Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 291: To ask the Minister for Transport the criteria which is used when classifying a national primary and a national secondary road; the regularity of the review of this decision; the process which is necessary to reclassify the status of these roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31129/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Until earlier this year, the national and regional road classification system was set out in Statutory Instrument (S.I.) 209 of 1994: Roads Act, 1993 (Declaration of National Roads) Order, 1994 and S.I. 400 of 1994: Roads Act, 1993 (Declaration of Regional Roads) Order, 1994. A major review of these Statutory Instruments — designed to take account of road improvements and route changes since 1994 — was completed earlier this year and Statutory Instruments (S.I. 187 of 2006 and S.I. 188 of 2006) were signed by me in April this year.

This review was conducted in consultation with local authorities and took account of representations received from a wide range of local interests. The criteria employed are set out below.

National Primary Roads

1. Long distance through routes, including those providing access to the key commercial seaports and State airports.

2. Serving as connections between principal cities and large towns.

3. Serving major geographical regions.

4. Having continuity throughout their length.

5. Serving in aggregate a high percentage of the total population of the country.

6. Carrying significant heavy commercial vehicles.

National Secondary Roads

1. Medium length through and semi-through routes.

2. Serving as connecting roads betweenprincipal towns.

3. Serving medium to large geographical regions.

4. Forming extensions to the national primary roads.

5. Linking national primary routes together to form a homogeneous network.

6. Serving major tourism traffic.

General

1. A by-pass of a town on a national route should be classified as the national route with the existing route being classified as non-national.

2. National roads should have continuity throughout their length and there should be no gaps within the designated network.

3. Spurs off the network should not be designated as national roads unless they connect to/from the key commercial seaports and State airports.