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Status
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Construction scheme
(future) |
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Where
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To
upgrade the N13 between Letterkenny and
Manorcunningham, County Donegal with
improvements to the N13 south of
Letterkenny and a new road link to the
N56 Letterkenny Bypass.
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Total
Length
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6.3 km / 3.9 miles
of main roads plus 2.3 km (1.4 miles) of
link roads
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Dates
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Dec 2017 – Feasibility
report published
Feb 2019 – Route options published
Jan 2020 – Preferred
route announced
2023 – Included in the draft County
Donegal Development Plan 2024-2030
2023 – Business case
due to be approved by Department of
Transport
2026 – Earliest possible start of
construction (as of May 2022)
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Cost
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€100-125m (as of 2022)
- to be funded via the TEN-T Priority
Route Improvement Project, Donegal
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See
Also
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General area
map
Official
web site on scheme
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Click here to jump straight down to updates
for this scheme.
The N13 connects Derry to Ballybofey, passing
through Manorcunningham and bypassing
Letterkenny to the east en route. At Letterkenny
it meets the N56 which carries traffic into the
town and onwards to north Donegal. The 2 km
stretch of the N13 from the junction with the
N14 south of Manorcunningham to Letterkenny was
upgraded to a dual-carriageway before 2000 (in
the 1990s?) making it the first modern
dual-carriageway in Donegal. It is an at-grade
dual-carriageway with T-junctions and central
reservation crossing points.
This scheme would see this section of road
upgraded to improve safety and improve traffic
flow. The existing dual-carriageway will be
upgraded to have no central reserve crossings,
with crossing roads either grade-separated or
closed up. Meanwhile, the N13 south of
Letterkenny will be realigned onto a new route
to meet the upgraded dual-carriageway at a new
roundabout. From the same roundabout, a new link
road will connect to the existing N56
Letterkenny Bypass. The map below shows the
proposed route as of 2020 (click to expand). A
more detailed design can be seen in the last few
pages of this
document.
The road will include a major bridge over the
River Swilly just east of the Letterkenny
Bypass. The scheme is one element of three
schemes being taken forward together as a single
project, the other two being the N13/N15
Ballbofey/Stranorlar Bypass and
N14 Manorhamilton to A5 at Lifford/Strabane.
Updates
15 Sep 2023: As with the first Donegal
scheme I covered, the first point to make is
that this is my first attempt to follow a scheme
outside Northern Ireland, so if I have made any
basic errors please be gentle and let me know
roads at wesleyjohnston.com! In particular, if
anyone knows the construction date of the
existing N13 dual-carriageway at Letterkenny
please let me know. At this stage the scheme has
a detailed design (see here)
but construction is unlikely to begin before
2026. The next couple of years will need to see
the scheme taken through the process to obtain
planning permission. The scheme also needs a
business case signed off, which is expected
sometime this year. The current cost estimate is
€100-125m at 2022 prices but this is likely to
rise due to the recent surge in construction
inflation. A reminder that the excellent JP
Dowling over at Irish
Motorway Info maintains information on new
roads across the whole of the Republic.
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