The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has officially opened the €51.8m Carrickmacross bypass in Co Monaghan.
Minister Cullen said the new 8.5km road would take 20 minutes off journeys between the border and Dublin.
The new bypass is also expected to remove 6,000 vehicles a day from the town of Carrickmacross.
The project was finished two months ahead of schedule.
The new stretch of road is named 'The Kavanagh Way' in memory of the Monaghan-born poet, Patrick Kavanagh.
