The National Roads Authority (NRA) has begun negotiations with the owners of the West-Link Toll Bridge on the M50 in a bid to have barriers removed and replaced with an electronic toll system for the entire road.
The discussions follow the intervention of Minister for Transport Martin Cullen who has had meetings in recent months with both organisations.
Discussions with National Toll Roads (NTR) are at a very early stage, but the NRA is believed to be in favour of having a new tolling system for the entire road where motorists would be charged at entry and exit points to the motorway through electronic tolls as opposed to on the bridge.
The NRA has already invited tenders from companies to advise on the cost and installation of equipment that could replace the traditional toll booths or barriers on roads such as the M50.
Any change in the current tolling arrangements would need the support of NTR and a redrafting of the current agreement which was signed by the government in the late 1980s and runs to 2020.
The current toll barrier, in place since the bridge opened in the early 1990s, has now become the biggest potential bottleneck on the route.
The proposed upgrade of the road to three lanes and the introduction of freeflow interchanges has received full planning approval, and work on the first section is due to get under way this year. When completed it will give greater traffic capacity.
NTR executives have met with Mr Cullen twice on the issue of the M50, once in February and again at the end of April.
Mr Cullen also met with the board of the NRA last month for discussions on the M50 and the toll issue.
He has informed both that legislation for open tolling is ready to be introduced to the Dáil by the end of the year.
The laws are necessary to enable NTR and any toll operators to pursue defaulters who fail to pay.
Sources in the Department of Transport were optimistic that definitive proposals on new tolling arrangements for the road would emerge from the negotiations between both bodies, which began earlier this month.
Both organisations are also to discuss the M50 upgrade in order to minimise traffic delays.