A proposal by Cork County Council and the National Roads Authority to improve the road from Cork to Killarney by bypassing Ballincollig and Macroom and the notorious hairpin bends after Baile Bhuirne will be subjected to intense scrutiny.
Planners are at the initial stages but the battle lines are being drawn. Objectors are getting organised and it is expected that there will be a public inquiry.
One of the key points of contention will be the impact of such a mammoth, multimillion-pound project on the environment as it crosses either the Lee Valley, the Bride Valley, or both.
Already, community groups in the four areas through which the route could run have submitted strong objections to the council. Planning sources say they are well aware that acceptance of the £150 million project will not be won easily.
The council and the NRA have identified four potential routes which would give traffic a clear run from Ballincollig to the county line between Cork and Kerry. For years, motorists and tourism interests have complained about the existing main route. For the initial assessment, the routes have been designated, green, red, blue and yellow. The green and red routes would cross the Lee Valley, the blue, which is the most southerly, would cross the Bride Valley, and the yellow, the longest of the four routes, would run close to the existing N22.
Each of the routes would affect the environment, beauty spots and areas of historical interest. One of the leaders of the Lee Valley Protection Campaign, Mr Con Murphy, a farmer, remembers the flooding of the Lee Valley in the 1950s to make way for a huge hydroelectric scheme.
The effect of the flooding on farming neighbours who lost land in the valley is still talked about.
Those living in the Bride Valley are also concerned. The Blue Route Group refers to the "Blue Route of Mass Destruction" in its literature and warns that "what Cromwell left undone during his campaign in the area will now be completed by the united efforts of the council and the NRA, a seemingly unstoppable force".
Representatives of the four groups were meeting in Cork last night to decide how to combat the plans.