New 14km stretch of motorway shortens trip up to Belfast

THE journey time between Dublin and Belfast will be cut to two hours with the opening today of the first piece of motorway to cross the border.

The ribbon will be cut on the 14km-long A1/N1 dual carriageway between Newry and Dundalk by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern and the North's Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy.

The route is the result of a partnership between the National Roads Authority, Louth County Council and the Northern Ireland Roads Service. The €154m project will link the A1 at Cloghogue in Co Armagh to the N1 at Dundalk. A total of 4.6km of the scheme is north of the border and 9.4km is in the Republic.

The section of the scheme south of the border has a designated speed limit of 120km.

The Irish and British governments funded the project with assistance by the European Union.

"As an island, we need to develop good road and communication links. This underpins our economic prosperity," said Mr Ahern.

"This new addition to our motor links stands as a shining example of how an all-island approach can help everyone prosper."

Mr Murphy said the project will make a "substantial contribution to the social and economic well-being of communities" north and the south of the Border.

NRA chairman Peter Malone said the project demonstrated that successful cross-border partnerships are now a reality.

The Dundalk to Newry scheme completes the Republic's first inter-urban route from Dublin to the Border.

Mr Malone said other routes from the capital to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford are on target to be completed by 2010.

"High quality roads such as we see opened here today improve people's quality of life by providing safer and quicker travel times while opening up the regions to potential industrial growth as well as traditional and business tourism," he said.

Louth County Council chairman Cllr. Jimmy Mulroy said the new road provides the essential modern infrastructure to help Dundalk and Newry become 'twin cities'.

County Manager of Louth County Council Joan Martin said the opening of the road is the culmination of some two decades of work on designing and constructing the entire length of the Dublin-Belfast Corridor through Co Louth."

Excavations uncovered archaeological finds dating from the 4th millennium BC until around AD 1,000 between Dundalk and Drumad.

The digs found ancient settlements.

Senan Hogan
Irish Independent