Madam, - Please allow me to respond to Daniel Atwood's report in your Motors supplement of July 13th and Maurice O'Connor's subsequent letter to the editor (July 16th). Both refer to access to and from the northern end of the Dublin Port Tunnel and the M1-M50 interchange south of Dublin airport.
There will be no problem for heavy goods vehicles leaving the northern end of the port tunnel and changing lanes to access the M50, and vice versa. Thousands of vehicles routinely perform similar manoeuvres safely on the M50 every day within similar space constraints. This is no more difficult than entering or leaving any existing motorway interchange.
In addition, an extra lane is being provided in each direction between the Port Tunnel exit and the M1-M50 interchange. An 80-kph speed limit will also facilitate safe traffic merging and diverging.
The lane layouts and traffic management arrangements were subjected to intensive examination and modelling, debate and discussion at the exhaustive planning and public inquiry stage.
Thank you for allowing me to deal with this before another urban myth about the Port Tunnel takes wing. - Yours, etc,
ALAN BREEN, Press Office, Dublin City Council, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.