Madam, - The Dutch recently opened a new 6.6-kilometre dual-carriageway tunnel under the Schelde Estuary, downstream of the Belgian port of Antwerp, to link Zeeland to Flanders. This Westerschelde Tunnel provides a new road transport link between Vlissingen, Middleburg, Terneuzen, Brugge, Gent, Antwerp and Rotterdam and is the longest road tunnel in the Netherlands.
The toll for HGVs is €20, or €15 for regular customers. The maximum speed through the tunnel is 100 k.p.h. with HGVs restricted to the inside lanes.
But the most interesting point for Dublin truckers is that the maximum height of the tunnel is 4.5 metres, less than the 4.65 metres of the Dublin Port Tunnel. If 4.5 metre height satisfies some of the best transporters in the world, who will have to pay significant tolls, surely 4.65 metres height can satisfy Dublin truckers who will not pay anything.- Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL GOUGH,
Kiltimon,
Ashford,
Co Wicklow.