Two million pounds will be spent on national roads every day until 2006, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, said yesterday when he officially opened a new stretch of road in Co Waterford.
The N25 Kilmacthomas realignment project is the latest upgrade on the Euroroute linking Cork to Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford. It cost £20 million and involved the construction of three new bridges as well as the realignment of 8.4 kilometres of road between McGrath's Cross and Scrahan.
The project was preceded almost two years ago by the demolition of a disused railway bridge at Kilmacthomas which was a notorious accident black spot. Residents protested after the death of a local man, Mr Michael Mulcahy, in a collision at the bridge in September 1999, shortly before the realignment work began.
Mr Dempsey, speaking during a brief ceremony on the eastern side of the new bridge across the river Mahon, said the opening was a further significant step in the most ambitious road-building programme ever undertaken in the State.
"Perhaps most vitally, the project would improve road safety," he said. "The Government has a target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 20 per cent by 2002, taking the 1997 figures as our base. To date, deaths are down by over 12 per cent while serious injuries are down by almost 25 per cent.
"In terms of the economic spin-off from this project, it will clearly improve access from Rosslare Harbour to the city and county of Cork. It will also make tourist spots more accessible and so create opportunities to further develop the tourism potential that exists in the south of the county," he said.
The road opening was one of a number of functions performed by Mr Dempsey in Waterford yesterday, including the launch of Waterford County Council's new Website, which, he said, should help bridge the information gap between local government and the people. The Website address is www.waterfordcoco.ie