HGV ban for Strand Road in Dublin suburb Sandymount

Large lorries are facing an around-the-clock ban from Strand Road in Sandymount after a Dublin City Council study found not one had obtained a permit to use the route.

Following the opening of the port tunnel in 2007 the council prohibited heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) with five axles or more from using the city streets between 7am and 7pm.

Hauliers could apply for a permit for deliveries in the city, but none could use its streets to access Dublin Port. This meant port-bound lorries coming from the south had to use the M50 to reach the tunnel, instead of taking direct routes.

A council analysis of the lorries using Strand Road has found none had permits, and it was likely drivers were using the road to get to the port and not for deliveries.

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"100 per cent of the five-axle HGVs on Strand Road did not have a permit and so were breaking the HGV cordon," the council said. "Strand Road is not a designated route to Dublin Port, the Tom Clarke bridge or the Dublin [Port] Tunnel. However, the data and correspondence from residents indicates that this route is being used by HGVs for this purpose."

Strand Road residents had appealed to the council to tackle lorries flouting the permit system and to introduce traffic-calming measures following the rejection by the High Court last year of a cycle path planned for the road.

The cycling project would have turned Strand Road into a one-way route with traffic only permitted to travel outbound from city to facilitate a two-way cycle track. HGVs would not have be able to use Strand Road to access the port as a result.

Legal challenge

However, following a legal challenge by local resident Peter Carvill, of the Serpentine Avenue, Tritonville and Claremont Roads Group, and Independent councillor Mannix Flynn, the court ruled the council needed planning permission for the path. The council is appealing the court's ruling.

In the interim it said it was appropriate to extend the five-axle HGV ban for Strand Road to 24-hours a day and to "engage with An Garda Síochána to increase enforcement". The council also plans to install speed ramps on Strand Road after an analysis found that some 1,800 lorries and cars, or "one in every seven", broke the 50km/h speed limit daily, with some 55 driving at more than 70km/h.