THE FINAL part of a €950 million upgrade of a 32km section of the M50 from two to three lanes has been officially opened.
The work took more than four years and was completed without closing the route. The final section, the N3 interchange at Blanchardstown (Junction 6), was opened to traffic from 5pm yesterday.
As part of the upgrade the toll barriers were removed on August 31st, 2008.
A combination of increased capacity and reduced journey time has led to an increase in the number of vehicles using the route to about 100,000 per day, up from 88,000 in January 2009.
Barrier-free tolling on the M50 was introduced in August 2008 following the sale of the toll bridge by National Toll Roads (NTR) to the State for €488 million.
Revenue raised from the electronic tolls is being used to fund the upgrade, the cost of the buyout and the future operation and maintenance costs of the route. Last year €96.5 million was collected from tolls with just over half going to former owner NTR.
National Roads Authority chairman Peter Malone thanked the public for its patience during the work, which he described as an engineering triumph.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the increased capacity would improve the quality of life for commuters and make Dublin more competitive when seeking to attract foreign inward investment.
The project involved adding a third lane from where the orbital route meets the M1 (Junction 3) and Sandyford (Junction 14) and also a fourth lane between the M1 and Scholarstown (Junction 12).
The layout of the interchanges at the M1, Ashbourne/Finglas (Junction 5), Palmerstown (Junction 7) and Red Cow (Junction 9) was changed to allow the free movement of vehicles. And a partial freeflow interchange was introduced at six other junctions – Ballymun (Junction 4), Blanchardstown (Junction 6), Ballymount (Junction 10), Tallaght (Junction 11), Scholarstown and Sandyford.
A segregated corridor was also added at the Red Cow interchange to stop traffic and trams crossing.
M50 MAJOR SIGNPOSTS
€950 million– total cost of upgrade
€29.7m– cost per kilometre
4.5 years– time to complete upgrade
17- number of junctions on M50
100,000– number of vehicles passing toll section per day
2.9 million– number of toll transactions carried out per month
€96.5 million– amount collected in M50 tolls last year
450– number of vehicle "misreads" (where wrong vehicle is charged) per month
4,272– number of summonses issued for non-payment of fines so far in 2010
189– number of vehicles identified with tampered plates using M50 so far in 2010