Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The planning, design and implementation of national roads improvement projects, including the Dublin Port tunnel and the M50, is a matter for the National Roads Authority and the local authorities concerned.

Traffic management in general is a matter for the appropriate local authority notwithstanding what I have said about what will happen in future. In the case of the Dublin Port tunnel, that authority is Dublin City Council. The relevant local authorities have entered into an arrangement with Dublin City Council for the co-ordination of the management of the junctions and the associated traffic signals along the M50. Dublin City Council is the lead authority on behalf of the other authorities.

I remind the House of the benefits of the Dublin Port tunnel, the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Ireland and one of which we should be proud. It will provide access to and from Dublin Port for almost 2 million truck journeys each year to the motorway network, instead of passing through city centre streets and residential areas. This will have obvious benefits for the business and haulage sectors with the dramatic reduction in journey times from the M50 to and from Dublin Port — it will soon be a journey of six minutes. It will also provide much needed improvement to the environment of the city centre and will facilitate the introduction of traffic calming measures in residential areas. The improvement of public transport will also be facilitated through the introduction of additional quality bus corridors along the quays, which will come into being when the port tunnel opens.

In respect of the traffic impact of the tunnel on the M50, I understand from the NRA that of the 6,300 heavy goods vehicles of three or more axles that will use the Dublin Port tunnel each day, it is expected that approximately 1,500 HGVs of five axles or more will be obliged to use the West Link section of the M50 when the HGV management strategy is introduced by Dublin City Council. Most of these, however, will use the section at off-peak times because ferries come into Dublin Port early in the morning, which is good news. To deal with the increased traffic, additional lanes have been added to the motorway north of the tunnel. This will aid truck movements towards or away from the M50. The manoeuvring required will be no different to that required at any of the existing M50 interchanges.

In the longer term, the current phase 1 of the M50 upgrade works will be completed in mid-2008 and barrier-free tolling at the West Link will be in place by the third quarter of 2008. These measures will greatly improve traffic flow on the M50 in a period of less than two years. Further benefits will ensue, with an improved level of service to motorists when the full upgrade of the M50 is completed in 2010.

The NRA, local authorities and the Garda are co-operating very closely to ensure everything possible is done to mitigate the impact of the upgrade work on traffic flows on the M50. The authorities and the Garda are in regular contact and the situation is kept under constant review. With regard to the current upgrade works, both South Dublin County Council and the contractor have dedicated personnel working full-time on traffic management. This was the situation at Naas, where it worked extremely well.

I am satisfied that no effort is being spared by those responsible for traffic management and law enforcement to alleviate the problems on the M50 in so far as that is possible. The inclusion of the M50 in the Operation Freeflow launched on Monday, 27 November 2006 will also assist with management of the traffic.

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