According to Celtic myth the River Boyne was formed when BoAnn, the beautiful young wife of the leader of the local Clan Nectain, angered the gods by... The river was also the scene of the climactic Battle of the Boyne, 1690, when King William of Orange defeated the "popish" James II, ending for the last time the Catholic threat to the British monarchy. A 35m (110ft) high obelisk to William used to stand at the site but this memorial to protestantism was dynamited by IRA militants in the 1920s.
Eighty years after the obelisk fell the Boyne battlefield site is dominated by a 95m (312ft) high reinforced concrete A-frame tower supporting an asymmetrical cablestay bridge for a new tolled MORE
According to Celtic myth the River Boyne was formed when BoAnn, the beautiful young wife of the leader of the local Clan Nectain, angered the gods by drinking water from a magic well reserved for the clan's menfolk. On being polluted by BoAnn the ground rumbled and shook and the well exploded in an enormous geyser of water that shot up a mile in the air and produced a huge flood that cut a river through County Meath to the sea where the port city of Drogheda now lies.
The river was also the scene of the climactic Battle of the Boyne, 1690, when King William of Orange defeated the "popish" James II, ending for the last time the Catholic threat to the British monarchy. A 35m (110ft) high obelisk to William used to stand at the site but this memorial to protestantism was dynamited by IRA militants in the 1920s.
Eighty years after the obelisk fell the Boyne battlefield site is dominated by a 95m (312ft) high reinforced concrete A-frame tower supporting an asymmetrical cablestay bridge for a new tolled stretch of the M1 motorway. It is Ireland's largest bridge with a 170m (558ft) mainspan, a full length of 350m (1148ft) and a deck 34.5m (113ft) wide - wide enough for 2x3-lanes plus hard shoulders, though for now it will only be striped for 2x2-lanes.
The M1 runs up the east coast of Ireland from Dublin to Dundalk at the border of the UK's Northern Ireland and links the island's two major cities, Dublin and Belfast.
Opening in a few months is a 21.5km (13.4mi) tolled section of the M1, known by various names: the Drogheda Bypass, the Northern Motorway, or simply M1 Gormanston-Monasterboice. In other documents it is described within the larger M1 Dunleer-Dundalk Motorway, which comprises the mix of untolled and tolled segments of which Drogheda Bypass is the tolled component. At present the 100km (60mi) trip Dublin to the border takes anywhere between 80 and 150mins. With all components complete the new road should cut that to 55mins.
This country is being transformed by splendid new roads being built with great energy by people who have suddenly discovered the need, and can afford, efficient mobility. The program apparently has broad political support. Business and economists have emphasized its importance. The OECD in a review said that bottlenecks in infrastructure such as roads was a constraint on continued growth and a source of inflation. Over half of businesses surveyed said poor roads were detrimental to their operations. (NRA website quotes.)
About $1 billion/year is being spent on new roads in ireland under a plan which provides for an approx four-fold increase in the length of motorway or near-motorway roads - to about 1200km (745mi) to be achieved by the end of 2006. Just over a fifth or an average of $210m/yr is supposed to be raised from toll financing.
Eleven new toll projects consisting of 245km (152mi) of toll motorways and several major bridges and tunnels costing some $1.3b are part of the current six year $5.7b national roads program that will add some 900km (560mi) of new motorway and other quality divided highway, and produce many other new roads and upgrades. As of the end of 2002 there were 324km (201mi) in use. (Murphy "PPPs and Tolling" NRA Powerpoint 20021109)
The program was delayed at the start by difficulty in gaining access to farmers land for surveyors, engineers, and valuers - first because of health quarantines associated with cattle foot & mouth disease, then because of an organized farmer challenge to the right-of-way compensation regime. Those problems were settled last year.
The big ramp up in road construction stretched Ireland's construction industry and sent road building inflation into the double digits. Trying to advance so many major projects in parallel has proved difficult. The program seems likely to slip one to two years with many of the projects opening in 2007 and 2008, rather than 2006.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) cites opinion poll data showing 52% of the Irish public prefer tolls for financing new roads, to 14% who favor general taxes, and 12% who favor fuel or other motorist taxes. With 22% having no preference, tolls are supported two to one over taxes (52/26) ["Going Places," NRA] In addition to the NRA toll projects the City of Dublin has a tolled port tunnelway under construction and planning is under way for a motorway extension south, called the Dublin Eastern Bypass, probably in tunnel too, and probably tolled.
The projects chosen by the NRA for tolling are generally the larger interurban projects and city bypasses - minimum cost about $40m. They often incorporate a major bridge or a tunnel. The ideal is to get a whole project funded by investors, but a mix of tax and investor money is possible. The franchisee sometimes finances part of a project and has a larger part on which to do maintenance and operations. Toll projects get spread around the different regions so no region feels picked out for tolling. All the Irish toll projects except the Dublin port tunnel are investor-owned franchises using the British Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) franchise model.
