Call for action on Dublin routes
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• There is an urgent need for trucks to get better routes through Dublin city, says the Irish Exporters Association, launching a campaign to have a long-delayed port access tunnel started.
Dublin handles 70% of the national container trade, and each year more than 900,000 trucks travel through the port, says the exporters' chief executive officer John Whelan.
"The public inquiry has ended and we have had no indication there is a problem," says Whelan. "Even if it were to be started now it would take five years to build. Without it there is a massive burden on city traffic; trucks are caught in that traffic, and transport costs are rising."
Traffic has doubled since 1995 when a motorway-linked twin-bore port tunnel was first approved; but public consultation delayed it beyond the proposed start date in 1998.
Trucks would use it toll-free but cars would pay heavily for using the tunnel.
Whelan says the exporters will keep up the pressure and their campaign until the Roads Minister gives the go-ahead for the project.