Regional road

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Regional roads are also used in some parts of Ontario. See County Road for more information.

A regional road in the Republic of Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route (such as a national primary route or national secondary road), but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" (e.g. R105).

Regional roads were formerly known as "Link roads" and under the pre-1980's route numbering system had the prefix "L" (with "Trunk" roads having the prefix "T) but early in the 1980's the "T/L" numbering system was scrapped in favour of the current N/R route numbering arrangement. However in some places very old signposts with the now obsolete numbering systems are still to be seen.

Unlike national roads, regional roads are looked after by local county/city councils rather than the National Roads Authority. Until the late 1990s, such roads were frequently very poor, although increased road maintenance funding to local councils has resulted in more frequent resurfacing of regional roads, as well as relaying and realignment on some routes.

Regional roads are subject to a lower speed restriction of 80 km/h (~50 mph), rather than the 100 km/h (~62.5 mph) for national roads. Prior to 2005, the limits were identical at 60 mph. Regional routes however, pass through towns, villages and built up areas frequently, so even lower local speed restrictions are often in place.

As of 2006, directional signposting on regional roads in Ireland remains poor, with even modern signage usually relying on finger signposts located directly at junctions.

Contents

[edit] High capacity regional roads

There are some higher capacity (i.e. not just standard two lane) sections of regional road, most notably the R113 (Belgard Road) and R445 (Old Naas Road) which have sections of dual carriageway. In some cases, important high capacity urban routes are built/designated as regional roads, such as the mostly dual carriageway R710 Waterford Outer Ring Road. In many other cases, upgraded regional roads (for example, wide two lane) were previously part of a national primary road, prior to the construction of a motorway or other bypass. In most cases, when a national primary road is changed by the creation of a bypass (motorway or other), the road previously forming part of the route is reclassified to being a regional road (rather than just a local road).

[edit] List of regional roads

(XXXX) = Junction with road XXXX, e.g. (N21) = Junction with N21 road

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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