A €115 million 16km bypass which opened in Co Monaghan yesterday will remove Dublin/Derry traffic from Castleblayney and the nearby villages of Annyalla and Clontibret. It completes the upgrading of the N2 from Dublin to the Border.
At the official opening, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey rejected criticism of the progress being made under the Government's €34 billion Transport 21 plan. He said that contrary to some reports, "immense progress has been made".
He said most road improvement projects with post-2010 completion dates were expected to be completed on time.
Mr Dempsey was escorted to the N2 opening site at a roundabout overlooking Laragh Lough by a group of pipers from Lisnagrieve Pipe Band in Co Monaghan. A plaque was erected at the site naming the new bypass the Cremorne Way.
Mr Dempsey said the project was a further milestone in the upgrading of Ireland's road network. He said it should prove of major benefit in the attraction of new investment to the area and the further development of cross-Border trade and tourism in the region.
Most important, the Minister said, was the fact that the bypass would improve the quality of life for all the local people and eliminate chronic traffic congestion in the area. He noted that the new "two-plus-one" traffic lane system, devised in Sweden and already successfully introduced here, should ensure safer driving.However, it was still up to those behind the steering wheel to exercise care at all times even if the roads were made safer.
The Mayor of Co Monaghan, Cllr Gary Carville recalled that the Monaghan-born poet Patrick Kavanagh, from Inniskeen , wrote of the "stony grey soil of Monaghan" as having flung a ditch on his vision of beauty, love and truth.
Cllr Carville said that the latest bypass project had seen the stony grey soil transformed into a model of 21st century infrastructure that would transform the Border county and region, returning to the Monaghan children of today and tomorrow, "the hope, passion and laughter which Kavanagh then felt it had taken from him" Mayor of Castleblayney Jackie Crowe said the bypass would ensure the Co Monaghan town would have a cleaner urban environment as a result of the removal of heavy trucks.
Fred Barry, chief executive of the National Roads Authority said the extended funding provided by the Government was a vital factor in enabling progress to be made in improving the national roads network.
He also acknowledged the co- operation and support of local authorities and the farming community, including the Irish Farmers' Association, in relation to the roads programme.