The Spencer Dock development is expected to generate 44,000 trips per day on Dublin's transportation network, and the environmental impact statement (EIS) concedes that the extra cars involved will create "some congestion".
However, the consultants W.S. Atkins and Thorburn Colquhoun conclude that by the time it is completed in 2010 "the infrastructure will be in place throughout the city to bring about a radical change in people's travel behaviour".
The consultants assume that at least 70 per cent of the 11,000 people working at Spencer Dock, when it is finished, would use public transport or cycle or walk to work; the rest would travel by car, with 1,600 trips in the morning peak.
They also assume that most of the office space in the scheme would be occupied by financial institutions. Since many of these would be dealing at different times, this would mean 50 per cent of office travel was likely to occur outside peak hours.
Of the volume of car-parking proposed for the 51-acre site, marginally more than 2,000 would be for office use and just under 2,000 associated with the conference centre, with a further 3,000 allocated to residents, at the rate of one space per flat.
Nonetheless, the consultants assume that 26,000 trips to the site on an average working day will not be made by car. This would be aided by the provision of a bus interchange on the Connolly station car-park, catering for up to 100 buses per hour.
They also cite "imminent developments" such as Luas and improvements to DART and suburban rail services, including a new station at Barrow Street beside the Grand Canal Docks.
The proposed Luas light rail station at Mayor Street, on an extended line from Tallaght serving Connolly station and Docklands, would be in the middle of the southern portion of the site. er Rianta, this is now being considered by the Government. Plans for Spencer Dock include a new railway station to serve as a terminus for an airport line as well as extending Iarnrod Eireann's Arrow suburban rail services including those on the Kildare line which currently terminate at Heuston station.
Road access would also be "considerably improved" by a new bridge at Macken Street, expected to be in place in 2003, and by the completion of the Dublin Port Tunnel, which is forecast to reduce the volume of heavy goods vehicles on the Liffey quays.
Provided a comprehensive traffic plan is implemented, the EIS says, the new highway infrastructure would help to accommodate the extra trips "without a substantial deterioration in the performance of the road network".
The EIS notes that work is under way to upgrade tracks and signalling on the existing railway line underneath Phoenix Park to permit the Arrow suburban rail service from Kildare to run into Connolly station and, ultimately, the proposed Spencer Dock station.
According to the EIS, approach gradients to Spencer Dock are too steep for mainline trains. It also makes clear that the new station would be a terminus only. It would be located on the east side of Conference Square and Arrowtype trains would run below ground, passing under Mayor Street. A link between Spencer Dock and the DART station at Barrow Street, which is due to open in late 1999, is favoured by the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area on the basis that it would make the city's transport system more efficient.