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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 6 May 1998

Vol. 490 No. 5

Other Questions. - Light Rail Project.

Ceist:

18 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans, if any, he has to further expand Operation Freeflow; the specific proposals, if any, he has to deal with traffic problems during the construction of Luas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10530/98]

Operation Freeflow and its successor, Operation Clearway, are operational strategies designed to improve road space and travel times in Dublin city pending the fuller implementation of the infrastructural and traffic management measures of the Dublin Transport Initiative. Operation Freeflow was launched in December 1996, originally to combat the traffic problems associated with the Christmas period. The programme was drawn up and implemented by the Dublin Transportation Office in conjunction with Dublin Corporation, Dublin Bus and the Garda and was maintained during 1997 with an intensification of activity again concentrated on the Christmas period.

In January 1998, the Dublin Transportation Office announced that a restyled Operation Clearway would operate outside the month of December and would concentrate on keeping Dublin's bus lanes and clearways fully functioning. Operation Freeflow would be targeted at the month of December each year.

The wider programme of DTI traffic management measures is being advanced urgently and its importance to the successful construction and operation of Luas is well acknowledged. Some £14 million has already been expended on the provision of quality bus corridors, environmental traffic cells, cycle ways, traffic calming and other traffic management improvements in the wider Dublin area. Investment in this traffic management programme has been increased in 1998 and will continue at a high level in 1999. Executive responsibility for co-ordinating traffic management measures in Dublin city is now concentrated in the new Office of the Director of Traffic, Dublin Corporation, who is developing a range of initiatives in line with this mandate.

What specific contingency plans has the Minister made to deal with the traffic disruption that will arise from the construction of Luas? When does he believe the construction of Luas will begin and, consequently, what resources has the Government made available for the traffic management solutions it envisages will be needed to ensure the city of Dublin does not come to a standstill during the construction phase of the project? Who will be responsible specifically for the management of traffic during the construction phase of Luas? Will it be the Director of Traffic or will the Minister take some responsibility to overview the various agencies that will be required to be managed to ensure the city centre continues to operate?

The Minister will be retired by then.

That is wishful thinking on the part of Deputy Dukes. In relation to the latter part of the question, I do not believe in keeping a dog and barking myself. Obviously if we appoint traffic managers, etc., it will be their responsibility to ensure, under the general policy guidelines, that they do their job. The Office of the Director of Traffic will have responsibility——

He will not have the clout to direct State agencies.

He will have the clout in that he is the Director of Traffic for Dublin Corporation.

He does not have it now.

On the questions about Luas, I understand a Private Notice Question has been tabled to the Minister responsible and I am sure she will be more than pleased to go into the details of when the project will begin, etc.

Is the Minister not planning for it?

As to the resources available in general terms, the Deputy is well aware that there is no single solution to the problems of traffic in Dublin. A combination of measures have to be put in place. The DTI recommendations, for the period up to the year 2011, would entail a costing of almost £1,300 million. The total estimated cost of implementing the elements of the package capable of implementation up to 1999 is approximately £900 million.

The Minister is talking about ring roads and matters like that.

The Deputy asked me a question about traffic in Dublin. There is no single solution to the traffic problems in Dublin. An initiative has been taken and there are elements——

By way of clarification——

Acting Chairman

A number of people wish to ask supplementary questions. I ask the Deputy to be brief.

The solution to traffic problems in Dublin is the DTI and all the elements of the DTI are of the order, magnitude and costing the Minister is now giving the House. That is recognised, but I am talking about the construction of one element of the DTI report, namely, Luas and the specific measures, if any, the Minister intends to put in place to deal with the disruption at the construction phase of Luas, not all the other elements that form part of the DTI proposal.

The Minister will deal with the costings, etc., in regard to Luas. The estimate so far in relation to the Government decision yesterday is upwards of £400 million.

Four hundred million pounds, plus.

Plus another £400 million.

Acting Chairman

The Minister, without interruption.

Four hundred million pounds, plus the £30 million I succeeded in getting for Macken Street Bridge, the Cork Street-Coombe relief route and the Aungier Street-Mercer Street road link, which will cost approximately £30 million, and the provision of environmental traffic cells will cost in the region of £10 million. All of these have been built into that programme. The elements of the traffic initiative that must be in place prior to the operation of Luas are well known and I can outline those if the Deputy wishes.

