Local roads in Ireland

L4202 local road sign.

A local road (Irish: Bóthar Áitiúil) in the Ireland is a public road not classified as a national primary road, national secondary road, or regional road but nevertheless forming a link in the national network of roads. Local roads are numbered with four- or five-digit route numbers, prefixed by "L" (for example, L3005 or L97476).

History

Until 1977, roads in Ireland were designated with one of two prefixes: "T" for trunk roads and "L" for link roads. Older signs showing the former trunk and link road designations may still be seen in some locations. The L- prefix for "link road" on these signs does not stand for "local road".

The Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act, 1974 ^[1] authorised the designation of roads as national roads: in 1977, 25 national primary roads (N1–N25) and 33 national secondary roads (N51–N83) were initially designated under Statutory Instrument S.I. No. 164/1977.^[2]

Many of the remaining classified roads became regional roads (formally authorised under the Roads Act 1993, ^[3] route numbers having been present on road signs on a non-statutory basis for some years previously) and their routes were designated under a Statutory Instrument in 1994.

All other public roads, except motorways, became local roads under the 1993 Act which states that "a public road, other than a national road or a regional road, shall be a local road".

Local roads vary greatly in quality, from wide urban streets to very narrow, rural lanes, known as boreens in Ireland. There are three types of local road: local primary (local roads wider than four metres), local secondary (local roads narrower than four metres) and local tertiary (cul-de-sacs and other minor roads). Local roads are subject to a general speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (km/h) or 50 km/h in built-up areas. These roads, with sharp turns and low visibility, barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other, have the same speed limit as many sections of dual carriageways, with physical segregation of and multiple lanes for each direction, only very light turns and excellent visibility.

Local road numbering

Sign for local road L8282 at junction with R747 regional road at Lackareagh, County Wicklow.

The Roads Act 1993 gives local authorities the duty to "assign a number or other identifying mark to each local road in respect of which it has responsibility". Local road numbers have been used for administrative purposes since the Act came into effect, but local road numbers did not generally appear on directional signposts until the late 2000s. Most road-maps do not show local road numbers, although some are marked on OpenStreetMap.

Local roads are classified by the road authority for the area as local primary, local secondary or local tertiary roads. The local primary roads are numbered from L1000 - L4999. Local secondary roads are numbered from L5000 - L8999. Local tertiary roads are numbered from L10001 - L89999, with the first four digits representing the local primary or secondary road to which it is connected. Local tertiary roads which are unrelated to a local primary or secondary road are numbered from L90000 upwards. Local roads are divided into segments of two to three kilometres maximum. For this reason they serve a limited function as the applicable L road number generally ends at junctions with other local roads. The numbering systems are not widely known to the public, however, they must be made available to the public on request in accordance with section 10 of the Roads Act 1993.

Unlike national and regional roads in Ireland, local road numbers are unique within each administrative county, but are not unique nationwide. For example, there is an L1001 in Kilcroney, Bray, another in Inch, County Wexford, another L1001 in County Limerick and a fourth in County Longford. There are various unrelated roads numbered L1002 across County Kildare, County Meath, and County Wexford.^[4]

References

Roads in Ireland

Motorways	M1 M2 M3 M4 M6 M7 M8 M9 M11 M18 M20 M50

Primary roads	N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 N10 N11 N12 N13 N14 N15 N16 N17 N18 N19 N20 N21 N22 N23 N24 N25 N26 N27 N28 N29 N30 N31 N32 N33 N40 N50

Secondary roads	N51 N52 N53 N54 N55 N56 N58 N59 N60 N61 N62 N63 N65 N66 N67 N68 N69 N70 N71 N72 N73 N74 N75 N76 N77 N78 N80 N81 N82 N83 N84 N85 N86 N87

