Opposition is growing in the midlands to the proposed routing of some sections of the new motorway to be built under the National Development Plan.
Initially there was a very public row between the people of Offaly and Westmeath over which of the counties should get the road.
Offaly won that battle and the N6 route will run to the east of the existing main Dublin/Galway route.
While there were celebrations in Tullamore and gloom in Mullingar, there is now anger in many of the small villages along the route of the proposed motorway.
People from Kinnegad, Rochfortbridge, Milltownpass, Kinnegad and Kilbeggan have united to see if they can have the route changed.
They will be working with a group from the village of Tubber, near Moate, which will be cut off from the hinterland by the new road, and with residents at Tudenham, in north Westmeath, who will be isolated by the N52.
In Rochfortbridge, for instance, residents who believed the road would be on a greenfield site far from their village, discovered that the N6 road will come within 200 metres of them.
Now the N6/N52 Action Group, or NAG as it has been dubbed, has been set up by opponents of the route.
It has hired a consultant engineer, Mr Ron Bergin, who has been asked to draw up an alternative route which will have less impact on the villages in the area.
The residents want the road to run through the bogland which lies to the east of the existing route.
They say large deposits of gravel under the peat could save the road-builders money.
They also say the gravel deposits could help fill Bord na Mona's coffers and generate employment from areas it has stripped of peat.
In Tullamore, residents of the southern suburbs of the town have held a public meeting to object to the routing of the bypass around the town.
They say the route will damage the integrity of the Charleville estate, destroy the woodlands there and split communities.