 | This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(January 2022) |
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| Bóthar R509 | |
 Childers Road, Limerick, on the R509 | |
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| Country | Ireland |
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The R509 road, the Childers Road (named after Erskine Childers), is a regional road in Ireland, running through the southeastern side of Limerick City. It forms what is somewhat akin to an inner ring road (albeit mostly two-lane only).
The Childers Road was built in several stages to connect various suburbs on that side of the city (it was not originally envisaged as a ring road route). The first section linked the then N20/N21 Ballinacurra Road (from the city centre to Raheen and onwards to Cork/Kerry) to the Greenfields Road, Janesboro and onward to the Roxboro Road/Fedamore Road (R511). The N20/N21 now commences just prior to the Roxboro Roundabout.
The next stage of the road continues on to link with the Old Cork Road (R512). Here it passes under the Limerick– Limerick Junction railway line. The road continues round to the Tipperary Road (N24), meeting at the Tipperary roundabout.
The final stage of the road, the last to be built, connects from the Tipperary roundabout, north to the Dublin Road (N7). The roundabout junction here is located in what is known as the Parkway area. The Parkway roundabout serves Childers Road, Parkway Shopping Centre, Dublin Road, and old Dublin Road/Rhebogue Road.
The final section of Childers Road also has a junction (between the Tipperary and Parkway roundabouts) with the Bloodmill Road (or Old Singland Road). A new retail development, Childers Road Retail Park has been built at this junction, and some of Childers Road upgraded to 3 or 4 lanes. A new junction serves the retail park.
Until the opening of the M7 Southern Ring Road (a dual-carriageway running further from the city linking the M7, N18, M20/N21 and N24 roads), the Childers road carried traffic attempting to skirt past Limerick between these routes, in addition to city traffic to and between the various suburbs along the route (e.g. between Castletroy and Raheen). The road thus earned the title "Limerick's car park", and would feature each morning and evening on traffic reports. Traffic levels are now more suited to the road, but due to the new retail park, and increased traffic generally, delays along the route are still frequent.
The R509 is now in its entirety the Childers Road, between the R445 (at the Parkway Shopping Centre on the Dublin Road) and the R526, where it terminates.
The Bus Éireann 308 bus route (city centre to Castletroy/University of Limerick) has a stop on Childers Road near the Bloodmill Road junction. A cycle route runs along part of the Childers Road and is due to be extended as part of a planned scheme of cycleways for Limerick.
A new relief road was opened in 2006 between Plassey roundabout and New Tipperary Road (R527) which should help to alleviate much of the traffic congestion caused by the opening of the Childers Road Retail Park and Parkway Retail Park only 100 metres up the R509.
Limerick is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 census, Limerick is the third-most populous urban area in the state, and the fourth-most populous city on the island of Ireland at the 2011 census. The city lies on the River Shannon, with the historic core of the city located on King's Island, which is bounded by the Shannon and Abbey Rivers. Limerick is also located at the head of the Shannon Estuary, where the river widens before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Limerick City and County Council is the local authority for the city.
The M50 motorway is a C-shaped orbital motorway in Dublin and the busiest motorway in Ireland. The current route was built in various sections over the course of 27 years, from 1983 to 2010. It begins at Dublin Port, running northward through the Dublin Port Tunnel and along a portion of the Airport Motorway. It then turns west at its junction with the M1, circling the northern, western and southern suburbs of Dublin, before merging with the M11 at Shankill in South East Dublin. The road forms part of European route E01.
The island of Ireland, comprising Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries, from trackways suitable only for walkers and horses, to surfaced roads including modern motorways. Driving is on the left-hand side of the road. The major routes were established before Irish independence and consequently take little cognisance of the border other than a change of identification number and street furniture. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has a well-developed network of primary, secondary and local routes. The Republic started work on its motorway network in the early 1980s; and historically, the road network there was once somewhat less well developed. However, the Celtic Tiger economic boom and an influx of European Union structural funding, saw national roads and regional roads in the Republic come up to international standard quite quickly. In the mid-1990s, for example, the Republic went from having only a few short sections of motorway to a network of motorways, dual carriageways and other improvements on most major routes as part of a National Development Plan. Road construction in Northern Ireland now tends to proceed at a slower pace than in the Republic, although a number of important bypasses and upgrades to dual carriageway have recently been completed or are about to begin.
The N7 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting Limerick and Dublin. The majority of the route is motorway standard and is designated as the M7 motorway. At the Rosbrien interchange in Limerick the route continues as the N18 dual carriageway to Shannon and Ennis. The road passes through the midlands of Ireland, and acts as a trunk route out of Dublin for the N8 and N9 national primary routes to Cork and Waterford respectively. It forms part of European route E20.
The M7 motorway is a motorway in Ireland. The motorway runs continuously from the outskirts of Naas in County Kildare to Rossbrien on the outskirts of Limerick City. The M7 forms part of the Dublin to Limerick N7 national primary road. The section of the motorway bypassing Naas, an 8 km stretch, was the first section of motorway to open in Ireland, in 1983. Following substantial works to extend the M7 to Limerick, by the end of 2010, the motorway replaced all of the old single-carriageway N7 route which is now designated as R445. At 166.5 km, the M7 is the longest motorway in Ireland.
