IT WAS a historic day for Enniscorthy on Friday as the sod was officially turned on the new bypass that hopes to completely alleviate the long-standing problems with traffic congestion coming into the town as well as at Ferns and Camolin.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, local TD and government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe were joined by representatives from Wexford County Council, An Garda Síochána and the local community in what was a historic landmark for the area.

While a make-shift marquee and three brand new shovels ordinarily wouldn’t seem like much to celebrate, on this occasion it marks the beginning of the end of years of frustration and disappointment and the beginning of a new era for the town, the county and indeed the whole of the south east.

The route of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP (public-private-partnership) Scheme is to the east of Enniscorthy, extending from the Southern end of the Gorey Bypass at Clogh to a new junction at Scurlocksbush, approximately 1.5km to the north of Oilgate. This section of the scheme will be 27km of new motorway.

The scheme also includes 8km of new single carriageway, to the west of Enniscorthy, linking from the existing Scarawalsh Roundabout to Templescoby on the N30. In addition, a further 4 km of new dual carriageway will link those two sections. The link will commence at a new grade separated junction at Ballydawmore and extend across the Slaney Valley to the Scarawalsh Junction.

A consortium led by construction group BAM Ireland will begin to carry out preliminary work for the project right away, however, major groundworks are unlikely to commence until spring of next year when the weather is more favourable.

It is hoped that the road could be open as early as 2018 and will cost somewhere in the region of €350million. The construction of the motorway is also expected to create over of 1,500 jobs and John O’Sullivan of BAM says that the company will try to invest as much as possible in the local area.

“These are labour intensive projects,” he said. “There will be significant employment locally and we will use a local supply chain where possible.”

Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony, Minister Brendan Howlin also said that an announcement would also be made in the coming weeks about a sod-turning ceremony on the New Ross bypass as significant investment is made in opening up the south east and making it more accessible to tourists and investors alike.