With just one week to go, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the National Roads Authority are warning motorists not to expect too much when the Dublin Port Tunnel opens. Tim O'Brienreports.
As the largest civil engineering project in the State, the Dublin Port Tunnel was always going to have its critics.
But after five-and-a half years of traffic disruption, and at least three quarters of a billion euro, few expected long-time tunnel supporter Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's remarks in the Dáil last week: The "downside" he said was "that the traffic will not be eliminated from the streets to the extent that is necessary".
The Taoiseach was lamenting the fact that a second tunnel had not been built under the Liffey to remove traffic from the city quays. "I regret that did not happen. I still think that creates a problem," he said.
The words were a clear signal to a citizenry used to congestion and disruption on a daily basis that miracles should not be expected when the tunnel finally opens next week.
As the Taoiseach spoke, the National Roads Authority (NRA) was also warning that the tunnel opening should not be considered a panacea for all traffic ills. It would do exactly what it should do, but it would not be a cure-all, said Hugh Creegan, head of the NRA's programme management.
Mr Creegan told Motors the tunnel would take the predicted 6,300 lorries a day off the city quays but would do this without having a "significant" impact on congestion the M50. This was because a lot of lorries emerging from the M50 would take the M1. Of those which do choose the M50, many would leave at the M2 and N3 junctions, leaving only 1,500 additional lorries a day crossing the Westlink.
Mr Creegan's thesis is that every lorry that goes into the port tunnel is a lorry less along the city quays, and that is exactly what the Port Tunnel was designed to do.
The existence of a rapid, additional and free route is hardly going to make things anything other than better, he points out.
However, there are doubters. The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) and the Dublin Port Company have all welcomed the tunnel as a fantastic piece of infrastructure but have serious concerns about traffic flows in and around the tunnel portals.
They argue that:
While 700 lorries leave the port in the morning between 5.15am and 6.15am there is room for only 35 lorries to queue between the port gates and the tunnel entrance.
The 700 lorries must go through a T-junction crossing in-bound port traffic.
Lorries wishing to continue along the M50 on leaving the tunnels' northern portal must move left and cross up to two traffic lanes while traffic coming from Dublin on the M1 must move to the right, engaging in a "weave" movement.
Lorries have an 800-metre distance in which to accomplish this manoeuvre. At 50 km/h they have just under one minute to complete the lane changes.
Should congestion occur on the M50 and back up into the tunnel, access to the tunnel at the southern portals must close as traffic is not allowed to halt in the tunnel.
As access to the tunnel closes, traffic on surrounding roads must halt to allow traffic already in the tunnel to exit.
If the tunnel closes after the lorry ban in the city centre comes into operation, then it can take up to an hour to secure permission for lorries to use the city streets.
There are four separate traffic authorities in charge of traffic approaching and leaving the tunnel.
They are Fingal County Council, which is responsible for approach roads at the northern end; Dublin City Council, which is responsible for the M50 and the southern city roads; the port tunnel operating company, which is responsible for the traffic in the tunnel; and the National Roads Authority, which has overall responsibility for national routes.
IRHA president Jimmy Quinn has already commented that the traffic arrangement at the northern portal would require "a lot of good manners" on the part of car and lorry drivers.
The hauliers want a derogation on the proposed lorry ban in the city centre which is due to come into effect in February.
Dublin Port company chief executive Enda Connellan said he cannot understand why the M50 upgrade was not planned and completed before the tunnel opens. He wants a single regulatory authority to control all tunnel and M50 traffic.
However the NRA remains adamant the tunnel will do exactly what it was built to do; move lorries from the port to the M50.
Further improvements are also planned and, about a year after the tunnel opens, the NRA is planning to spend about 18 months upgrading the M50/M1 junction, as part of the overall M50 upgrade plans.