The government's franchising agency, the National Roads Authority (NRA), selects the toll projects, does the alternatives analysis, public consultation, and permitting, and lays down the route, does the preliminary design and performs land acquisition. The NRA performs what is called a "Public Sector Comparator" in which it estimates the cost to the state of doing the project as a state public work using tax money. Investor proposals are compared with that to ensure there is an advantage in the investor-funded tolling.
After proposals from investors are gotten the submissions winnowed down, and then there are negotiations with the most promising proposers, and a contract is made. Usually tolls are set by bid initially and with an annual inflation adjustment allowed thereafter.
The Irish Government's commitment to investor built and operated infrastructure seems quite deep. The so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) cover far more than roads - water supply, sewage, landfills, ports, schools, hospitals, transit and other functions. A government paper says: "The Irish Government is strongly committed to the PPP program and has established a Central PPP Unit in the Department of Finance to lead, drive and co-ordinate the PPP process." The process seems to be broadly accepted.
Drogheda soon
The M1 Gormanson Monasterboice project near Drogheda centered on the Boyne River is the only road project currently nearing completion. Tolls will be $1.40 for cars, motorbikes 70c, buses $2.50, trucks less than 3.5t (7720pds) $2.50, trucks over 3.5t with two or three axles $3.50, and trucks of 4 or more axles $4.50.[Toll rates quoted include a 21% Value Added Tax, and are rounded to US$ assuming E=$] As a concession to heavy local users the tollster will provide a 10% discount for pre-payment of 20 journeys, and it will forgo a second toll for drivers who exit the road after a toll payment and return within three hours to make another journey. This is a favor to local merchants in Drogheda to encourage drivers to stop off there.
A mainline toll plaza with five toll lanes each direction is nearing completion in the southern part of the road plus two 2-lane ramp plazas to the north to toll southbound exits and northbound entries. The toll setup prevents any free trips over the new Boyne River bridge.
Daily tolls are projected at 17k in the first year rising to 40k in 2027, with heavy trucks accounting for 15% to start and declining to 13%. Toll revenue is projected at $11m. The project cost is estimated at about $190m.
Just signed is a contract for the M4/M6 Kilcock-Kinnegad toll franchise (sometimes called N4/N6) with a partnership of Irish construction company SIAC and the Spanish based tollsters CINTRA and Ferrovial. The Australia-based Macquarie bank has half of CINTRA. West of Dublin this is the major route to Galway on the west coast. At the western end of the project in Kinnegad the roads split and the N4 heas northwest to Sligo and other points on the coast. It will be a full motorway 39km (24mi) long and costing an estimated $400m. The contract provides for 30 years of toll collection, and Irish Government contribution of $170m with the investors providing the balance, or $230m.
The NRA said: "The M4/M6 Kilcock-Kinnegad scheme forms part of the East/West strategic road corridor connecting the Midlands, the West (Galway) and North West (Sligo) to the East Coast. By bypassing Kinnegad, Clonard, Moyvalley and Enfield, the 39 km route will greatly ease traffic congestion at some infamous traffic bottlenecks and will significantly benefit the local community by improving their environment. The road will link with the local and existing road network through interchanges at Kilcock, Enfield and Kinnegad. The Kilcock-Kinnegad Motorway is designed to accommodate future traffic growth and to deliver a high quality level of service with significantly reduced journey times for traffic travelling between Dublin and the West of Ireland. It will also assist in the economic development of Counties Kildare, Meath and Westmeath and also in the BMW (Border, Midlands and West) region."
The NRA anticipates signing contracts on three further schemes over the next 12 months: the M1 Dundalk Western Bypass, N8 Rathcormac/Fermoy Bypass and the N25 Waterford Bypass.
The M1 Dundalk Bypass of 11km length (7mi) is the furthest north and last segment of a continuous M1 motorway that will total 82km (51mi) from Dublin to the Northern Ireland border. It follows the general line of the east coast. There will be a mainline plaza and two ramp plazas. Shortlisted bidders are the Celtic Roads Group comprising NTR, Ascom, Nuttall and Dragados, and Eurolink which is CINTRA and SIAC. The franchisee must maintain not only the 11km which it will build and toll, but another 42km (26mi) of untolled motorway to the south. A legal challenge to the project by anti-roads groups was recently dismissed by the Irish High Court. The NRA said after the decision that it would "vigorously oppose" all future actions designed to frustrate the roadbuilding program.
The N25 Waterford Bypass is 23km (14mi) of dual carriageway and 14km (9mi) of single roadway. Waterford is one of two major towns on the south coast (the other is Cork.) Presently east-west traffic has no alternative to winding its way through the middle of the town on narrow local streets. The $180m project involves a new 4-lane divided access controlled arterial, including a 475m (1,560ft) long cable-stay bridge over the River Suir. Shortlisted investors for this toll project are Celtic Roads (NTR, Ascom, Nuttall, Dragados) and Vinci-Hegarty-Halifax Bank of Scotland.
