West link buyout to pave way to barrier-free toll

The Government tonight confirmed a €600m buyout of the West Link toll bridge which will pave the way for barrier-free tolling next year.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen said National Toll Roads (NTR) will hand over the operation of the M50 system in 2008 and will be paid €50m every year until 2020.

The congestion-ridden ring road is used by up to 100,000 motorists every day.

Mr Cullen said: “This buyout will develop and manage the M50 motorway to provide the best possible service to motorists”.

The West Link plaza will be removed in 2008 and replaced with electronic tolling.

Mr Cullen said he expects the discussions between the NTR and the National Roads Authority to conclude shortly.

NTR originally invested IR£6m in the West Link toll bridge 20 years ago – about €14m in today’s money.

The minister earlier informed the weekly meeting of the Cabinet about the terms of the deal being discussed between the NTR and the National Roads Authority.

A one billion euro upgrade of the M50 will lead to greater daily capacity for vehicles by summer 2008, he added.

He added of the €600m price tag: “It’s not money from the Exchequer. It’s not money from all the taxpayers. NTR would have got this money anyway. They had a binding contract in place to do it.”

“What we want to do is now protect the state’s investment for the future with the investment on the M50 so that we can do things for the benefit of the motorist, and on behalf of the motorist.”

“Everybody wants to move to barrier-free tolling. It works well internationally. On a high-volume motorway, barrier-free tolling is the way to go.”

The minister added: “The NRA will be enabled to introduce other measures at the toll point to encourage better use of the M50 at off-peak times, which will help address the problems of congestion on the M50”.