N17 road
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The N17 road is a National Primary Route in Ireland, and is part of the Atlantic Corridor [1]linking Waterford in the south-east with Letterkenny in the north-west of the country. It begins in County Sligo and ends in County Galway, on the outskirts of the city.
[edit] Route
The 138 km (86 mi) route commences at Tobar Bhríde (Tubberbride) Roundabout on the N4 (Sligo to Dublin), at Collooney. It routes through or past several major towns in the area including Tubbercurry, Charlestown, Knock Airport, Claremorris, Milltown, Claregalway and Tuam. It ends in Galway city. The entire route is regular highway with no sections of dual carriageway as yet,, though much of the road has been upgraded to wide two lane standard.
N17 is also the name of a popular song by Tuam-based rock band The Saw Doctors, which is about this road.
[edit] M17 motorway and other planned upgrades
A number of upgrade projects are planned for the N17, which formers part of the Atlantic Corridor under Transport 21, along with the N18 road and N20 road.
The biggest project is a plan by Galway County Council to upgrade 25.5 km (16 mi) of this route to motorway standard, between Tuam and east of Galway. Unlike most current projects of this standard in Ireland, which are being built as high quality dual carriageways, it has been decided to designate this road as a fully fledged motorway with restrictions. Under the Irish road numbering scheme, this section will be designated the M17 motorway. It will run from the currently under construction N6 Galway-Ballinasloe scheme near Athenry - where it will also join with the proposed new N18 dual carriageway from Gort - to Tuam. A motorway service area will be provided at the southern terminus.
At the northern terminus, the scheme will link in with a bypass of Tuam, which will provide an additional 4.2 km (3 mi) of dual carriageway. [2] This will be Type 2 Dual Carriageway, or "2+2 road" as it has been dubbed by the NRA. This type of scheme has some at grade roundabout junctions and a wire barrier between the carriageways. This is currently at the preliminary design phase. The NRA is currently examining options for the upgrade of the road between the end of this road and Knock. Various other parts of the road are also planned to be upgraded to dual carriageway, including the Knock and Claremorris bypasses.
Sligo County Council is preparing for an upgrade of 24 km (15 mi) of the route, south of Collooney to Curry. This will link up with the proposed Bellaghy/Charlestown bypass, of Mayo County Council.
[edit] References
- Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 (PDF)- Department of Transport
- N17 Realignment - Collooney to Charlestown - Sligo County Council
- N17 Charlestown bypass - Mayo County Council
- N17 Proposed Tuam Bypass - Galway County Council
- M17 Galway to Tuam Motorway
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