THE GOVERNMENT must complete work on Ireland’s only motorway in the EU Trans- European network, Euroroute 01, which links Larne with Rosslare, according to Chambers Ireland.
The business lobby group says at least three key routes: Larne to Rosslare; Limerick to Galway; and Limerick to Cork are in danger of being left unfinished due to cuts in the national roads programme.
Chambers says if final elements of the roads are not completed the taxpayer will not reap the full benefit of previous investments and this will result in a poor network with bottlenecks at Rosslare port and on the outskirts of regional cities. The key missing link in E01 is on the N11 south of Gorey, Co Wexford, the approach route to Rosslare Port.
Remaining parts of this route, which includes the M11, M50 and M1 motorways, along with the M1 in Northern Ireland and other dual carriageways, are either finished or under way.
The missing part of the Limerick to Galway route is the N18 Gort to Oranmore upgrade, which has been postponed. This is a key project on the so-called “Atlantic Corridor” and deemed to be of significance to the viability of Shannon airport.
The unfinished upgrade of the Limerick to Cork route is also part of the Atlantic Corridor and Chambers says its implementation was designed “to underpin growth and development along the western seaboard of Ireland”.
Chambers Transport Users Council spokesman Seán Murphy, said the organisation applauded work on the main routes linking Dublin and the regional cities.
But he said “we remain concerned that crucial pieces in the jigsaw are still not in place. With this in mind, we are calling for the immediate prioritisation” of the routes.
Meanwhile, environmental and heritage group Tarawatch yesterday presented a new complaint about the M3 motorway-plan developments, close to the Hill of Tara, Co Meath, to representatives of the EU Commission in Dublin.
The new complaint argues that proposals for an electricity interconnector, the M3 motorway and the Navan railway line, are “disjointed developments”. The complaint states that their impact should have been considered together, under the EU’s Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive.
Tarawatch was one of a number of non-governmental organisations which met a group of three commission officials in the Custom House.
Other groups represented included those associated with the Corrib gas pipeline and the 2003 Derrybrien landslide in Co Galway.
