Sir, - Dublin Corporation has just introduced a Traffic Management Plan for the northside of the city, brought about by construction work on the Dublin Port Tunnel.
Speaking on the radio, Owen Keegan, the corporation's Director of Traffic, said traffic on the M1 motorway between Coolock interchange and Whitehall would be reduced to "a minimum of one lane in each direction". Short of closing the road completely, you can't get any more minimalist than one lane in each direction.
Radio adverts and information leaflets stress heavily that the disruption and restrictions will only last for the two-year construction period and that it will be all be worthwhile in the end. What they fail to mention is that the same effected stretch of the M1 motorway will be permanently downgraded to a single lane in each direction. The twin tunnels, each with two lanes, will run in a "cut and cover" trench along the motorway, resulting in severe and permanent restrictions for commuter traffic travelling between the city and the heavily populated satellite towns of north County Dublin, Meath and Louth. - Yours, etc.,
Fintan Cassidy, Marino, Dublin 9.