Roads
- Total - 117,318 km (72,898 mi)
- South: 92,500 km (57,500 mi) including 1,015 km (631 mi) of motorway (2010)
- North: 24,818 km (15,421 mi) including 148 km (92 mi) of motorway (2008)
- paved - 87,043 km (54,086 mi), unpaved - 5,457 km (3,391 mi)
Ireland's roads link Dublin with all the major cities (Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Derry, Galway, and Waterford). Driving is on the left. Signposts in the Republic of Ireland are shown in kilometres and speed limits in kilometres per hour. Distance and speed limit signs in Northern Ireland use imperial units in common with the rest of the United Kingdom.
Historically, land owners developed most roads and later Turnpike Trusts collected tolls so that as early as 1800 Ireland had a 16,100 kilometres (10,000 mi) road network. In 2005 the Irish Government launched Transport 21, a plan envisaging the investment of €34 billion in transport infrastructure from 2006 until 2015. Several road projects were progressed but the economic crisis that began in 2008-09 has prevented its full implementation.
Read more about this topic: Transport In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word roads:
“We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Pioneers lay the roads for those who follow to walk on.”
—Chinese proverb.