Councillor questions whether Dunkettle Interchange will turn into another 'congested' M50

Cork County Council’s director of roads, Niall Healy, said it’s too early to judge as there are still partial lane closures in place and more road links planned for the project have yet to be opened

Heading westwards and into the Dunkettle interchange. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Cork County Council’s director of roads said it’s too early to say if increased traffic queuing from the East Cork side into the Jack Lynch Tunnel will become commonplace, but if it persists after the ongoing upgrade of the Dunkettle Interchange is completed he’ll ask TII to address it.

Niall Healy, who heads council’s the roads directorate, was responding to concerns raised by a number of councillors who’ve said in recent weeks queues have become more pronounced, which they are worried about.

More than 90,000 vehicles a day pass through the Dunkettle Interchange. Construction crews finished up work for Christmas and will return to the site on January 3 in a bid to open the next free-flow junction there. 

Mr Healy said it’s too early to judge as there are still partial lane closures in place in the area and more road links planned for the project have yet to be opened.

Exiting the Jack Lynch Tunnel heading northwards and the Dunkettle interchange Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Carrigtwohill-based Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry said traffic queues approaching Dunkettle from its eastern side are getting worse instead of better.

Midleton-based Social Democrats councillor Liam Quaide said there are more likely to be accidents because of this as people will get frustrated and start queue-jumping and taking more risks.

“The traffic flow from East Cork into the tunnel and Cork City has not improved since the Dunkettle works were undertaken, and it seems if anything to be worse on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays than before the project started. 

The merging lanes going into the tunnel and towards the city are causing more delays and friction between drivers. With both merging lanes, you have one lane of traffic waiting in line while another lane overtakes them. 

"I can't see the logic of having these merging lanes because it just chokes up the traffic further on and there is a risk of accidents as frustration boils over because some drivers are skipping the line on one side,” Mr Quaide said.

He says he fully recognises there’s a lot of complex engineering and design gone into the development of the Dunkettle Interchange but, at a basic level, he wondered are they not essentially widening the funnels of traffic into the same narrow arteries. He asked are the traffic flow improvements therefore doomed to fail?

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“When the M50 was constructed I'm sure it was hailed at a major feat of engineering that would address traffic issues in Dublin. It later transpired to be so congested it resembles a carpark at rush hour. Will we be saying the same about the Dunkettle when it is completed,” Mr Quaide asked.

Mr Healy said where there are merging lanes there are bound to be delays, but he said if this continues towards the end of the project’s completion the county council will naturally take it up with TII.

Michael Lynch, the council’s southern division manager, echoed Mr Healy’s comments and urged councillors to wait until the “hugely ambitious project” is finalised.