RUSH-HOUR commuters in Dublin could be forced to pay a congestion charge to use the choked-up M50 motorway.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) is considering introducing “demand management fees” to limit the number of commuters using the notoriously clogged highway at peak times once upgrade works are completed in 2008.

It plans to expand the ring road to three lanes and improve junctions in an attempt to get traffic moving, but the benefits could be lost if the number of cars increases in line with capacity as is expected. A congestion charge could help limit the volume of cars on Dublin’s busiest route but would prove unpopular with commuters.

The NRA has also warned that a buyout of the West-Link bridge, a chief cause of tailbacks on the M50, would not mean an end to tolls on the traffic-packed road.

Michael Egan, head of corporate affairs at the organisation, said that the state would continue to impose charges even if it took over the toll gates from National Toll Roads (NTR), the private company that runs them.

Egan said that an advanced congestion charge system could be introduced as early as 2008, at the same time as the Dublin motorway is expanded to three lanes and 10 access points are improved.

Capacity on the motorway will increase from 100,000 to 200,000 cars when the €800m upgrade is completed but the numbers seeking to use it could grow to match this within years of completion.

The congestion charge would be designed to keep demand in check at peak times. It is understood this would mean higher tolls to use the bridge and the possible introduction of new gates on the road or at access points. Such tolling gates would not be avoided as easily as the current one, although they would not have barriers.

“It is very early to speak about these as being definite plans,” said Egan. “But it’s a concept that we are looking at and we will be discussing it with the minister.

“When we complete the M50 extension we will have done all we can. If the road struggles to cope at this stage, our options are limited and we will have to manage demand as they do in other countries — with charges,” he said.

Egan confirmed that the NRA was in the process of calculating how much it would cost to buy the contract to operate the West-Link toll gates. The current estimate is between €300m and €400m.

“There is an option to buy out the bridge and from time to time we calculate how much it would cost,” said Egan.

“If we did go ahead with such a step, it would not mean an end to tolls because the income from the bridge would be needed for the M50 upgrade and on other infrastructure. Some people have been talking about it as if we would take the toll gates away.”

At least €450m of the cost of the M50 works will come from revenue generated at the toll gates.

Egan said claims that the M50 upgrade would not solve traffic problems on the road were inaccurate. “The success of the planned works will depend on how many other transport projects are completed. If all the plans in the pipeline, such as the outer ring road, are achieved then its impact will be more significant,” he said.

NTR’s licensing of the toll gates raises about €18m a year for the state.

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