The Minister has plenty of time now.

It is proposed to provide ten quality bus corridors before the end of 1999. A number of bus corridors have already been completed and others are in the course of construction. Other measures include wheel clamping, the promotion of cycling and the environmental traffic cells. The Director of Traffic will take responsibility from the Garda Síochána for the operation of traffic wardens and the tow-away services in Dublin city. Other measures include the introduction of wheel clamping, the responsible implementation and enforcement of parking restraint policy, including the prosecution of on the spot fines, traffic calming, computerised traffic control, improved sign posting and road marking, truck management and cycle routes.

Everything I announced in my package two years ago.

The Deputy will be glad to know we are insisting that these are implemented. The Deputy thought this was a good idea two years ago and it is still an excellent idea.

And the appointment of a director of traffic.

Acting Chairman

I call Deputy Dukes but I remind Deputies we have five minutes in which to conclude Question Time.

In keeping with the jargon invented by the Minister, Deputy O'Rourke, last night, I hope the Minister tells us he is planning for a Macken Street Bridge "plus" because he knows Dublin needs a second bridge in addition to the Macken Street Bridge. Could the Minister outline, even in the most sketchy fashion, what kind of strategy there is to deal with traffic problems? According to the famous cruciform diagram published last night, it is planned to build an underground station at St. Stephen's Green, another at an unspecified location in the city centre, which we presume will be somewhere in O'Connell Street, and another at Broadstone. In the event that, instead of tunnelling between two of those points, it was found that the appropriate method of doing the job was to cut and cover, for how long would we need these emergency measures? What part of the "plus" has been allocated to the cost of dealing with that?

The tunnelling, the laying down of tracks, routes and so on, is included in the £400 million plus. I am not an engineer and I will not attempt to answer questions about the engineering aspects. These will have to be fully detailed in an environmental impact statement and a particular procedure will have to be followed to ensure full public participation, whether it goes above or below ground. I do not want to waste the time of the House by going back over the various measures that will be available to the director of traffic, but I will do so if the Deputy insists.

In other words, the Minister has no answers. The Government made a decision yesterday on something about which it did not know the implications. It had no idea what it was doing.

We did not spend £8,500 on an invisible report, as the Deputy's party did.

The Government spent £200,000 on a report and then ignored it.

The Government spent £200,000 and junked the report.

Will Fine Gael release the £8,500 report commissioned by it?

The Government had it and would not listen.

Under the heading of freedom of information, maybe Fine Gael will give it to us.

Free-flow is about managing traffic. With finite street space and an ever-growing amount of traffic it has limited ability to be effective in solving the city's problems. Is the Minister aware of the latest traffic predictions from the DTO? Has he any plans to put traffic reduction measures in place as soon as possible, given the inevitable delay in the Luas project? Traffic cells, on which much emphasis is being placed, can only facilitate public transport. Without public transport they are pointless and cannot work. Has the Minister any plans to use his influence with the Minister for Public Enterprise to ensure that Dublin Bus is resourced and equipped to deal with the consequences of the traffic reduction measures that need to be put in place immediately, prior to commencing the construction of Luas?

Free-flow is only one part of the overall transport initiative. There was provision in the transport initiative for regular reviews because the problem of increasing traffic levels was anticipated at the time of the commissioning of the report. A review is currently ongoing. I expect the resulting report to be finalised in the next month or so. It will take into account the increased traffic and measures that may be needed to revise the strategy we have here. In addition, in its mid-term review of the operational programme on transport, the EU requested a consultant's report in relation to road pricing and other mechanisms for the Dublin region. Consultants will be appointed shortly to undertake that report. They may come forward with ideas on management and traffic reduction measures. Traffic, particularly in the Dublin area, is increasing by leaps and bounds. Travelling into Dublin this morning I noticed a car with a Dublin registration number of 30,000 which indicates the rather large increase in the number of cars in Dublin. There are problems. Traffic reduction measures will have to be implemented in addition to other expenditure on the Dublin transportation initiative.

The time for ordinary questions has concluded.

(Dublin West): On a point of order, the Taoiseach's Question Time was exceeded by five minutes. Should that not carry on in the case of ordinary questions?

No. The Taoiseach's question time was 45 minutes exactly. That is the amount of time allotted to the Taoiseach. Ordinary Question Time concludes at 4.15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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