Motorists will be asked to pay at least €1.5 billion in tolls to finance the upgrade of the M50 motorway, it emerged yesterday.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said money raised by the extension of tolling across the M50 would be used to pay for a €1 billion upgrade of the road and to buy out the interest of National Toll Roads (NTR) in the West-Link bridges.
Mr Cullen refused to comment on the cost of buying out NTR, saying it was the subject of "dispute" between the company and the National Roads Authority, but it is known that the company is seeking at least €500 million.
Mr Cullen was speaking as he launched phase one of the M50 upgrade, which will see a five kilometre section from the N7 to the N4 junctions go from two to three lanes in each direction.
In addition it will involve the rebuilding of the Liffey Valley (N4/M50) junction to "free flow" status, without traffic lights or roundabouts.
The Ballymount and Red Cow (N7/M50) interchanges are to be rebuilt to near free flow status, with a reduced number of traffic lights and roundabouts at the other interchanges. The work is expected to take two years.
Phase two of the scheme will complete the upgrade along 31-kilometres between Sandyford and the M1 including the provision of a third lane in each direction and the upgrading of 10 interchanges to full or partial free flow status.
Mr Cullen said the contract for phase two would be awarded before the end of the year. It is expected to be completed by 2010.
Mr Cullen said the National Roads Authority would now commission a "demand management" study and undertake a public consultation process before suggesting to Government how many tolls should be installed.
On the question of traffic disruption during construction work, Mr Cullen said traffic had moved well while a third lane was built on the Naas dual carriageway, and he believed this was possible on the M50 as well.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the Cabinet would await proposals from the Department of Transport and the NRA on the M50 and tolling, although he said that in the longer term, an outer orbital route was the only means of tackling the congestion problem on the M50.
However, while there has been widespread approval of the removal of the West-Link barriers, Opposition politicians and the AA have criticised the extension of tolling.
Independent Senator Shane Ross who has campaigned for the removal of the West-Link barriers said there were lessons to be learnt from "the fiasco".
He said that if the Government was "determined to toll Irish motorists in order to deliver world class infrastructure, the tolling arrangements must be arranged to deliver value and accountability for the toll- and tax-paying public".
Labour's Róisín Shortall said the party welcomed the removal of barriers at West-Link but she added that the extension of tolling over a 31-kilometre stretch of the route was a way of "squeezing money out of motorists". Ms Shortall said introducing tolls with charges based on the amount of the route used by the motorist would not work, as motorists would attempt to avoid the tolls.
AA spokesman Conor Faughnan was scathing in his criticism of the plans. He said the move simply represented a new tax on motorists and argued that "if such a tax was justified" then there were many and better ways of organising it.
He gave the example of a special two cent tax on a litre of petrol which, he said, would raise €90 million a year. This was more than the amount that could be brought in by tolling.
