Ahern announces £204m Dublin Port Tunnel plan

The £204 million Dublin Port Tunnel motorway has been approved by the Government, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, announced yesterday.

At 4.5 km, the tunnel is to form the major part of the 5.6 km motorway designed to provide fast access from East Wall Road under the north inner city suburbs of Marino and Fairview to Whitehall. The route is to connect, via a short stretch of the M1 between the Whitehall and Coolock interchanges, to the M50 ring-route motorway around the capital city.

The estimated time for the journey between the Dublin Port and the M50, using the Port Tunnel and the M1 is six minutes. Almost 2 million trucks a year use Dublin City to gain access to the port.

First mooted by Dublin Corporation in 1994, the route now forms a major plank in the Government's strategy to take the heavy articulated traffic out of Dublin City, easing the problem of gridlock.

The construction period is expected to take 31/2 years, with work scheduled to begin towards the end of next year.

Adherence to that timetable would keep the delivery of the route within the timeframe of the Government's ambitious £4.7 billion road-building programme, as announced in the National Development Plan 2000 to 2006.

However, plans for other road projects of this magnitude, such as the Southern Cross and the South-eastern Motorway in south county Dublin have, after being approved, ended up in the courts following challenges. Despite the fact that the project has been described by the City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, as "the single most important decision facing the city", it has been constantly opposed from residents in Marino on the north side.

As a result, yesterday's announcement contained 14 modifications to the corporation's original scheme. These relate mainly to geological evaluation, bedrock excavation, construction noise and air pollution as well as the hiring of independent experts to oversee the tunnelling operation and the incorporation of Health and Safety Authority recommendations.

Measures to alleviate potential blast damage in the Marino area are also to be taken.

In addition, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has approved an associated toll scheme which charges cars £3 for using the tunnel to get to the city.

It is understood that cars exiting the city will not be subject to a charge, a move which would facilitate ferry traffic exiting from Dublin Port and heading outside the immediate Dublin area.

While the approval was given by the Minister for the Environment, it was announced by the Taoiseach, an indication of how important Mr Ahern takes the Dublin Port Tunnel Motorway issue.

Making his announcement yesterday, Mr Ahern said that "for too long our capital city has been strangled by articulated trucks and other heavy goods vehicles trundling to and from Dublin Port". The Marino Development Action Group last night condemned both the timing and the decision to give ministerial approval to the Dublin Port Tunnel scheme and, in a statement, said it viewed it with "complete horror and disgust".