Luas will cross State's busiest junction

Traffic delays on the State's busiest junction, the Red Cow roundabout between the N7 and M50 in south Dublin, are set to worsen with the arrival of Luas.

The Fine Gael and Progressive Democrat spokesmen on traffic claimed yesterday that two level-crossings for the Tallaght line tram will exacerbate the existing traffic congestion in the area.

Presently the M50, with 80,00 vehicles a day in each direction, and the N7, with more than 60,000 vehicles, are the State's first and second busiest roads.

The junction between them, the Red Cow, is the Republic's busiest junction.

With Limerick - or Cork - bound traffic on the M50 needing to access the N7 via the junction, the delays on the three-lane exit ramp and across the roundabout can reach 40 minutes at peak times.

Lengthy delays are also experienced on the Naas Road southbound.

But now there are fears that when the Luas is operating the extra stop-time for motorists will exacerbate the traffic problem.

According to current plans, Luas will cross the traffic at a number of points.

On its way out from Dublin city, Luas will travel down the central median of the Naas Road but at the Red Cow junction it swings left across the lanes of traffic, before swinging right again across the on-ramp for the southbound carriageway of the M50.

From here, Luas crosses the M50 on its own bridge, before crossing the off-ramp from the northbound carriageway of the M50.

According to Progressive Democrat transport spokesman, Senator Tom Morrissey, the traffic signals for these movements mean that motorists will be more constricted than they are now.

He insists that the Railway Procurement Agency and the National Roads Authority "are not even talking to each other about the problem".

Mr Michael Egan of the roads authority said the authority was finalising a plan to add a third lane to the M50 and improve all the main junctions.

But he warned the costs have been estimated at €500 million - money which was not even included in the present roads programme.

Even if money is found and the project could leapfrog some 20 major schemes ahead of it, work could not begin until about 2005 - the year after Luas opens.

Mr Egan said the authority was worried about the situation. "[These are] our first - and second - busiest roads and our busiest junction. The decisions on Luas were taken a long time ago when maybe traffic levels were less."

A spokesman for the Luas project said trams were due to run every five minutes through the junction, but he added that it would take only seven seconds for the tram to pass.

However, Senator Morrissey said the park-and-ride facility for cars at the Red Cow depot will likely cause further congestion as vehicles attempt to cross the junction to access it.

He said evening commuters will have to exit the car-park and head south to Newlands Cross along the dual carriageway before they may turn and go north.

A Fine Gael TD, Mr Denis Naughton, also called for the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, "to take a hands-on approach" to the problem. "As soon as it opens there will be further chaos on our roads."