Calls for tolls at Donore to be removed
The Minister for Transport has been urged to consider the removal of the M1 toll at Donore to help alleviate the “chronic” traffic congestion in East Meath and South Drogheda.
Labour Cllr Elaine McGinty put forward the motion at March's Laytown/Bettystown Municipal District meeting.
“The toll is scheduled to be here until 2034 but unfortunately South Drogheda and East Meath cannot wait another ten years,” said McGinty.
“We are at a critical junction, we are steadfast in our climate targets but need tangible solutions,” she added. “I'm looking outside and there are two trucks barely able to pass each other here, this area is not built for the amount of traffic it gets and it is going to get worse.
Funding of €25.1m was allocated to Meath to improve local and national roads as part of a national investment programme of €658m announced by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, and Minister of State Jack Chambers last month. A portion of that needs to go towards addressing the traffic problems in East Meath according to McGinty who said:
“I'm asking the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan and the government for some action for East Meath and South Drogheda, we can't continue the way we are.”
“€25m has been given to Meath which is a fantastic amount of money but we need some of that here and we are not seeing it, we are seeing plenty of development but the investment and the infrastructure is not happening,” said the Labour councillor.
Fine Gael Cllr Paddy Meade said he was disappointed after a meeting with the minister claiming Eamon Ryan did not seem to be aware of the challenges of traffic in the area despite writing to him several times about the issue.
Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan said she fully supported the motion but didn't think the removal of the toll was the answer.
“We have the report there from when we had the toll break during the planning investigations for the Slane Bypass and it proved that it didn't actually make any difference to the traffic,” said Tolan.
“In relation to the HGVs the biggest change for us would be a bypass at Julianstown and I'm delighted that the department did give us funding to proceed with the feasibility and the business case for that and we are waiting for information back on the next phase,” she added.
Tolan suggested that a local transport survey be carried out to accumulate data of how people are accessing Drogheda from surrounding areas.
“I think we should do some sort of analysis in relation to the amount of vehicles that are using it and some sort of survey of our Meath residents and how they access certain areas of the town of Drogheda and how they access other areas of Meath. That data analysis is vital to really prove the case to the minister.”
Fianna Fail Cllr Stephen McKee said he fully supported the motion.
“It's obvious that the public infrastructure hasn't kept up with population and commercial development of the area. Traffic is a major issue for not only South Drogheda but for Duleek, Donore, Julianstown, The Beamore Road, you have so much traffic using rat runs and lorries on roads that shouldn't be on them because they are avoiding the toll.
“The bypass in Julianstown is a long term project, I think removal of the toll is something that could be done in the short term that would make a major difference. I would support Cllr Tolan's suggestion of analysis not only of where people are coming from but where they are going transport survey.”