M3 road contracts likely to be signed shortly

Contracts for the construction of the controversial M3 motorway in Co Meath are expected to be signed next week between the National Roads Authority and preferred tenderer Siac Ferrovial.

Siac Ferrovial which trades as Eurolink has already moved machinery on to a site compound south of Dunshaughlin.

NRA chairman Peter Malone, recently reappointed for a second five-year term by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, said yesterday that contracts were at final stages and were expected to be signed in the coming week.

The motorway is controversial chiefly because of its proximity to the Hill of Tara but it has also attracted criticism because of its proximity to other motorways, including the M2 and M4.

Other objectors have complained of its toll road status. A number of groups have campaigned against its construction but a High Court challenge was unsuccessful.

News of the imminent start of construction was greeted as "not a good thing" by Vincent Salafia who took the High Court challenge. Mr Salafia said yesterday he understood further legal challenges including a challenge at European level were in the pipeline. The campaign would continue, he said.

Siac Ferrovial also built the N4 toll motorway through the midlands which opened in December 2005 and is currently involved in the upgrade of the M50.

The €500 million-plus M3 project is to include about 60km of motorway and 50km of access roads. It will utilise approximately 700 hectares of land between Clonee and north of Kells.

The existing N3 Dublin to Cavan road is one of the principal routes linking Dublin to the north-west. The route is currently dual carriageway to the Clonee bypass and severe congestion is experienced at peak times at Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.

A spokesman for the NRA confirmed the Dunshaughlin site had been set up on foot of a transfer agreement for materials from work on the M50.