Sod turned on €570m Shannon tunnel

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen turned the first sod yesterday on a tunnel highway which will run under the River Shannon near Limerick, opening up a new western transport corridor.

Up to 400 construction workers will be employed on the €570 million scheme over the next four years in one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in this country.

The 9.7km four-lane roadway will include 900m of tunnel — 675m of which will be under the Shannon — 11 bridges, six underpasses and four interchanges.

The tunnel will be precast in five concrete tubes by Austrian specialists, Strabag, and floated onto the site and then sunk onto foundations on the river bed.

Tom King, general manager of Direct Route, the public-private partnership which will undertake the work, said one of the biggest challenges in laying the tunnel and building its access roads will be developing stabilised ground.

Mr King said: “We will have to dredge out about 800,000 tons of silt from the river and bring in six million tons of rock to stabilise soft ground. This work will take two years and the tunnel will be then brought in as five sections onto the river and immersed.”

The tunnel road will form Phase 2 of the Limerick Southern Ring Road and will open up a gateway between the west, the south-west and the south, diverting 25,000 vehicles a day from Limerick city.

Mr Cullen said the new tunnel road would boost economic development in the regions and facilitate competitiveness in the transport of goods.

He said: “It will also provide welcome traffic relief for commuters and other road users as they go about their daily lives in residential areas in the city and county of Limerick.”

National Roads Authority (NRA) chairman Peter Malone said the tunnel road will greatly assist in the continued economic growth of the entire mid-west.

Mr Malone added: “This project is a catalyst for Limerick city and county, Shannon Airport and Co Clare to continue their collective regional growth in all areas of enterprise.”

When the road opens in four years, it will be tolled, with cars paying €1.60 and lorries €4.10 at today’s rates. These prices will be readjusted according to inflation.

An NRA spokesman defended the tunnel design, which has the standard 4.9m elevation, meaning that so-called super trucks will not be able to access it.

The NRA spokesman said: “It is the standard required height for tunnels throughout Europe.”

He said the number of super trucks which will be unable to used the roadway represented a “minute fraction” of the total number of heavy goods vehicles on our roads and it would be unrealistic to deviate from the European standard design for tunnels.