N52 road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Destinations (SW to NE) Length 218 km |
† Inner relief road ‡ By-Pass planned |
The N52 road is a national secondary road in Ireland. It links the N7 national primary route from just south of Nenagh, County Tipperary to the N1 national primary route north of Dundalk in County Louth.
The road is 218 km (135 mi) long.
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[edit] Quality of Road
The road is mainly single carriageway two-lane throughout. It has some upgraded sections, but generally the standard is poor or very poor. It starts (from the southwest) at a grade separated junction with the N7 and by-passes Nenagh on its western side as a greenfield single carriageway with hard shoulders. Past Nenagh it is generally a single carriageway with no shoulders all the way to Tullamore. Many sections of this part of the route are very poor.
Tullamore to Kilbeggan is mainly road upgraded in the 1970s and has a good alignment and hard shoulders.
Leaving Kilbeggan its old route, past the racecourse via Ballynagore has been abandoned and it now joins the new N6 dual carriageway (opened May 2007) south of Kilbeggan and follows it eastwards to the Tyrrellspass exit. From this junction it heads north to Mullingar as the new Tyrrellspass eastern bypass. It then follows the old route for 10 km (6 mi) before forming the eastern by-pass of Mullingar (opened May 2007); joins the N4 dual-carriageway briefly before leaving to head east over a very poor road to Delvin, Kells and Ardee before reaching the M1 south of Dundalk. Two kilometers of dual-carriageway take it to the R132 (the old N1) from where it becomes the Dundalk eastern inner relief route, over a new bridge near the harbour and north to the N1.
[edit] Tullamore bypass
The Tullamore bypass[1] will be a new 14 km (9 mi) single carriageway upgrade to the N52. The route will leave the existing N52 approximately 6 km (4 mi) southwest of Tullamore town, intersecting with the N80 road, crossing over the Grand Canal, before rejoining the N52 again 3 km (2 mi) north of the town. A spur will be constructed from the northern section of the route to the Tullamore Western Relief Road and will, therefore, effectively create a bypass for the N80 road. The scheme began construction in April 2008, with the expected completion date in the last quarter of 2010.
[edit] Misc
- At the N52 junction with the R162 in County Meath; the N52 stops and joins the R162 regional road and then leaves again it 100 m further south. At this junction the regional road is the main road and is of a higher quality than the National route which crosses it.
- At Dalystown in County Westmeath the N52 has a STOP sign at a junction with a local road which takes precedence over this National route.
[edit] See also
- Roads in Ireland- (National Primary Roads)
- Secondary Roads
- Regional Roads
