Worst Stretch of National Route Road in Ireland

Damien360

PaulKK wrote: »

This is easy, worst national roads are the N77 from Kilkenny to Ballyragget and a lot of the N78 to Castlecomer (where the presidents motorcade had an accident a few weeks ago). Its rough and windy nearly all they way.

+1

I travel 30000 miles per year and this road more than any other really annoys me. It is dangerous and populated by tractors. Some lethal junctions on it to add to the fun !

RiverWilde

Some of the roads in this country are bloody appalling as illustrated above. What drives me daft though is the attitude summed up nicely by a comedian a few years ago (his name escapes me) - Accident Blackspot - Watch Yerself!

Don't fix the bloody road ... don't restrict the amount of traffic or lower the speed limit on it ... just put up a sign!

One of my favourite stretches of road is in Kerry ... on the Cork/Kerry border. I don't remember where exactly it is but it's fairly wide and runs downhill quite rapidly ... then without warning the road does a sharp 90 degree turn left over a humpback bridge ... no warning no nothing ... just a last minute sign! I nearly ran into the bloody sign! :mad:

Why do we pay road tax again?

Riv

ianobrien

alanucc wrote: »

Theres a bad stetch of the N21 between Macroom and Ballyvourney. Really really treacherous most of the time

Ah, Since they resurfaced it, it's a dream to drive, nice and twisty. You really have to drive it, and I love it (although I hate it to be stuck behind somebody going at 60kph on the road as most cars can take the corners at 80 to 100kph easy!)

Altreab

peasant wrote: »

The one road that takes the biscuit though is the N59, without a doubt.

Sligo to Ballina is just dangerous, Galway to Clifden as well, but the bit between Clifden and Westport is hardly a cow path, never mind a National road ...very scenic though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N59_road



100 km/h anyone ?

You just bet me to it!!!
I know this road well and it is without doubt the worst piece of road in county Galway at least. The reason been?
Lack of any sort of serious spending on it for the last 10+ years.
the Galway to Clifden to Westport route has had about €1.5 Million a year spent on it for about 10 years up until about the last 3 years when it was increased to €2.5 Million. Sounds like a lot of money? That piece of "road" is 143 Km long, so an average of 21K per Km. However most of the money has been spent on CPOs and in one spot close to Clifden where over a million was spent on a short bit of road which is still unfinished.
Another spot where money has been put into the ground is Outside Oughterard where there is a bit of road where it has been dug up and filled with foundation stone. This runs beside the actual road but is about 2 metres lower than the actual road. It cost the council about 2 million to do this bit!!


Along the road there are crash barriers that have been crashed into but never repaired. They have been damaged for over a year now.

Any work that has been done was done by the county council. But the road is supposed to be a national road which is under the control of the NRA. They havent spent a cent on it in years.

From an accident point of view it is rated as red from Galway to Clifden and Orange the rest of the way under the Garda classification

/Rant mode OFF

PaulKK

ianobrien wrote: »

Ah, Since they resurfaced it, it's a dream to drive, nice and twisty. You really have to drive it, and I love it (although I hate it to be stuck behind somebody going at 60kph on the road as most cars can take the corners at 80 to 100kph easy!)

I agree, its sweet since it was resurfaced... you just need a ferrari or something to really enjoy it now, its a real drivers road!

invincibleirish

2 get a special mention.

the N20, as already mentioned. between Mallow & Croom is a disgrace of a road, its probably a good thing it takes 14k vehicles a day (inc. all those HGVs) as its so twisty in parts, my favourite part has to be the section that is always covered in silt or something from a roadside quarry?

The N71 deserves 3 mentions

Firstly the worst Dual Carriageway i have ever driven (all 3km of it) after the Viaduct.

Before Bandon there is the section with a fast lane, now if you are in this fast lane, twisting through but happen to get stuck between a HGV on either side of you get scared! lots of accidents here.

after Bandon and on down to Castletownbere its pretty poor. some parts have been touched up but those that havent are narrow & twisty. still a great drive though.

Our man in Havana

N67. That is all. 100km/h you must be joking! Clare County Council for shame, for shame! :mad:

patrickc

Oilrig wrote: »

Worst stretch of primary road in the country is easily the Paulstown - Waterford stretch of the "N9".

Narrow, twisty and populated by trucks in the main.

i dont think thats too bad myself...

VH wrote: »

N9 thru Kilkenny is an absolute disgrace, tho it is bad from the just before Castledermot. No other national primary city-to-city route is as bad. Kilkenny Co Co should be ashamed of themselves and should get a funding cut to reflect the money they're not spending on roads. It's understandable why the NRA picked the M9 to be the first completed (tho it's not likely it'll be first now) city-to-city national primary.

why before castledermot? theres some great stretches there for overtaking too..

the n70/71 is the worst IMO by far, drove from tralee to cork today via bantry and that road is just pathetic

peasant

I can even understand, that there may not be enough money/resources to do up all those outlying bits of N roads all over the country ...Rome wasn't built in a day and all that....
What I absolutely can't understand though is that when all that money was poured out to erect new speed limit signs on the km/h changeover that nobody bothered their arse to actually get out there and look at those roads and maybe buy a few select 80 or even 60 kmh signs instead of all 100's.

Instead 100 km/h signs were peppered all over the roads, especially near junctions, before sharp bends and at accident black spots, showing to everybody who travels these roads the exact degree by which the authorities have FAILED to understand how road safety works.

patrickc

peasant wrote: »

Instead 100 km/h signs were peppered all over the roads, especially near junctions, before sharp bends and at accident black spots, showing to everybody who travels these roads the exact degree by which the authorities have FAILED to understand how road safety works.

coming into alot of towns on N roads they have the 100kph sign up and a few hundred metres away the 60kph/50kph depending on town/village sign is up, what's the point in that ?