Ban on HGVs in Dublin city centre delayed

Trucks with less than five axles will be able to use the city centre to access the Dublin Port Tunnel once it opens later this year until such time as upgrade work on the M50 is completed.

Originally it had been planned to ban all heavy goods vehicles from using parts of the city centre, which include the canal cordon from Mountjoy in the north, through to the Mespil Road in the south and Kilmainham in the west of the city.
However, currently the M50 does not have the capacity to deal with the HGVs which would be taken out of the city because of a total ban as there would be gridlock as these diverted vehicles attempt to access the newly opened Dublin Port Tunnel.

Dublin City Council’s new traffic plan for the tunnel will allow trucks with less than five axles to use the city centre between 7pm and 7am, with exclusion during daytime hours. Five axle trucks currently represent nearly 65 per cent of the 9,000 trucks currently travelling through the city so an easing in congestion is still expected when the Port Tunnel opens.

The ban will extend to four axel trucks in 2008 once upgrade work on the M50, which is to include barrier free tolling, is completed.
Conor Faughan of the AA believes there is a chance that the upgrade work might not be competed within two years.
“We can’t be confident that the plans on the upgrade work will go to plan. If they don’t, we will just be moving the problem from the city centre over to the M50,” he voiced.