N20 road (Ireland)

The N20 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting the cities of Limerick and Cork. Croom, Charleville and Mallow are major towns along the route.

Details

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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.

The road leaves the south side of Limerick from the Childers Road, near Roxboro. A short link road brings the route to a roundabout where the N7 Southern Ring Road meets the N20. The route continues from this roundabout as dual carriageway (see thumbnail), bypassing Dooradoyle and Raheen, through which the route used to run until the early 2000s. Interchanges and link roads connect to these locations. Two further interchanges are located on the dual-carriageway, at either end of Patrickswell. At the latter, the N20 route leaves the main road (which continues as the N21 to Kerry), i.e. one must turn off the dual carriageway to stay on the N20.

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). 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

Under the government's Transport 21 initative , the Atlantic Corridor road project aims to link Letterkenny to Waterford via Limerick and Cork with high quality roadway. A major part of this project involves the upgrading of the N20 route between Cork and Limerick.

It is proposed to upgrade or replace the entire N20 with a new M20 motorway, approximately 90 km in length, with up to 8 newly constructed junctions or re-configured junctions. It is to be constructed in two stages: a southern section and a northern section. It is hoped that this project will be progressed as a PPP scheme.

The first segment of M20 motorway will come into existence on the 28th August 2009 following the approval by the minister of transport to redesignate a 5 km of existing N20 dual-carriageway between Rossbrien and Attyflin as motorway.

Junctions

M20 motorway (28/8/09)
Northbound exit	Junction	Southbound exit
Dublin (M7 ), Limerick, Galway (N7)	—	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)

See also

• Roads in Ireland
• National secondary road
• Regional road

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