The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to provide €144m for the construction of the M17/M18 Gort to Tuam motorway in the west of Ireland.

The PPP (Public Private Partnership) project will generate up to 450 jobs, while improving local economies and easing traffic congestion on the key transport route. The overall cost is estimated at €550m.

This proposed four-lane motorway will replace the existing N17/N18 roads, and result in the reduction of end-to-end journey times by about 20 minutes.

"The new road will be safer, and will bypass Clarinbridge, Claregalway and Tuam, which all suffer from congestion."

It will provide four lanes from Gort in the south to Tuam in the north, with a major junction at the M6 Galway to Dublin route to the east of Galway City.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said this 57km scheme will be a major boost to the western region.

"The new road will be safer, and will bypass Clarinbridge, Claregalway and Tuam, which all suffer from congestion," Varadkar said.

European Investment Bank vice-president Jonathan Taylor said that the new investment will not only improve transport links in the west of Ireland, but also directly benefit the construction sector with hundreds of new jobs.

"The M17 project represents the European Investment Bank’s third engagement to support PPP projects since 2010," Taylor said.

The EIB will offer €144m over 26 years and another €150m will be provided by commercial backers, with a mix of international and domestic project finance banks represented alongside new international institutional investors.

Construction is expected to be completed over a period of less than four years, with the first traffic along the route expected in late 2018.