N17 road (Ireland)

N17 road
Route information
Length:	128 km (80 mi)
Location
Primary destinations:	(bypassed towns in italics) County Sligo Leaves N4 Collooney Ballinacarrow Tubbercurry (R294) Curry Bellaghy* County Mayo Charlestown (N5) Ireland West Airport Knock (R376) (N83) Knock (R323) Kilkelly (R375) Claremorris (N60) Crosses the River Robe Ballindine (R328) County Galway Milltown Tuam (N83, R332) (R333) Knockdoe (N63) Claregalway (N18) Joins N6 in Galway
Road network
Roads in Ireland Motorways Primary Secondary Regional

The N17 road is a national primary road in Ireland, and is part of the Atlantic Corridor route.^[1] It begins in County Galway and ends in County Sligo.

The Southern Section N17 is currently Ireland's busiest single-carriageway inter-urban ^[2] road with over 25,000 vehicles using the road at Claregalway daily of which over 20,000 travel on the Claregalway-Galway section south of Claregalway.

Route

The 124 km (77 mi) route commences at Castlegar in Galway city and ends at the Toberbride roundabout at Collooney in County Sligo. It runs through or past several major towns and places in the area including Claregalway, Tuam, Miltown, Ballindine, Claremorris, Knock, Kilkelly, Charlestown, Curry, Tubbercurry and Ballinacarrow. The entire route is regular highway with no sections of dual carriageway as yet.

Section through Co. Galway

The N17 begins at Castlegar in Galway city, where it makes its way northeast to Claregalway, passing through Claregalway village . This section of the N17 is the busiest with over 27,000 vehicles daily. The route continues north which consists of upgraded single carriageway with hard shoulders (1970s). The route sways east whilst entering the north County Galway town of Tuam, the route marginally bypasses Tuam town centre by a relief road constructed in the early 1980s, this road has several traffic light junctions and suffers from traffic congestion. After passing Tuam the route swings northwest towards Miltown, where a new realigned section of road is encountered (built late 1990s) avoiding a notorious stretch of road which saw many fatalities at one particular bend at a graveyard. This section of road was improved again in 2012, when a bad bend at Lisavalley was removed. This has left the road between Milltown and Tuam with a complete hard shoulder. The route then passes through the village of Miltown passing over the River Clare, the main street in the village is very narrow and can become congested. After leaving Miltown the route continues north towards the Ballindine, this section of the N17 is of poor standard and is reduced to a narrow winding road to the County Mayo border.

Section through Co. Mayo

N17 Claremorris by-pass

The N17 passes through Ballindine just after it crosses the Galway/Mayo border. The main street though Ballindine is very wide reducing congestion in the village. Leaving Ballindine the route heads north towards Claremorris. This 5 km section of road was completely realigned in 1983, bypassing a dangerous stretch of road at Garryduff. This is busy section with almost 10,000 vehicles daily. At Lissduff the 16 km Claremorris/Knock bypass commences, the largest project on the N17 to date. It bypasses Claremorris to the east, greatly reducing heavy through traffic in the town. The 16 km bypass was constructed in 2 phases, the 6 km Claremorris phase (phase 1) which opened July 2001 and the 10 km Knock phase (phase 2) which opened to traffic December 2002. The Knock bypass passes the village to the west heading in a northeast direction bypassing Kilkelly (bypassed 1980s), the route continues towards Charlestown passing Knock Airport. This section of road is of good quality and has a hard shoulder to just south of Charlestown. The route passes through Charlestown and over the Sligo border into the village of Bellaghy.

Section through Co. Sligo

The N17 in Co. Sligo varies greatly in standard. After passing through Bellaghy the road heads in a northeasterly direction bypassing Curry, this 6 km section was built in 1993 and is of excellent standard. After bypassing Curry and as far as Tubbercurry the standard of the road is reduced to a very low quality winding road with a high fatality rate. The N17 passes Tubbercurry to the west in the form of a basic relief road, heavy goods vehicles use this road around the town, although many cars continue on through the town's main street as it is often faster than the relief road. The route continues in a north easterly direction towards Ballinacarrow, another section of poor standard. Template:Own Opinion Two kilometres past Ballinacarrow the road improves and a slow lane section is encountered. This 8 km section to the N4 Collooney bypass was constructed in 1993 with the bypassing of Collooney. The N17 ends where it meets the N4 Sligo-Dublin road at the Toberbride roundabout.

M17 motorway and other planned upgrades

A number of upgrade projects are planned for the N17, which forms part of the Atlantic Corridor under Transport 21, along with the N18 and N20.

The biggest project is a plan by the National Roads Authority to upgrade 25.5 km of this route to motorway standard, between Tuam and east of Galway. Under the Irish road numbering scheme, this section will be designated the M17 motorway. It will run from a new junction with the existing M6 motorway near Athenry, which also forms the starting point for the M18 motorway to Gort. In April 2014, this project was given the go-ahead by the Government and is expected to be completed by late 2018.

It has been confirmed that the new motorway will not be tolled.^[3]

At the northern terminus, the scheme will link in with a bypass of Tuam, which will provide an additional 4.2 km (2.6 mi) of dual carriageway.^[4] 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.

The following schemes will all be at construction stage in May 2015 :

Galway to Tuam (Motorway - Under Construction)

The Galway to Tuam upgrade scheme consists of 25.5 km of motorway commencing at the future interchange of the M18 and the M6 to the west of Athenry. Continuing north, the route interchanges with the N63 at Annagh Hill, then continues towards Tuam passing tying back in with the existing N17 immediately west of Tuam.

Mainline Length (km): 25.5

Tuam Bypass (Under Construction)

The scheme consists of 4.2 km of 2+2 dual carriageway and 3.6 km of side roads. It provides a bypass of Tuam to the west and links into the existing N17 with at grade roundabouts at its northern and southern junctions. The scheme is being built at the same time as the M17 Athenry-Tuam scheme.

Mainline Length (km): 4.2

Charlestown Bypass

The scheme consists of approximately 25.7 km of 2+2 dual carriageway from the northern end of Knock Bypass to the southern end of the Tobercurry Bypass, and 15 km of single carriageway slip roads, side roads and link roads. The scheme bypasses both the towns of Kilkelly and Charlestown/ Bellahy and the village of Curry, following a route to the east of the existing N17. Mainline Length (km): 25.7

Tobercurry Bypass

The N17 Collooney/Charlestown Road Realignment Scheme consists of 25 km of 2+2 dual carriageway. The scheme extends from northern end of the proposed Charlestown bypass. Northwards it will bypass Curry and Tubbercurry. Mainline Length (km): 10.2

Tobercurry to Collooney

This scheme consists of 14 km of 2+2 dual carriageway extending from the northern end of the Tobercurry bypass to the N4/N17 roundabout at Collooney. Mainline Length (km): 14

Trivia

The road serves as the symbolic focal point in the nostalgic song "N17" by Galway based Celtic-rock band the Saw Doctors.

References

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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