"Tara" motorway work to
begin
- before end of week
By - Paul Melia.
CONSTRUCTION work on the controversial M3 motorway
linking Meath with Dublin is expected to begin before the
end of the week.
Transport Minister Martin Cullen yesterday turned the sod
on the motorway just outside Navan in a low-key event
aimed at stopping opponents of the project turning up to
protest.
But the 59km road project, expected to cost between
€800m-€1bn, could be in doubt if the Labour
Party forms part of the next government.
Local general election candidate Dominic Hannigan said
the party wanted the road diverted away from the historic
Hill of Tara - a route opposed by archaeologists,
historians and the National Museum.
"We would like to see it re-routed while still allowing
the bypasses of Navan and Dunshaughlin to go ahead", he
said.
"When we are put in government we will immediately sit
down with the National Roads Authority and Department of
Transport to see what the position is in relation to
contracts and what are the get-out clauses". Described as
the longest stretch of new road ever built in the State,
the scheme will see almost 60kms of new motorway being
built from Clonee in Co. Meath to just north of
Kells.
The motorway will bypass Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Navan
and Kells - notorious bottlenecks - but objectors say it
will damage the archaeology of the Hill of Tara.
The Campaign to Save Tara condemned the sod-turning,
saying it was unlikely the road would be built along its
present route as Opposition politicians had indicated
they would review the route to protect the
"internationally significant area".
"Minister Cullen's actions are another example of a cheap
election stunt", spokesman Michael Canny said.
"The minister is well aware that there has been a number
of significant archaeological finds along the proposed
route and that if these finds are as important as reports
suggest, construction cannot begin before the
election.
"We are very confident that a new government will move
swiftly to instigate a review of the M3. This review will
give adequate weight to heritage and environmental
concerns".
But the minister said the completed road would aid local
economies and improve journey times.
"Once completed, this road project will aid the
competitiveness and efficiencies in the economy of Co.
Meath and other counties served by the N3/M3 route". Work
on the second largest road project in the history of the
state - the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road - will also
begin later this week.
© The Irish Independent, 1st. May 2005.
