Traffic congestion at Dublin Port this morning is believed to have been caused by truck drivers trying to use the city centre rather than the newly opened port tunnel, it has emerged.
Dublin City Council today stood by its decision to give traffic light priority to trucks using the tunnel and warned drivers who intended to use the city centre that they face delays as traffic lights were returned to normal settings since the tunnel opening yesterday.
Before the tunnel opened, traffic using the city's quays were given traffic light priority to facilitate port traffic passing through the city.
"While trucks were previously given priority to go though the city up to 6.45am, they now have absolute priority through the tunnel", said Brendan O'Brien from the Office of the Director of Traffic, Dublin City Council. "The sequencing of lights on the city North Wall Quays reflects that."
A spokeswoman for the council said trucks were delayed in leaving Dublin Port this morning because some truckers trying to use the city centre were blocking access to the tunnel.
She said light sequences would not be changing. "We will manage traffic congestion as it happens. There needs to be a bedding-in period." She pointed out that 46 per cent of port traffic was using the tunnel to access the M1 and M50 roads.
A ban on heavy goods vehicles, which have previously used the city centre to travel south and west, will be put in place on February 19th. This will only allow large trucks with special permits to enter the city.
Truckers this morning said the traffic light sequence change caused major delays.
Jimmy Quinn of the Irish Road Hauliers' Association said: "It seems they got this wrong this morning. This should have shown up straight away. They [trucks] couldn't get out of the port".
Enda Connellan, chief executive of the Dublin Port Company, said: "It is frustrating for my customers . . . the traffic within the port was an absolute mess this morning, right back up to the ships."
The tunnel, which was opened yesterday by the Taoiseach, was also closed for a number of hours overnight to assess its first day of operation.
Mr Quinn said he had been aware of the need to close the tunnel for a time. However, he said that word spread by "bush telegraph" among drivers that the tunnel was closed when it had actually reopened before 5am.
The tunnel will continue to close between 11pm and 4.30am for a number of weeks to facilitate final systems' calibration and will open in time for arrival of first ferry each morning.
"Tunnels require very complex systems to make them work and keep them safe, and we advised in advance of the opening that the Dublin Tunnel would close regularly, particularly in the early days, to allow for the fine tuning of systems", said Hugh Creegan, head of programme management, National Roads Authority.
Mr Quinn said tomorrow morning would be very busy as truckers return from the United Kingdom for Christmas.
The opening of the tunnel was delayed for several hours yesterday to allow its new operator, Transroute, to place traffic cones along the 4.5-kilometre length of both the north and southbound lanes.
The twin-bore tunnels were due to begin operating between noon and 1pm yesterday, but the northbound route from the port was not opened until nearly 3.30pm with the opening of the southern route from the M1 on the city's northside delayed until 4.15pm.
A spokeswoman said the delays were due to the new operator being "extra safety conscious" on the tunnel's first day and placing traffic cones throughout the tunnel to ensure lorry drivers, who would be unfamiliar with the tunnel, remained in the correct lanes.
The tunnel is not open to cars until the end of January.
