An oral hearing is due to start in Limerick today on the National Roads Authority's plan to build a 37 km stretch of motorway between Limerick and Nenagh.
An Bord Pleanála, which estimates that the hearing could last up to 10 days, is expected to hear submissions on behalf of 127 property owners who are objecting to compulsory purchase orders on both lands and houses.
The majority of objectors are landowners in north Tipperary and Limerick who will argue that their farm enterprises are going to be affected.
There are up to 20 houses proposed for demolition along the route. Presiding over the hearing will be An Bord Pleanála inspector Mr Michael Ward.
He will also hear submissions on behalf of 115 individuals or groups in relation to the Environmental Impact Statement on the route.
The hearing is expected to receive a submission on behalf of both North Tipperary and Limerick county councils. Both these local authorities have spent the last number of years planning the €220 million project on behalf of the National Roads Authority.
The submission for the local authorities has been prepared by the consulting engineers to the project, MCOS.
Among the objectors are Nenagh dairy farmers Michael and Angela McDonnell, who say that their lives could change drastically if the motorway goes ahead.
"We are looking at the threat of our house being knocked and they are taking over 13 acres of our 67-acre farm," said Ms McDonnell.
She added: "In the one-mile stretch where we live, there are five houses due for demolition. Generally, people cannot understand why they are taking the new route through the middle of nowhere."
About 800 acres of land have to be acquired to build the new route.
Some 27 km is green-field property, while 10 km of the route will involve widening the existing southern Nenagh bypass to change it into a dual carriageway.
Construction of the route is scheduled to begin in 2006 and the project is due to be opened to traffic in 2009.
After the hearing, the planning board has the options of accepting the current plan in its entirety, making modifications or rejecting the project outright.