Port Tunnel - it's impact

The Swordsman

The Port Tunnel has been opened for almost a month now.

I work on the Southside (nr Ballsbridge) and live in North County Dublin and I have found that the drive to and from work is considerably shorter (timewise) since it opened. Yesterday, I left work at 4:05, drove across the East Link (average traffic – approx 5 minutes to get through) and down the East Wall Road (no delays here at all) and I was in Swords by 4:50. Even in the middle of summer with the kids off school, I would be doing well to get home that quickly.

What impact has the opening of the tunnel had for you? Has it impacted on traffic on the M50? If there are any truck drivers on here who have used it - What do you think?

spockety

I do Clontarf to Donnybrook and back every day, and since the tunnel opened, Sean Moore Road, East Link, and East Wall Road have been considerably lighter most days.

BendiBus

I've noticed two signicificant improvements.

My walk along North Wall Quay at the IFSC is much more pleasant. Before Christmas it was HGV hell along the quayside at 5:45 every evening. Now it's much nicer and quieter.

My bus home along the South Quays is noticably faster in the evenings too.

I'm well pleased with the results so far. The 5-axle ban next month should improve things even further.

markpb

Cycling home for me is much, much better. Turning from Clontarf road onto Malahide road is a breeze and not having to worry about trucks rushing past you to cut across you onto Griffith avenue is a major benefit. I'm all in favour of it :-)

spacetweek

Hmmm. I cycle along the quays at 7:45am and 5:15pm every day and I have to say I'm still seeing lots of 5 axle trucks. Too many for comfort.

That said, I'm not sure if it's more or less than before, as I'm probably more aware of them now that the tunnel's open and i'm expecting them to be gone.

Probably gonna have to wait for the 5 axle ban before any really noticeable change...

mickoneill30

It's unusual to see a thread with nobody complaining.

Before the tunnel opened people were saying the M50 was going to be even more hell than it already was. Did that happen? I'm not a driver so I don't use it and I presume the news programs would take a lot of joy reporting that if it happened and I haven't heard them doing that so I'm presuming it didn't.

The tunnel hasn't really impacted me but on my way into work each morning my bus crosses over the M1 just before it ends at Whitehall. I used to see a queue of cars not moving every morning before Christmas. I haven't seen it yet this year.

tbh

I find the trip into work is noticeably better, while the trip home is better until you come to the bit between the tunnel and the swords off-ramp, which has been down to a crawl ever since it opened. I left at 5:40 last night and wasn't home till 7 (that's mount st. to swords) - it seems off-peak traveling is much better (leave the house at 6:50, get in around 7:40, leave work at 4:45, home at 5:30), while rush hour traffic is much the same.

The Swordsman

tbh wrote:

I find the trip into work is noticeably better, while the trip home is better until you come to the bit between the tunnel and the swords off-ramp, which has been down to a crawl ever since it opened. I left at 5:40 last night and wasn't home till 7 (that's mount st. to swords) - it seems off-peak traveling is much better (leave the house at 6:50, get in around 7:40, leave work at 4:45, home at 5:30), while rush hour traffic is much the same.

The traffic was pretty bad at the stretch you mentioned last night all right. I hit it at about 6 and it took about 15/20 minutes to get from the tunnel to the Swords exit. I wonder why that is happening - It can hardly be the traffic backed up that far on the M50. If it was, then once you get past the M50 turnoff onto the M1, it should free up, but as you say, it goes as far as the Airport turn off. I think it's more to do with traffic joining the M1 from the M50.

tbh

The Swordsman wrote:

The traffic was pretty bad at the stretch you mentioned last night all right. I hit it at about 6 and it took about 15/20 minutes to get from the tunnel to the Swords exit. I wonder why that is happening - It can hardly be the traffic backed up that far on the M50. If it was, then once you get past the M50 turnoff onto the M1, it should free up, but as you say, it goes as far as the Airport turn off. I think it's more to do with traffic joining the M1 from the M50.

yeah I think that's it alright, it's just the merging traffic. I suppose the trucks coming out don't help, but so far they don't seem to be directly responsible. Probably just extra people on the roads now they hear the journey time is reduced - we'll be back to square one in six months I think as the apartments beside the off-ramp come on stream, it'll be like that every night.

