Motorway traffic levels 22% below target

Figures revealed on usage of the M3 motorway since it opened in June have shown that traffic is currently down 22 per cent below the targets required to avoid penalty payments. Statistics released by PlanBetter, a joint initiative between An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Irish Environment and FEASTA (Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability), show that an average of 21,540 vehicles used the M3 motorway in June and July last. This is 22 per cent below the threshold agreed with Eurolink, the company that built and operate the motorway with some 26,250 vehicles required to use the M3 each day to avoid penalty payments. The statistics show that minimum traffic levels on the M3 in June were 19,295 and maximum figures were 24,403. For July, minimum figures were 18,582 and maximum traffic was 23,880. The NRA has admitted it agreed deals involving cash penalties being paid to the companies that built and operate the M3 and the Limerick tunnel toll roads if traffic volumes fall below certain levels. With traffic 26 per cent below target on the Limerick tunnel, and 22 per cent below target for the M3, as much as €100m in exchequer cash may be needed to compensate the two toll firms over the lifetime of the 30-year deal, PlanBetter has claimed. The NRA has said that any penalty payments are calculated on an annual basis and over a 30-year life span and that, because both stretches of road had only just opened, it was not yet possible to calculate if any payments would be made. The NRA also said that no claim for compensation had yet been received.