N60 road (Ireland)

The N60 road is a national secondary road in Ireland, linking Castlebar, County Mayo to Roscommon town via Claremorris, Ballyhaunis and Castlerea. The busiest section of the N60 is between Castlebar and Claremorris, as this is one of the main links from County Mayo to the Irish motorway network at Tuam. This section of the route carries more than 7,000 vehicles daily.

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N60 road
Bóthar N60
Mayo border sign.jpg
The N60 entering County Mayo near Ballyhaunis
Route information
Length92 km (57 mi)
Location
CountryIreland
Primary
destinations
Highway system

The entire N60 is single carriageway and the vast majority has no hard shoulders. Some stretches have narrow driving lanes and poor horizontal alignment, and these sections have been targeted for upgrades in recent years. Between Castlebar and Claremorris, a 1.4 km section of road at Lagnamuck was realigned in 2019[1] and as of 2023 a 3.6 km realignment at Heathlawn is under construction.[2] Another 4 km realignment at Manulla is at the design stage.[3]

In County Roscommon, a 3.4 km section of the N60 at Oran, between Ballymoe and Roscommon town, was realigned and upgraded in 2019.[4]

Prior to these upgrades, the N60 had seen only minor realignment works carried out since the 1970s, most notably the Claremorris relief road, which was constructed in two stages between 1988 and 2000. This relief road removes the majority of the 7,000 vehicles daily from Claremorris town centre, in particular Mount Street—which was once notorious for tailbacks, as traffic previously gave way to the busy N17 that passed through the town prior to the opening of the N17 bypass in 2001.

A new route between Castlebar and Claremorris has been in planning for many years; it will bypass the village of Balla when constructed. However, design work on this project has been suspended.

Route

The official description of the N60 from the Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2012[5] reads:

N60: Roscommon — Castlebar, County Mayo
Between its junction with N61 at Cloonbrackna in the county of Roscommon and its junction with N5 at Humbert Way in the town of Castlebar in the county of Mayo via Racecourse Road, Lissagallan and Drumatemple in the county of Roscommon: Ballymoe Bridge at the boundary between the county of Roscommon and the county of Galway: Ballymoe in the county of Galway: Harristown; Saint Patrick Street and Main Street at Castlerea; Fortaugustus, Ballinlough and Scregg in the county of Roscommon: Coolnafarna, Devlis; Abbey Street, Bridge Street and Clare Street at Ballyhaunis; Hazelhill, Brickeens, Cuilmore and Clare; Inner Relief Road and Mount Street in the town of Claremorris; Lugatemple, Brees, Balla, Moat, Manulla Bridge, Breaghwy and Kilkenny in the county of Mayo: and Station Road in the town of Castlebar.

The route originally continued from Castlebar to Westport; however, this section became part of the N5 in 1994. The route was curtailed by a further 2.5km when the N5 bypass of Castlebar opened in 2023.[6] At this point the N60, terminates at its junction with the N5 Castlebar bypass, and the remaining former N60 road has been designated as the R308.[7][8]

The N60 is 92.4 kilometres (57.4 mi) long.

See also

References
  1. "N60 Castlebar to Balla at Lagnamuck". Mayo County Council. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  2. "N60 Balla to Claremorris at Heathlawn". Mayo County Council. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  3. "N60 Road Improvement at Manulla". Mayo County Council. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  4. "N60 Oran Road Project Official Completion". Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  5. "S.I. No. 53/2012 - Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2012". Government of Ireland. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  6. "N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project". Mayo County Council. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  7. "Castlebar Bypass Section Of The New N5 Westport To Turlough Road To Open". MayoCoCo.
  8. "R308 - Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki". www.sabre-roads.org.uk.
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