The new N80 Carlow northern relief road, constructed at a cost of £10 million, opens today. Motorists travelling between Carlow and Portlaoise will have the option of avoiding notorious bottle-necks at Graiguecullen Bridge and at the junction of the N9 (Dublin-Waterford) and N80 (MoateEnniscorthy) roads.
The new 23 km road runs north of Carlow and Graiguecullen, crossing the River Barrow by the new Bill Duggan Bridge. The road will benefit motorists travelling between the midlands and the south east, as the Moate to Enniscorthy route links with the N11, making it a strategic diagonal corridor, according to National Roads Authority chief executive, Mr Michael Tobin.
"Carlow, Portlaoise and Tullamore are directly served by the route, which is also used by traffic from Athlone and population centres further north and west," he said.
The authority's chairman, Mr Liam Connellan, said the benefits of the new road would be especially apparent with the onset of beet-harvesting in September. The project would enable Carlow town to continue to develop and prosper, relieved of congestion caused by through-traffic using the N80, Mr Connellan said.
During the construction of the roadway three sites of archaeological interest were identified and excavated. Two of the sites featured fulachta fiadh - ancient cooking places. These are the most common archaeological sites in Ireland and are thought to date from the Bronze Age. A piece of worked flint was found at another site. It was identified as a rounded scraper, dating from the Neolithic-Bronze Age period (4000 BC-500 BC).