An Taisce has called on the Government to establish a national transport authority (NTA) with a remit covering the greater Dublin area and also all of the growth centres designated as "gateways" or "hubs" by the National Spatial Strategy.
In its submission on a proposal by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to set up a Dublin transport authority, the trust said a much wider body would be required "to maintain and enhance quality of life, connectivity and international economic competitiveness".
According to An Taisce, "an effective national transport authority is needed to reverse the irreparable damage which will occur if current trends continue in road accident fatalities, loss of social cohesion and environmentally-damaging urban sprawl".
It noted that a number of the gateways and most of the hubs still have no effective land use and transport strategies in place. "Even where strategies have been drafted or adopted, they are not being implemented," the submission said. It said an NTA should be given a specific legislative remit for inter-agency policy integration; land use and transport planning for all of the gateways, hubs and regions; transport infrastructure delivery and integrated transport management.
"The success of the NTA will be measured by its effectiveness in intervening to address cases where local authority development plans, rezonings and local area plans breach EU and national strategic land use and transport policies and regional planning guidelines."
An Taisce said the authority should also co-ordinate measures to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as well as promoting public transport, cycling and car pooling, management of school transport and integrated ticketing for all modes of public transport.
Other functions would include congestion charging to curb car commuting on the M50 and inter-regional roads, measures to "curtail toll evasion on M1, M4 and M50 and other tolled roads currently under construction".
It is understood Mr Cullen's proposed transport authority would have no land use functions and would merely serve as an agency overseeing the delivery of major infrastructure projects.
