Port tunnel 'will cost every household €550'

The Dublin port tunnel will cost every household in the state over €550 but only the capital’s city centre will reap any benefit, it was claimed today.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael’s transport spokeswoman, said the tunnel has become an expensive mess that will only benefit the city centre, spread traffic chaos into the suburbs and cost every household money.

The TD said the lowest estimate of the cost of the Port Tunnel stands at €752m, representing a bill of €550 for each household in the country.

“An integrated plan and some joined-up thinking would have ensured that the opening of the Port Tunnel would have coincided with the completion of the M50 upgrade,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Instead, the M50 works are only now beginning. The Port Tunnel has been under construction for almost six years, during which time the M50 has become increasingly congested. Yet no-one in the Government thought to sound the alarm bells.”

Ms Mitchell said thousands of heavy goods vehicles are to be allowed through the city centre for the next two years, while heavier five-axle trucks who are not using the tunnel will be travelling along two alternative routes.

“This whole project is an expensive and ill-considered mess,” she said.

The TD claimed large areas of Dublin will have to cope with a sudden increase in heavy trucks when the tunnel opens.

She said the city council was proposing to allow two routes to act as alternative routes for heavy vehicles rather than directing all traffic through the tunnel to the M50.

“It is reasonable to assume that half of the 6,000 five-axle HGVs leaving and going to the port each day will avoid the tunnel and head south to avoid the long circular trip around the M50 and the queue at the Westlink,” she said.