Tunnel Vision in the Dublin Traffic Office

So they've finally got work on the Dublin Port Tunnel under way. We should go down on our knees in absolute gratitude to the powers that be. It will remove from Dublin's streets some 9,000 HGVs each day.

Eventually. Theoretically in 24 months. The length of time they say they need to close half the M1 in Dublin to just a single lane each way, to facilitate the work. The detail of these you can read in the accompanying panel.

There's a Traffic Management Plan 'designed to minimise the traffic disruption' associated with the works. Which gives preferences to public transport. The plan - and its authors, for which read Owen Keegan and Co in the Dublin Traffic Office, want you to use buses and taxis instead of driving.

Most motorists going into Dublin from any direction would be quite happy to use public transport, and even taxis, rather than drive all the way in. Many of them, because of the expansion of living/commuting (unavoidable) from long distances into the Greater Dublin Area, have no choice but to use their cars for at least part of the journey.

The latest disruptions will discombobulate motorists entering the city from three main directions - Malahide and beyond, Finglas and beyond, and Swords and beyond, the first two because they will take the brunt of the diversions from the last.

But if they decided to take public transport for the 'inner' part of their journey, two things militate against them. If, for instance, they decide to take the DART on the Malahide side, they will simply be left on the platform, or cause other commuters closer in to the city to be left, because the DART is at saturation as things are.

If, as is suggested, they try taking taxis, they'll be left at home or wherever they park their car, because even with the extension of the number of taxi licences, there are still not enough taxis available to deal with the increased volumes in a 2-hour window.

And anyway, WHERE will these commuters who have to come into the outer periphery by car anyway actually PARK their vehicles?

Surely ‘park and ride’ compounds should have been the FIRST element in any Traffic Management Plan? Years ago? But there's a very loud silence when this is brought up. Not the job of the Dublin Traffic Office, it seems.

Maybe it's in the full Traffic Management Plan, said to be available on Dublin Corporation's website at www.dublincorp.ie

I just looked for it. Couldn’t see it. Maybe I'm blind. Maybe it's in the tunnel, and we can't see it until they excavate it. But hey, park and ride would be a good idea, wouldn't it?

Hello, Dublin Traffic Office. Anyone home?

Oh ... stuck in a traffic jam ... nowhere to park their cars north of Coolock junction? And the man on the bicycle isn't answering his mobile phone while pedalling.

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(Brian Byrne is editorial director of IrishCar.Com)