A milestone in the Dublin Port Tunnel project was reached yesterday when the tunnel boring machine broke into the evening sunshine at Fairview Park. The tunnel is expected to open for traffic in mid-2005.
The 1,600 tonne boring machine - called Gráinne - began mining through rock and earth at Whitehall last September.
At 5.03 p.m. yesterday, the first pieces of clay and dust fell as the machine began its breakthrough. The spectacle was watched by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, the Dublin Lord Mayor, Cllr Royston Brady, and a large number of site workers.
The tunnel boring machine, which is the length of a football pitch, travelled more than two kilometres in 10 months. Its cutting head rotated 3½ times every minute, with rock debris being deposited on a conveyer belt, for transport to Whitehall.
"It's very exciting," said the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, yesterday. "It is a milestone. It means that Dublin Port Tunnel is well and truly on the way and I'm informed again today that it should open for traffic in about 20 months from now."
The €625 million project is expected to remove about 9,000 lorries from Dublin city centre every day. More than 600 people are employed on the project.
It will now take three months to dismantle the tunnel boring machine, turn it around and reassemble it. It will then bore a second tunnel back to Whitehall. This is expected to be finished next summer.
For safety reasons Dublin Port Tunnel will have two separate two-lane tunnels with all traffic travelling in the same direction. Most major accidents in tunnels are caused by head-on collisions in two-way traffic.
Cars will also be allowed to use the 5.6-km tunnel on payment of a toll.
Mr Brennan said the tunnelling conditions were not too difficult, "which augers well for any other tunnelling we might do with metros and things around the city".
He said he understood the discomfort and inconvenience experienced by local residents during the tunnelling, "but really it will be worth it. So please bear with it for another 20 months and then you'll have a project that you will be very proud of".
The Minister is due to receive a report this week from the National Institute of Transport Logistics dealing with the height of the tunnel.
Hauliers have complained that the operating height restriction of 4.65 metres will exclude super trucks and will affect their businesses.
Mr Brennan said he still did not see any point in reversing the decision to proceed with the current height.
"We have made a decision on the height and I don't see any point at this stage in changing that," he said.
"But you have to obviously study any piece of evidence that comes forward at any time and I'll keep an open mind on that. But we have made a decision that it's not an issue and that's the present position."
