The Atlantic corridor or Atlantic motorway is a proposed road project in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The scheme, announced in 2005, was intended to link

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

in the South-East to Letterkenny in the North-West via motorway or dual carriageway by 2015. However, in part due to the

post-2008 Irish economic downturn The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a Post-2008 Irish banking crisis, series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign dire ...

, major sections of the roadway were delayed or cancelled. The Atlantic Corridor, when combined with the inter-urban motorways linking

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and the other cities, is intended to ring the island of Ireland and to connect primary population centres.

National primary roads

The constituent national primary routes, included in the 2007 plan, included: * N15 linking Letterkenny and

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

* N17 linking

and

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

* N18 linking

, Ennis and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

(including the Limerick Tunnel project) * N20 linking

and Cork * N25 linking Cork and

Progress

As of 2018, over of the route was completed motorway or dual carriageway. At that time, the next construction planned was the M20 from Cork to Limerick, which was allocated €850 million in government funds under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 capital scheme. The M20, which was "progressed through planning and design phases" as of 2010, is proposed to link with the planned Cork northern ring road, also forming part of the Atlantic Corridor route, connecting the planned Cork to Limerick motorway with the partially completed Cork-Waterford N25 dual carriageway.

Completed sections

*N4 Colloney to Sligo *N15 Ballyshannon/Bundoran bypass * N4 Sligo inner relief road * N17 Tuam bypass * M17 Galway to Tuam * M18 Limerick to Galway * M20 Limerick to Patrickswell *N20 Blarney to Cork * N25 Waterford City Bypass *N25 Cork to Midleton

Proposed developments

* N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton road - construction rescheduled * M20 Patrickswell to Blarney - planning stage (as of 2020)

References

External links