Not exactly Route 66 - it's the N3

The Meath Chronicle can reveal that the N3 has re-surfaced in Meath after three years in disguise as the R 147 so the good news for those who want to 'bring back the N3' is that it might actually be starting to happen!

 This week some permanent-looking N3 directional signs appeared on a small stretch of road in Navan between the Dublin Road/Circular Road and the Dublin Road/Poolbuoy Bridge junctions - a distance of about one kilometre.

At the moment this part of the N3 only seems to operate in one direction for that 'magic kilometre' but it's a start.

There have been some harsh suggestions that the signs on the road were to facilitate Cavan supporters returning from Croke Park this evening after the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat by Kerry.

It was suggested that not having to pay the toll on the M3 might provide some solace for the disappointed Cavan supporters! 

The N3 was, for years, the main road to Dublin from Cavan through Meath - Carnaross, Kells, Navan, Dunshaughlin, Clonee - and on into Blanchardstown.

However, when the M3 opened in 2010, the N3 disappeared overnight and was re-classified as a regional road with a 80 kph speed limit serving as an alternative route for non-motorway traffic - although it was never very clearly signposted at the Dublin end of the new M3.

Further details as they emerge with this sensational story!

Conall Collier