The N17/18 Gort to Tuam PPP Scheme is approximately 57 km in length and will connect the N18 Gort to Crusheen Scheme (currently under construction) to the existing N17 road immediately north of Tuam. This overall scheme forms part of the Atlantic Corridor. The Atlantic Corridor is designed to connect Letterkenny, County Donegal to Waterford city with a high quality dual carriageway/ motorway link, which will run via Sligo, Galway and Cork. Development of the Atlantic Corridor is an objective of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2007 – 2013. It is also an objective of the Transport 21 framework. The proposed M17 Galway (Rathmorrissy) to Tuam section of the N17/18 Gort to Tuam PPP Scheme is approximately 26 km long and will connect the existing M6, from Dublin to Galway, at Rathmorrissy with the N17 south of Tuam (Figure 1). An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was carried out on the entire length of the proposed road (Galway County Council 2007). The scheme was approved by An Bord Pleanála (Ref. PL07 .HA0005) in March 2009. The road construction project is being funded as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, whereby the scheme will be constructed and maintained with mostly private finance. The total archaeological cost is administered by the National Roads Authority through Galway County Council. The current programme of works has been undertaken by Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd following the award of an Archaeological Consultancy Services Contract (2010) by Galway County Council. A geophysical survey was undertaken within the road corridor by Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics (Bonsall and Gimson 2006). This survey informed the findings of the subsequent EIS (Galway County Council 2007). The EIS included a chapter on Archaeological and Cultural Heritage which was compiled by Sheila Lane & Associates (2007). Test excavations under Stage (i) of the Archaeological Services Contract (2009) were undertaken by CRDS Ltd between August and January 2010 (Bartlett 2009; Shine et al. 2009a‐d). These resulted in the identification of 27 archaeological sites within the CPO area. Of these, a high proportion were categorised as burnt mounds or burnt spreads with the remainder taking the form of early modern vernacular building remains, a corn‐drying kiln, (likely) prehistoric enclosures and approximately 60% of an upstanding ringfort. Stage (ii) Pre‐Excavation Services on the scheme involved the removal and management of topsoil to fully expose the archaeological features and deposits, hand cleaning of exposed surfaces and mapping of features identified at each of the 27 sites. This was carried out by CRDS Ltd between December 2009 and March 2010. Further test excavation under Stage (i) of the Archaeological Services Contract (2010) were undertaken by Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd between 11 and 21 May 2010 (Bolger et al. 2010), however no additional archaeological sites were identified. Archaeological excavations were undertaken at each of the 27 identified archaeological sites by Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd in July 2010 under Stage (iii) of the Archaeological Services Contract (2010).