The N8 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting Cork with Dublin via the M7. The N8 is further classified by the United Nations as the entirety of the European route E 201, part of the trans-Europe International E-road network. The road is motorway standard from junction 19 on the M7 to the Dunkettle interchange in Cork City and is designated as the M8 motorway. From here the route continues into Cork city centre and terminates at the N22 road at St. Patrick's Street. The M8 motorway was completed in May 2010, replacing the single carriageway sections of the old N8 and bypassing towns on the main Cork to Dublin road. It is now possible to travel from Cork to Dublin on the M/N8 in about 2 hours 30 minutes. The route commences just south of Portlaoise, and reaches Cork via the midlands and the Golden Vale of Ireland, through Counties Laois, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Limerick and Cork.
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 84.37 km (52.43 mi) in length. It runs through the towns of Abbeyfeale, Newcastle West, Adare and the village of Templeglantine. Prior to October 2010 the N21 also ran through the town of Castleisland. The town has since been bypassed. Rathkeale was also bypassed in 1992.
A regional road in the Republic of Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route, but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three-digit route numbers, prefixed by "R". The equivalent road category in Northern Ireland are B roads.
The N20 road is a national primary road in Ireland, connecting the cities of Cork and Limerick. Buttevant, Croom, Charleville, Mallow and Blarney are major towns along the route. A short section of the route is motorway standard and is designated as the M20 Motorway.
The R445 road is a regional road in Ireland. The route is a non-motorway alternative route to the N7/M7 motorway between Naas and Limerick, and at 170 km it is one of the longest regional roads in Ireland. Indeed, much of the route comprises roads that were formerly part of the N7 between the cities, prior to motorway and other bypasses. Some of the R445 route also comprises local link roads to new N7/M7 route sections.
The N24 road is a national primary road in Ireland forming a route from Limerick to Waterford, running through County Tipperary and passing Tipperary Town, Cahir, Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel.
The Red Cow interchange is a major road junction in west Dublin, Ireland on the M50, meeting the N7 Naas Road at a free-flow grade-separated junction which incorporates a tram line. The N7 route commences at this junction, junction 1 on the N7 and junction 9 on the M50, and the Naas Road from the city centre via Inchicore to the Red Cow interchange comprises part of the R110 and the R810. The junction is the busiest road junction in Ireland. Before a recent upgrade, it frequently had tailbacks several kilometres long on the routes leading to it.
The R639 road is one of Ireland's regional roads. Once designated the N8 national primary road, it was reclassified in stages as the R639 following the progressive opening of sections of the M8 motorway, which rendered the single carriageway N8 redundant as a national primary road. By-passed sections of the old N8 were generally reclassified as R639 as soon as a new section of M8 opened, thereby increasing the length of the R639. With the completion of the M8 on 28 May 2010, the R639 now stretches from Durrow, County Laois to Cork, running through counties Laois, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Limerick and Cork.
The R110 road is a regional road in Ireland which goes from St Stephen's Green to Red Cow, Dublin. Its route is completely within the Dublin urban area.
The Limerick Tunnel is a 675-metre-long (2,215 ft), twin bore road tunnel underneath the River Shannon on the outskirts of Limerick city. The tunnel forms part of the N18 Limerick Southern Ring Road. The tunnel is tolled.
Public transport in Ireland exists in many of the Ireland's urban areas and rural areas, and takes a number of forms. Bus transport is the main form of public transport and is common in all cities. The cities, Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Derry, Limerick and Galway all have their own suburban rail networks, although Dublin is the only to have its own tram line, in the form of the Luas. Ireland has a population of 5 million people.
The City of Peterborough in East Anglia has an extensive and well integrated road network, owing partly to its status as a new town. Since the 1960s, the city has seen considerable expansion and its various suburbs are linked by a system of parkways.
Dooradoyle is a large suburb of Limerick, Ireland. It is one of Limerick's newer suburbs, and is home to the campus of University Hospital Limerick and the Crescent Shopping Centre.
The M8 motorway is an inter-urban motorway in Ireland, which forms part of the motorway from the capital Dublin to Cork city. The 149 km motorway commences in the townland of Aghaboe, County Laois and runs through the counties of Kilkenny, Tipperary and Limerick, terminating at the Dunkettle interchange in Cork City. First called for in the Road Needs Study (1998), it was later incorporated into the National Development Plan (2000–2006) and later still formed part of the Irish Government's Transport 21 plan for infrastructural development. The majority of the M8 (115 km) was built between 2006 and 2010. On 28 May 2010, the motorway was completed and had replaced almost all of the single-carriageway N8 except for a short section of urban road in Cork City.
The N40 road is a national primary road in Cork City, Ireland. The road runs through Cork City forming a distributor route through the south side of the city, linking the N22 at Ballincollig in the west to the N25 at the Dunkettle Interchange in the east. The present N40 was created on 23 February 2012 via statutory instrument. The newly designated N40 was formed from parts of both the N22 and N25. It is intended that once the Cork North Ring Road is completed, that the N40 will comprise a complete orbital route through the inner city.