N21 road (Ireland)

N21 road
Route information
Length:	93 km (58 mi)
Location
Primary destinations:	(bypassed routes in italics) County Limerick Patrickswell Adare Rathkeale Newcastlewest Abbeyfeale County Kerry Castleisland Tralee - terminates at Camp on N22/N69 Tralee Bypass
Road network
Roads in Ireland Motorways Primary Secondary Regional

N21/N69 Tralee Bypass

The Castleisland-Abbeyfeale N21 scheme opened 2006 looking north from the Kilmaniheen Overbridge

The N21 road is a national primary road in Ireland. The route runs from the M20 outside Limerick to Tralee with connecting roads to other parts of County Kerry. It is 93 km (58 mi) in length. It runs through the towns of Abbeyfeale, Newcastlewest, Adare and the village of Templeglantine. Prior to October 2010 the N21 also ran through the town of Castleisland. The town has recently been bypassed.

Details

The N21 route commences about 8 km (5.0 mi) southwest of Limerick city, just beyond Patrickswell. At the junction, which is reached by the main M20 motorway, the N20 diverges south to Cork and the main dual-carriageway becomes the N21 west.

Prior to the 2001 opening the 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 (6.8 mi) M20/N21 dual-carriageway route begins at junction 1 on the Rosbrien Interchange as the M20 where it leaves the M7/N18 Limerick Southern Ring Road, and bypasses the Limerick suburbs of Dooradoyle, Raheen and 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 were both 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 (4.3 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 (3.7 mi) section north of Casleisland was overlaid and brought up to standard in 1999.

At Castleisland, the N21 heads west to Tralee. The short N23 continues southwest to Farranfore, allowing traffic to continue south along the N22 to Killarney. A new 11 km (6.8 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. The N21 terminates at Camp Roundabout on the N22/N69 Tralee Bypass which opened in August 2013.

Recent upgrades

The Castleisland Bypass was the only major national road project starting construction in 2009. Construction work completed in October 2010. The new road was officially opened on Friday, October 22, 2010, by Minister for Defence Tony Killeen. The route consists of 5.3 km of type 2 dual carriageway and connects the N21 to the N23 bypassing Castleisland to the west of the town.^[1]

Barnagh realignments

It is also home to one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the country, known locally as Barnagh, between Newcastlewest and Templeglantine claiming 4 lives in 4 weeks, bringing the total deaths there to 5 already in 2010. This section of road is currently under severe scrutiny following a group known as the N21 Barnagh Road Realignment Petition putting pressure on the authorities, with strong public backing, to realign this section.

Locals through the Barnagh N21 Realignment Group were successful despite the country's economic condition in getting works been carried out to prevent more loss of life on this section of road. ^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

Map of the stretch of road is available from Limerick County Council website. ^[5]

Traffic congestion

The N21 is also known as a notorious traffic bottleneck particularly in the County Limerick towns of Abbeyfeale, Newcastlewest and Adare. The towns (most notably Adare) feature regularly on morning and evening traffic reports where delays of up to 30 minutes can occur. Local traffic, commuters and tourist traffic all contribute to the congestion.

Future upgrades

The planned route of the Adare bypass (click for larger image)

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 northern section of the future M20 motorway from Patrickswell to Cork. It will spur off before Croom and link to the N21 south of Adare.^[6]

A 33 km (21 mi) Rathkeale/Abbeyfeale road scheme, with a bypass of Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale was at the planning stage in 2006. As of October 2008 it has not advanced beyond planning stage.

References

Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 – Department of Transport

External links

Roads in Ireland

Motorways	M1 M2 M3 M4 M6 M7 M8 M9 M11 M18 M20 M50

Primary roads	N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 N10 N11 N12 N13 N14 N15 N16 N17 N18 N19 N20 N21 N22 N23 N24 N25 N26 N27 N28 N29 N30 N31 N32 N33 N40 N50

Secondary roads	N51 N52 N53 N54 N55 N56 N58 N59 N60 N61 N62 N63 N65 N66 N67 N68 N69 N70 N71 N72 N73 N74 N75 N76 N77 N78 N80 N81 N82 N83 N84 N85 N86 N87

