A group representing up to 10,000 householders and residents in Co Cork is to challenge a decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for a €220m upgrade of the N28 to motorway status.
The 12km single-carriage national primary road connects the port and village of Ringaskiddy with the outskirts of Cork city.
The residents' group is taking a judicial review, which is due to begin in the High Court tomorrow, seeking to quash the decision of An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for the project.
The N28 is one of the most congested roads in the country.
It currently handles 47,000 vehicle movements per day at the Bloomfield Interchange at its northern end. In total, it handles 9.5 million vehicle movements per year along its full length.
It also has a poor safety record, with a number of fatal road crashes there.
The number of vehicle movements on the route is set to multiply to more than 24 million per year in the years to come.
The relocation of Cork Port from the city to Ringaskiddy is expected on its own to account for an extra 4,000 articulated lorries per day.
In addition, the Ringaskiddy area is a significant hub for the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries in this country, with five of the world's top ten companies in these areas having manufacturing operations there.
These companies employ thousands of people and pay out hundreds of millions per year in salaries.
It is conservatively estimated that combined these companies are currently investing more than €500m expanding their operations in Ringaskiddy.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland says the proposed upgrade of the N28 to a four-lane motorway is necessary to service the port, which does not have a rail link, and to service the surrounding industries and the residents in the area.
An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the project last July, following a 12-day oral hearing that heard submissions from around 100 witnesses.
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Transport Infrastructure Ireland Regional Manager Paul Moran and M28 Steering Group Chairman Gerard Harrington on the upgrade of the N28 in Cork to motorway status.
Many of those witnesses were objectors and members of the M28 Steering Group.
The M28 Steering Group represents up to 10,000 householders and residents living mainly in the heavily-populated areas of Douglas, Maryborough Hill and Rochestown.
These are concentrated around the intersection of the N28 and the N40 at the Bloomfield Interchange.
They claim their lives will become intolerable if the new motorway is built, with increased traffic, noise and air pollution.
They say that, in some cases, the new motorway will come within three metres of people's homes.
The M28 Steering Group says it is not objecting to the upgrade of the road network, but rather to the trajectory of the proposed road, which will create an industrial motorway through a densely populated residential area.
It has proposed two alternatives, both of which avoid the Bloomfield Interchange, which residents say is already operating beyond its capacity.
The alternative routes proposed by the steering group would direct traffic westwards from Ringaskiddy to connect with the N40 at the Bandon Road Roundabout.
The residents say their proposed routes are better than the route proposed by TII because both link with Cork Airport and will make it easier in the future for traffic from Ringaskiddy to access a proposed orbital route north of Cork City.
The M28 Steering Group has raised tens of thousands of euro to fund its judicial review.
Proceedings in the High Court are due to last three to four days.
The stakes are high on all sides and an appeal, by whomever loses, cannot be ruled out.
