The National Roads Authority has confirmed that car commuters will have to pay an index-linked toll of £3 to use the planned Dublin Port Tunnel when it finally comes into operation.
Port-related heavy goods vehicles, for which the £181 million project is primarily designed, will travel free. But the NRA's own estimates show they will be significantly outnumbered by other traffic.
The £3 toll will apply only in the morning peak period (7 a.m. to 10 a.m.) from Monday to Friday for all southbound cars. At all other times, including the weekday evening peak, the toll will be reduced to £1.
In a statement yesterday, the NRA described the port tunnel as "a major element in an integrated strategy to tackle the transportation problems of Dublin" by providing a new access route to Dublin Port.
It said the volume of traffic predicted to use the tunnel in its year of opening - 2003 - is 7,200 heavy goods vehicles and 12,600 private cars per day. Toll income is expected to be £3.9 million per annum.
The NRA explained that the Dublin Transportation Office's computer traffic model was used to determine the appropriate level of toll charges necessary to counter the tunnel's attractiveness to commuters.
Without the deterrent of a toll, it was feared that the route - a four-lane dual-carriageway largely in tunnel between Dublin Port and Santry - would become clogged with cars.
In line with the DTO's strategy, the toll scheme provides for other classes of vehicles apart from HGVs to be exempt.
These classes include ambulances and vehicles used by the Garda, Fire Brigade, Defence Forces, the NRA or Dublin Corporation in the performance of their duties, as well as buses, taxis or hackneys. The toll scheme, made under Section 57 of the 1993 Roads Act, is to be submitted for approval to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey. Any objections must be lodged with him by November 13th.
Following a public inquiry, which is likely to be held concurrently with the wider inquiry into the port tunnel itself, the Minister may approve the toll scheme, modify its terms or refuse to approve it. Copies of the scheme may be inspected at the NRA, St Martin's House, Waterloo Road; Dublin Corporation's Civic Offices at Wood Quay, or the Dublin Port Tunnel Office, East Wall Road, until October 30th.
