M8 motorway (Ireland)
M8 motorway in Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Basic data | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator: | Transport Infrastructure Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Start of the street: | Aghaboe ( 52 ° 55 ′ N , 7 ° 29 ′ W ) |
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End of street: |
Cork ( 51 ° 54 ′ N , 8 ° 23 ′ W ) |
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Overall length: | 147 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Counties : |
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The M8 near the town of Fermoy heading north | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course of the road
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The M8 motorway ( English for "Autobahn M8", Irish Mótarbhealach M8 ) is a high-level road link in the Republic of Ireland . Together with the M7 motorway , it connects the state capital Dublin with Cork , the second largest city in the country on the south coast. The entire length of the road corresponds to the National primary road N8 as well as the European route 201 .
course
The M8 motorway begins about 17.5 km southwest of Port Laoise near the Civil Parish of Aghaboe in County Laois as a junction of the M7 motorway coming from Dublin . A direct driveway from Limerick is not possible. The road initially runs south-south-west through sparsely populated areas. Among the first major settlements include Urlingford and already for County Tipperary belonging Thurles . Approximately 35 miles after the start of the road, it bypasses the town of Cashel and reaches the Golden Vale area , Ireland's most important dairy center.
After another 16 km you come to the town of Cahir , where the course slopes towards the west-south-west. For the next 23 km, the road follows the southern flank of the Galtee Mountains . Towards the end of this section, the southeasternmost tip of County Limerick is crossed for about 3 km , but without a junction here, before the first town in County Cork, Mitchelstown, is approached.
There the road turns south again and runs through the hilly area of eastern Cork. Major towns and settlements in this area are Fermoy , Watergrasshill and Glanmire , a suburb of the city of Cork . Another 48 km after Mitchelstown, the motorway ends in a roundabout on the eastern outskirts of Cork. From there, it is possible to change to the N25, which runs from west to east, with a connection to Cork city center, as well as to Midleton and Cobh and the southern ring road N40.
toll
A toll will be collected between junction 14 and 17 ( Rathcormac-Fermoy Bypass ). There is also a toll station directly on the autobahn between ASSt 16 and 17, as well as two smaller ones on the access and departure ramp of ASSt 15 going north. Regardless of the distance traveled, the fee is currently (2018) between € 1 for motorcycles and € 6.10 for trucks over 3.5 t total weight or more than three axles, for cars it is € 1.90.
expansion
At the end of the M8 there is a roundabout , the so-called Dunkettle Interchange , which currently only allows intersection-free traffic in a west-east direction, i.e. along the N25. Coming from the north (M8) and south (N40) you have to drive into the traffic light-controlled roundabout to change roads. This fact regularly leads to long traffic jams at the entire intersection. Therefore, in the course of the expansion of the N40 to a complete ring road, the conversion of the Dunkettle Interchange into a fully-fledged motorway junction is currently planned in order to enable intersection-free traffic in all directions.