Article : Extra tolls set to be levied on M50

Seth Brundle

from Breaking News.ie

Extra tolls set to be levied on M50
18/11/2004 - 08:49:44

More tolls are likely to be levied on people using the M50 in the future as a traffic-management measure to cut congestion on the motorway.

Although there are plans to build a third lane and new interchanges at a cost of €750m, it is feared that the upgrade will not be enough to cope with predicted demand for the motorway.

The National Roads Authority is suggesting the implementation of traffic management measures, such as tolls or traffic lights.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the company, which operates the West Link, will have generated around €1bn in gross revenue by the time its franchise on the bridge expires in 2020.

The costs of tolls on the West Link are expected to increase again next year.

dahamsta

So their congestion solution is to put the prices up to put people off travelling on the motorway? Where do they think the extra cars are going to go, Neverland? Typical Irish solution: don't fix the problem, brush it under the carpet.

adam

Pinkchick03

Whoever designed the layout of the m50 should be shot Its crazy - the amount of traffic that has to drive along it everyday - and only 2 lanes! There should be at least 3 lanes! CRAZY!

As far as the extra charges go - NO COMMENT!! GRRRRRRRRR

Seth Brundle

The layout of the M50 itself IMO is fine - it is the junctions & toll bridge that cause the grief. However, the road was designed to suit the budget at the time and had not considered that traffic would build up to its current levels.

dcGT

I remember a while back someone from the NTR company was talking on the Last Word on Today FM. It was just before the tolls increased the last time. Anyway, basically, it seemed to come down the fact that the increase at that time was happening not because they weren't making money (they are making plenty of that!). The reason was purely because they COULD, i.e. the government had agreed to allow them to increase the tolls after a set period of time. Sickening really.

3 surefire ways to make money:
Build a toll road
Build a car park
Build a house



As for the extra levy, is the old Irish solution; if it's a problem, don't FIX it, TAX it.

DC.

Tommy Vercetti

This is unacceptable. Traffic lights. On a motorway. Who the fook put these people in such a position of power that they can continue to force daily misery onto drivers who simply do not have any other option other than to use that motorway?

The faceless people in the NRA need to be thrown off the toll bridge, along with their buddies in NTR.

Mayshine

Not traffic lights on the motorway, they mean traffic lights on the sliproads to the motoway which opperate at heavy loads to regulate flow onto the motorway to ensure motorway flow doesn't grind to a halt as it does now at the N7/M50 juction. This is done currently in certain routes in LA..

Still sucks but whats new..

Tommy Vercetti

Mayshine wrote:

Not traffic lights on the motorway, they mean traffic lights on the sliproads to the motoway which opperate at heavy loads to regulate flow onto the motorway to ensure motorway flow doesn't grind to a halt as it does now at the N7/M50 juction. This is done currently in certain routes in LA..

Whoever came up with that idea should be shot in the face. They do that in LA too.

Boggle

Its a bloody joke - anyone who is forced (and they dont really have any choice!) to drive that road has to pay 2 * 1 Euro(ish) each day , i.e. to and from work, 5 days a week totaling 10 euro a week. Given that you have to drive this about 50 weeks a year that totals up to about E500 for the use of a single stretch of road...

Thats more than I pay in road tax for the use of every other road in the country!

lomb

who put them in charge? u did by voting for the bastards. basically charley haughey was a crook and every time i drive through there i think of him. it is bonkers but then thats free enterprise.

basically there isnt any rioad space in this country thats why traffic is deteriorating. even in quiet states in the usa freeways are 4 and 5 lanes. recent roads built even when they had an opportunity to have more than one lane have resulted in one lane. when the road fills up then thell widen it but not without hugh disruption , massive cost ,inflation way above what it would have cost.

the problem in this country is the political system noone knows who they are voting for to run the country.what we need is a democratically elected premier who takes a fall if it all goes wrong. the titles of taeoisch and president mean nothing in this country.

Victor

I wonder if the Port Tunnel should be named after Haughey a big hole on the Northside, sucking up money .

Pinkchick03

Victor wrote:

I wonder if the Port Tunnel should be named after Haughey a big hole on the Northside, sucking up money .

VERY GOOD IDEA