A sworn public inquiry into the construction of the N4 inner relief road through Sligo will take place after the Department of the Environment confirmed 11 submissions have been made. Wednesday was the closing date for objections to compulsory purchase orders.
The road's opponents have intensified their campaign and vowed to go to the European Court if necessary.
The public inquiry, which is unlikely before autumn, will be quasi-judicial, with objectors entitled to legal representation and cross-examination of witnesses.
The inquiry inspector will then report to the Minister for the Environment, who has the final decision. But if the Minister backs the "mid-block road" the matter will go further.
Mr Damien Tansey, solicitor for the Concerned Citizens' Action Group, said if necessary he would argue the case in Europe that the road should not qualify for European Union funding because it was not in keeping with EU principles.
The road, expected to cost between £12.5 and £15 million, would qualify for 85 per cent EU funding as part of a national primary route and the Trans-Europe Network. If the Government wanted to try to push the project through, it could fund it entirely from the Exchequer, as happened with the Mutton Island scheme in Galway, where European objections were overcome.
The action group could also challenge a pro-road ministerial decision in the High Court. This means it could be another two years before any final ruling. In the meantime, traffic congestion will continue, despite the fact that the by-pass/relief road debate has been going on in Sligo since 1975.
The proposed mid-block route is 4km long and would go from Carraroe south of the town, where the Collooney-Sligo dual carriageway now ends, to Hughes Bridge. The bridge was opened in 1989, when the corporation had already started buying land along the proposed route.
The issue has bitterly divided Sligo, with objectors describing as "monstrous" the idea of building a four-lane primary route through an area near the centre of town. About 40 houses, most of which the owners have left, would have to be demolished. The road would run through existing terraces. It is argued that it will split communities and cause pollution.
Among people generally, there is understandable frustration and a feeling that something has to be done soon to ease town-centre congestion.
The issue is likely to become even more contentious in the run-up to the June local elections as the Concerned Citizens' Action Group is calling on newly elected corporation members to rescind the motion supporting the route.
According to the Sligo County Manager, Mr Hubert Kearns, the mid-block route is the best option for all. He says surveys have found that Sligo is a destination in itself, with only 15 per cent of the traffic wanting to by-pass the town.
Mr Kearns says: "If we are to develop as a town of regional importance, and as a place where people can enjoy living, we must have a proper transport network and infrastructure."
Mr Tansey says his group cannot accept the argument against a ring road keeping heavy traffic away from the town centre. "This road is being built on the premise that Sligo is unique in the Western world. How is Sligo different from Galway? Surely Galway is also a destination town?"
Mr Tansey says Sligo would be defiled from the point of view of town planning and the streetscape irreparably changed. He says that since the road was first suggested in the 1970s, views on traffic management have changed drastically and that the people of Sligo should benefit from this. A ring road would "enclose" the town.
He says that when the proposed road last went before the Environment Minister in 1993, the Concerned Citizens group collected about 5,000 signatures in a petition against it. The then minister, Fianna Fail's Mr Micheal Smith, did not accept the plan, but a subsequent Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 1995 came up with a route largely unchanged from the first.
Mr Kearns says a by-pass would not relieve congestion in the town centre, and the inner relief road would allow a number of streets in the centre to be pedestrianised.
The project engineer with Sligo Corporation, Mr Gerry Cannon, says that although it is intended to eventually build a "western development road" circling the town, it would not make sense to build this first.
He said: "If you build the western development route, you haven't freed the centre of Sligo. You still have got to build relief within the central town area. What we are saying is that Sligo is forward-looking enough to do the inner relief road first.
"If you look at other towns in Ireland that have done the outer relief, there is no relief in the centre of town and then they are back to square one."
The Chamber of Commerce is supporting the road but has also called for the western by-pass plan to be brought forward from its completion date of 2015, saying it is also needed to allow for continued expansion.
The County Manager says the town is in limbo because of the uncertainty, and potential investors are being put off by the lack of a modern transport system.
He accepts people have legitimate concerns. "It is fair to say that in an ideal world you wouldn't have severance like we are proposing, but when we look at all the routes that are possible for inner relief or outer relief there are difficulties with all of them."
Mr Kearns says if the retail core of the town is to be maintained car-parks have to be provided close to the town centre. "The average person doing their supermarket shopping will not walk 200 yards with their trolley. Do we want the centre to prosper or do we want it to die?"
He says the reality is that there is not "a culture of public transport" at the moment. "In a town of this size, we feel public transport will always be limited," he says.
Mr Wilhelm Bodewigs, who has proposed a tram system for Sligo on which an EU-funded feasibility study is being undertaken, is opposing the mid-block route, saying it is outdated. "Bringing heavy traffic through a town centre is Third World thinking."
He argues for an integrated transport plan, which would also develop public transport, and says the road would cut the train and bus stations off from the town centre. "This proposal should be dropped as early as possible because the alternatives are there," he says.
A residents' group in favour of the inner relief road has also been formed. These people live on the current N4 route and say they have to endure heavy traffic passing feet from their front doors, whereas nobody will have to live along the new road.
Mr Fran Hegarty says that after Hughes Bridge was opened and traffic along Temple Street and Mailcoach Road increased, the downstairs ceiling in his house collapsed. He says it is too late to start again. "It could take another 20 years to put an alternative in place," he says.
Submissions on the Environmental Impact Statement for the project can be made to the Department of the Environment until April 23rd.