Barrier-free tolling on M50 in two years

Sarsfield

So says a report on the 9pm news. Including an interview with the minister. NRA decision but NTR hasn't been officially told yet. NTR may also be losing their concession altogether.

It's all a bit unclear from the report and doesn't appear on the RTE website yet. I'm sure I wasn't dreaming :v:

Edited to add eventual weblink to story:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0127/m50.html

darkman2

Sarsfield wrote:

So says a report on the 9pm news. Including an interview with the minister. NRA decision but NTR hasn't been officially told yet. NTR may also be losing their concession altogether.

It's all a bit unclear from the report and doesn't appear on the RTE website yet. I'm sure I wasn't dreaming :v:

Edited to add eventual weblink to story:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0127/m50.html

About bloody time, HOOORRRAYYYYYY! Great day for motorists. I also hear the upgrade begins on Monday:D

mike65

Can the government act unilaterally?

Mike.

darkman2

mike65 wrote:

Can the government act unilaterally?

Mike.

Not sure, apparently the contract has been terminated and a new company will take charge of the upgraded motorway and new gantry stlye electronic tolls. Cullen dodged the question though on wether they have been bought out:rolleyes:

mike65

THE toll bridges on Dublin’s M50 West Link are to be removed by 2008, with the State expected to pay compensation of nearly €2 billion to the operators NTR.

A proposed barrier-free toll system will replace the present set-up, which causes huge congestion on the clogged city ring route.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen had strongly criticised the operation of the West-Link toll plaza and had described it as “a very bad service to the customer”.

Talks had been continuing between the National Roads Authority (NRA) and NTR with a view to removing the barriers and replacing them with an electronic toll system for the entire road. Last night the NRA announced discussions with NTR had “been terminated”.

The NRA is to tender for a new company to operate a barrier-free toll system.

more here

this from indo

TAXPAYERS are to pay up to €500m to bring down down toll barriers at the most gridlocked spot in the country.

The State is to buy out the private Westlink toll bridge on the M50 12 years before the company which runs it was due to hand it back.

The toll barriers will be removed from the bridge with the aim of ending gridlock there.

But the Irish Independent has learned that motorists will face more than three replacement State electronic tolls situated at regular intervals along the motorway.

These are being erected to bankroll the massive compensation it has to pay to the toll company, anywhere up to €40m a year for 12 years.

The AA last night branded the move as "absolute madness".

"They are replacing one rip-off toll with others along the full length of the M50," said its spokesman Conor Faughnan.

He predicted that up to 20,000 cars and lorries would divert to other roads to avoid the new State tolls.

"This is an own goal of spectacular proportions. Clearly they were badly avised. It will make a bad situation even worse," he claimed.

But Transport Minister Martin Cullen insisted last night: "The time has come for a decision. The Westlink as a service does not deliver for users. We now have a positive outcome with certainty on timing, certainty that the bottleneck that is the Westlink plaza will go and certainty on a move to barrier free tolling."

Leftover toll cash will be used to pay for the M50 upgrade with extra lanes and spaghetti junctions.

The dramatic move follows a breakdown in talks between Westlink operators National Toll Roads and the State-run National Roads Authority (NRA).

The company wanted to erect electronic tolls at their toll plaza on the bridge with the cost bankrolled by the NRA.

This was rejected out of hand and all talks broke down this week.

"Their offer was unacceptable," a source close to the talks said.

"It was like they wanted the State to pay for a new petrol station and they would get the profits from selling the petrol. This was just not acceptable."

Instead the NRA is to set a "zero toll" at the Westlink plaza, making the facility completely redundant.

The private company will be compensated every year up to 2020 when their concession was due to expire.

From the proceeds of the tolls, the State is expected to pay National Toll Roads up to €40m a year for 12 years between 2006 and 2020.

The compensation will increase each year and the amount will be index-linked to inflation.

The State will keep any extra revenue generated.

A clause in the controversial 1987 deal states that compensation based on the yearly revenue must be paid to NTR if the State scraps tolls at the Westlink.

Meanwhile, electronic overhead gantries are to be installed at stretches along the M50.

Motorists will be hit by up to three new tolls as they drive along the motorway. Their registrations will be photographed and bills sent to their homes.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was informed of the development by Mr Cullen.

The toll plaza on the Westlink bridge has been blamed for much of the gridlock as vehicles are funnelled into the booths.

Interchange

The first stretch of the M50 to be electronically tolled will be from the Red Cow interchange at the Naas Road to the N4 Galway road interchange at Lucan.

Work on adding new lanes and building spaghetti-junction style interchanges gets underway on Monday.

In a statement last night, the National Roads Authority said it was decided, with agreement from Mr Cullen, "to terminate discussions with NTR regarding Westlink".

"In order to relieve traffic congestion and improve traffic flows on the M50 motorway the NRA is upgrading the interchanges and adding additional lanes on the M50.

"In addition the NRA is proposing the removal of the booth by 2008 at the Westlink toll facility, thereby removing the tunnel effect (on traffic)."

"To manage further traffic volumes and to ensure improved traffic flows the NRA will create a barrier free tolling system throughout the M50.

"Barrier free tolling will start upon completion of phase on upgrade of the M50 between the N4 and the N7."

Mike.