Improvements to roads are welcomed

Planned improvements in the road and rail network between Dublin and Waterford will bring major economic benefits to the south east, business leaders in the region predicted yesterday.

In particular, they greeted the decision to upgrade the much criticised Dublin-Waterford road to motorway or dual carriageway standard as the most significant element of the National Development Plan.

But there was disappointment over the planned total allocation of £10 million to regional airports. Waterford Airport alone is seeking £6 million from the Government to enable it to cater for jet traffic.

The Dublin-Waterford (N9) road is one of five national primary routes which are to become motorways or dual carriageways in their entirety by 2006. Some concern was expressed, however, about whether the N9 has been given the same status in the plan as the other four routes selected - Dublin-Border (M1), Galway-Dublin (N4/N6), Cork-Dublin (N8) and Limerick-Dublin (N7).

These four are referred to in the plan without qualification, but in the case of the N9 the plan says the road type and route are to be "further evaluated".

However the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, said last night there was no question mark over the development of the N9. "It simply means that more evaluation has already been done on the other routes. They are at a more advanced stage but there is now the same commitment to upgrade the Waterford-Dublin road."

Essentially, he said, the decision to be made was whether the road should be a motorway or a dual carriageway.

Mr Tom Byrne, the director of the South East Regional Authority, said it was the first time the strategic importance of the road had been recognised in a national development plan.

Combined with an improved rail link, the new road will provide the access to Waterford which business leaders say the city has been crying out for.

"The Waterford to Carlow stretch of that road hasn't been upgraded since I was a boy," said Mr Frank O'Donoghue, chief executive of Waterford Chamber of Commerce.

He hoped an improved rail service would include at least one daily direct morning and evening service between Waterford and Dublin with a journey time of less than two hours.