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One of the country's most notorious bottlenecks is finally
going to be removed after the Government secured funding from
the banks.
Replacing the traffic lights at the Newlands Cross bottleneck
on the main Dublin to Cork/Limerick road with a flyover will
enable freeflow motorway journeys from Dundalk to as far as
Cork, via the M50.
Funding of more than €100m is being provided by the European
Investment Bank (EIB) and Bank of Ireland, in the first such
arrangement for road projects for a number of years.
The EIB gave Ireland its stamp of approval, indicating that
the country would be financially sound enough to meet the
loan repayments.
Until now, the Government had been unable to secure any backers
for major road projects through the public private partnership
(PPP) process involving tolls or deferred payments.
In addition, the N11 Dublin to Wexford route will also be
upgraded to four lanes between Arklow and Rathnew. There have
been many fatal crashes in this blackspot, with repeated calls
for its upgrading.
The banks will be repaid through a deferred payments scheme,
which is similar to a mortgage and there will be no tolls.
The deal was signed off at a recent Cabinet meeting.
Construction will start next year on both projects, which
are due to be completed by 2014, at which stage the repayments
will start.
The Newlands Cross scheme involves the construction of a
flyover at the existing junction between the N7 Naas Road
and the R113 Fonthill/Belgard Road. It will be built by the
BAM Balfour Beatty construction group. An Bord Pleanala granted
planning permission for the project in June 2008.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said the funding was significant,
particularly at a time when PPP projects were so difficult
to get off the ground.
"Both projects will make a real difference to the travelling
public and to businesses. Each covers a critical section of
road and are among a handful of stretches which were never
resolved during the boom years. It's particularly welcome
to be able to remove the last traffic light between Dundalk
and Cork," he added.
The construction process will also create employment for
hundreds of people.
Source - The Irish Independent
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