Dublin bypass plan back on agenda

Dublin's proposed eastern bypass, which would link north Dublin with the N11 on the southside, is likely to return to the transport agenda with the opening of the Dublin Port Tunnel.

In 1992 the eastern bypass, which was then planned to run from an area close to the Booterstown marsh to the port, was tentatively priced at about €500 million.

However, the most recent plans for the eastern bypass are substantially different to those rejected in 1992 by the former Fianna Fáil administration.

Today's cost would be a multiple of that but the involvement of a public-private partnership could reduce the Government's contribution by as much as 40 per cent.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's director of transportation, Eamonn O'Hare, said the Eastern Bypass should be the next major road project in the Dublin area.

He revealed that he has lobbied the National Roads Authority to have the route included in the national roads programme.

According to Mr O'Hare, the opening of the port tunnel to traffic early next year will mean that lorries and trucks accessing the west of the country will have direct access to the M50.

But those lorries attempting to travel to parts of south Dublin and Wicklow/Wexford would have to do a loop of the city before reaching their destination.

Mr O'Hare also said the bypass would take large amounts of traffic out of south Dublin. The completion of the C-ring this coming August would provide uninterrupted motorway access from Dundalk to the Wicklow border, but the vital leg approaching the port from the south would be left out.