In recent years, there has been much public and media debate over the perceived impact of the planned M3 Clonee to North of Kells Road Scheme on the Hill of Tara—the internationally famous archaeological complex situated on this hilltop in County Meath. However, less well known is the exciting archaeological potential that has been revealed by archaeological investigations along the route of the planned road. This paper will outline the wide range of investigative techniques that have been employed in the project and describe some of the archaeological sites that have been discovered so far—sites that may reveal much about prehistoric and historic settlement in this region across time. This road scheme is principally a realignment of the existing N3 from Clonee, on the border of counties Dublin and Meath, to the border of counties Meath and Cavan, bypassing Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.The mainline of the scheme is 60 km long but with significant link roads it has a total road length of over 110 km. The scheme runs parallel to and west of the existing N3 for most of its length, except north of Dunshaughlin where it crosses the N3, to pass east around the Hill of Tara, and crosses west again south of Navan (Illus. 1).