M6 motorway (Ireland)

M6 motorway in Ireland
map
Basic data
Operator:	Transport Infrastructure Ireland
Start of the street:	Kinnegad
End of street:	Galway
Overall length:	total: 148 km as : 130 km
Counties :	Westmeath Offaly Roscommon Galway
On the M6 ​​just before junction 7 at Moate, head east.
Course of the road (1)  Start of the motorway (2)  Kinnegad , Milltown Pass, Sligo Kinnegad River Milltown River River Derry (3)  Rochfortbridge , Rhode, Milltown Pass (4)  Mullingar , Tyrrell Pass Grand Canal , Kilbeggan section (5)  Tullamore , Kilbeggan River Brosna === Border County Westmeath - County Offaly Gageborough River (6)  Moate , Clara === Border County Offaly - County Westmeath (7)  Moate , Clonmacnoise Motorway Service Area Motorway end as (8th)  Athlone , Birr (9)  Cavan , Longford , Blyry (10)  Cavan , Longford , Athlone (11)  Athlone , Coosan R4023 River Shannon === Border County Westmeath - County Roscommon (12)  Sligo , Roscommon Start of the motorway (13)  Athlone West, Monksland Cross River Portarlington - Galway Railway (14)  Ballinasloe East, Shannonbridge River Suck === County Roscommon Border - County Galway (15)  Ballinasloe West, Portumna Ballinure River Toll booth (16)  Loughrea , Portumna , Kiltullagh Raford River Railway Galway - Limerick (Western Railway Corridor) River Clarin (17)  Athenry , Craughwell Portarlington - Galway Railway (18)  Motorway Service Area (19)  Limerick , Sligo , Galway Airport Motorway end as as Galway City Bypass (20)  Galway City West, Docks Galway Doughiska Galway Ballybane Galway Mervue Galway Terryland River Corrib Galway Newcastle as New Galway City Bypass (20)  Coolagh Galway Racecourse Tunnel Parkmore Link Road Tuam Road Headford Road Lackagh tunnel River Corrib Letteragh Ballymoneen Road Cappagh Road Bearna Stream Bearna East Roundabout Bearna West Roundabout Under construction In planning

The M6 motorway ( English for "Autobahn M6", Irish Mótarbhealach M6 ) is a high-level road link in the Republic of Ireland . Together with the M4 motorway , it links the metropolitan areas of the state capital Dublin on the east coast with Galway on the west coast as a west-east axis . The route of the motorway largely coincides with that of the National primary road N6 . At the moment (2018) only 18 of the total of 140 km are not developed into a motorway, the two affected sections are also signposted as. It is the bypass of the city of Athlone and the last stretch of the road that goes through Galway.

course

The M6 ​​motorway officially begins at a motorway triangle as a junction from the M4 motorway immediately south of the small town of Kinnegad in County Westmeath . From there, the highway roughly follows the southern border of the county to the west. It crosses the central Irish plain, passing the settlements of Rochfortbridge , Tyrrellspass, Kilbeggan and the small town of Moate before reaching the town of Athlone on the western border of the county after about 58 km .

The full expansion of the motorway ends at junction 8 and the road is now signposted for the next 7.7 km . This sub-area is completely free of intersections, has four lanes and, despite the short distance, has a total of six connection points. In the course of this, Athlone will be bypassed along some suburbs to the north. With the crossing of the Shannon , the national road is now in County Roscommon . From junction 13, the section that has been fully expanded to become a motorway begins again.

The County Roscommon is crossed at its southern tip, without reaching a larger village. The next important settlement is the small town of Ballinasloe , which is another 21 km away and which is already part of County Galway and is bypassed to the south. Beyond that, the route always stretches in a westerly direction, passing a toll station through sparsely populated areas. until the small town of Athenry is reached after another 40 km . Shortly afterwards there is the motorway junction , which was completed in September 2017 , which enables a change to the M17 motorway north to Tuam and the M18 motorway south to Limerick . At the next junction 19, the full extension of the motorway ends again and from junction 20 on the eastern city limits to Galway , the freedom to cross.

For the last 7.2 km, the national road runs through some eastern and northern suburbs of Galway , crosses the Corrib River and finally ends in a roundabout northwest of the city center where Thomas Hynes Road and Seamus Quirke Road intersect. It is possible to continue driving along the national road N59 towards Clifden and along the rural roads R338 and R336 to Rossaveal / Ros an Mhíl .

expansion

Since there is currently (2018) not a single rest area along the entire M6 , the construction of two such facilities is planned. One of these is to be built between junction 7 and 8 just east of Athlone , the second between Galway and the motorway junction with the M17 and M18 (ASSt 18 and 19).

The redesign of the N6 in the Galway area is also in the planning stage . It is planned to largely make crossings free and to extend the route to the western suburbs of the city. To achieve this, a new road is to be built further out of town. According to the current planning status (June 1, 2018), the ASSt 20 will be redesigned, the route will be relocated to the north and the new end point west of the coastal village of Barna / Bearna about 9 km west-southwest of Galway city center will be built.

Web links

Commons : M6 motorway (Republic of Ireland)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} project page of the N6 in the area of ​​the city of Galway ( English , Irish )
2. ^ Website of the road projects of TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) ( English )