A Co Wicklow dual carriageway that currently ends in a field could be connected to the N11 before the end of the year, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has conceded.
The NRA had delayed building an interchange to link the N11 to the new Greystones southern access route because of uncertainty about ground conditions.
The authority had also said it was "not enamoured" of plans submitted by Wicklow County Council to build a temporary "left on, left off" access route between the new dual carriageway and the southbound carriageway of the N11. Such an interchange would allow a left turn from the southbound carriageway of the N11 on to the new road, and a left turn from the new road on to the N11's southbound carriageway.
The NRA said it was concerned that the building of the interim measure might compromise the building of the full interchange. It said the full interchange would take 18 months to two years to build.
The result is that the new dual carriageway from Greystones, which is to service 3,000 new homes in the Greystones and Delgany area, stops short of the N11, ending in a field.
But the council insisted it had submitted two designs to the NRA for the building of an interim access road which would form part of the final interchange.
Christine Flood, senior executive officer with the council's roads section, said yesterday that both designs were under consideration.
In response, NRA spokesman Michael Egan conceded that the interim road was "a possibility".
"It is not bedded down. There have been some limited changes to the junction with the effect of avoiding the bulk material [ which had been deposited on site], and as part of the exercise it may be possible to construct part of the junction. It would take about six months to build.
"If that doesn't happen we fall back to the full interchange. It is still balls in the air. There are aspects that concern us, but it is a possibility."
The opening of the dual carriageway to traffic is eagerly awaited by residents of Delgany and Greystones where the Delgany Roads Action Group has complained that construction lorries have damaged pavements and knocked walls in the village.
