A
national secondary road () is a category of road in
Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network, but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as
national primary roads. National secondary roads are designated with route numbers higher than those used for primary roads, but with the same "N" prefix. Routes
N51 and higher are all national secondary roads.
National secondary roads have a default
speed limit of 100km/h (62.5 mph), as along with national primary routes, they fall into the speed limit category of
national roads.
There are 2684km of national secondary roads in Ireland, making up slightly less than 50% of the entire national route (national primary and national secondary) network. National secondary routes are generally more poorly maintained than primary routes (although their quality can vary widely), but often carry more traffic than
regional roads. Almost the entire network of national secondary roads is
single carriageway, although there are some short sections of
dual carriageway on the
Tallaght bypass section of the
N81, on the
N52 at
Dundalk, on the
N85 at
Ennis, on the
N62 at
Athlone and on the
N71 between
Cork and
Bandon. Typically, national secondary roads are of a similar standard or higher than regional roads although some are of lower quality than the better sections of regional roads. Many of them have been resurfaced with higher...
Read More