All alternative route options for the proposed £91 million South Eastern Motorway, including the possibility of tunnelling under Leopardstown Racecourse, are rejected in an environmental impact statement published by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council.
The EIS, with route models, is on public display from today at the council's headquarters in Dun Laoghaire. It will be on view for six weeks, and the public will then have a further two weeks to lodge objections.
The motorway is planned to complete the M50, or C-Ring bypass around Dublin, by linking the Southern Cross Route, running between Tallaght and Sandyford, with the Shankill-Bray by-pass. Work on the Southern Cross Route is due to start within 12 months.
A number of alternative routes were examined in the EIS - as is required by law - but "because of urban developments on one side and rising ground to the mountains on the other, the choices were limited", particularly at Carrickmines.
The main factors favouring the selected route were: considerably fewer environmental effects, better traffic function up to the year 2016, and its ability to attract more traffic, "thereby improving the residential quality in surrounding areas".
The development cuts across the existing six-furlong sprint track at Leopardstown. The EIS says a conventional bored tunnel would have to be of such a length that a large interchange at Carrickmines could not be constructed in full.
A "cut and cover" tunnel would take two years to build, and it would take a further three years to bring the turf up to racing standard. The sprint straight would therefore be out of commission for five seasons.
This would "place the future viability of the racecourse in jeopardy". It favours a surface motorway, with the option of building of a new sprint track.
The 10.9km two-by-two-lane motorway includes six interchanges and 21 bridges, while the contract includes extensive road development linking into it.
A total of 973 dwellings will be affected by some level of visual intrusion with "approximately one-third subject to severe intrusion", the EIS says. Visual obstruction will be severe in 200 dwellings out of a total of 440 experiencing obstruction.
The EIS confirms that about 3,800 trees (mostly ash, sycamore and beech) and 5.6 kilometres of hedgerows are within or close to the proposed scheme. Some 65 per cent are due to be removed.
A total of 20 dwellings are proposed for acquisition. Where parts of dwelling curtilage are being acquired, the effects will be severe in eight cases. Access arrangements will be altered for 17 properties, of which five will also be affected by land acquisition. An additional 17 "agricultural units" will be affected.
In terms of commercial acquisition, there will be a severe effect on two industrial units at Sandyford, on a riding yard at Ballybride Road, and Leopardstown Racecourse.
In amenity terms, parts of Leopardstown Park Hospital, the Legionnaires of Christ property in the same area, playing pitches at St Benildus College, Kilmacud, and open space at Shanganagh will be subject to acquisition.
Within the scheme area are 59 "buildings, structures or groupings" of architectural, artistic or historical significance, of which nine will be demolished, one partially demolished and 28 significantly affected in their settings, it says.
Where environmental impacts are confirmed, the EIS outlines proposed ameliorative measures.
On traffic, the motorway is intended to improve access within residential areas by reducing local vehicular movement; the exceptions being Wyattville Road dual carriageway south of Cabinteely, and Blackthorn Drive (east) in Stillorgan, which will also experience most inconvenience by being cut off from facilities and services within their community.
