European route E01

The European route E01 (or nowadays simply E1) is a series of roads in Europe, part of the United Nations International E-road network, running from Larne, Northern Ireland to Seville, Spain. There is a sea crossing between Rosslare Harbour, in Ireland, and A Coruña, but no ferry service. The road also passes through Portugal – past the city of Porto, through the capital, Lisbon, and then south to the Algarve, passing Faro before reaching the Spanish border west of Huelva.

Northern Ireland

As with all E-roads in the United Kingdom, the E1 is not signed in Northern Ireland. It begins in Larne, County Antrim as the A8 road. A short section of the A8 at Newtownabbey is under motorway regulations and is signed as the A8(M) motorway. This motorway joins the much longer M2 motorway to Belfast. At Belfast, the road becomes the A12 Westlink, a dual carriageway which joins the M2 with the M1 motorway. The A1 road leaves the motorway near Lisburn and continues south as a mixture of dual carriageway and standard highway (single carriageway road) until a final stretch of dual carriageway begins after Newry. This takes the road over the border to the Republic of Ireland.

Republic of Ireland

The dual carriageway continues in the Republic of Ireland as the N1, which from Ballymascanlon in Co. Louth onwards is under motorway regulations and signed as the M1 motorway. The road follows the M1 south to Dublin, where, in the northern suburbs, it meets Dublin's ring road, the M50 motorway. It follows the M50 through the outer suburbs of Dublin until it meets the short M11 motorway near Shankill. The M11 continues as a dual carriageway, the N11 road, south of Bray in Co. Wicklow. Apart from a short section of standard highway (single carriageway road) between Rathnew and Arklow in Co. Wicklow, the road is now dual carriageway to south of Gorey in Co. Wexford. Following this, the remainder of the route in Ireland is single carriageway and passes through several towns and villages. The N11 continues to Wexford, where at a junction outside the town it meets the N25 road from Cork. The route follows the N25 to its final destination in Ireland of Rosslare Europort.

The E1, like all E-roads, was not signed at all in the Republic of Ireland until 2007. The section bypassing Gorey, opened in 2007, was the first section in Ireland to carry any "E-01" signage, although the route number only appears on route confirmation signs - and on no other directional signage - on the bypass and is in rather small type. The number was added to most route confirmation signs on the M1 in July 2008 and appears on one route confirmation sign at Kilpedder on the N11. It has yet to make an appearance on any other directional signage however.

pain

The E01 goes through Spain twice. The northern Spanish strech is between A Coruña and Tui at the Portuguese border. It follows the motorway AP-9, and pass near the cities A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra and Vigo. The border is in the Rio Minho river, at the city Tui.

Portugal

In Portugal, the route is composed of the following sections, always as a motorway (called auto-estrada in Portuguese):
*A3: Valença (border) - Braga - Porto
*A1: Porto - Coimbra - Lisbon
*A2: Lisbon - Albufeira
*A22: Albufeira - Castro Marim (border)

pain

The second time through Spain for the E01 is on the stretch is between Ayamonte at the Portuguese border and Sevilla. It follows the motorway A-49, and pass near the city Huelva. The border is in the Guadiana river.