Traffic signals at Dublin's notorious Red Cow interchange on the M50 have been altered to facilitate the Luas service to Tallaght, which is to be launched by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, this morning.
The change is expected to cause further delays for motorists at the interchange, which has been dubbed the "Mad Cow Roundabout" by frustrated motorists. It currently handles almost 90,000 vehicles a day on the M50 and about 60,000 on the N7, the Dublin to Limerick road. The M50 and the N7 are the State's busiest and second busiest roads respectively.
Earlier this year Mr Brennan asked the Railway Procurement Agency "to look again" at the prospect of Luas getting through three level crossings safely and on time as it crosses the interchange. The Minister famously suggested the tram system might have to be put "on stilts" as it was not to have priority at the lights.
However, while Luas will still not be able to signal for the lights to be changed when it approaches the interchange, the Minister revealed yesterday that following his concerns, the lights system had been altered in favour of the trams.
Testing of the light rail route in recent weeks has revealed that trams are negotiating the junction in just 70 seconds. However, other traffic at the interchange is frequently delayed by up to half an hour as it negotiates the move from one road to the other.
The Minister said his concerns about the ability of Luas to negotiate the interchange were not misplaced and the reason Luas was moving so swiftly through it was due at least in part to the alterations to the traffic lights.
