Dublin City councillors have rowed back on plans to ban all heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) from the city centre within six months of the opening of the Dublin Port Tunnel, following a warning from city manager John Fitzgerald that the move would cause "absolute chaos" on the M50.
Councillors from all parties had indicated that they intended to overrule the city manager's proposals to implement the ban on a two-year phased basis pending the completion of upgrades to the M50 and the introduction of barrier-free tolling on the West Link toll bridge.
However, following intervention from Mr Fitzgerald, who said that the M50 could not cope with all the lorries that would be diverted from the city streets, councillors adopted a compromise proposal to end "surface access" routes to the port via East Wall Road and Seán Moore Road for vehicles of five axles or more from January 1st, 2007.
The original strategy, published last year, suggested that HGVs of four axles or more should be banned from the city streets, defined as an area between the Royal Canal on the north side and the Grand Canal on the south side between 7am and 7pm, once the port tunnel opens.
Following a public consultation process, which included submissions critical of the strategy from the Irish Road Haulage Association, individual hauliers and the port company, the council management last month recommended that the full ban be postponed until some time in 2008. They recommended that vehicles with five or more axles be banned from city streets within two months of the tunnel opening, but that trucks with four axles should be allowed to use the city for port access until the M50 upgrade was completed.
The management also proposed that two "surface" access routes to the port via East Wall Road and Seán Moore Road should be kept open to HGVs pending the upgrade. The National Roads Authority has said the first phase of the M50 upgrade would be completed some time in 2008.