The Swordsman

tbh wrote:

yeah I think that's it alright, it's just the merging traffic. I suppose the trucks coming out don't help, but so far they don't seem to be directly responsible. Probably just extra people on the roads now they hear the journey time is reduced - we'll be back to square one in six months I think as the apartments beside the off-ramp come on stream, it'll be like that every night.

There wasn't too many trucks coming out of the tunnel when I went by. The traffic didn't back up until a bit nearer the M50 turn off.

The M50/M1 intersection is a nightmare. I'm surprised there hasn't been more accidents there. Does anyone know if there are plans to redesign as part of the M50 upgrade?

spacetweek

I caught the Aircoach from Sandyford to the airport a few weeks back and saw the same congestion, from before Coolock to beyond the airport. I thought it was all traffic heading for the airport, but strangely the M1 spur to the airport was almost empty - it was all trying to make it to Swords.

The M1 is becoming a very congested road and will undoubtedly see widening in the near future. I'd say it needs 8-laning (M50 style - 6 mainline, 2 auxiliary) from the M50 to Lissenhall or Drinan.

Of course all this was predictable, since we're now feeding a motorway (PT) into another motorway, so the M1 has to take to load of both. Plus the load from M50->M1 North.

The Swordsman wrote:

The M50/M1 intersection is a nightmare. I'm surprised there hasn't been more accidents there. Does anyone know if there are plans to redesign as part of the M50 upgrade?

Yes, it will freeflow between M50 and M1. Not the N32 though.

tbh

Yesterday I decided to hang the expense, and take a trip through the tunnel I watched being built for six years

I left work in Mount Street at about 17:05 , went down to the port tunnel and got to the PT at 17:20 (which was great, cause Pearce St looked packed!). Paid the €12 and went in. My first impression was that it looked ok - I've been through tunnels in Europe and they tended to look more.....polished or something. The PT - to my untrained eye anyway - looked a bit rough around the edges, nothing i can put my finger on. The road surface was nice and smooth, but again, didn't feel like a brand new expensive road, if you know what I mean. These are all minor issues btw, I appreciate that, just giving my impressions.

The best bit - the journey time. 4 Minutes. Seriously, driving at the 80 limit, it took only four minutes to go from the Point to the Airport - myself and my g/f were amazed. We ran into the usual traffic at the M50 but still made it home to Swords by 17:30.

There is certainly a benefit for the trucks who are going that way, it'll be interesting to see what effects the truck bans will have. I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit of a waste, we didn't see another truck or car in there, but I understand it'd be no good to anyone if it was clogged up with cars.

Alun

tbh wrote:

There is certainly a benefit for the trucks who are going that way, it'll be interesting to see what effects the truck bans will have. I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit of a waste, we didn't see another truck or car in there, but I understand it'd be no good to anyone if it was clogged up with cars.

I guess you'll only see trucks in there around the times when a boat has just come in, or one is being loaded ready for leaving, so the traffic would be a bit 'peaky', as it were.

tbh

Alun wrote:

I guess you'll only see trucks in there around the times when a boat has just come in, or one is being loaded ready for leaving, so the traffic would be a bit 'peaky', as it were.

yes, good point, maybe they could look at letting even taxis and large vans through - the more it takes off the road the better, and it'd be good just to use it to it's full capacity as much as possible. Or am i living in a fools paradise?

Bluetonic

To be honest cars with 3 or more occupants during the rush out commuting times, Monday to Friday, both in and out of the city should be allowed to use it at a significantly reduced rate.

loyatemu

Bluetonic wrote:

To be honest cars with 3 or more occupants during the rush out commuting times, Monday to Friday, both in and out of the city should be allowed to use it at a significantly reduced rate.

not a bad idea - its the one place where car-pooling could work.

You could force car-poolers through the manned toll-booths to verify they have the numbers (and they're not mannequins or dead bodies )

Victor

tbh wrote:

yes, good point, maybe they could look at letting even taxis and large vans through - the more it takes off the road the better, and it'd be good just to use it to it's full capacity as much as possible. Or am i living in a fools paradise?

