Port Tunnel big lorry ban will follow opening

The ban on big lorries in Dublin city centre during the day takes effect shortly, it has emerged.

Dublin City Council is to implement its new heavy goods vehicle (HGV) strategy within weeks of next month's opening of the Port Tunnel. The strategy bans HGVs with five axles or more from a "cordon area" between 7am and 7pm.

The cordon area incorporates the city centre and northern suburbs of the Navan Road, Phibsboro, Drumcondra and the East Wall Road. On the south side, the cordon area broadly follows the Grand Canal but includes Ringsend and Sandymount. The cordon is bounded on the west by the Phoenix Park.

Last April, members of Dublin City Council voted, as part of the adoption of the HGV strategy, to close the "surface access" routes to the port via East Wall Road and Seán Moore Road for vehicles with five axles or more from January 1st, 2007.

Earlier this week, Dublin City Council said smoke tests will begin in the tunnel this morning and the council has asked that people living in the vicinity not be alarmed. The council said the tunnel would open before Christmas.

Efforts to contact the director of traffic Michael Phillips were unsuccessful yesterday, but well-placed transport sources told The Irish Times, "the HGV strategy is ready to go. It will follow the tunnel opening within weeks - that means January. The council is determined on this point."

The source pointed out hauliers had already won a concession from the city council - in that five-axle lorries would be able to use the East Link Bridge for free. Concessions had also been made: to allow building industry deliveries to the city centre which could not be realistically expected to work at night; for indigenous industries such as the Guinness brewery; and for "genuine deliveries" which have to be made during the day. The source said there was a body of opinion in the council that felt the latter concession went too far - in that any haulier might make a case that their deliveries were essential.

Those availing of the concessions are to be granted a permit from the council.

However, the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) expressed outrage at the prospect of the strategy being implemented in anything less than three months of the Port Tunnel opening.

IRHA spokesman Jimmy Quinn said the concession on the tolls on the East Link were made only after the threat of legal action. But he said there were still logistical issues with hauliers from the south port having to cross the East Link, go through the Port Tunnel and cross the West Link in order to serve parts of south county Dublin.

He estimated the additional costs to the haulage industry at €29 million per year and criticised "well-intentioned amateur efforts which would severely damage a vital industry".