Poor design of junctions and lack of capacity are responsible for the delays on the M50 motorway, not the West-Link toll plaza, according to a report commissioned by its operator National Toll Roads (NTR).
The report, carried out by British transport consultants MVA, claims delays on the Dublin ringroad will not be resolved until the National Roads Authority's (NRA) planned improvements scheme is implemented, due to take at least five years. It says simply removing the toll plaza would not alleviate the M50 congestion.
An average of 85,000 vehicles a day passed through the toll plaza, according to figures from January to June this year.
This is an increase of 3.9 per cent on last year and NTR predicts further increases in the coming years, from the Port Tunnel and Dublin airport which forecasts an extra one million passengers over the next eight years.
Consultants MVA said they carried out a survey of journey times in both directions between the N3 junction at Blanchardstown and the Red Cow junction at Ballymount.
According to Mike Slinn, director of MVA: "The average delay caused by the toll plaza is one minute and 36 seconds. This was measured from the time vehicles joined the queue for the plaza until the car passed through the barriers."
The report claims that the average delay between the junctions caused by other factors, such as general congestion and traffic changing lanes and merging, is four minutes 40 seconds.
"Lack of capacity on the existing motorway and the design of the interchanges, combined with high traffic volumes, determine journey time and not the toll plaza," said Mr Slinn.
A second Eazypass lane at the West-Link bridge was opened yesterday, replacing one of the coin-only lanes on week days. According to NTR figures, over 40 per cent of all vehicles and 61 per cent of commercial vehicles use the Eazypass system during peak hours. Declan White, general manager of Eazypass, says the average time taken at the toll plaza by those using the cashier is 10 seconds, compared with six seconds for the coin-only booths and four seconds for the Eazypass lanes.
NTR says the technology is in place to introduce a barrier-free plaza, but legislation is needed to allow fines to be imposed on motorists who fail to pay.