N21 road
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| Destinations (Northeast to Southwest) from Patrickswell (N20 Intersection)) | |
The N21 road is a National Primary Route in Ireland, an 93 km (58 mi) route from the N20 outside Limerick to Tralee with connecting roads to other parts of County Kerry.
The N21 route commences about 8 km (5 mi) southwest of Limerick city, just beyond Patrickswell. At the junction, which is reached by the main N20 dual-carriageway, the N20 diverges south to Cork and the main dual-carriageway becomes the N21 west.
Prior to the 2001 opening a new dual-carriageway, traffic to Kerry left the city on the old N20 in a southwest direction on the Ballinacurra Road through Raheen and then went through Patrickswell to the beginning of the N21.
The new 11 km (7 mi) N20/N21 dual-carriageway of 2001 begins as the N20 near the Roxboro Roundabout on Childers Road, travels south to link with the then-new southeastern Limerick ring road, bypasses Patrickswell, and continues, as the N21, almost to Adare. At this point the N21 becomes a standard two-lane road and flows through the main street of the scenic village.
The N21 then runs by Croagh and Rathkeale, which was bypassed in 1990, before entering Newcastle West and filtering through the town. Further along the route the N21 passes through Templeglantine, before going through the major town of Abbeyfeale.
The road continues southwest, at the townland of Kilkinlea it crosses over the River Feale into County Kerry passing by Knocknagoshel and heading towards Castleisland. A new 7 km (4 mi) roadway from Abbeyfeale to Knocknagoshel, bypassing the accident-prone Headleys bridge near Knocknagoshel opened in July 2006. The remainder of the road to Castleisland was realigned in the 1980s. A 6 km (4 mi) section north of Casleisland was overlayed and brought up to standard in 1999. (A Castleisland bypass which was expected to commence construction in 2007 is now postponed to 2008).
At Castleisland, the N21 heads west to Tralee. The short N23 road continues southwest to Farranfore, allowing traffic to continue south along the N22 to Killarney. A new 11 km (7 mi) road from Castleisland to Ballycarty near Tralee was opened in early 2001. This was followed by a new 3 km (1.9 mi) section into Tralee, opened in April 2005.
[edit] Future upgrades
The Adare bypass is in the design phase and when finished, will carry the N21 around the village of Adare, Limerick. The road will be built as a dual carriageway and will link up with the improved N21 between Patrickswell and Adare. Construction was planned to begin in 2008 but the schedule appears to be running up to two years behind the original projections.
A 33 km (21 mi) Rathkeale/Abbeyfeale road scheme, with a bypass of Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale is at the planning stage as of 2006.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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