Political opposition is growing to the Government's plan for a toll on the bypass which is to give Waterford city its much-needed second river crossing.
The proposed toll has been condemned as unfair and discriminatory by a local Fianna Fail TD, Mr Brendan Kenneally, and the Progressive Democrats' candidate in the next election, Mr Oliver Clery.
Mr Kenneally said he became aware of an official announcement on the matter only last week through the media, and would be raising his opposition to the plan with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey.
"The road network to Waterford is the most deficient of the five major cities in the country," he said. "Now, when it's being brought up to date, we're being asked to pay a toll on it, which hasn't happened in Galway, Limerick or Cork."
Not everybody is opposed to the toll, however. Ms Monica Leech, the president of Waterford Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday the focus should be on driving the project ahead and getting it completed by the end of 2004.
"Of course, we would have preferred if we'd got this another way, but this is what's proposed, and you've got to pay for what you get," she said.
Mr Clery claimed the bypass is not a bypass at all, but rather a much-needed second access to the city for people going to and from work or about their daily business.
He pointed out that an average of 30,000 vehicles a day currently used Rice Bridge, the only crossing over the Suir to the city. "This is not through traffic but people working, shopping, attending colleges, schools and hospitals and socialising on one side or other of the river."
Already at an advanced stage of planning, the 27 km bypass will take traffic on the N25 Rosslare-Cork route away from Waterford city. The project is one of 11 road-building programmes for which, Mr Dempsey announced last Thursday, the Government is seeking private partners.
In return for their involvement the private-sector operators will be allowed to collect tolls, likely to be between £1 and £2, from drivers.
Mr Clery said the toll would cost workers up to £10 a week and could hit small enterprises. "You could have people telling their employers, `Look, I've got a job on this side of the river and it will save me £10'."
Ms Leech said she believed most members of the business community would not object to the toll. "Local people will still be able to use Rice Bridge, but with traffic flowing more freely than at present."
She also rejected the argument that the toll was discriminatory because other major new roads, notably the Jack Lynch Tunnel in Cork, were toll-free.
Mr Kenneally said there was no reason why the lack of a toll should delay the project. Both he and Mr Clery argue there are other ways for the Government to engage in a public-private partnership without forcing motorists to pay for it.
Asked if he was disappointed he had not been informed in advance of Mr Dempsey's announcement, the Fianna Fail TD said he understood that, as there were 11 road-building programmes, not every local TD could have been consulted. "But I would like to have known more about it rather than have it sprung on me like that."