Construction of new Navan link road to commence shortly

Construction work on the new road linking the Ratholdren and Kells Roads in Navan gets underway this week and is expected to take around 18 month to complete.

The road, which is known as Local Distributer Road 4 (LDR4) will include a new bridge over the River Blackwater and will help ease traffic congestion in north Navan.

The route will encroach on Blackwater Park, shaving two hectares off the edge of the amenity and will continue through the site of the old OPW building and emerge at the existing roundabout on the Kells Road.

At the moment, the only route into Navan from the north of the town is via the inner relief road, linking the Round O with the fire station.

The proposed scheme, which includes a bridge over the Blackwater will be 1.15km in length, consisting of two 3.25m wide lanes, 2m wide raised one-way cycle track on both sides and 2.5m wide footpaths on both sides.

The proposed alignment commences to the north with a proposed four-arm signalised junction on the L3409 Ratholdren Road replacing the existing Clonmagadden Road T-junction.

Local councillor Padraig Fitzsimons has welcomed the commencement of works. He said work on ecology studies began last week and workmen are due on site to commence ground works this week, with the bulk of the work initially involving site clearance and that serious ground works will begin next month.

"It will make serious inroads into the traffic situation in North Navan in particular. I am delighted to see work starting. We have been looking for this for a number of years and we knew we had the funding but it takes time to get it through planning stages to construction."

The works are being carried out by John Craddock, the same contractor who is currently carrying out the Navan 2030 works in the town centre.