Where is m3 motorway

By far the most controversial road project ever built in the State, the M3 replaces the N3 route which links Dublin with Navan and the northwest of the country. In ancient times, this road lead to Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland.

Archeological evidence in has been uncovered that suggests that the route was paved with wooden logs coveredwith gravel, after remains were discovered in a bog. The N3 still runs past the Hill of Tara today, a major part of the country's heritage. The N3 is unusual in that it is a single-digit national route but doesn't connect Dublin with any major destination of significance at its far end, a distinction it shares only with the N5, which goes from Dublin to the small west coast town of Westport.

The N3 runs northwest out of Dublin and passes through a limited number of towns. The road then crosses the border into Northern Ireland where it becomes the A and the A46 after it passes through County Fermanagh's main town of Enniskillen.

The route runs alongside the wonderful Upper and Lower Lough Erne, a large pair of lakes that bisect the county, before passing back over the border into the Republic for the final few kilometres to Ballyshannon and the coast. From here motorists can either turn left for Sligo and the south or north for the towns of Donegal. With the Hill of Tara and the surrounding archaeologically rich area at its centre, upgrading the N3 to the M3 would always be difficult without causing significant disruption.

This was exacerbated by the Government's choice to build the new route as a tolled motorway, with two collection points. This would surely make it an expensive choice for a potential car commuter. The new route runs parallel to the old with the exception of the Navan-Kells run, where it skirts along the western side of the towns.

Travelling north from Dublin, the route runs to the west of the existing N3 before switching over to the east for the run through the Tara and Skryne valley , the gap between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skryne. Namespaces Page Discussion. Views Read View source View history. This page was last modified on 23 January , at Privacy policy About Wikishire Disclaimers. Road continues as A to London. Sunbury , Kingston A Non-motorway traffic. Woking , Bracknell , Bagshot , Lightwater A Hook A B Basingstoke, Reading A33 , Alton A No access.

Winchester A Twyford B Eastleigh North , Chandler's Ford A Belfast Urban Motorway history on this site. The M3 is an incalculably important route in Belfast that allows traffic on the M2 and A12 Westlink on the west bank of the River Lagan to cross over to east Belfast and hence to Bangor on the A2. For part of its length the M3 is elevated on pillars and also features the 8-lane Lagan Bridge which gives rise to its alternative name of the "Cross Harbour Motorway".

Traffic Data Future Plans Photographs. Note: Map begins a little before the M3 to illustrate the westbound offslip at Dee Street. Distances here are between the Dee Street lights, centre of junction 1 and start of the M2.

Begins as A2 Sydenham Bypass. Terminates as M2 motorway towards Antrim. On this stretch it is on an embankment. The Bridge End Flyover was retained as the westbound offslip, but the remaining three accesses on this side of the river were provided by new sliproads onto Middlepath Street.

These three sliproads form junction 1 of the M3. The A2 officially becomes the M3 where the eastbound onslip joins the motorway. West of this junction is the River Lagan, metres wide at this point, and the M3 crosses it on an attractive concrete arch bridge made from pre-cast segments.

The bridge itself is made up of two independent spans running parallel, one for each carriageway. The road deck was designed to carry four lanes in each direction - an enhancement to the original plan to have three lanes each way. This gives the bridge a total width of 37 metres. The distance between the sliproads for junction 1 and junction 1A is metres, the shortest between any two motorway junctions in Northern Ireland.

Junction 1A is shared with the M2, in that the south-facing sliproads belong the M3, but the north-facing slips are part of the M2.