30 years is the normal concession period for Irish toll contracts. They provide for the road to be turned over with at least ten more years of life left. The land and physical assets remain in public ownership throughout. Initial toll rates are the subject of negotiation as part of the tender process and the franchisee has the right to adjust toll rates on January 1 of each year in line with increases in a consumer price index of the previous August, or to renegotiate toll rates in cases of work beyond the initial obligations undertaken.
In most of the Irish projects so far there is one mainline toll plaza and a pair of ramp plazas. According to initial designs these plazas will mostly be in the range 5 to 8 toll lanes each direction with 2- and 3-lane ramp plazas.
Toll rates are about 5c/km (8c/mi) for a car and 15c to 20c/km for a tractor-trailer. NRA reports these are a bit below typical car toll rates in Spain (6c) and France (7c) and a bit above Italian rates (4c).
Road Needs Study
The road system being developed, including the selection of toll projects, is based heavily on a "National Roads Needs Study" of 1998. This looked at 5425km (3370mi) of National Routes by segments 3km (2mi) in average length. At the time the database was put together there were only 70km (43mi) of motorway and 169km (105mi) of other dual carriageway (2x2-lanes) in Ireland. The rest was 2-lane highway of varying quality. Traffic was modeled throughout the network assuming a roughly asymptotic approach to saturation vehicle ownership at 0.8 or 0.9 cars/adult and stable vehicle-miles travelled per car. It built a road plan for 2019 based on the objective of Level of Service C on most major interurban routes and a minimum Level of Service D, and 80km/hr (50mph) average speeds on 2-lane roads. Whenever this was not achievable 4-lanes divided was called for. From the modeling the study derived needed upgrades throughout the network.
Major objective of a 2000 to 2006 plan by the country's National Roads Authority (NRA) is that another 900km (560mi) of motorway and other dual carriageway will be in built by 2006.
BACKGROUND: The Irish Republic (Ireland or Eire) has 3.9m people on 70k sq km (27k sq mi) or four-fifths of the area of the jagged-edged island, the remaining one-fifth (and 1.6m pop) being the UK territory of Northern Ireland or Ulster. In population size and density Ireland is most like Kentucky among US states. Among countries it is most like Lithuania. However Finland, Lebanon, Singapore, New Zealand, and Norway have similar sized population, and in the US SC, CO, OR, CT, LA, AL. Ireland's population density is average compared to that of the contiguous 48 US states, and it is sparsely populated compared to most of Europe.
The greater Dublin area has nearly 40% of the country's population - about 1.5m people. The major centers outside Dublin, going anti-clockwise from 11pm are Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Waterford and in the UK's Northern Ireland, Belfast, and Londonderry. These are all in the range 150km to 250km (95mi to 155mi) from Dublin and therefore good driving distance on modern roads.
Until recently motor vehicle ownership in Ireland was low. They didn't travel about much and so they managed to get by without modern highways. In 1971 there were just under 300k cars in Ireland. There are now a million more (1.3m) which is still only just over one for every two adults. The government has adopted forecasts which suggest 2.1m to 2.2m total vehicles for 2016 assuming either a 0.8 or 0.9 ratio of a personal vehicle/adults by that time. (The US already has a car/adult ratio of about 1.0, but most European countries are in the range 0.4 to 0.8)
Vehicle numbers have been growing in Ireland about 5%/yr and vehicle-miles-traveled 7 to 8%/yr – for a doubling of traffic each decade. Government forecasts used to develop the road program assume 3.3%/yr average growth in traffic over the period to 2016, based on no change in miles-traveled per vehicle.
(Sources: NTR the toll operator www.ntr.ie, NRA the roads authority www.nra.ie, infrastructure franchising www.ndp.ie, Dublin's transport planners www.dto.ie)
RAIL: The Irish do have a rail system. Kind of. It is cumbersome and slow and laid at the broad gauge of 1.6m (5'3"). Irish rail engineers of the 19th century have been blamed for using the gift of the gab to inflict their non-standard system on Spain, Russia, and the Australian state of Victoria! The story goes that an enterprising engineer from Dublin, Martin O'Flaherty of the Cork and Limerick Railway traveled the whole world selling Irish rail technology, and got just these three customers. He messed up in Spain getting the gauge a bit too wide at 1674mm (5'6".) In Russia he didn't get it quite wide enough at 5ft (1520mm.) But third up he managed to get it just right in Melbourne Australia, having run out of his stock of Jamison whiskey before the end of the 3-week long sea voyage down there – all this according to a well informed Scots engineer in London. But the times of blarney are apassing. Rail transit in Dublin is now being built to the international standard of 1435mm (4'8.5") under the close supervision of Brussels bureaucrats policing the CEN-218f/J12379v16 standard on rail gauges. TRnews 2003-05-27
