Motorway toll operator to build €300m Waterford city bypass

Celtic Roads Group, operator of the M1 motorway toll and Dublin's toll bridges, has been chosen to build the €300 million Waterford city bypass.

The decision, announced by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen yesterday, is subject to formal approval by the National Roads Authority. Work is expected to start on the project next April and be completed in 2009.

The 23km (14 miles) road will form the southern section of the proposed M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway. It will include a dramatic, 475m cable-stayed bridge spanning the River Suir, similar to the bridge over the River Boyne on the M1 at Drogheda. The Dublin to Waterford railway line will be realigned over a two kilometre section and there will be 11km (seven miles) of side and approach roads.

The scheme was deferred from last year after an internationally important Viking site was discovered at Woodstown on the Suir estuary.

The M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway was recently brought forward, to be completed by 2010, under the Government's strategic transport plan, Transport 21. It had previously been thought that the road would not be completed until 2012.

Mr Cullen maintained the way is now cleared for an April 2006 start.

"For years, the lack of a bypass and the absence of a second bridge-crossing has resulted in traffic choking the city, particularly along the quays. This will now be alleviated."

He also said the new bridge promised to be a spectacular piece of infrastructure that would showcase the River Suir and be a landmark in the southeast.

The private sector investment in the road project is to be recouped by the collection of tolls over a period of 30 years.

Regarding Woodstown, Mr Cullen said he was pleased that an arrangement had been reached that saw the Woodstown site protected while allowing work to start on the overall project. "The protection for archaeology has been ensured while progressing the bypass," the Minister said.