A year since it opened to all traffic, car drivers now make up half the users of Dublin's Port Tunnel, according to figures compiled by the National Roads Authority and seen by The Irish Times.
This is despite the relatively large tolls applied to cars, vans and other small vehicles, of up to €12 at peak times.
The figures show that 211,282 vehicles used the tunnel in February 2007 when the city centre ban on HGVs was introduced. Some 28 per cent of these vehicles were cars or other small vehicles.
By October 2007 the monthly total of vehicles using the tunnel had jumped to 416,807, with the percentage of cars and other small vehicles hitting 48 per cent.
But NRA spokesman Seán O'Neill said over the full 12 months, approximately four million vehicles passed through the tunnel's toll.
Some two million of these were cars, vans and motorcycles, which all must pay tolls of between €3 and €12.
The Port Tunnel was opened after many delays in December 2006 at a cost of almost €1 billion. It was designed to remove HGV traffic from the city centre, and instead bring it from the port to the outskirts of the capital and on to the M1 heading north and the M50 heading south and west.
It opened to all traffic a little over a year ago on January 28th, 2007.Since then, the number of motorists using the route has risen each month. In February 2007, 59,338 cars and other small vehicles used the tunnel while 151,944 heavy vehicles did so.
The figures grew steadily each month and by October it had reached 198,489 cars and other small vehicles and 218,318 heavy vehicles.
More than 13,000 vehicles of all types are using the tunnel each day, the figures show. In other words, approximately 6,500 cars or vans and 6,500 trucks or buses are using the tunnel on average each day.
The figures show ordinary motorists' willingness to pay up to €12 to avoid Dublin's notorious traffic gridlock.
However, many car drivers are using the tunnel when it is less expensive.
O'Neill said a reduction of the toll charge at weekends had caused a "spike" but he added that car drivers were also using the tunnel at peak times to avoid delays.
Last July, the NRA decided to reduce the weekend toll from €6 to €3, because only an average of fewer than 5,000 vehicles were using it on Saturdays, and only 4,000 on Sundays.
"The usage of the tunnel by HGV traffic has been extremely successful and it is very rewarding to see it," said O'Neill. "When non-HGV traffic is low we are happy to encourage cars to use the tunnel."
Asked if tolls may increase to discourage cars from using the tunnel he added: "The tunnel cannot be treated in isolation. It allows another route to get on and off the road network.
"So it is not correct to ask when the tunnel will reach capacity. We have no plans to increase the toll at this point."
