No plans to toll Waterford dual carriageway

THERE are no plans to toll the major new dual carriageway link between Waterford and Kilcullen, according to those behind the project.

The route, when completed in 2010, will cut 19 minutes off the journey from Powerstown on the Carlow/Kildare border to Dunkitt on the Waterford/Kilkenny border, a drive which now typically takes one hour.

“It is government policy not to toll this road now. But government policy can change,” according to N9 project coordinator Joe Gannon. “There is nothing in our scheme to allow for tolling. But it is possible for the government to change its mind in the future. It would require extra land to be purchased down the line for toll plazas.”

The compulsory purchase order (CPO) process, which has just begun, is at best inconvenient for people, Mr Gannon said. “You can’t build a road of this size without having an impact on people. We’ve tried to minimise the impact in every way possible,” he said.

In all, 480 CPOs went out. A total of 267 farmers are affected, three habitable houses, and a number of businesses, gardens and commercial plots. Others who own parts of a road have also been sent CPOs.

“Losing a house in particular is a huge loss. But just three on a 64km stretch is a very small number. We did aim not to have any but compared to other schemes, it’s quite low. It was a major aim of the designers to keep the number of houses required for the road as low as possible. We realise that people’s homes are their castles,” said Mr Gannon.

While people have known they were affected since 2001, the actual legal document arriving was a major blow to many. “The vast bulk of people knew back as far as 2001. Some others have come in because of diversions etc. We’ve met with some of these people up to 10 times,” added Mr Gannon.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been published and an oral hearing is planned, probably for June. Landowners only can object to the CPOs but anyone who makes a submission to An Bord Pleanala before April 15 can raise an issue in the EIS.

Many issues have to be discussed between now and the oral hearing and the planners hope to meet with as many land owners as possible in the intervening period.

Mr Gannon did not accept the argument made by one community group that the needs of a quarry group were put first. “The potential compensation that would have had to be paid to Roadstone was an issue in the design of the road, and it had to be.

“These issues and more will be addressed in the Oral Hearing, probably in June,” Mr Gannon said.