N24 road (Ireland)
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 route begins at its junction with the Limerick Southern M7 ring road (Junction 29).
 | |
|---|---|
| Bóthar N24 | |
 Heading west on the N24 Clonmel Relief Road | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 116.13 km (72.16 mi) |
| Location | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Primary destinations | (bypassed routes in italics) |
| Highway system | |
Pallasgreen and Oola are two small villages through which the route passes before reaching Tipperary town. Before the town the road passes by Limerick Junction, a major railway intersection for the region. Bansha lies further southeast along the route, and the road meets the M8 Cork–Dublin motorway just outside Cahir. The N24 passes north of Cahir, turning east towards Clonmel. A bypass brings the road around the north of Clonmel, and the road continues east to Carrick-on-Suir. From here the road undulates in an east/southeast/south direction to reach Waterford. The road ends at the start of the M9 motorway to Dublin.
History
Due to its winding alignment between Clonmel and Cahir, the road now known as the N24 caused considerable annoyance to one "X.Z.", an anonymous Englishman who toured Ireland in the summer of 1782. "X.Z.", who was travelling from Dublin to Cork, had not seen fit to comment on the state of Ireland's roads until he left Clonmel for Cahir: "From Clonmel we rode west 8 miles to Cahir and here we first noticed the difference between Munster and Leinster roads: the roads in Munster are not carried on right lines, but wind about considerably in different places for no reason that we could find out, except it be in some places for the sake of mounting a few steep hills, which would be avoided if the roads were carried in a straight line - They seem the paths formerly trod by their ancestors, and are in some places paved and gravelled, in others in a natural state - Travelling on these accounts is very slow in Munster, especially if we go out of turnpike roads."[1]
Between Cahir and its junction with the N76 east of Clonmel, the N24 once formed an integral part of the T6 - the old trunk road that connected the cities of Cork and Dublin before the contemporary numbering system was established.
Proposed upgrades
It is proposed to upgrade most of this road to motorway standard.[2] The proposed upgrade schemes include (east to west):
- Mooncoin Bypass[3]
- Carrick-on-Suir Bypass[4]
- Clonmel–Cahir Bypass[5]
- Tipperary Town Bypass (N24 Pallasgreen to Bansha scheme and the N24 Cahir to Bansha scheme now N24 Pallasgreen–Cahir)
- Ballysimon (Limerick Bypass) to Pallasgreen
As of July 2013, all of these upgrade schemes were suspended.
References
- Quoted in David Broderick, The First Toll-Roads: Ireland's Turn-Pike Roads, 1729-1858 (Cork, 2002), p. 106
- "N24 Prioritisation Study" (PDF). South-East Regional Authority. June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- "N24 Mooncoin Bypass Road Improvement Scheme – Constraints Study Report" (PDF). Kilkenny County Council. 8 August 2001. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- "N24 Carrick on Suir Bypass Road Improvement Scheme Project T110" (PDF). South Tipperary County Council. 8 June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- "N24 Clonmel Bypass Route Comparison Report" (PDF). South Tipperary County Council. June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2023.