National Roads Authority
Encyclopedia
The National Roads Authority (NRA) is a state body in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the Roads Act 1993 and commenced operations on 23 December 1993 in accordance with S.I. 407 of 1993.

County council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...

s remain responsible for local and regional road
Regional road
A regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is a...

s, as well as various tasks like setting speed limits. The NRA, meanwhile, is responsible for the planning, maintenance and construction of National Primary Routes and National Secondary Routes
National secondary road
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...

 as well as establishing safety measures. Ireland's national road network consists of 2739 km (1,701.9 mi) of National Primary Routes and 2676 km (1,662.8 mi) of National Secondary Routes.

The body also plays an environmental and archaeological role as part of the road building programme, publishing an archaeology magazine, seanda, since 2006. Since 2007 it has managed the eToll
EToll
eToll is a National Roads Authority run interoperability system allowing cashless payment on all of Ireland's toll roads. Based on an RFID tag attached to the windscreen of a participating vehicle, it allows drivers to travel on the tolled sections of them M1, M4, M6, M7, M8 and M50 as well as the...

 toll payment interoperability system operated by Egis Projects.

The NRA is headed by a Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 (CEO) who reports to the NRA's board which in turn reports to the Minister for Transport. There are four departmental heads who report to the CEO: the Head of Finance and Administration, the Head of Engineering Operations, the Head of PPP (Public Private Partnerships), Strategic Planning and Commercial Operations and the Head of Corporate Affairs and Professional Services.

At present, the NRA is mainly concerned with the extensive expansion of Ireland's motorway network under the National Development Plan
National Development Plan
National Development Plan is the title given by the Irish Government to a scheme of organised large-scale expenditure on national infrastructure. The period covered by the seven year plan runs from 2000 to 2006. A second National Development Plan is currently in progress and is due to run until...

 (NDP). The Transport 21
Transport 21
Transport 21 is an Irish infrastructure plan, announced in November 2005. It aims to greatly expand Ireland's transport network. A cost estimate of €34 billion was attached to the plan at the time....

 element of the NDP involves improvements to Ireland's transport networks including its roads. The NRA is responsible for making major improvements to key roads, especially the Major Inter-Urban Routes. These routes are the N1/M1 (Dublin - north of Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...

), the N4/M4/N6/M6 (Dublin - Kinnegad
Kinnegad
Kinnegad or Kinagad is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is near the border with County Meath, at the junction of the N6 and the N4 - two of Ireland's main east-west roads...

-Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

), the N7/M7 (Dublin-Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

), the N8/M8
M8 motorway (Ireland)
The M8 motorway is an inter-urban motorway in Ireland, which forms part of the road from the capital - Dublin - to Cork city. The 149 km motorway commences in the townland of Aghaboe, County Laois and runs through the counties of Kilkenny, North Tipperary, South Tipperary and Limerick,...

 (Portlaoise-Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

) and the N9/M9 (near Naas
Naas
Naas is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. With a population of just over twenty thousand, it is also the largest town in the county. Naas is a major commuter suburb, with many people residing there and working in Dublin...

-Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...

).

Major improvements are also being made to many other national primary and national secondary routes, most notably the Atlantic Corridor routes (N15, N17, N18, N20, N24, N25) and the N11/M11 (Dublin - Wexford
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...

).

See also

  • Roads in Ireland
    Roads in Ireland
    The island of Ireland, comprising Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries, from trackways suitable only for walkers and horses, to...

  • Motorways in the Republic of Ireland
    Motorways in the Republic of Ireland
    In Ireland, the highest category of road is a Motorway , indicated by the prefix M followed by one or two digits...

  • National primary road
    National primary road
    A national primary road is a road classification in the Republic of Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. There are over 2,700km of national primary roads. This category of road has the prefix "N" followed by one or two digits...

  • National secondary road
    National secondary road
    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...

  • Regional road
    Regional road
    A regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is a...

  • Local Roads in Ireland
    Local Roads in Ireland
    A Local Road in Ireland is a class of public road not classified as a National road or as a Regional road but nevertheless forming a link in the national network of roads...

  • Atlantic Corridor
    Atlantic Corridor
    The Atlantic Corridor is a road project in Ireland that eventually will link Waterford in the South-East to Letterkenny in the North-West by high-quality dual carriageway or motorway. A major infrastructure project, the scheme was announced as part of the Transport 21 project launch in 2005, and is...

  • Dublin Port Tunnel
    Dublin Port Tunnel
    The Dublin Port Tunnel is a road traffic tunnel in Dublin, Ireland, that forms part of the M50 motorway....

  • Jack Lynch Tunnel
    Jack Lynch Tunnel
    The Jack Lynch Tunnel is an immersed tube tunnel and an integral part of the N25 southern ring road of Cork in Ireland. It is named after former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, a native of Cork....

  • History of Roads in Ireland
    History of Roads in Ireland
    There have been routes and trackways in Ireland connecting settlements and facilitating trade since ancient times and the country now has an extensive network of public roads connecting all parts of the island.-Early history:...

  • Trunk Roads in Ireland
    Trunk Roads in Ireland
    Ireland has an extensive network of public roads which connect all parts of the country with each other. Roads in Ireland are currently classified as motorways, National Primary routes, National secondary routes, Regional roads and Local roads. The introduction of this classification system began...

  • Road signs in the Republic of Ireland
    Road signs in the Republic of Ireland
    Road signs in Ireland mostly differ from the traffic signs used elsewhere in Europe. Directional signage is similar to that of the United Kingdom, but is bilingual. Distances are in kilometres. Apart from directional signage, the basic prohibitory signs such as "no left turn" and "no right turn"...

  • Road speed limits in the Republic of Ireland
    Road speed limits in the Republic of Ireland
    Road speed limits in the Republic of Ireland apply on all public roads in the country. These are signposted and legislated for in kilometres per hour. Speed limits are demarcated by regulatory road signs . These consist of white circular signs with a red outline. Speed limits are marked in black...

  • Vehicle registration plates of Ireland
  • Transport in Ireland
    Transport in Ireland
    Most of the transport system in Ireland is in public hands, either side of the Irish border. The Irish road network has evolved separately in the two jurisdictions Ireland is divided up into, while the Irish rail network was mostly created prior to the partition of Ireland.In the Republic of...

  • List of Ireland-related topics
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