€454m road section opened to traffic

A €454 MILLION section of road, which will form part of a complete motorway between Dublin and Cork, has been opened to traffic.

The Cashel-Mitchelstown road, which is the largest infrastructural project to be carried out in Co Tipperary, will shave 15 minutes off the journey time between the capital and Cork.

The 41km dual carriageway, which will remove an estimated 9,500 cars from the towns and villages on the former road, was officially opened yesterday by Minister for State at the Department of Finance Martin Mansergh.

He cut the tape for the final section of the project, from Cahir to Mitchelstown, which was completed 10 months ahead of schedule.

“This road, which runs through the heart of south Tipperary, will be of major benefit to the people and the economy of the adjoining towns in terms of jobs and investment, and indeed it will make the whole county more accessible,” Mr Mansergh said.

The road will be designated as having motorway status on September 24 next, increasing the speed limit on it to 120km/hr.

National Roads Authority (NRA) chairman, Peter Malone, said that by 2010 motorists will be able to travel from Dublin to Cork on a complete motorway or dual carriageway.

The 16km Fermoy-Mitchelstown motorway section is set to be opened in the spring of 2010, while a few months later the 40-km section between Portlaoise and Cullahill will also be completed.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Mr Mansergh, as at one point he had to pass a dozen protesting farmers.

One of them, Martin Russell, said he still hadn’t been paid for land at Kilbenenny that the NRA needed to complete the Cashel-Mitchelstown route.

He said the NRA had split his farm in two and not offered any adequate compensation for inconvenience and disturbance.

The farmers’ cases are going to arbitration.