Running along the southern coast of Ireland, the N25 connects Cork with the port of Rosslare, taking in the small city of Waterford along the way. Most of the route is winding single carriageway, hugging the coast with mountains on one side and the sea on the other.
The section east of Cork, having the highest traffic levels, was worked on first, starting in the 1980s. Midleton, famous for its whiskey, had a bypass and some online dualling completed in 1987. Carrigtwohill and Glounthaune followed in the 1990s.
The junction at Dunkettle, which is also the western origin of the road, is going to be reconstructed as a complex grade-separated interchange in the next few years. This project is also mentioned on the N40 page. The N25 originally extended around the south of Cork as the Cork Southern Link Road, but in February 2012 this part was renamed N40 and the N25 was truncated.
In the medium term, the section east of Carrigtwohill will be upgraded to high quality dual carriageway through median closures and construction of a new grade separated junction. This will run as far as the west of Midleton. Thereafter, the dual carriageway standard will be extended as far as Youghal (pronounced 'Yawl'). This town already got a single carriageway bypass in the 2003, which would be incorporated into the scheme.
Dungarvan is the next town along the highway. It will have the honour, along with Swords, Galway and a handful of other towns, of ultimately having two bypasses - it already has an inner one, and a new large outer bypass will be constructed within the long term.
From here, it's a straight run to Waterford. This small sized regional city of around 49,000 not only has its own dedicated motorway to Dublin - it also got a huge motorway-standard bypass, including a massive 475m cable-stayed bridge. Formerly the whole city only had one bridge taking it over the River Suir, which needless to say was jammed with traffic round the clock. The project, which was completed at the end of 2009, also involved upgrades to the port access road and an interchange allowing access to the M9 (to Dublin) and N24 (to Limerick).
Continuing east, shortly after Waterford is the town of New Ross, which also straddles a river that is crossed, like Waterford, by one small bridge and one built on a giant scale. The Barrow flows though a valley with the town on both sides. The town was bypassed in January 2020 and the Barrow bridge element is quite a sight.
The final stretch of the N25 is the single carriageway run down to the junction with the N11 at Wexford, where it uses the Wexford bypass to skirt the western edge of the town. Finally it reaches Rosslare town and terminates at the port.
Update 27/07/2019:
The New Ross bypass, including the huge bridge over the River Barrow, will open by the end of the year.
Update 07/01/2020:
The opening has been pushed out to the third week of January 2020.
Update 30/01/2020:
The bypass is open! Full coverage is on the home page.
Update 22/11/2020:
Route options are out for the Carrigtwohill to Midleton scheme.
The scheme only covers the part between the two towns and does not improve the roundabout on the N25 south of Midleton, for example.
One of the four options comprises improvements to the existing road and the other three are new routes, with the existing route returned to local access only.
When the road was dualled in the 1980s it was just a doubling of the existing carriageway with no attempt made to improve junctions and side roads.
Update 25/05/2021:
The preferred route for the Waterford-Glenmore scheme has been published.
The Navy route has been chosen. It appears from the map that the improvement will be along the line of the existing N25 on the northern half but will be a new build for the southern half.
Neither of the roundabouts at the scheme ends will be grade separated.
The standard will be basic dual carriageway instead of High Quality Dual Carriageway.
Update 06/08/2021:
Carrigtwohill to Midleton preferred route has been announced (map on page 2).
There will be a new junction east of Carrigtwohill and new local service roads on one or both sides will be constructed.
Improvements may also be made to the existing junction west of Midleton.
Wikipedia page
Pictures of this road (none yet)
Traffic Counts