Historic North/South Road Venture Completes States First Major Inter-Urban Route
The first of five Major Inter-Urban (MIU) routes targeted for development to motorway/high quality dual carriageway standard under the NDP and Transport 21 will officially be completed Thursday, August 2, 2007 with the opening of the 14km A1/N1 dual carriageway between Newry and Dundalk on the Dublin-Border-Belfast route.
The opening of this new dual carriageway is the result of a high level cross border partnership which was formed between the National Roads Authority, Louth County Council and the Northern Ireland Roads Service to complete the scheme as one project.
The €154m project will connect the A1 at Cloghoge in county Armagh to the M1 at Dundalk. 4.6km of the scheme is north of the border and the remaining 9.4km is in the Republic.
The section of the scheme south of the Border has a designated speed limit of 120km reflecting the design speed to which the road has been constructed. The adoption of this limit means that the entire Dublin to the Border MIU has the maximum permitted speed limit.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dermot Ahern, T.D., said "As an island, we need to develop good road and communication links. This underpins our economic prosperity. This new addition to our motor links stands as a shining example of how an all-island approach can help everyone prosper."
Conor Murphy MP, MLA, Minister for Regional Development, stated, "I am pleased to be associated with the official opening of this unique cross-border road project, on which Roads Service in the North has been working with Louth County Council and the National Roads Authority in the South. This project on the strategic road which links the cities of Belfast and Dublin on the Eastern Seaboard of the island of Ireland makes a substantial contribution to the social and economic well-being of our communities in both the North and the South and I congratulate the contractor, Northroute, on the timely opening of this new length of dual carriageway. Work to complete the upgrading of this road to dual carriageway standard in the north, with the construction the final 12 km Beech Hill to Cloghogue scheme, is expected to commence shortly."
Peter Malone, Chairman NRA, said." North/ South cooperation has been further advanced today with the opening of this super highway spanning both jurisdictions. The project, which was jointly managed, is a practical demonstration of the successful cross border partnership approach that is now a reality. The Dundalk to Newry scheme completes the State's first MIU from Dublin to the Border. The completion of the other routes from the capital to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford is on target for 2010 with all remaining sections going to construction early next year. 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/business tourism."
The project was jointly funded by the Irish and British Governments with financial support from the European Union's Trans-European Transport Networks Budget.