Local Roads (Republic of Ireland)

This article is about local roads in Ireland.
For link roads in Ireland, under the old system of numbering, see Link Roads.

Co. Galway's L8230 at Abbey

Co. Donegal's L3243 leaves the N56 near Dunfanaghy

A tertiary local road plate in Co. Cork, with suffix

Local Roads (Bóithre Áitiúla) make up the lowest level in the Republic of Ireland's system of road classification and numbering. The Roads Act 1993 defines a local road as "a public road, other than a national road or a regional road" and makes their classification and numbering, as well as their planning and maintenance, a responsibility of the country's (local) road authorities – that is to say, the 31 county, city, and city and county councils.

Local roads bear four- or five-digit numbers prefixed by the letter L, and each road authority classifies the local roads within its own administrative area according to the following system, or another closely resembling it:

• Local Primary Roads generally have a width of at least 4 metres and they are normally numbered in the range L1000–4999
• Local Secondary Roads generally have a width of less than 4 metres and they are normally numbered in the range L5000–8999
• Local Tertiary Roads consist of very minor links and dead ends and most are numbered in the range L10001–89999 with the first four digits representing the local primary or secondary local road of which each is a branch or spur; otherwise, they are numbered in the series L90000+

Local road numbers are normally (but not always) signed at the points where they join higher-category roads. The signs (black-on-white like those for regional roads) are normally simple plates bearing the number only, but at the start of more important sections they may be full flag-type signs, in which case they include a named destination.

For administrative and maintenance purposes, roads are divided into lengths, indicated in internal documentation and sometimes in public notices by a numeric suffix (e.g. L95723-10). These suffixes are not normally displayed on road signs but do appear occasionally.

Because each authority administers its own local road numbering system, the same numbers can be, and usually are, repeated in different parts of the country – so that there can be, for instance, 30 or more unrelated roads all numbered L1001.

Speed limits

The general speed limit on local roads is 80 km/h (50 km/h in built-up areas).

Historical note

Today's local roads should not be confused with the Link roads, which – in an earlier road classification scheme – were also prefixed by the letter L (but bore one-, two-, or three-digit numbers).