The infamous ‘road to nowhere’ on the outskirts of Ennis is finally going somewhere.
Clare County Council has confirmed that Phase 1 of the Ennis Northern Inner Relief Road link, which connects the Gort Road with the Ennis Information Age Park, will open this morning.
The Ennis Information Age Park was hailed as a game-changer when first opened in 2007.
At that time it was said that the site, close to the Gort Road, had the potential to facilitate the creation of 3,500 jobs.
However, the ensuing economic crash means that only a fraction of that workforce is currently in place there, over a decade on.
A link road to the site has also become infamous as a ‘road to nowhere’ on which Clare County Council spent 3.7 million euro.
Today, though, that story changes as the road – now completed – is opened to traffic.
This greatly improves access to the Information Age Park, and also the adjacent Clare Technology Park and there are hopes that the job creation potential at the site can finally be unlocked.
The Council says it considers the development as being of “strategic importance” for the town while it is also the beginning of a new link road which, in years to come, is to connect the Gort and Tulla Roads.
There are now hopes that the newly-developed road will allow for greater job creation in the area
Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, Tom Tiernan says the opening of the road will make a big difference.
