A notorious traffic bottleneck has been cleared after two lanes of the Ashford-Rathnew bypass opened to traffic yesterday evening, more than a year in advance of its original completion date. Liam Reid reports.
The new road on the N11 will enable motorists heading to and from the south-east to avoid both villages, which up until yesterday were two of the most serious congestion spots in the country during holiday periods.
While the entire 14 km dual carriageway will not be completed and open until October, the diversion away from both villages is expected to bring significant relief to the usual delays on the road.
The congestion tended to become acute during the summer as thousands of motorists visited locations along the coast in Wicklow and Wexford.
During recent bank holidays, motorists endured delays of over an hour each way, with tailbacks of up to six miles, as traffic was forced to crawl through both villages.
Initially, just two lanes of the dual carriageway will be open to traffic, and the current 40 m.p.h. speed limit will apply until the full scheme is completed. There will be temporary closures of some existing local roads between now and October to facilitate completion.
Explaining the continuation of the speed limit, a spokesman for Wicklow County Council, which is overseeing the project, said it was necessary as there was still work to be finished on the junctions and interchanges.
It was hoped that the full dual carriageway would be operational by October, he said. Construction of the road began just over two years ago. It was originally expected to be completed by the end of next year.
However, the contractors, SM Morris and Sisk, have made rapid progress on the scheme, which, including finishing touches, will be totally completed by December of this year.
The speed of the completion is in marked contrast to the 6 km Glen of the Downs bypass, which took three years to complete and was a year overdue. It cost over €85 million, nearly double the original estimate.
The speed with which the Rathnew-Ashford road project is progressing has been attributed in part to a new form of contract, in which the contractors assume the financial risk for any over-runs.