One of Dublin's most familiar sculptures, the wing-like granite structure standing on the airport roundabout, will have to be removed to facilitate plans by the National Roads Authority for an over-bridge aimed at relieving traffic congestion.
The Spirit of the Air, by Richard Enda King, was erected in 1991 following a major design competition jointly sponsored by Aer Rianta, the Department of the Environment and Dublin County Council. No decision has yet been made on where to relocate it.
The NRA expects that the construction of "free-flow slips" at the airport roundabout, to facilitate through-traffic, will be completed by the end of this year. Similar slips are planned to relieve congestion at three major junctions on the M50 motorway.
These remedial measures will be funded from the £337 million which the NRA plans to spend in 1999 - up 17 per cent on the figure for last year - on "the most extensive programme yet aimed at eliminating deficiencies on the network of national roads".
Asked why "roundabout interchanges" were still the norm in motorway schemes, despite their obvious deficiencies, an NRA spokesman said this was "a product of the system" and of the long lead-time in the design of major road schemes.
Earthwatch, the Irish branch of Friends of the Earth, said survey data complied by the NRA itself showed that the M50 - designed as a bypass to cater for long-distance traffic - was now being used predominantly as "a rat-run for commuters and shoppers".
Earthwatch said the NRA survey of 1,500 motorists found that nearly 70 per cent of all journeys in the morning peak period involved commuters - four-fifths of them in cars occupied by just one person - and it called for more tolling to deter commuters.
"Even more disturbing is the fact that just 4 per cent of all trips on the M50 originated and terminated outside the city," said Ms the organisation's Ms Sadhbh O'Neill.
But the NRA believes that Dublin's main roads would be even more congested without the relief provided by the M50. It said a proposal by National Toll Roads to construct a second West Link bridge was at an advanced stage and would be unveiled "shortly".
Asked why no media briefing was held by the NRA on the publication of its spending programme for 1999, Mr Michael Egan, the authority's head of corporate affairs, said it would be holding a press conference within the next few weeks on a more substantial report.
This year will see the opening the Lee Tunnel in Cork as well as the Arklow bypass, the Curlews bypass, the Naas Road widening, the Ardee-Aclint scheme in Co Louth, the Limerick Northern Relief Route and bypasses of both Cavan and Donegal towns.
Work is to begin this year on the Drogheda bypass, the Limerick Southern Ring Road, a new bridge at Glanmire-Watergrasshill in Cork, the Moone-Timolin section of the N9 in Co Kildare and the controversial dual-carriageway planned for the Glen of the Downs.
Other schemes due to start are Clar-Barnesmore in Co Donegal, Hurlers Cross, Co Clare; the Croom bypass, Co Limerick; Ballycarthy-Castleisland, Co Kerry; Piltown-Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, and two sections of the N25: Camaross, Co Wexford, and Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford.
