Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The contract will be finished in two weeks and there will be one tolling point on the road. The contract for the new operator of the barrier-free toll is under negotiation and will be awarded shortly. That should be in place in 2008. Phases one and three of the construction of the M50, which is a €1 billion project, will be finished to coincide with the implementation of barrier-free tolling. That should have a significant impact on the efficiency and movement of the 100,000 vehicles which travel the M50. We have been endeavouring, along with the completion and major success of the tunnel and the work on the Naas road, to finish the intervening sections. It will take three to three and a half years, or until the end of 2010, to complete all stages of the upgrade of the M50. Barrier-free tolling and the completion of phases one and three and, by 2010, the later phases should have a significant impact.

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