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Full details of the 12 km A1 Beech Hill to Cloghogue dual carriageway contract have been revealed by Stormont Transport Minister Conor Murphy.
After it was officially opened by the Irish Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Stormont Junior Minister Robin Newton, the Sinn Fein Minister explained how the contract was finished five months ahead of schedule.
He said that the scheme extends around the northern and western outskirts of the city of Newry to complete the upgrading of the A1 Sprucefield to the border route to dual carriageway standard.
Mr Murphy said: "This project is the final link on the key strategic route between Belfast and Dublin on Ireland's Eastern Seaboard and makes a substantial positive contribution to the social and economic well-being of our communities both north and south.
"The completion of this 12km stretch of new road from Beech Hill to Cloghogue, at a cost of just over £150million, marks the achievement of the Department's commitment to upgrade the remaining section of this road to full dual carriageway standard.
"The A1 also provides access, via Newry, to the port of Warrenpoint, one of our strategically important regional gateways and convenient road connections to the cities of Lisburn and Newry and the towns of Dromore, Banbridge, Dundalk and Drogheda," he said.
The scheme involved substantial rock cuttings with 1.2 million tonnes of rock excavated to make way for the new dual carriageway.
In line with current good construction practice all of this material was processed on site and used in the construction of the new road. Over two million man hours were successfully worked on the project, which employed 500 people at the peak of the scheme.
Minister Murphy thanked Roads Service, Amey Lagan Roads, Lagan Construction and Ferrovial Agroman Ltd for their work completing the scheme ahead of schedule and also the local community for their assistance during the development and construction of the scheme.
