The chief executive of the National Roads Authority, Mr Michael Tobin, has said 2004 will see roads funding "taking off" in the BMW region.
Mr Tobin, who said he was "putting his hands up" to the charge of not spending money fast enough on road schemes in the region, insisted however that the full National Development Plan allocation would be spent on time by the end of 2006.
According to Mr Tobin, the reason the mid-term review of the National Development Plan found that funding for roads in the BMW region was behind target was because "when we started there was already a number of big schemes planned for the S&E region, and these included things like the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel."
"Redress" would begin this year he insisted, with nine of the 17 roads programmes representing funding of more then €300 million.
Road schemes that would benefit include the Dundalk western bypass motorway and the border to Dundalk dual carriageway on the M1; phase one of the single carriageway Monaghan Town bypass; the dual carriageway Sligo inner relief road; the single carriageway bypass of Loughrea in Co Galway; the single carriageway bypass of Ballyshannon/Bundoran and single carriageway bypasses of Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Cavan Town and a stretch of road on the N56.
Mr Tobin said he was particularly pleased that the programme was picking up speed in the BMW region and added that the N4 Hughestown/Meera scheme on the N4, coupled with the Strokestown-to-Longford scheme on the N5, would be completed this summer.
These were, he said, important stretches of road where the "pavement" had been completely replaced on the N5. The road from Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, through Roscommon had also been reinstated, he said, and the Boyle bypass into Sligo was now a good-quality new road.
In the S&E region, new schemes that have started, or will start, this year include the Ashbourne/M50 junction; the N7 Naas road widening scheme; the motorway bypass of Fermoy in Co Cork; the dual carriageway bypass of Ennis in Co Clare; and the single carriageway roads between Gortatlea and Farranfore in Co Kerry, the Waterford City bypass, the Kinsale road interchange and improvements to the Enniscorthy-to-Clonroche road in Co Wexford.
