R102

The R102 passes Tolka Valley Park.

The R102 is a suburban cross-route in Dublin running eastwards from the Blanchardstown bypass, close to the N3/M50 interchange (Junction 6 of the M50) to the R107, Malahide Road, at Marino, some 3 km northeast of the city centre. It takes an orbital route, further out than the R101.

The road, which starts in the area administered by Fingal County Council, largely parallels the course of the River Tolka through the north of Dublin city, as witnessed by the names River Road and Tolka Valley Road which make up the first 6.5 km or so of the route.

A large part of River Road, which runs close to the south bank of the Tolka, retains a very rural character still, its narrowness emphasized by the survival of old stone walls and hedges close to the carriageway. After the route crosses to the northern bank of the river, Tolka Valley Road – running on a slightly higher elevation – is a newer, wider, and much more open road, with modern housing set well back on its northern side and park land to the south.

The green character of the R102 is maintained in a rather different way once we reach Glasnevin (after dog-legging right-then-left across the R135 at Balseskin). Here begins the 4 km length of the leafy Griffith Avenue – laid out in the 1930s and said to be the longest tree-lined suburban avenue in Europe – which takes us the rest of the way, through Drumcondra, to the terminus of the route on the Malahide Road, R107.