M3 Anti-tolls Online Petition – www.m3tolls.com

@m3tolls wrote:

This is just one of many issues affecting the M3 including possible route construction delays and building across the old Dublin Navan Railway line without putting in bridges before the M3 is built.

This is from the non-technical summary of the EIS for the M3

Pace Grade-Separated Junction

The Pace Grade-Separated Junction is proposed to be located on the line of the existing N3 between the present locations of the Dunboyne Road (R157) and the Woodpark road. The junction will be a rotary type with two bridges and a circulatory arrangement. The Rotary will have both North and Southbound Merge/Diverge Ramps allowing entry and exit to and from the Motorway from both directions. The junction shall be grade-separated with the Motorway passing under the Rotary. The Dunboyne Link Road will tie in to the west side of the junction and the proposed realignment of the N3 will tie in to the east of the junction via a roundabout and short link road. The grade-separated junction is also designed to provide the necessary clearance over the existing disused Clonsilla-Navan Railway line to accommodate any future plans to reopen the railway along its present alignment at this location.

Also from the EIS:

Effectively the proposed scheme will replace the existing N3, which will becomes an all-purpose alternative to the motorway

So, you can choose to drive along the old road or pay to use the new one. I guess the tolls will be set at a level so that people are not discouraged from using the M3, otherwise everyone will stick to the old road, and the private tolling company won’t profit.

When a road is busy you’ve got to pay for it one way or another, either by direct tolling or by queuing in traffic jams. If you have an economically productive aim to your journey (like getting to work) you may prefer to pay the toll then sit in your car listening to Morning Ireland.

sorry m3tolls can’t see any sensible arguement against tolling.

you say that meath needs the m3 now, in fact, i think what meath doesn’t need is people commuting to dublin.

m3tolls is slightly disingenuous in his assertion that the M3 will be tolled twice. While there will be two toll plazas on the M3, the NRA are incorporating a split-toll approach to the M3 whereby the full toll, estimated in the NRA tolling documents at €1.75, is to be split between the two toll plazas, estimated to charge €0.875 each, so that only drivers that pass the full length of the M3 pay a charge similar to the existing single-toll charges on the M1 and M50.

NRA M3 Tolling Documentation, Section 2.4

m3tolls, before you go to the bother of setting up a pressure campaign, check your facts.

Adhoc you forgot to include the VAT the inclusive cost is therefore 2.12 per journey or 4.24 per day (page 7) return it is also worth noting that all prices within the document are based upon year 2000 prices and where tolls are concerned there has been much inflation since.

This is nonsense. They tried to peddle this line when the M1 Drogheda bypass was being opened about double tolling as well. I don’t know what annoys me more, the delays in construction of roads or the unwillingness of people to pay for them.
Why should the residents of Dublin’s city centre or indeed Donegal subsidise your motorway? Tolling is the most equitable form of taxation there is – the user pays.
This split tolling is perfectly acceptable as a fully automated collection system will be in place by the time this road is built.

@kefu wrote:

I don’t know what annoys me more, the delays in construction of roads or the unwillingness of people to pay for them.

Unwilling? People queue to pay the M50 tolls which, to an economist, indicates that the tolls are set too low.

Well the Northern Ireland Trucks still trundle through Drogheda on a daily basis – particularly annoying since they have downgraded the old N1 to a regional road. That’s what tolls do

From RTE http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0324/ntr.html

Quote ” NRA in talks to buy West Link bridge

March 24, 2005 09:03
The National Roads Authority is discussing with the Government the possibility of buying out the West Link bridge from NTR, the company that operates the tool booths on the bridge, the Oireachtas Transport committee was told yesterday.

Committee chairman John Ellis said they had been told previously that the price of a buy-out was totally exorbitant. But NRA chief executive Fred Barry said the authority was now involved in discussions with the Government on a buy-out, as it was a matter that needed a Ministerial decision.

Mr Barry also said that it would take until 2008 or 2009 before tolling at the West Link bridge could be done electronically, with devices fitted to every vehicle passing through.

On major roads outside the Dublin area, he said electronic tolls would be installed but there would also be the opportunity to pay by cash.

On the M3 motorway, he said the proposed toll would be west of Navan at a cost of €1.20, which would be less than charged on other routes. In general, he said the NRA favoured the use of variable tolls as a way of managing the traffic flow, but the authority would not favour no tolls, at any hour of the day. “

It looks like your campaign has worked