M50 upgrade completed

The final part of a €950 million upgrade of a 32km section of the M50 from two to three lanes will be officially opened this afternoon.

The work took over four years and was completed without closing the route. The final section, the N3 interchange at Blanchardstown (Junction 6) will be opened to traffic after 5pm.

As part of the upgrade the toll barriers were removed on August 31st, 2008.

A combination of increased capacity and reduced journey time has led to an increase in the number of vehicles using the route to about 100,000 per day, up from 88,000 in January 2009.

Barrier-free tolling on the M50 was introduced on August 30th, 2008, following the sale of the toll bridge by National Toll Roads to the State for €488 million.

Revenue raised from the electronic tolls is being used to fund the upgrade, the cost of the buyout and the future operation and maintenance costs of the route.

National Roads Authority chairman Peter Malone thanked the public for their patience during the work, which he described as an engineering triumph.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the increased capacity would improve the quality of life for commuters and make Dublin more competitive when seeking to attract foreign inward investment.

The project involved adding a third lane from where the orbital route meets the M1 (Junction 3) and Sandyford (Juntion 14) and also a fourth lane between the M1 and Scholarstown (Junction 12).

The layout of the interchanges at the M1, Ashbourne/Finglas (Junction 5), Palmerstown (Junction 7) and Red Cow (Junction 9) was changed to allow the free movement of vehicles.

Fine Gael Seanad spokesman on Transport Paschal Donohoe said while the completed works are an asset to the State’s road network it came at the “heafty cost” of a “phenomenal €31.2 million per kilometre”.

He said the Minister must ensure value for money is sought in future projects.

In June last year, BetEire Flow, the firm that operates tolling on Dublin’s orbital route on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA), changed customer service providers due to the volume of complaints from motorists.

Cork-based Abtran replaced Teleperformance and the change has resulted in a steep decline in complaints, according to BetEire Flow.

The number of fines issued to M50 users for failing to pay tolls on time has also halved over the last year.

BetEire Flow says “misreads” - when the wrong motorist is charged for passing through the toll - have fallen from 9,724 per month, to 450, a 95 per cent decline.

Simon McBeth, BetEire Flow’s communications director, said while errors and complaints have fallen, the number of prosecutions has not and so far this year the NRA and its legal team have issued 4,272 summonses for the non payment of fines.

Asked about the different fee structure; €2 for a tag journey, €2.50 with video registration and €3 payzone and other unregistered payments, Mr McBeth said cash-based payments were more expensive to collect. He said around 30 per cent of M50 users paid by cash.

He said a small proportion of drivers tried to evade the toll by fitting false plates or those stolen from a written-off or crashed car. So far this year 189 vehicles with tampered plates have been identified using the M50.

Mr McBeth said tampering with a number plate is a specific offence, separate to non payment of the toll, and details of these cases are placed on a watch list and also passed on to the National Vehicle Driver File (NVDF), which will liaise with gardaí to find the vehicle.

Gardaí have requested access to vehicle records collected by the toll cameras on the M50 on 192 occasions so far this year. Vehicle details are held for six months.

BetEire Flow is a consortium comprising French companies Sanef; a toll operator, and CS, a systems designer.