Goods vehicles over 3.5t are free. Not much use to white van man, but certainly is to larger deliveries.

The Swordsman

Bluetonic wrote:

To be honest cars with 3 or more occupants during the rush out commuting times, Monday to Friday, both in and out of the city should be allowed to use it at a significantly reduced rate.

I remember watching a documentary a few years ago. I think it was about Madrid (though I could be wrong) where there are tunnels going from the city centre to the suburbs. Cars are only allowed use them if there at least three people in them. In the morning the tunnels go into the city centre, then during the day they change the direction of the traffic for the evening rush hour out of the city centre.

dowlingm

Bluetonic wrote:

To be honest cars with 3 or more occupants during the rush out commuting times, Monday to Friday, both in and out of the city should be allowed to use it at a significantly reduced rate.

Yes but it must have very visible enforcement. The 400 series highways around Toronto have some HOV lanes which are enforced by Ontario Prov Police and they tend to work as far as I know. The diamond lanes (HOV) in the City of Toronto are supposed to enforced by Toronto Police but they can't be @rsed, with predictable results.

Victor

Bluetonic wrote:

To be honest cars with 3 or more occupants during the rush out commuting times, Monday to Friday, both in and out of the city should be allowed to use it at a significantly reduced rate.

How about 3 euro per person?

Bluetonic

Victor wrote:

How about 3 euro per person?

Lets stick to per car charging.

The Swordsman

dowlingm wrote:

Yes but it must have very visible enforcement. The 400 series highways around Toronto have some HOV lanes which are enforced by Ontario Prov Police and they tend to work as far as I know. The diamond lanes (HOV) in the City of Toronto are supposed to enforced by Toronto Police but they can't be @rsed, with predictable results.

Excuse my ignorance, whats a HOV lane?

tbh

The Swordsman wrote:

Excuse my ignorance, whats a HOV lane?

High-Occupancy Vehicle.

Bluetonic

dowlingm wrote:

Yes but it must have very visible enforcement.

Well the fact the every car has to pass through a toll booth would be an obvious help.

Hobbes

Ok the last few days on the M50 have been a pain and are pretty much a truck stop.

I believe its annoying for trucks as they are stuck paying two tolls in some cases.

What got me this morning though I had to go into town during rush hour. Normally even in a taxi it would take 30-40 mins. It took just under 20 mins.

So I was thinking is it actually mean that taxis will be loosing money?

markpb

Hobbes wrote:

I believe its annoying for trucks as they are stuck paying two tolls in some cases

Was there not an agreement between the NTR and NRA so that the government would pay the toll for trucks coming from the south port and heading to the port tunnel.

I suspect this had to happen, otherwise we'd have a situation where trucks were forced to use a toll road when no other route was available.

So I was thinking is it actually mean that taxis will be loosing money?

I was under the impression that taxi drivers (airport taxies excluded) made more money on short hops because of the fixed fee?

The Swordsman

Hobbes wrote:

I believe its annoying for trucks as they are stuck paying two tolls in some cases.

How would they pay two tolls? Are they not free through the tunnel?

Bluetonic

The Swordsman wrote:

How would they pay two tolls? Are they not free through the tunnel?

Warehousing etc.., on the south quays.

Bluetonic

markpb wrote:

I was under the impression that taxi drivers (airport taxies excluded) made more money on short hops because of the fixed fee?

There is no fixed fee for taxis, only a minimum fare.

markpb

Bluetonic wrote:

There is no fixed fee for taxis, only a minimum fare.

Pedant. That's exactly what I meant :-)

Victor

Bluetonic wrote:

Warehousing etc.., on the south quays.

There is little or no warehousing on the south quays (I presume you mean in Poolbeg). There are some heavy industries like scrap metal, concrete, power and water and then the container terminal, which is the only one that would create large amounts of traffic. I understnad there is soem sort of arrrangement, but I don't think its public.

In any case, they are free to travel after 7pm or with permits.