RESIDENTS opposing the controversial Dublin Port Tunnel are urging city councillors to re examine such alternatives as moving goods traffic from the port by rail to a marshalling yard on the outskirts of the city.
In form letters to Dublin Corporation before the deadline for representations expires at 5 p.m. today, residents of Marino, Whitehall and other areas are also calling for a re-evaluation of the proposed Liffey Tunnel and another route alongside the Royal Canal.
A separate submission from the Marino Development Action Group, which represents 2,400 households in the area affected by the current £130 million plan says these previously rejected options might now appear more viable if they were looked at again.
The MDAG argues that the preferred "A6" route under Marino is "unjust and unsustainable". Its "firm belief" is that no economic tunnelling method is available which could be fully guaranteed in terms of public health, environmental safety and soundness of construction.
It says the controversial New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), which has been implicated in several "catastrophic failures", was chosen for the Dublin Port Tunnel because it would be cheaper than using more conventional techniques such as a tunnel boring machine (TBM).
"The whole of the EIS (environmental impact statement) which deals with the construction of the bored tunnel section and details predicted levels of vibration, noise, settlement and blasting is based only on NATM being used," it says. "TBM is summarily dismissed on grounds of high cost."
The action group argues that NATM "should not even be considered for use beneath the high density residential Marino area. If a tunnel must be routed under such a residential area, exposing lives and property to risk, then a safer more conventional method must be employed regardless of cost".
Rejecting the five alternative routes, Al to AS, which were also on public display, it argues that only a re examination of other port relief solutions would overcome the widespread opposition generated by the current plan.
