WORK starts this week on a new 2km link road which will help tackle worsening traffic congestion in Enniskillen. The £8m project will involve the construction of four new roundabouts and two new footbridges to help ease traffic headaches for thousands of local motorists.

News that the go-ahead has finally been given for work to start on the Cherrymount Link Road comes after years of canvassing by local politicians. When completed the road connecting the main Belfast road to the Omagh/Irvinestown road will take thousands of vehicles away from the town centre

Journey times will be cut substantially, and the new road will be particularly welcome for motorists travelling to and from north and east Fermanagh passing through the county town at peak hours.

The road will also ease traffic congestion and improve road safety in the immediate vicinity of four of the county's largest schools - St Michael's, Collegiate, St Fanchea's and St Joseph's - with the provision of two bridges for pedestrians.

Preparatory work is due to start today on the new road with the first phase involving the depositing of hundreds of tonnes of fill to provide a solid foundation for the new road.

The route of the new single carriageway link road goes from the Cherrymount roundabout at Donnelly's car retail complex past Drumbawn and Drumbeg and on to the Coa Road where a new roundabout is to be created near the driving test centre.

The road will then be routed between St Michael's and St Fanchea's colleges and on to the Tempo Road near the Barnhill and Woodview housing developments; the final stage of the project will see improvements being carried out on the Tempo Road linking it with the main A4 Belfast Road.