Transport Infrastructure Ireland announced a funding allocation of €2m for the M3 recently and plans are now in place to develop the Virginia by-pass.
Local councillor TP O'Reilly told Shannonside Northern Sound that as a result of the funding the route can now proceed to phase 2 of development.
Meanwhile, Transport Infrastructure Ireland is expected to sign off on the selected route shortly.
Cllr O'Reilly says that while the by-pass has been years in the making, bringing it to fruition is now finally on the horizon.
He added it's a busy route because of the number of people living in Co Cavan who travel daily to work in Dublin.
"The amount of people travelling into work into Dublin from Navan, Kells, Virginia, Cavan, and lower down, so I suppose Virginia would be the last town that would be by-passed on that route from Dublin to Enniskillen so it's imperative that we get it done for commercial reasons as much as anything else. We're completely hampered, we need to get the heavy trucks out of the town, and we need to free it up for pedestrians and people using the town for shopping and things like that. It's a vital artery for the county at the minute
