It's Operation Freeflow time again but can it bring a solution to the annual season of city centre chaos, asks Daniel Attwood.
Don't be under any illusions this Christmas: Operation Freeflow, which begins this Monday, is not aimed at aiding motorists. It's purpose is to get them to leave their cars and use public transport during Christmas.
It's true that over the following 41 days all roadworks within the M50 will be suspended until the end of the operation on January 7th. That will come as some relief to city motorists.
However, works on the M50 "the country's busiest motorway" will continue as normal. Despite the extra volume of traffic expected to use the motorway over the festive period, the works to widen it to three lanes will continue as normal, as will the 60km/h speed limit currently in force along much of the most congested parts of the M50.
"We took the view that critical transport infrastructure is needed and so strategic projects such as the M50 must continue," explains Michael Ahern from the Dublin Transportation Office. "The reality is that there is no additional benefit from stopping the works on the M50."
To help enforce the motorway's reduced speed limit as well as deal with breakdowns, there will now be six Garda motorcycles and two marked 4x4s permanently patrolling the M50.
So it seems Freeflow won't ease the congestion on the city's major ringroad this festive season. And that's not the end of the woes for those who use this route.
In addition to the extra holiday traffic, Dublin commuters using the M50 will have to combat with the arrival of a new convoy of trucks from the Port Tunnel just five days before Christmas day.
Following the tunnel's opening, some 6,000 trucks will exit it daily and head for Dublin's peripheral motorway adding to its already significant congestion.
And for those car drivers who wind their way down the M1 or off the northern end of the M50, they need not think they are going to reap any respite on the tunnel charges during its first days.
The Operation Freeflow committee has not requested that Dublin Port Tunnel lifts its punitive €12 toll for cars travelling at peak times during the Freeflow period.
"The purpose of the tunnel is for trucks and buses," explains Ahern. "If we were to drop the toll you would have excessive traffic using the tunnel. The toll is about preserving the function of the tunnel."
When opened, Dublin Port Tunnel will have an 80,000-vehicle capacity, far above the 6,000 lorries expected to pass through it each day. Despite this, the extra capacity will not be used to help reduce congestion during the Christmas period.
As with other years, Operation Freeflow will also see over 160 extra gardaí "mostly probationary officers" assigned to point duty between 7am and 7pm at various junctions both in the city and on major approach roads to enforce the integrity of quality bus corridors, to ensure junctions remain clear and to penalise parking infringements.
While there are no plans yet to make use of the new special reserve volunteer force, this has not been ruled out.
Last year there were some poor examples of traffic management, most notably the N11 roundabout at Loughlinstown where, for a period, significant delays were experienced as a result of a Garda presence there during Operation Freeflow.
As a result, this year motorists are being invited to submit comments on a freephone number. "Feedback is welcome and all calls will go through to the traffic control centre where they will be logged and reviewed on a daily basis," says Ahern.
This will be the eleventh year of Operation Freeflow and, as Ahern explains, all the agencies involved will be concentrating on getting people rather than cars into and out of the city.
"Operation Freeflow is about the freeflow of public transport," he says.
"The idea isn't about how much traffic we can get in, it is about how many people we can get in." Admittedly, statistics for last year prove his point. There was a minimal 3 per cent increase in traffic volumes over the period of the operation in 2005.
However, Dublin Bus and Luas saw a 20 to 25 per cent increase in passenger numbers. Despite the assertion that it is about getting people out of their cars and on to public transport, none of the public transport providers will reduce their prices as an incentive and nor will Q Park - which operates the Luas park-and-ride facilities - reduce its parking fees during Operation Freeflow.
For those who still intend to drive into the city, the only good news is that this year there are no works on O'Connell St to contend with, and over 2,700 car parking spaces to fight for.
Yet for all the publicity, the only noticeable difference for motorists will be the same as previous years: inexperienced gardai trying to direct traffic and no yellow-clad workmen breast-feeding shovels in the middle of the road. Cynics would suggest that hardly warrants the hype.