One of the State's most notorious traffic blackspots is to become a thing of the past with the opening of the €160 million Kildare by-pass today, according to the National Roads Authority.
The 13-kilometre stretch of motorway was opened at 1 p.m. this afternoon by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, almost five months ahead of its scheduled completion date of April 2004.
Traffic was allowed onto the by-pass later this afternoon, but the traffic monitoring and advice service AA Roadwatch urged motorists to expect some delays while people get used to the new road layout.
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| The Minister for Transport,Mr Brennan, who opens theKildare by-pass today |
The NRA said the bypass will relieve "one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the country" and will significantly improve safety and travel times between Dublin and Cork and Dublin and Limerick.
Up to 20,000 vehicles a day will be taken out of Kildare's main street with the opening of the new road, which extends from the western end of the Curragh dual carriageway (which now becomes a motorway) to the eastern side of Monasterevin.
The NRA said other benefits of the road will include safer, faster access to markets along the corridor from Portlaoise to Dublin, increased attractiveness of the mid-east region for business and improved air quality in Kildare town.
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Mr Brennan said the delivery of the new road was "another positive example of what we can achieve when we put our minds to it.
"I am also pleased by the sensitivity shown to the environment of the Curragh, the environs of Kildare town and special habitat areas including Pollardstown Fen during the design and construction of the motorway," he said.
The motorway plan was finally approved in January 2000 after environmental campaigners lodged objections to European Commission funding of the scheme on the grounds of potential damage to the ecologically significant Pollardstown Fen area and the Curragh aquifer.
Special engineering measures were incorporated into the road to minimise the impact on groundwater levels and to protect Pollardstown Fen, which is a nature reserve of international significance.
The chairman of the NRA, Mr Peter Malone, said: "Kildare Town's notoriety as one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the country has now been consigned to history - a welcome Christmas present for locals and long distance users of the M7 route.
"We can anticipate further progress in the next year or so when the Monasterevin by-pass opens to traffic, providing motorway/dual carriageway standard road from south of Portlaoise to Dundalk."