The busiest section of the N60 is between Castlebar and Claremorris, as this is one of the main links from County Mayo to the Irish motorway network at Tuam.

Some stretches have narrow driving lanes and poor horizontal alignment, and these sections have been targeted for upgrades in recent years.

[4] Prior to these upgrades, the N60 had seen only minor realignment works carried out since the 1970s, most notably the Claremorris relief road, which was constructed in two stages between 1988 and 2000.

This relief road removes the majority of the 7,000 vehicles daily from Claremorris town centre, in particular Mount Street—which was once notorious for tailbacks, as traffic previously gave way to the busy N17 that passed through the town prior to the opening of the N17 bypass in 2001.

A new route between Castlebar and Claremorris has been in planning for many years; it will bypass the village of Balla when constructed.