Minister for Transport Martin Cullen today turned the first sod on a bypass that will take 7,000 vehicles a day from the streets of Charlestown, Co Mayo.
The single carriageway 18-kilometre bypass will stretch from the townland of Cloonlara, at the eastern end of the Swinford Bypass, to Currinah on the existing N5 in Co Roscommon.
The road, which expected to cost €63 million to complete, is expected to significantly reduce travelling time between Mayo and Roscommon.
The road is one of the 39 road projects the Government promised in its Transport 21 strategy.
"With each new project, we are cutting journey times, improving traffic flows, making roads safer and helping people do business," Mr Cullen said today.
"Project by project, towns like Charlestown are becoming better places to live and better places to do business in."