Regional roads	R101 R102 R103 R104 R105 R106 R107 R108 R109 R110 R111 R112 R113 R114 R115 R116 R117 R118 R119 R120 R121 R122 R123 R124 R125 R126 R127 R128 R129 R130 R131 R132 R133 R134 R135 R136 R137 R138 R139 R147 R148 R149 R150 R151 R152 R153 R154 R155 R156 R157 R158 R159 R160 R161 R162 R163 R164 R165 R166 R167 R168 R169 R170 R171 R172 R173 R174 R175 R176 R177 R178 R179 R180 R181 R182 R183 R184 R185 R186 R187 R188 R189 R190 R191 R192 R193 R194 R195 R196 R197 R198 R199 R200 R201 R202 R203 R204 R205 R206 R207 R208 R209 R210 R211 R212 R213 R214 R215 R229 R230 R231 R232 R233 R234 R235 R236 R237 R238 R239 R240 R241 R242 R243 R244 R245 R246 R247 R248 R249 R250 R251 R252 R253 R254 R255 R256 R257 R258 R259 R260 R261 R262 R263 R264 R265 R266 R267 R268 R277 R278 R279 R280 R281 R282 R283 R284 R285 R286 R287 R288 R289 R290 R291 R292 R293 R294 R295 R296 R297 R298 R299 R300 R310 R311 R312 R313 R314 R315 R316 R317 R318 R319 R320 R321 R322 R323 R324 R325 R326 R327 R328 R329 R330 R331 R332 R333 R334 R335 R336 R337 R338 R339 R340 R341 R342 R343 R344 R345 R346 R347 R348 R349 R350 R351 R352 R353 R355 R356 R357 R358 R359 R360 R361 R362 R363 R364 R365 R366 R367 R368 R369 R370 R371 R372 R373 R374 R375 R376 R377 R378 R379 R389 R390 R391 R392 R393 R394 R395 R396 R397 R398 R399 R400 R401 R402 R403 R404 R405 R406 R407 R408 R409 R410 R411 R412 R413 R414 R415 R416 R417 R418 R419 R420 R421 R422 R423 R424 R425 R426 R427 R428 R429 R430 R431 R432 R433 R434 R435 R436 R437 R438 R439 R440 R441 R442 R443 R444 R445 R446 R448 R449 R458 R459 R460 R461 R462 R463 R464 R465 R466 R467 R468 R469 R470 R471 R472 R473 R474 R475 R476 R477 R478 R479 R480 R481 R482 R483 R484 R485 R486 R487 R488 R489 R490 R491 R492 R493 R494 R495 R496 R497 R498 R499 R500 R501 R502 R503 R504 R505 R506 R507 R509 R510 R511 R512 R513 R514 R515 R516 R517 R518 R519 R520 R521 R522 R523 R524 R525 R526 R527 R548 R549 R550 R551 R552 R553 R554 R555 R556 R557 R558 R559 R560 R561 R563 R564 R565 R566 R567 R568 R569 R570 R571 R572 R573 R574 R575 R576 R577 R578 R579 R580 R581 R582 R583 R584 R585 R586 R587 R588 R589 R590 R591 R592 R593 R594 R595 R596 R597 R598 R599 R600 R601 R602 R603 R604 R605 R606 R607 R608 R610 R611 R612 R613 R614 R615 R616 R617 R618 R619 R620 R621 R622 R623 R624 R626 R627 R628 R629 R630 R631 R632 R633 R634 R635 R637 R638 R639 R640 R641 R659 R660 R661 R662 R663 R664 R665 R666 R667 R668 R669 R670 R671 R672 R673 R674 R675 R676 R677 R678 R679 R680 R681 R682 R683 R684 R685 R686 R687 R688 R689 R690 R691 R692 R693 R694 R695 R696 R697 R698 R699 R700 R701 R702 R703 R704 R705 R706 R707 R708 R709 R710 R711 R712 R713 R724 R725 R726 R727 R729 R730 R731 R732 R733 R734 R735 R736 R737 R738 R739 R740 R741 R742 R743 R744 R745 R746 R747 R748 R749 R750 R751 R752 R753 R754 R755 R756 R757 R758 R759 R760 R761 R762 R763 R764 R765 R766 R767 R768 R769 R770 R772 R773 R774 R801 R802 R803 R804 R805 R806 R807 R808 R809 R810 R811 R812 R813 R814 R815 R816 R817 R818 R819 R820 R821 R822 R824 R825 R826 R827 R828 R829 R830 R831 R833 R834 R835 R837 R838 R839 R840 R842 R843 R846 R847 R848 R849 R851 R852 R853 R854 R855 R857 R858 R859 R860 R861 R863 R864 R865 R866 R867 R868 R870 R871 R873 R874 R875 R876 R877 R880 R883 R884 R885 R886 R887 R888 R889 R890 R895 R899 R900 R901 R903 R904 R906 R907 R908 R909 R910 R911 R912 R913 R914 R915 R916 R917 R918 R919 R920 R921 R923 R924 R925 R926 R927 R928 R929 R930 R931 R932 R933 R934 R935 R936 R937 R938 R940 R941

See also National Development Plan National Roads Authority Local roads Toll roads Trunk roads

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