40km section of M8 finished seven months early

ONE OF the longest sections of road in the State's motorway development programme, the 40km Cullahill to Cashel section of the M8, has been completed seven months early, the NRA is to announce today.

The new €435 million road, which is expected to take at least 20 minutes off the journey time between Dublin and Cork, bypasses the towns of Johnstown and Urlingford in Co Kilkenny, and Littleton and Horse and Jockey in Co Tipperary.

It was built by SRB Ltd, a joint venture between Sisk and Roadbridge and the commissioning local authority was Kilkenny County Council.

The new road, which is expected to open to traffic as soon as Monday next, will remove up to 16,000 vehicles a day from towns along the route, separating national from local traffic.

There is to be a temporary tie-in at the northern end, with the existing N8, south of Cullahill.

By 2010 it will tie in to the M7/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill motorway, providing dual carriageway access all the way to Dublin.

At the southern end, the new road ties in with the Cashel bypass which was opened in 2004. The new motorway will have four level-separated junctions and 46 bridges.

This scheme was a pilot "tendered target cost scheme" under which the contractor is paid their actual costs based on an open book accounting system.

A bonus is paid if the scheme costs less than the target cost and penalties are levied if the cost exceeds the target.

In 2010, when the entire Dublin-Cork route is upgraded to motorway or high grade dual carriageway standard, the route will have two tolls, the existing one on the Fermoy bypass and a second one on the Portlaoise to Cullahill section.

This week Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey told the Oireachtas Committee for Transport that the new major inter-urban routes were still on target for completion by 2010.