REG McCABE,
Sir, - In his critical piece on the National Roads Authority's programme (The Irish Times, January 3rd), Frank McDonald overstates the impact of road capacity as a design consideration. Consider the rail analogy: a mainline railway can generate a commercial return at a passenger rate which is a fraction of the theoretical carrying capacity, which can be measured in multiple millions. The fact that the rail is operating at well below its design "capacity" is largely irrelevant. What is more important is whether this infrastructure generates a return sufficient to repay the initial investment and remunerate the operator.
The National Roads Authority is adopting this model under the roads PPP programme where only the users of a toll facility will pay for it. In return, they enjoy a quality facility which is intended to be congestion-free. By definition good, safe roads should operate at traffic rates well below theoretical carrying capacity. - Yours, etc.,
REG McCABE,
Director, Transport and PPPs,
IBEC,
Dublin 2.