An Irish Planning Students Blog

Dublin one of the most Congested cities?

DUBLIN DRIVERS sit through some of the worst traffic in Europe, according to a survey which ranks Dublin the sixth most congested European city.

The survey of 59 cities with a population of more than 500,000 found that Brussels had the worst traffic, while the Spanish city of Zaragoza had the lightest traffic flow with just 1.5 per cent of its streets experiencing gridlock.

Two Polish cities, Warsaw and Wroclaw, came in second and third respectively for bad traffic congestion.

London ranked as the fourth most congested city, with Edinburgh the fifth.

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Dublin Bike Map from www.dublinbikes.ie

Brilliant news in my opinion. I have one of the year long subscriptions to the service and i must say it is possible one of the best things DCC have done in Dublin.  There is a station outside most of the DIT campus’s, making it so handy to just nip across to Aungier street to pick something up in the Library.

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A €22 million Dart station opens for rail commuters at Clongriffin today, a newly-developed town in the north-east of Dublin.

The station was developed by businessman Gerry Gannon – whose €1bn-plus of property loans are due to end up in Nama.

The station will be officially opened today by the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.

Designed by Iarnród Éireann Architects, and funded by the developers of Clongriffin and Coast, Gannon Homes Ltd and Helsingnor Ltd respectively, the project is in collaboration with the respective Local Authorities of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council.

Commuters will be able to reach the city centre in as little as 17 minutes by rail, with 74 trains a day serving the station. Rail services will link commuters to Connolly, Tara St and Pearse Stations.

Residents on the Baldoyle side of the facility will also be able to avail of the Dart service which is along the Dublin-Malahide line.

IrishTimes

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed it is to cease passenger services on the Waterford to Rosslare line in the southeast.

The company said it will explore the possibility of keeping the line open as a tourist/heritage railway, but it maintained that with passenger numbers at 25 per day, the route was “unsustainable”.

A closing date for the route, which was one of those identified for examination by the recent McCarthy report, is expected to be announced by Iarnród Éireann soon.

Iarnród Éireann plans to maintain services on other routes identified in the McCarthy report and has cut staff costs, length of trains and timetabled services in a bid to keep lines open, according to a statement due to be delivered by CIÉ chairman John Lynch at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport this afternoon.

The company has frequently warned of falling passenger numbers on the Waterford to Rosslare line while the sugar beet freight business, which sustained the route, ceased in 2006.

A trial extension of the passenger service from Rosslare to Wexford was under-utilised the company said.

A recent survey of passengers indicated most users were heading for Waterford Institute of Technology. Accordingly, the company said a bus service would replace the train, taking passengers to the institute, in about the same time, for about the same price.

Iarnród Éireann said there would also be environmental benefits of running a small bus, as opposed to a train.

It is understood that discussed have taken place with staff working on the route interested in redeployment within Iarnród Éireann. Voluntary severance is also to be offered.

The company said rail transport was “a volume business” and the passenger numbers spoke for themselves.

IrishTimes

THE GOVERNMENT is to spend €14 million this year on developing bus transport as well as new park-and-ride facilities in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

The biggest beneficiaries will be Cork and Limerick city which will each receive more than €4 million for their respective green routes.

The allocation of funds will also see Galway city get its first bus corridor.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said yesterday it would help greatly in reducing congestion. “In deciding on allocations for 2010, my priority has been to focus on bus priority measures on routes with the heaviest usage during peak hours.”

In Cork, more than €4 million will be spent on the Ballincollig green route county section, while funding will also be provided for improvements to existing green routes. This will include the elimination of congestion pinch-points for buses on a number of routes as identified by bus operators and the local authorities in Cork.

The bus corridor in Galway will benefit commuters from Knocknacarra, Barna and other areas west of the city.

Of the €4 million being provided for green routes in Limerick city, €2.4 million will be for the southern green route. This section of road was ranked as the highest priority for a green route from the south in the Limerick bus corridor selection report.

Some €1.7 million will be provided for the William Street and Mulgrave Street green routes which are heavily used by bus operators in Limerick city as well as to advance the design of phase II of the Dublin Road green route in the county area of Limerick city.

Elsewhere, €1.27 million will go towards the completion of the first green route in Waterford city on the Dunmore Road and for an additional green route section from Colbert Street on the Mall to Exchange Street on the Quays.

IrishTimes

ANOTHER MILESTONE in the development of the Republic’s motorway network takes place this morning with the opening of the Knocktopher to Waterford section of the M9.

This new section of motorway allows for improved access to and from the city of Waterford via the new N25 Waterford city bypass at the southern end of the new road.

The opening leaves just one section, between Knocktopher and Carlow, of the M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway to be completed. This section is on schedule to open by the end of 2010.

However, the next inter-urban motorway to be completed is expected to be the M8, between Dublin and Cork. The final section of the M8, between Portlaoise and Cullahill, Co Laois, is ahead of schedule and expected to open in the third quarter of this year.

