Sligo - Transport

Transport

The main roads to Sligo are the N4 to Dublin, the N17 to Galway, the N15 to Lifford, County Donegal; and the N16 to Blacklion, County Cavan, and continues as the A4 road (Northern Ireland) to Enniskillen. The section of the N4 road between Sligo and Collooney is a dual carriageway. The first phase of this road was completed in January 1998, bypassing the towns of Collooney and Ballysadare. An extension to this road was completed in September 2005, and is known as the Sligo Inner Relief Road.

O'Connell Street - the main street in the town - was pedestrianised on 15 August 2006. Plans for the proposed redevelopment and paving of this street were publicly unveiled on 23 July 2008 in The Sligo Champion. The newspaper later revealed that people were not in favour of the pedestrianisation of the street. The street was reopened to traffic in December 2009.

Sligo has a certain amount of cycleways in proximity to the town and various road traffic calming measures have been installed helping to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Sligo acquired a rail link to Dublin on 3 December 1862, with the opening of Sligo railway station. Connections to Enniskillen and the north followed in 1881 and Limerick and the south in 1895. The line to Enniskillen closed in 1957 and passenger services to Galway-Ennis-Limerick closed in 1963. For many years CIE kept the latter line open for freight traffic, and although it is now disused, it forms part of the Western Rail Corridor redevelopment project. In 1966 Sligo railway station was renamed Mac Diarmada Station after Irish rebel Seán Mac Diarmada from County Leitrim. Iarnród Éireann, Ireland's national railway operator, runs inter-city rail services on the Dublin-Sligo railway line. There are currently up to eight trains daily each way between Sligo and Dublin Connolly, with a frequency of every two hours.

Sligo Town and County Sligo are served by Sligo Airport, 8 km (5.0 mi) from Sligo town and close to Strandhill village, though no scheduled flights currently operate out of the airport.

Bus Éireann operates four bus routes in the town: one serves the town centre and the other the west of the town. The other two routes run from the town to Strandhill and Rosses Point respectively. Route 66 connects Sligo via Manorhamilton to Enniskillen and is popular for shopping trips. Other inter-city routes include Route 64 from Derry to Galway via Sligo and Knock Airport, and Route 23 to Dublin via Dublin Airport and towns along the N4 road.

Feda O'Donnell offers routes to and from Gweedore to the west of Ireland, including Sligo and Galway, via Ballyshannon.