The National Transport Authority's draft Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2016-2035 has something for everyone. Essentially, it reiterates the same wish-list of major projects as an earlier version in 2011 that seemed wildly improbable against the backdrop of serious austerity.
But now that the Government is loosening its purse strings, the NTA has come back with an entirely uncosted plan to extend the Luas Green Line to Bray, the Luas Cross City Line to Finglas, the Luas Red Line to the Poolbeg Peninsula and build a new light rail line running from the city centre to Lucan as well as extending Metro North southwards in a tunnel to join the Green Line in Ranelagh.
The draft plan also includes a “core bus network” of 16 radial corridors, three orbital routes and six “regional” bus corridors, all of which would enjoy significant priority over other traffic. In addition, the NTA wants to expand the urban cycleway network to over 1,485km in length, with more than 1,300km of new connections between rural towns in the region.
As if all of that wasn’t ambitious enough to be achieved within 20 years, the draft strategy pledges significant investment in suburban “heavy rail” services, reopening the Phoenix Park tunnel to passenger trains, completing a city centre resignalling programme and implementing Iarnród Éireann’s Dart expansion plan, including electrification as far north as Drogheda and at least as far as Hazelhatch on the Kildare line and Maynooth on the Sligo line.
It also keeps alive the strategically vital Dart Underground project, which would link up all existing suburban rail services with a tunnel running from Heuston Station to Spencer Dock, via Christ Church, St Stephen's Green and Pearse Station. The latter was recently shelved by the Government, with Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe telling the NTA that it should examine cheaper ways of tunnelling in order to reduce the cost of Dart Underground – estimated at €3 billion – to a more manageable level. Such a "value engineering" exercise needs to be carried out as a matter of priority so that this project can be put back on track as soon as possible.
Inevitably, roads also form part of the overall package, including further widening of the M7 to Naas, Co Kildare, “capacity enhancement” of the M11 as far as Ashford, Co Wicklow (presumably without endangering the Glen O’ the Downs), reconfiguration of the N4 as far as Leixlip, Co Kildare, and improvements to the M2, including a long-delayed bypass of Slane, Co Meath.
But the NTA needs to ensure that better roads do not encourage more car use in Dublin and its wider commuter belt, which extends outwards for up to 100km thanks to laissez faire planning in the boom years.