The project team behind a motorway between Galway and Dublin yesterday began outlining the measures taken to minimise the impact of the scheme.
The developers of the €450 million section between Galway and Ballinasloe will produce 20 expert witnesses at a hearing by An Bord Pleanála which opened yesterday in Loughrea and is likely to run for two weeks.
The planning appeals board will hear objections from 180 farmers along the 57km route, who say the motorway will affect their homes and livelihoods, and split farms in two.
The road is one of the biggest infrastructural developments in the west. When this section is connected to other developments along the N6, the journey time between Galway and Dublin will be reduced to just over two hours.
At present, that journey time is closer to four hours and at peak times, such as Friday evening, it can take from five to six hours.
Other elements of the east-west motorway include a section between Ballinasloe and Athlone, which is at design stage; Athlone to Kinnegad, which has recently been through an oral hearing; and Kinnegad to Kilcock, which is under construction.
It is envisaged that all sections between Dublin and Galway will be finished by 2009. The project will also involve the construction of a toll plaza near the Galway village of Cappataggle, the first toll west of the Shannon.
On the Galway-Ballinasloe section, 504 individual landowners and lessees will be affected by Compulsory Purchase Orders, and four houses will be knocked down to make way for the road.
Three of the houses have been bought by Galway County Council, and negotiations are ongoing with the owner of the fourth. The construction of junctions with flyovers and slip roads at Athenry, Carrowkeel and west Ballinasloe is part of the plan.
Yesterday Mr Kerry O'Sullivan, chairman of RPS-MCOS consulting engineers, who were hired to do the routing and preliminary design reports, explained why they took this particular route.
In the coming days experts will deal with issues such as the impact on agriculture, archaeology and architecture, and the socio-economic effects.