NRA abandons plans for Port Tunnel speed control system

A PROPOSED new speed control system for Dublin’s Port Tunnel has been scrapped, the National Roads Authority has confirmed.

Tenders for speed detection and control in the tunnel were advertised in the European Journallast March, with a return date of May. Pre-qualification notices were issued in June and the final tender deadline was set for August.

However, the NRA, which was set to finance the new system, has confirmed the request for tenders has now been abandoned. A spokesman said the Department of Transport had withheld approval for the project on the basis that the authority was operating outside its competence.

While the NRA is responsible for a number of safety aspects on the State’s roads, speed enforcement is the responsibility of the Garda. Funding for speed enforcement measures would normally come from the Department of Justice, channelled through the Garda.

Speeding has been an on-going issue in the Port Tunnel since videos of lorries and cars breaking the 80 km/h limit were posted on the internet shortly after the route opened in 2006. Surveillance and safety cameras have been installed but a NRA spokesman said they are not calibrated for use as evidence in prosecutions for speeding.

Earlier this year, a letter writer to this newspaper complained that “motorists who comply with this are subjected to the most frightening stress” from other drivers intent on breaking the limit.

Driver behaviour in the tunnel has also been the subject of a number of complaints to the Garda.

A person connected to one of the companies involved in the tendering process referred to “scuff marks” within the tunnel that indicated how close we have come to serious accidents occurring. It’s understood the most likely speed detection system to have been put in place was a time over distance system involving eight cameras, covering each lane at the entrance and exit portals.

This would have avoided the threat of drivers braking suddenly in the vicinity of a speed camera.

The value of the equipment was in the region of €600,000, which, the source said, was a relatively small amount of money given the multi-million euro contract awarded to the GoSafe consortium for State-wide speed cameras.

The initial notice that a tender was being prepared was published on March 31st last by tunnel operator Transroute, on behalf of the NRA.

Some five companies qualified to submit tenders and these were lodged in August, but the companies involved have heard nothing since.

The Irish Timesunderstands that letters to the firms informing them that the process has been scrapped were sent yesterday, and are due to arrive today.

Responsibility for the tunnel is shared between several bodies, including the tunnel owners Dublin City Council, the NRA, Transroute, and the Road Safety Authority. At a recent Oireachtas Committee on Transport meeting concern was voiced at the number of agencies involved in road safety.

Fred Barry, chief executive of the NRA, volunteered to participate in any new arrangement which would bring together representatives of local authorities, the RSA, the Garda, and his own authority.

Road tunnels are considered among the most dangerous of roads given the confined nature of any crashes.