The opening of the M3 will make a big difference to towns like Kells, Navan and Dunshaughlin which have been bedevilled by traffic jams for decades, it has been predicted.

New era for traffic-choked towns

Following a decade of controversy, the M3 motorway is to finally open to motorists this week when the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, formally cuts the ribbon on Friday. Chambers of Commerce and public representatives in towns along the route are looking forward to the opening of the largest project of its type in the history of the State, while Meath County Manager Tom Dowling says the new motorway will change Meath forever, opening up the heritage, amenity and ecomomic potential of the county to everybody. Mr Dowling said that airports, ports and other motorways will be now be linked and become closer in time for the people of the county, with reduced journey times and more accessibility to all. The Transport Minister said the M3 will enhance the county's prospects of securing more jobs and foreign direct investment, while it will also save lives as a modern, safe motorway. The M3 is opening a month ahead of its scheduled July date, and is expected to take an hour off the full length of the journey from Dublin to the Meath-Cavan border at peak time. The 63km motorway is the largest road infrastructure project in Ireland, stretching from the Clonee bypass to Derver, close to Virginia in Co Cavan. It covers 700 hectares of land, and involved the expenditure of €1 billion in its excavating, building and landscaping. The motorway was built by Eurolink, a partnership of Spanish company Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA, a subsidiary of Ferrovial SA, and the Irish firm, SIAC Construction Ltd, in a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the Government. Eurolink has a 45-year contract to operate the motorway, and will collect tolls at two toll plazas on the route, at Blackbull, Dunboyne, and at Grange, near Ardbraccan and White's Quarry, between Navan and Kells. The minimum toll will be €1.30 for a car for a single toll, rising to €3.30 for a truck. The motorway was the subject of controvsery when a route between the hills of Tara and Skryne was chosen, leading to a campaign to have it rerouted, which saw protests and arrests over the past three years since construction began, as well as court challenges. In the week of its opening, the M3 still has its critics, with Deputy Shane McEntee saying he plans boycotting the opening ceremony because of his opposition to the use of pyrite material in the building of the motorway. TaraWatch, the group which campaigned against the Tara-Skryne route, says there will be a shortfall in the amount of traffic which the NRA has predicted will use the motorway, and that the State will have to compensate the builders as a result. The chairman of Meath County Council, Cllr William Carey, said the scheme is a critical piece of infrastructre, not just for Meath, where it will provide bypasses of Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells, but also for access to the north-west of the country. The Mayor of Navan, Cllr Joe Reilly, said the new motorway would improve the town's connectivity to the capital and he hoped the freer movement of traffic in Navan would encourage more people to shop in the town. He said it would mean safer travel and ease the congestion in towns like Kells, Navan and Dunshaughlin, but he feared the tolls would mean people wouldn't use the new road. "People living in Kells and travelling to Dublin every day will have to pay over €7 in tolls per day," he pointed out. He said that the village of Julianstown proved that tolls prevent people using motorways as 16,000 vehicles pass through the village each day in spite of the fact that the M1 was to take traffic away from the village. The president of Navan Chamber of Commerce, William O'Reilly, said the Chamber was delighted that the M3 was finally about to open. "It will ease traffic congestion in Navan and make it more accessible. There is potential for a major boost for the town and Navan and Meath will have to work towards making the town and county an attractive place to work, live and do business in," he said. Cllr John Farrelly expressed concern that there were two tolls along the motorway and he feared that it would mean heavy traffic still travelling through Kells. He said there should have just been one toll plaza and it should have been located on the south side of the Trim/Ratoath interchange, as this would encourage people to use the train. Businesses in Kells are expecting a huge tourism boost for the town as the opening of the M3 will see huge volumes of traffic removed from the streets. Chamber of Commerce president, Jess Olohan, said it would make the town more attractive, people would be able to see the town without congestion, would be able to enjoy the heritage trail and it would be a much easier town to shop in. "We are expecting a big tourism boost and with initiatives like the Kells Enhancement Scheme and the urban art initiative it will make Kells a destination town," she added. It would also mean much easier access to airport, ports and Dublin city, making the town a more attractive place to set up new commercial and industrial premises, she said. The cathaoirleach of Kells Town Council, Cllr Brian Curran, said the new motorway was an opportunity for the commercial interests and the entire community to reclaim the streets. It was positive news for Kells, but he hoped that the tolls would not prevent traffic using it. "We will have to reassess the situation in a few months' time and, if trucks are continuing to travel through the town, we will have to propose some resolution," he said. Town manager, Brendan McGrath, said the M3 would see Kells getting an opportunity to live and breathe, having been choked for decades from a constant stream of heavy traffic. "The N52 By-pass will ensure that, despite tolling, much of the heavy traffic will continue to avoid the town. "This will only be good for Kells. The next challenge will be to attract the type of traffic and visitors into Kells that we want and the street enhancement scheme will be central to achieving this." The motorway will provide links to the new M3 Parkway Station at Dunboyne and lead to the newly-aligned M50/M3 junction at Blanchardstown. Referring to the pyrite issue, Deputy McEntee said: "I welcome the opening of the M3 and I have always supported the building of this major road. However, it is regrettable that, in the last two years, the people of south Meath, north County Dublin and Kildare have suffered serious problems due to pyrite-related filling. It is unforgivable that the NRA, the Minister for Environment and the Minister for Transport, having been notified of this inferior material and have allowed it to be used in the construction of the motorway. As a form of protest, I will not be attending the opening of the M3 because of my concern for the taxpayers of this country." TaraWatch claims that traffic levels will not reach the amount necessary to fulfull the conditions of the PPP contract with Eurolink. They quote Fred Barry, NRA CEO, as saying that the level of traffic guarantee set out in the PPP contract for the initial year of operation is a combined total for the two plazas of 25,250 vehicles per day. If the traffic levels are 25,000 and the debt level thresholds are contravened, the concessionaire would receive an additional payment of approximately 100,000. If the traffic levels are 35,000, no additional payment arises. TaraWatch is predicting that traffic levels will be 10,000-15,000, meaning a total cost of approximately €180-240 million over the 45 year life of the contract, based on a number of factors, including current traffic volumes on the existing N3, HGVs avoiding the M3 tolls by using the existing road, and Meath having been the hardest-hit county in terms of job losses due to the recession.