€249m Drogheda by-pass to be opened

The 21.5km Drogheda bypass is due to be officially opened later today.

The €249m project is the latest stretch of the M1 motorway to be opened to the public and includes a 350m suspension bridge over the River Boyne.

It also forms part of a route which will eventually stretch unbroken from Larne in Co Antrim to Rosslare in Co Wexford.

The National Roads Authority has claimed that the new bypass, which will be tolled, will divert 15,000 vehicles from the existing Dublin-Belfast road every day.