M3 Background
The need for a new road is well established and provided for in the National Development Plan, 2000-2006 (NDP) and Meath County Development Plan. A four-year planning process was undertaken where a number of route options were examined [Route Selection]. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the scheme was published and the subsequent An Bord Pleanála Oral Hearing was held in 2002 [www.pleanala.ie].
The proposed M3 Clonee - North of Kells Motorway is a much-needed scheme. The N3 is identified as a Strategic Radial Corridor in the National Spatial Strategy and its upgrading is:
- an objective of the National Development Plan, 2000-2006
- an objective of the Meath County Council Development Plan
- referenced in the Dublin Transportation Office "A Platform for Change" Strategy 2000-2016,
- referenced in the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area.
Archaeological work carried out as part of the EIS included desk-top assessment, field walking and geophysical survey. Following approval of the road scheme proposal and the EIS by An Bord Pleanála, full test excavation of the whole route was carried out in 2004.
For the purposes of archaeological investigation, the entire length of the M3 was divided into five separate 'sections'.
- Section 1 Clonee to Dunshaughlin
- Section 2 Dunshaughlin to Navan
- Section 3 Navan Bypass
- Section 4 Navan to Kells and Kells Bypass
- Section 5 Kells to North of Kells
The M3 Route Selection reports were published in 2000 and 2001 with the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) published in March 2002. This was followed by a 28 day Oral Hearing in Autumn 2002, detailed in the six volume Inspectors Report. The scheme was approved in August 2003 and became operative in September 2003.
The test excavations of the approved route are now complete. In general terms archaeological sites are fairly evenly distributed along the length of the route with a total of approximately 160 sites revealed. The sites range in date from the Neolithic period to modern times. They range in function from settlements to cemeteries and from burnt mounds to brick kilns.
Archaeological resolution of these sites began in June 2005. Further information on the M3 Archaeological Investigations.
