M6 motorway (Ireland)

The M6 motorway (Irish: Mótarbhealach M6) is a motorway in Ireland, forming part of the N6 Dublin to Galway national primary road. Substantial works are underway to extend the M6 from its junction with the M4 at Kinnegad all the way to Galway City. By late 2010 the motorway will have replaced almost all of the single carriageway N6.

Route

Near Kinnegad, the M6 motorway emerges from the M4 at a restricted access junction.

Kinnegad to Ballinasloe

A motorway stretches from the M4 at Kinnegad to the start of the Athlone bypass. It resumes at the end of the bypass and continues to Ballinasloe. The route opened in stages.

• The first section, from Kinnegad to Tyrrellspass, opened on 5 December 2006. [1]

• The second section, a Template:Km to mi stretch from Tyrellspass to Kilbeggan, opened on 16 May 2007.

• The section connecting Kilbeggan to the eastern end of the Athlone by-pass opened on 16 July 2008. Since 24 September 2008, motorway regulations apply from Kinnegad to the eastern end of the Athlone bypass. [2]. The Kinnegad-Athlone had been signed as a motorway (and numbered "M6") and had the road markings appropriate to a motorway in preparation for this - however motorway regulations were not in force and the speed limit was 100 km/h until 24 September.

• On 23 July 2009 a 19km section between Athlone and Ballinasloe was opened. It was built as a grade separated HQDC to motorway standard and will be designated motorway on 28th August 2009. Until this date, the scheme will have a reduced speed limit of 100km/h as opposed to the greater limit of 120km/h applicable to most motorways and HQDCs in Ireland. The central barrier on this road is a traditional metal barrier rather than the jersey barriers common on new dual-carriageways in recent years.

Junctions

M6 outside Athlone looking east.

Junction 7 on the M6.

Athlone-Ballinasloe under construction (May 2009): Final layer of asphalt being laid. (looking East, picture taken from an overbridge approx 5km East of Ballinasloe)

Under construction (February 2009): An overbridge South East of Athenry to accommodate the R348 road.

There are two junction numbering schemes on the N6 route. The M6 junction numbers below are used on the Kinnegad-Athlone section. The Athlone bypass has a separate numbering scheme (J1-J6) but this is likely to be renumbered.

M6 motorway
Westbound exit	Junction	Eastbound exit
Start of motorway (M4 )		The EAST (M4 ) - Dublin, Kinnegad, Leixlip, Lucan
Kinnegad (R446)		Kinnegad (R446) Sligo, Westport (N4) Enfield (R148)
Rochfordbridge, Milltownpass (R446)		Rochfordbridge, Milltownpass (R446)
Tyrrellspass, Mullingar (N52)		Tyrrellspass, Mullingar (N52)
Tullamore, Kilbeggan (N52)		Tullamore, Kilbeggan (N52)
Moate (N80)		Moate (N80)
Moate (R446)		Moate (R446)
Athlone (R446) End of motorway	(Athlone bypass J1)	Athlone (R446) Start of motorway
N6 Athlone Bypass
Eastbound exits	Junction	Westbound exits
Athlone (R446)	1 (M6 )	Athlone (R446)
Athlone	2 (future )	Athlone
Athlone (N55)	3 (future )	Athlone (N55)
Athlone	4 (future )	Athlone
Athlone (N61)	5 (future )	Athlone (N61)
Athlone (R446)	6 (future )	Athlone (R446)
M6 motorway
Westbound exit	Junction	Eastbound exit
Ballinasloe (R357)		Ballinasloe (R357)
M6 motorway (opening 13 December)
Westbound exit	Junction	Eastbound exit	Completion
Ballinasloe (R446)		Ballinasloe (R446)	18 December 2009 [3]
Kiltullagh, Loughrea		Kiltullagh, Loughrea
Athenry (R348)		Athenry (R348)
Local access		Local access
Oranmore (N18)		Oranmore (N18)
Galway (R446)		Galway (R446)
N6 dual-carriageway (in planning)
Westbound exit	Junction	Eastbound exit	Completion
Galway (N84)		Galway (N84)	Preliminary Design [4]
Galway (N59)		Galway (N59)
End of N6 with R336

Future

Motorway redesignations affecting the M6

On 30 September, the Irish National Roads Authority released the second tranche of potential motorway redesignations. These include parts of the present N6/M6 route.

The M6 currently ends where it meets the N6 Athlone bypass. The proposed sections to be redesignated (subject to minsterial approval) were the 6.8 km Athlone bypass and 71 km of under-construction high quality dual-carriageway between Athlone and Galway.) On 10th July 2009 the 71km section of high-quality dual carriageway received approval to be redesignated. The N6 Athlone Bypass will remain dual-carriageway for the forseeable future. )

Section under construction

Transport 21 sign for the Galway-Ballinasloe scheme.

At present, the M6 motorway leads into the non-motorway Athlone bypass and continues again west of the bypass to Ballinasloe.

• Construction began in 2007 on the final section of the M6 route. This section lies between the towns of Ballinasloe and Galway. When complete it will be 56km in length and lie between Junctions 14 and 20 on the M6 corridor. The road is proceeding as a tolled Public-private partnership scheme, and will therefore open under motorway restrictions. This scheme has been the matter of some controversy. The environmental agency An Taisce claimed that the National Roads Authority's planned M6 route would be "particularly destructive" in passing the site of the 17th century Battle of Aughrim The tolling of the route is also controversial, as the M4 motorway to/from Dublin, which connects with the N6/M6 route, is also tolled, meaning that motorists will have to pay two tolls when driving between Dublin and Galway. However, this ties in with the authority's plan to have two tolls on each of the main interurban routes.

The new section of N6/M6 between Ballinasloe and Galway also quite unusual in another way: Unlike most national road upgrade projects in the state, the new route will differ significantly from that of the original N6. The route will run roughly east-west between the two destinations, rather than dipping south to Loughrea as the current N6 does. A link road from the new M6 to Loughrea is being constructed to cater for this change. The altered nature of the route means that the town of Athenry will be located near to a national primary route for the first time.

• Upon completion, the M6 will be approximately 144 km (90 mi) in length making it the third longest motorway in the state.

• According to local Galway newspapers, the final 57.6 km section from Galway to Ballinasloe is due to open December 18th 2009, this is pending safety approval of the National Roads Authority.

As an emergency measure to restore access from Dublin to Galway after severe flooding at Craughwell on Friday 20th November, the section between Loughrea and Galway Clinic (Doughiska) was opened. Despite planning, a large amount of water is still present on the motorway itself.

Proposed Motorway Service Area

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has planned the construction Motorway Service Areas at approximately 60 kilometre intervals along each of Ireland's interurban routes. Under this plan, the M6 will have one such area. It will be located just east of Athlone (see here, p.25). The EIS for the M6 Athlone Motorway Service Area is now available at the NRA website (scroll down to the bottom here).

Originally, there were to be two service areas. The second was quite controversial, as its proposed location was on a three-level stacked roundabout interchange of the M6, M17 and M18 motorways. This MSA was recently scrapped following an An Bord Pleanála decision on the M17 scheme.

See also

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

External links

• Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 – Department of Transport
• Scheme Activity 2006 – National Roads Authority (road projects under construction)
• N6 Galway to Ballinasloe – Galway County Council
• N6 Ballinasloe to Athlone Dual Carriageway – Roscommon County Council
• NRA map of the Athlone – Kilbeggan section
• N6 Galway City Outer Bypass