Madam, - Elected representatives from Meath, Kildare and Westmeath have raised serious and legitimate concerns about the tolling of the M4 motorway and its impact on already hard-pressed commuters travelling daily to work in Dublin from these counties.
The NRA and the Minister for Transport have played down the costs and effects of the toll, and have responded by saying that the motorists have a choice: they are not forced to use the motorway, they can still go the old road if they wish.
However, if much-needed and long overdue bypasses of severely congested towns are incorporated in a motorway scheme along an expanding commuter belt, it is hard to see what real choice there is for the commuters (most of whom had no real choice in where they could purchase a home in the first place). When you add to this factors such as the lack of provision for viable and efficient public transport alternatives and the lack of an integrated transport plan - as in the case of the proposed double-tolled M3 in Meath (whose tolling contract now looks like it could continue for 35 to 45 years!) - you have to wonder: (i) who is driving our transport and planning policies? (ii) what impact will they have on sustainable development? and (iii) where is the vision? - Yours, etc,
JULITTA CLANCY,
Batterstown,
Co Meath.