Regional roads	R101 R102 R103 R104 R105 R106 R107 R108 R109 R110 R111 R112 R113 R114 R115 R116 R117 R118 R119 R120 R121 R122 R123 R124 R125 R126 R127 R128 R129 R130 R131 R132 R133 R134 R135 R136 R137 R138 R139 R147 R148 R149 R150 R151 R152 R153 R154 R155 R156 R157 R158 R159 R160 R161 R162 R163 R164 R165 R166 R167 R168 R169 R170 R171 R172 R173 R174 R175 R176 R177 R178 R179 R180 R181 R182 R183 R184 R185 R186 R187 R188 R189 R190 R191 R192 R193 R194 R195 R196 R197 R198 R199 R200 R201 R202 R203 R204 R205 R206 R207 R208 R209 R210 R211 R212 R213 R214 R215 R229 R230 R231 R232 R233 R234 R235 R236 R237 R238 R239 R240 R241 R242 R243 R244 R245 R246 R247 R248 R249 R250 R251 R252 R253 R254 R255 R256 R257 R258 R259 R260 R261 R262 R263 R264 R265 R266 R267 R268 R277 R278 R279 R280 R281 R282 R283 R284 R285 R286 R287 R288 R289 R290 R291 R292 R293 R294 R295 R296 R297 R298 R299 R300 R310 R311 R312 R313 R314 R315 R316 R317 R318 R319 R320 R321 R322 R323 R324 R325 R326 R327 R328 R329 R330 R331 R332 R333 R334 R335 R336 R337 R338 R339 R340 R341 R342 R343 R344 R345 R346 R347 R348 R349 R350 R351 R352 R353 R355 R356 R357 R358 R359 R360 R361 R362 R363 R364 R365 R366 R367 R368 R369 R370 R371 R372 R373 R374 R375 R376 R377 R378 R379 R389 R390 R391 R392 R393 R394 R395 R396 R397 R398 R399 R400 R401 R402 R403 R404 R405 R406 R407 R408 R409 R410 R411 R412 R413 R414 R415 R416 R417 R418 R419 R420 R421 R422 R423 R424 R425 R426 R427 R428 R429 R430 R431 R432 R433 R434 R435 R436 R437 R438 R439 R440 R441 R442 R443 R444 R445 R446 R448 R449 R458 R459 R460 R461 R462 R463 R464 R465 R466 R467 R468 R469 R470 R471 R472 R473 R474 R475 R476 R477 R478 R479 R480 R481 R482 R483 R484 R485 R486 R487 R488 R489 R490 R491 R492 R493 R494 R495 R496 R497 R498 R499 R500 R501 R502 R503 R504 R505 R506 R507 R509 R510 R511 R512 R513 R514 R515 R516 R517 R518 R519 R520 R521 R522 R523 R524 R525 R526 R527 R548 R549 R550 R551 R552 R553 R554 R555 R556 R557 R558 R559 R560 R561 R563 R564 R565 R566 R567 R568 R569 R570 R571 R572 R573 R574 R575 R576 R577 R578 R579 R580 R581 R582 R583 R584 R585 R586 R587 R588 R589 R590 R591 R592 R593 R594 R595 R596 R597 R598 R599 R600 R601 R602 R603 R604 R605 R606 R607 R608 R610 R611 R612 R613 R614 R615 R616 R617 R618 R619 R620 R621 R622 R623 R624 R626 R627 R628 R629 R630 R631 R632 R633 R634 R635 R637 R638 R639 R640 R641 R659 R660 R661 R662 R663 R664 R665 R666 R667 R668 R669 R670 R671 R672 R673 R674 R675 R676 R677 R678 R679 R680 R681 R682 R683 R684 R685 R686 R687 R688 R689 R690 R691 R692 R693 R694 R695 R696 R697 R698 R699 R700 R701 R702 R703 R704 R705 R706 R707 R708 R709 R710 R711 R712 R713 R724 R725 R726 R727 R729 R730 R731 R732 R733 R734 R735 R736 R737 R738 R739 R740 R741 R742 R743 R744 R745 R746 R747 R748 R749 R750 R751 R752 R753 R754 R755 R756 R757 R758 R759 R760 R761 R762 R763 R764 R765 R766 R767 R768 R769 R770 R772 R773 R774 R801 R802 R803 R804 R805 R806 R807 R808 R809 R810 R811 R812 R813 R814 R815 R816 R817 R818 R819 R820 R821 R822 R824 R825 R826 R827 R828 R829 R830 R831 R833 R834 R835 R837 R838 R839 R840 R842 R843 R846 R847 R848 R849 R851 R852 R853 R854 R855 R857 R858 R859 R860 R861 R863 R864 R865 R866 R867 R868 R870 R871 R873 R874 R875 R876 R877 R880 R883 R884 R885 R886 R887 R888 R889 R890 R895 R899 R900 R901 R903 R904 R906 R907 R908 R909 R910 R911 R912 R913 R914 R915 R916 R917 R918 R919 R920 R921 R923 R924 R925 R926 R927 R928 R929 R930 R931 R932 R933 R934 R935 R936 R937 R938 R940 R941

See also National Development Plan National Roads Authority Local roads Toll roads Trunk roads

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Local roads in Ireland

History

Local road numbering

See also

References