New routes to cut hour off journeys

SAVINGS of up to an hour on car journeys between Dublin and other cities within five years and a dedicated route from Letterkenny to Waterford are among the main roads projects of the Transport 21 plan.

The Atlantic Road Corridor will provide either dual-carriageway or double and single-lane (2+1) roads to ensure greater links between towns and cities on the route. These include Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford, therefore connecting the gateway cities of the national spatial strategy.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen said this route would provide a counterbalance to the inter-urban routes, which will provide dual-carriageway or motorway links to Dublin from Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford by 2010.

This deadline means some of these routes will be finished ahead of current schedules.

However, the possibility of tolling some of these roads is likely to be considered by the Government.

Mr Cullen said Environment Minister Dick Roche will bring forward legislation early next year to give effect to plans to move all major infrastructure projects outside the local authority planning process, with a target of having the laws passed by the summer.

Mr Cullen said An Bord Pleanála has already been dealing with roads projects in a more direct way.

Director of Atlantic Technology Corridor Oliver Daniels welcomed the announcement of the Letterkenny-Waterford route but questioned the lack of a clear timeline.

“The inter-urban connections to Dublin have been prioritised and we have a concern that other projects may be long-fingered. We just want to see that the funds are committed and are not pulled away because of overruns on other projects,” he said.

Independent TD Marian Harkin described the Atlantic Road Corridor as pie-in-the-sky as long as there was no planned completion date.

The roads element of the Transport 21 plan includes 850 km of new and widened roads on primary and secondary routes post-2010.

The biggest time saving on inter-urban routes will be the 56-minute reduction in travel times between Dublin and Waterford upon completion of the N9.

However, the prioritisation and completion dates of all road projects apart from links between Dublin and other cities will not be decided by the National Roads Authority until a later date.