Management of Dublin Port and Jack Lynch tunnels to cost State €607m

The winning bidder will also be responsible for the Motorway Operations Control Centre

The Jack Lynch Tunnel was first opened in 1999. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The State is to spend €607m on a new contract for the management of the Dublin Port and Jack Lynch tunnels.

Contracting authority Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has published a tender for the contract with an eight-year expiry, and a possible extension up to a full-term length of 16 years, for the management as well as the main operations control centre for both.

The winning bidder will be responsible for operation and maintenance services for both, along with the Motorway Operations Control Centre, completed last year, and based in Dublin’s East Wall.

TII said in its tender request that each of the three installations plays “a critical role in the national road network”. It added that it is “vital they are reasonably operated and maintained to a standard that does not negatively impact” the national road network.

Five applicants will be added to a final shortlist for the competition proper, it said.

The scope of the contract is to include operation of the tunnels and the tolling system in place on the Port Tunnel, and the administration of the national average speed enforcement system, with bids for the contract to be lodged by May 4.

TII said the €607m contract, which excludes VAT at 23%, is an “estimate only” based on “possible projections for various operation and maintenance requirements”. Initial estimated service value is roughly €340m, the body said, based on “projected cost over the duration of the contract”.

The Jack Lynch Tunnel was first opened in 1999. 

Running beneath the River Lee, the tunnel connects the N40 ring road with the M8 motorway to Dublin, and carries close to 70,000 vehicles daily.

The Port Tunnel meanwhile, which connects the M50 ring motorway around the capital with Dublin Port has been operational since 2006, and carries roughly 24,000 vehicles per day via its tolling system.

The state-of-the-art Motorway Operations Control Centre monitors more than 1,200 kilometres of motorway and dual carriageway across Ireland, side by side with the operators of the two signature tunnels. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The state-of-the-art Motorway Operations Control Centre was constructed between November 2018 and December 2020 as part of an upgrade and extension of the pre-existing Port Tunnel control building on East Wall Road.

The facility monitors more than 1,200 kilometres of motorway and dual carriageway across Ireland, side by side with the operators of the two signature tunnels.

The new control centre is key to managing motorway incidents across the country, co-ordinating with emergency services to clear the network, closing lanes, and advising motorists of traffic conditions via motorway signage.

The centre is distinguished by a giant three-metre tall video wall in its main control room displaying real-time CCTV feeds from the entire motorway camera network, enabling the individual management of developing incidents as they occur.