Catherine Murphy
Question:233. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the process by which the designation of a road is changed from a regional to national road or vice versa. [19136/22]
View answerThursday, 7 April 2022
Questions (233)
Written answers
The classification of roads as either a national road or a regional road is the responsibility of the Minister under section 10 of the Roads Act, 1993, as amended. A public road, other than one classified by the Minister as a national road or a regional road, is a local road.
The 1993 legislation also provides that where a public road which has been classified as a national or regional road has been realigned or bypassed the section of the pre-existing road which remains following the realignment or bypass becomes a local road unless reclassified by the Minister.
Roads classified as National Primary or National Secondary are funded mainly by the State and construction, improvement and maintenance works are overseen by TII, in conjunction with the relevant local authority, and funded mainly from voted monies. Roads classified as Regional or Local roads fall under the responsibility of local authorities. The construction, repair and maintenance of these roads is funded by local authorities’ own resources supplemented by State grants.
Requests by local authorities to classify a road as a national road or regional road are considered by the Department, in consultation with TII as appropriate. Criteria for consideration are numerous and include items such as function of road including access to towns and cities, ports and airports, geographical regions, population centres and tourist regions. It also includes considerations of continuity of classification throughout the length of road, whether roads are feeder connections or links to the national road network, cross section, alignment and structural integrity as well as numbers of heavy commercial vehicles.
Where a decision is made to classify a road as national or regional, this is then reflected in the relevant Statutory Instrument which includes the status and the location details of the reclassified road.