€660m Limerick Tunnel opened by Taoiseach

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has today officially opened the Limerick Tunnel; a major new piece of infrastructure, which involves 10 kilometres of motorway and almost a kilometre of tunnel, part of which stretches under the River Shannon.

The project, which has been under construction for four years, has been completed on budget and ahead of time.

The new development sees the completion of Phase 2 of the Southern Ring Route, which links the N7 Dublin and N18 Galway routes around Limerick, with the routes southbound to Cork and Kerry.

675 metres of the tunnel are under the Shannon. The route is expected to take in the region of 27,000 vehicles a day.