Today’s opening was initially expected some months ago but was delayed by inclement weather conditions.

www.nra.ie

The project came in on budget, at €274 million. The new road will link into the Waterford bypass road at Dunkitt, Co Kilkenny, and to the R699 at Knocktopher, also in Co Kilkenny. The road is expected to improve the road safety of, as well as enhance the quality of life for, residents of Knocktopher, Mullinavat and Ballyhale by eliminating through traffic. It is thought it will take about 20 minutes off the journey time between Dublin and Waterford, bringing the driving time to about two hours.

It will also improve the regional access to Kilkenny via the existing N10 and it is hoped it will act as a catalyst for investment in the southeast region.

Welcoming the opening, Peter Malone, chairman of the National Roads Authority, said the road would aid tourists in accessing “a full range of offerings from the Irish hospitality industry throughout the southeast”.

However, Opposition transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said Ireland still did not have a 21st century transport network “and now the money has run out”.

He said much of the Department of Transport’s responsibility had been devolved “to State agencies and quangos”, leaving the Minister for Transport with little more than a ceremonial role.

IrishTimes

THE REPUBLIC is now just “two hours wide” with completion of the first “inter-urban” M6 corridor between Galway and Dublin.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey marked the little bit of history yesterday in bright sunshine and freezing temperatures when he formally opened the last section of the 194km motorway in Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

A speed limit of 120km per hour should cut the journey from the M50 junction to Galway’s outer limits to about two hours, according to the National Roads Authority (NRA).
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THE LUAS extension from Bus Áras to the Point is to open on Tuesday and will face its first big challenge within hours, the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) said yesterday.

According to the RPA, passengers will be offered free travel on the entire Red Line from 3pm on Tuesday immediately after the official opening, until 12.30am, when the line closes. The offer coincides with a potential audience of up to 13,000 people at the Lily Allen concert in the 02.

As he gave pre-school children from the Giraffe and Early Learning centres in the IFSC a special preview of the new extension yesterday, RPA light rail project director Michael Sheedy said the three- bay Luas terminal at the Point would be able to move 2,500 people from the O2 in the first 20 minutes after the concert.

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THE LABOUR Party has called for the retention of some €8 million in funding for the rural transport programme, which is “critical” for tens of thousands of people living in the countryside.

Labour’s transport spokesman Tommy Broughan yesterday published a plan outlining how the service could be maintained and protected. The six-point plan, Giving Rural Ireland a Lift, proposes the maintenance of the programme and new initiatives to prioritise the service and to allow local public transport providers become financially independent.

“Rural public transport services have been underfunded and neglected for years and the transport needs of rural Ireland have too often been ignored,” said Mr Broughan.

He said providing transport for people who lived outside larger towns was important to prevent social exclusion and rural isolation. This was especially important for senior citizens, people with disabilities and low-income families.
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IARNROD Eireann will seek planning permission early next year to build an underground DART line in Dublin costing up to €3bn.

The proposed new line would run from the Docklands to Inchicore. Capacity would be 20 trains in each direction per hour, potentially allowing 64,000 commuters to use the line every 60 minutes.

The completed line would connect the Northern and Kildare rail lines and link all rail systems — DART, commuter, intercity, Luas and Metro North — into an integrated and cohesive network.

The rail operator intends to seek planning permission in the New Year to build the 7.5km line under Dublin city, which would be financed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

This means the private sector would build the line and receive annual payments over a concessionary period — generally up to 20 years — from the railway company to pay off construction costs.

Despite the economic downturn, the Government has told both Iarnrod Eireann and the Railway Procurement Agency — which is planning the €3.7bn Metro North link from the city centre to Swords — to continue designing the projects and secure planning permission so they are ready to go.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has said both projects are priorities. However, a decision on funding will not be made until planning permission is granted.

Iarnrod Eireann says the underground DART is the “single-most important piece of infrastructure” to ensure a shift from private to public transport.

Landmark

It said all options in relation to the PPP were being considered, including the length of time over which the project cost would be repaid.

“All options are being explored in relation to PPP including the concessionary period and the type of contract,” a spokesman said.

“The Government has stated to us it is our number one priority for infrastructure and we are proceeding on that basis.”

Five of the six stations on the 7.5km line would be constructed below ground, with an overground station at Inchicore.

The planned underground stations are located at Heuston, Christchurch, St Stephen’s Green, Pearse Street and Docklands, and all are being designed to cater for a capacity of 60,000 people an hour to facilitate the future growth of the capital’s transport service.

The company said the station entrances are being designed as “distinctive identifiable landmark structures”, and that natural lighting would be used where possible.

The underground stations would be constructed using underground mining techniques that would minimise the effect on local residents.

Two tunnels, each containing a single track, would be excavated using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs).

Each tunnel would have an average depth of 24 metres, over 80 feet, below ground level.

If the project gets the go-ahead, between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs in each year of the construction phase would be created.

Work would begin in 2011 and should be completed by 2016.

- Paul Melia

Irish Independent