 27 July 2010, the N18 commences at the Rosbrien interchange, a major interchange south of Limerick city, where it joins the M7 motorway to Dublin and M20 motorway towards Cork and Tralee. The dual carriageway continues north, intersecting with the N69 road, before crossing under the River Shannon using the Limerick Tunnel, this section of the route forms phase II of the Limerick Southern Ring Road. North of the River Shannon the N18 continues as dual-carriageway bypassing Cratloe, Sixmilebridge and Bunratty. The road passed alongside Bunratty Castle before the completion of the neighbouring dual-carriageway section in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The other nearby junctions were also converted to fly-overs in the 1990s.

Travelling Southbound on the N18 near the Shannon Town/Airport exit.

The road continues north with junctions at Hurler's Cross and Shannon Town, there is a fly-over connecting Shannon Airport via the N19 dual-carriageway.

M18 Shannon to Gort

The N18 continues north of the N19 junction where motorway regulations are enforced and the N18 route is designated as the M18 bypassing the towns of Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ennis and Gort. The motorway currently ends at Gort where the route continues as a single carriageway through County Galway. The dual-carriageway between Shannon and Ennis (including the Ennis bypass) has been included in the second tranche of motorway redesignations and gained motorway status on the 28th of August 2009.^[2]

M18/N18 Exits

Dual Carriageway

01 M7/M20/N21 Rosbrien Interchange Dublin-Cork-Tralee
02 N69 Dock Road - Foynes/ Listowel/ Tralee
03 Coonagh West - Northbound Exit and Southbound Entry
04 R445 City
05 Cratloe/ Sixmilebridge
06 Bunratty
06a Bunratty Southbound
07 Sixmilbridge
08 Shannon Town/ Smithstown Northbound only

Motorway

09 Shannon Airport
10 Newmarket on Fergus
11 Quin/ Clarecastle
12 N85 Ennis/ Ennistymon/Kilrush
13 Tulla Scarriff
14 Barefield/ Ennis North
15 Crusheen/Ballinruan/Tubber/Killanena
16 Gort N66 Loughrea

N18 Gort to Claregalway

North of Gort the route continues north as single carriageway road and passes through several small towns, including Kilcolgan, where the N67 route through north County Clare connects. The N18 bypasses Oranmore, just outside Galway, and continues north to the M6 Dublin–Galway motorway. The interchange forms junction 19 on the M6. The N18 continues northwards to meet the N17 at Claregalway, where the route ends. The N17, coming from Galway city centre, continues into County Mayo towards Sligo.

History

Gort-Crusheen under construction (June 2009): The grade separated junction at Gort.

Major improvements to the N18 route have been made over the past decade. Originally the route was a narrow single carriageway route that ran through all the main towns and villages between Limerick and Claregalway where the route terminates. The first improvements involved the dualling of the Limerick, Bunratty and Shannon route. The Newmarket on Fergus bypass opened in December 2002 and the Ennis bypass opened in 2007. Both were redesignated as motorway in August 2009. The Limerick Tunnel and phase II of the Limerick Southern Ring Road opened in July 2010 forming a continuous motorway dual-carriageway from the N/M18 to the M7 and M20 outside Limerick. On November 12, 2010 the €207 million Gort to Crusheen(M18) bypass was opened. The remaining single carriageway sections are due for upgradeing with construction due to begin in 2011.

Future Upgrades

Gort to Oranmore (Construction Begins January 2011)

The Gort to Tuam (M18/M17) route is 58km (36 mi.) long and the BAM Balfour Beatty Consortium will begin construction in January 2011. It is expected that work on the project will be completed by 2014. This project involves the proposed construction of a new standard 'High-quality dual carriageway' from Gort to Oranmore, a total distance of 27 km (17 mi). It will connect to the M17 Motorway where they cross the M6 Motorway. This has also been included in the second tranche of motorway redesignations and is likely to open as motorway.^[3]

Junctions

N18 National Route
(Junctions numbered south to north)
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit
Dual carriageway continues from M7 ()
(M7 )_Rossbrien,_Cork_(M20_) Rossbrien, Cork (M20 )		Rossbrien, Limerick (city centre) (R509), Cork (M20 )
Dock Road (N69)		Dock Road (N69)
Shannon Tunnel
Coonagh West		Coonagh West
Ennis Road (former N18)		Ennis Road (former N18)
Cratloe, Sixmilebridge (R462)		Cratloe, (Sixmilebridge) (R462)
Bunratty		Bunratty
Hurler's Cross, Shannon Town, (Sixmilebridge) (R471)		Hurler's Cross, Sixmilebridge, Shannon Town (R471)
Shannon Town Centre (R471)		no access
M18 motorway
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit
Shannon (N19)		Shannon (N19)
Newmarket on Fergus (R472)		Newmarket on Fergus (R472)
Clarecastle (R458)		Clarecastle (R458)
Ennis (N85)		Ennis (N85)
Ennis, Scarriff, Tulla (R352)		Ennis, Scarriff, Tulla (R352)
Ennis (R458)		Ennis (R458)
Crusheen (R458)		Crusheen (R458)
Gort (R458)		Gort (R458)
M18 motorway (construction imminent)
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit	Completion
Kiltiernan		Kiltiernan	No official date
Galway, Athlone, Dublin (M6 )		Galway, Athlone, Dublin (M6 )
Motorway continues as M17

See also

• Roads in Ireland
• Motorways in Ireland
• National secondary road
• Regional road

References

1. ^ Atlantic Corridor
2. ^ http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/10978-11.pdf
3. ^ http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/10978-11.pdf

• Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 – Department of Transport

External links

• Ennisbypass.ie – N18 website
• willsbros.com - Contractor's website