New €27m bypass opened on N8 route

The Dublin-Cork N8 route was further improved today with the opening of a 4km bypass around Mitchelstown taking 20,000 vehicles a day out of the town.

The single carriageway road, which cost just over €27m and was completed three months ahead of schedule, will cut journey times between the cities by half an hour at busy times.

Martin Cullen, Transport Minister, said: “The successful and dramatic upgrading of road quality seen under this Government’s investment programme is not unique to the Cork – Dublin route.

“It is part, albeit a critically important part, of a planned transformation of our national, inter-urban road network, which will see the completion of the five major inter-urban motorways by 2010.

“In targeting the main inter-urban routes and, particularly, traffic bottlenecks on these routes, as well as gateways and hubs such as Sligo and Ennis, the national roads programme is underpinning the implementation of the National Spatial Strategy.”

Work on the project commenced in May 2005, and has been completed ahead of schedule and within budget.

The route starts on the existing N8 south of Mitchelstown and heads west where it crosses the Glanworth Road, before crossing the N73 in the townland of Stagpark and heading northeast to the R513 and re-connects with the existing N8 to the east.

Mr Cullen also said that road safety was a major concern for the second half of the year.

He said every county and community is now benefiting from improved and safer roads but a combination of initiatives by a number of people and organisations is needed to bring about positive change.

“The Government, road users, the Gardaí, the National Roads Authority along with local authorities and, of course, the Road Safety Authority, all have a vital role in road safety,” he said.

“The most important of all is to win over the hearts and minds of all road users and change drivers’ attitudes.”

The Road Traffic Bill is expected to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas this week, providing for the introduction of mandatory breath testing, the privatisation of 800 speed cameras and the ban on holding a mobile phone while driving.

In October the Cork-Dublin route will be further improved with the opening of the tolled Fermoy by-pass which Mr Cullen defended.

“If you read the ESRI report last week, the ESRI said we should have even more tolls than we are having,” he said.

“We will have at least nine in the country when we are finished, the ESRI said we should have far more than that because it would put motorists off the roads, there are too many motorists on the roads these days.”