The National Roads Authority ended weeks of speculation last night when it announced that the Dublin-Waterford highway is to be routed via Carlow and Kilkenny.
The N9 forms the basis of the route, but the authority has postponed a decision on the contentious issue of whether the road should run to the east of Carlow - as demanded by business leaders in the town - or to the west, bringing it closer to Kilkenny.
The route has been the subject of intense lobbying by Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny interests since it was announced in the National Development Plan that Dublin and Waterford are to be linked by a motorway or dual carriageway by 2006.
Disappointment in Wexford will be softened by the NRA's assurance that planned improvements to the N11 and N25, including bypasses of Gorey, Enniscorthy and New Ross will not be affected.
In opting for a highway through the centre of the south-east, the authority said it had considered a number of issues including the route length, the journey time, the costs and the balanced development of the region.
At an estimated £428 million, the central corridor (N9) will be the cheapest to develop to motorway/dual carriageway standard. An east-coast highway would have cost £500 million and a third option, the Durrow route, would have been £57 million dearer.
When upgrades already budgeted for are taken into account, however, the central corridor comes out as most expensive in terms of the additional net investment required.
The authority also found that meeting the 2006 deadline will be more difficult in the case of the N9 than the east coast or Durrow options. An upgraded central corridor will also increase the concentration of traffic on the N7 from Newbridge to Dublin.
The advantages, however, outweighed those concerns. The N9 was the shortest route between Dublin and Waterford, the most used, directly served the Belview Port near Waterford, could be integrated with routes serving the midlands and would facilitate balanced development in the region.
A political battle now looms over the exact route to be decided, particularly the question of how both Carlow and Kilkenny can be mutually accommodated.
Mr Gerry Dunne, the chief executive of the Co Carlow Chamber of Commerce, said he would not comment until he had seen the details of the NRA's decision. Mr Dunne has said in the past that a western bypass of Carlow would be an "outright disaster", as it would take investment away from the county and into Laois, which already had the advantage of Objective 1 status and two other national primary routes.
The NRA said issues covering the precise location and alignment of the route would be determined "following detailed planning and design work", which is to begin immediately.
