Local Roads in Ireland

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).

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 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.

Many of the remaining classified roads became regional roads (formally authorised under the Roads Act 1993, 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.

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