THE inexorable march of Dublin's C-ring motorway continues, but signs of how difficult it is going to be to steer the £114 million South Eastern Motorway through some of the most expensive and densely populated land in the Stale emerged at a special meeting of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council this week.
Councillors, who were due to receive a presentation on the recommended route of the motorway, objected to the meeting even before it started, on the grounds that full information had not been supplied beforehand.
In the event, the meeting went ahead on the assurance of the cathaoirleach, Ms Olivia Mitchell that nothing would be decided immediately. But the episode was indicative of the procedural wrangling which is going to occur at every twist. Behind the wrangling, however, are real concerns about the effect of the motorway on established communities.
The road is basically in two sections a predominantly rural section running from Shankill to Carrickmines Junction, and a largely urbanised section from Carrickmines to Ballinteer.
At the meeting, the proximity of the road to local authority housing at Ballyogan was identified as a major item of contention. Many councillors, especially Mr Larry Butler (FF), said they were extremely unhappy about the 30 ft distance between the road and Ballyogan estate where families with young children live. Attention focused on noise and pollution dangers.
The same concerns were expressed about a private housing estate, The Gallops, near Murphystown. Mr John McDaid, the senior council engineer, said a wall would be built between The Gallops and the motorway. Details of the height of the wall or boundary treatments were not supplied.
In relation to the Ballyogan situation, it was agreed that "further mitigating measures will be required". It was not, however, indicated what these measures would entail.
Another pressing concern identified at the meeting was that the motorway crosses the grounds of Leopardstown racecourse, bisecting the six furlong track. All councillors expressed difficulty with this proposal.
The county manager, Mr Kevin O'Sullivan, said the loss of track at the racecourse was a difficult aspect of the entire package.
Describing the racecourse as the jewel in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown's crown", he said he had already had discussions with the Leopardstown racecourse board and proposed a joint committee of experts to decide on how to proceed. A form of track realignment might be possible.
Mr Kerry O'Sullivan of consultants M.C. O'Sullivan & Company said an alternative proposal to tunnel under the racetrack was considered. But it would cost in the region of £26 million £30 million, would take between two and 21/2 years to complete, and there was no guarantee the turf surface would be of the same standard as occurs naturally elsewhere on the racetrack.
According to Mr O'Sullivan, another alternative was also considered moving the ESB installation at Carrickmines. But it was rejected because of the importance of the installation which provides the electricity for the city's DART rail system and the cost of relocating it. "It would cost us in the region of £25 million to move half of it and £65 million for the entire thing," said Mr O'Sullivan.
Ms Mitchell identified the area between the beginning of the motorway at the northern end and Sandyford as an area where she could see problems developing because of traffic volumes.
According to Ms Mitchell, previous proposals for the motorway divided the traffic on this section between local and national traffic. National traffic would head for the Ml 1 south eastwards through Woodside, Stepaside and on to Carrickmines, while local traffic headed east through Sandyford and into Leopardstown.
This proposal was known as route B and involved projected traffic volumes of some 53,000 vehicles a day in the densely populated area of Sandyford village.
However, under the recommended route, local and national traffic would be mixed and the result would be a volume of over 90,000 vehicle units a day.
While Ms Mitchell said she accepted the recommended route probably affected fewer houses than the divided route, she would like to see some comparisons on how badly the houses would be affected, rather than simply numbers.
Another area of concern is the height of the road at Ballinteer Junction and Harold's Grange. As the consultants acknowledge, the views over Dublin Bay from these vantage points would be spectacular. However, there are concerns that the reverse would also be true that the road and junction at Ballinteer would be visible from as far away as the north city and Howth. This would be even more true when the junction is illuminated.
The road looks set to be as contentious as any built.
