N11 road (Ireland)

Original route out of and into Dublin

The N11 commenced where it met the N4 on the south end of O'Connell Bridge in Dublin city centre. The route proceeded along D'Olier Street, College Street (and in the opposite direction, Westmoreland Street). The route continued around College Green and Grafton Street (and in the other direction, Suffolk Street, Church Lane and Dame Street). From here, the route continued out of the city via Nassau Street, Kildare Street, North side of St. Stephen's Green, Merrion Row, Baggot Street Lower, Pembroke Street Lower, Fitzwilliam Square West and Pembroke Street Upper. This route section in the other direction (into the city centre) ran via Leeson Street Lower, East and North sides of St. Stephen's Green and Dawson Street. The N11 ran in both directions along Leeson Street Lower after the junction with Pembroke Street. Having crossed the Grand Canal the route divided again for a portion of Leeson Street Upper, with outbound traffic proceeding via Sussex Road. The route continued via Morehampton Road and Donnybrook Road, through Donnybrook, with the route becoming dual carriageway at Donnybrook Church, which marks the beginning of the Stillorgan Road.

The Stillorgan Road brought the road past Belfield, where University College Dublin is located (and accessed from a grade-separated interchange on the dual carriageway - the first full interchange built in Ireland) and onwards to its junction with Mount Merrion Avenue.

This former section of the N11 is now the R138.

Current starting point

The N11 currently starts in Mount Merrion at the junction with the N31 to Dún Laoghaire harbour.

From this junction it heads south to Stillorgan village. Stillorgan village is bypassed to the east by the N11 dual carriageway, which proceeds southeast through Galloping Green, bypassing Leopardstown and Foxrock to the east also. Then the Cabinteely Bypass and part of the Bray Road bring the N11 via Loughlinstown and Shanganagh to north of Shankill, where the M11 motorway commences as the Bray/Shankill Bypass.

The entire length of the N11, from Mount Merrion to the Loughlinstown roundabout, is provided with a Quality Bus Corridor (QBC) bus lane. Dublin Bus Route 46A operates over this stretch of road as far as Foxrock Church.

Link with M50

Along the Shankill Bypass, the M11 is joined by the Dublin's M50 motorway ring road, which terminates at a major junction along the M11, opened in June 2005 after many years of planning. This link allows motorists to drive on continuous motorway and dual carriageway all the way from Clough, Co. Wexford to various destinations around the island via the M50 and the national roads it serves. These include Portlaoise via the N7/M7, Newry, County Down via the M1/N1/A1, north of Ashbourne, County Meath via the N2, Galway, County Galway via the M4/N4/M6, and Mullingar, County Westmeath via the N4/M4.

Traffic proceeding north on the M11 is given a choice to stay on the main carriageway (which becomes the M50), or take the exit at what is junction 17 on the M50, in order to stay on the M11, following the N11 into the city centre. Traffic on the N11 inside Dublin proper is expected to ease due to traffic being given other route options before entering the city.

Route through Wicklow and Wexford

West of Bray in County Wicklow, the motorway ends, with the N11 continuing south as dual carriageway through the Glen of the Downs. The upgrading of the road to dual carriageway through the Glen of the Downs was controversial, as the valley is a wooded area. Expanding the road resulted in the removal of some woodland. A campaign of protests, mainly by environmental activists, led to long delays in the construction of this section of road, but the work was eventually completed with a minimal disruption to the woodland. After Glen of the Downs the N11 continues south to bypass Kilpedder and Newtownmountkennedy. The road becomes the M11 again at Junction 14 and bypasses Ashford, Rathnew and Arklow (which was bypassed by a dual-carriageway route opened in January 1999 and re-designated as motorway in August 2009).

Just north of Inch, the M11 enters County Wexford. The route continues South, bypassing Gorey and Clogh. This section was also re-designated as motorway from 28 August 2009. The former N11 road between Arklow and Gorey is now signposted as the R772 regional road. At the end of the Gorey bypass the motorway section ends at a roundabout. The N11 then continues as a single carriageway. Camolin, and Ferns lie along the route south towards Enniscorthy. At Ballynahallin, 5 km North of Enniscorthy, the N80 from Tullamore joins the N11. At Enniscorthy itself, the N30 from New Ross joins the N11. South of here, the N11 passes through Oilgate, County Wexford, continuing south through Ferrycarrig, and crossing the River Slaney to terminate on a bypass west of Wexford where it meets the N25 from Waterford at the Belmont roundabout.

Upgrades

The N11 has been gradually upgraded from single to dual carriageway standard from the 1950s to the present, with improvements taking place at an accelerated pace in recent years. The first short stretch of dual carriageway on the road, and indeed the first stretch of dual carriageway in the Republic of Ireland, was built in the 1950s between the Stillorgan Road/Newtownpark Avenue junction (White's Cross) and Foxrock Church (this stretch was substantially widened around the turn of the millennium). Subsequent short stretches of dual carriageway, at Loughlinstown, between Bray and Kilpedder, and from Donnybrook to Stillorgan were constructed during the early to mid-1970s, this phase ending with the opening of the Stillorgan bypass in October 1979. Since that time, these sections have been joined up through further improvements.

Timeline (from 1970)

A further project to provide a 27 km motorway bypass around Enniscorthy and also connecting the M11 to the N30 is under construction (as of 2016). Currently, the passage of traffic through the town is restricted by the narrow streets and the two bridges which connect the town across the River Slaney.

Initial planning is underway to bypass Oilgate by building a new dual carriageway N11 from the end of the future Enniscorthy bypass to the N25 near Wexford Town. A new section of N25 will complete the up-grade of Euroroute 01 between the M50 and Rosslare Harbour.

If all these were completed as planned, there would be no single carriageway sections of the N11 left.

On 30 September 2008, the Department of Transport proposed that the dual carriageway sections from Ashford to south of Rathnew, and from north of Arklow to south of Gorey, be reclassified as motorway under the Roads Act 2007. The Statutory Instrument for these reclassifications was passed on 2 July 2009 and came into effect on 28 August 2009. There are two sections of M11 motorway forming part of the N11 route.