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A REPORT DETAILING possible options for the future of Dublin’s East Link Bridge recommends the city keep charging motorists for crossings after it reverts back to council ownership.
Built in 1984 under a deal between Dublin Corporation, Dublin Port and private company National Toll Roads — the bridge reverts back to the city on 31 December 2015.
The tolls charged at the bridge generated €4.2 million in profit last year (the council and the port splitting around a third of that amount, and the company that took over NTR’s interest receiving the lion’s share)
In the report, City Engineer Michael Phillips sets out the pros and cons of keeping the toll system in place, and sets out two options for how to proceed.
In the ‘pro’ column, councillors are told that keeping the toll would mean:
Under the ‘negatives’:
The City Engineer proposes to bring a report before the council in March recommending that the toll scheme be continued, and that a tendering process be undertaken to bring in a new operator for the bridge.
Contacted for reaction, Fine Gael councillor for the South East Inner City Kieran Binchy said:
“I would like to see us in a position where we can see the East Link go toll-free, but obviously that’s subject to us being able to balance the budget.“Lifting the toll would of course help divert heavy traffic out of the city — it would also ease the burden on hard-pressed commuters.”
Members of the Council’s Transport and Traffic Committee will discuss the issue at a meeting next week.
850000 to take down the toll building and barriers seems a crazy price !!!
Irish water are probably doing it.
leave it open for a few months, once they get 850,000 then close it. Problem eliminated.
If staff are not needed, they are not needed, no point penalizing road users. to create a job that isn’t needed.
the removal of the toll, will add traffic to the area around the docks, and may help revitalize it and it’ll also take cars out of the city center from people avoiding the toll
@Brian. brilliant points made. Couldn’t agree more.
Me & three lads will do it for free. & when we are finished there will take down the west link toll cameras as well. Seeing as WE the public have bought that bridge ten times over. This country is a joke!! Honestly…..
I know a few scrap merchants who would remove for free.
Transfer the staff onto a toll for Beckett/Custom House Bridge. I live in South Dublin and drive through Ballsbridge/Ringend bottlenecks because of this toll.
Having said that. The traffic buildup at rush-hour on the East link is unreal. People obviously value the shortcut more than €2. If kept open the money should be earmarked for the area around the toll itself.
notice how all the items are negative!! and demonstrates how the people who paid for the bridge (US) and just looked upon as cows to milked. how much did the stupid report cost? what about the pollution caused by the queuing traffic & the delays caused to people requiring that route to get to work the bridge was paid for probably thousands of times over. Move on, open the bridge up DCC and make it Free. People will spend their cash elsewhere in the economy.
€800,000 for the consultants, €50,000 to take them down
Knowing our country…there isn’t a hope of the East Link going toll free…easy revenue for DCC. :(
Keep it. And then DCC can recoup all they money they blew on the incinerator over the next decade.
how the hell can it cost €850K to remove the east link toll booths? how much did the M50 one cost?
where is the tender & breakdown of costs for this?
In 1984 we were told the bridge would be paid for in 30 years and would be a public bridge than all we would have to do then is pay road tax
@Tony, I’m from around there and remember all the local representatives telling us that when it has paid for itself that it would be free to the public…. I think they should now stand up to that statement..
Maybe keep the toll but lower the price?
850,000 to knock down a couple of kiosks? I’ll keep an eye out for that tender. Pigs back.
Cross it twice a day and I don’t pay a penny!
Saw you crossing yesterday Reg…..you don,t pay if your on a Zimmer frame .
Still two wheels for me….for now!
Lower the amount. People will be happy and DCC can still get the same amount or near it.
Give me €10,000, a hammer, and a mug of tea. I’ll get rid of that toll within a few days!
Lets blow up the bridge in memory of those who died in the Easter rising or some other populist nonsense.
Haha… yeah, or free it then remane it the Nelson Mandella bridge! At least DCC could waste a morning or two debating it.
Reduce the price enough for it to pay for itself, staff, maintainence, etc.
Put an ATM on the toll plaza. That would help reduce demolition costs.
The East Link Toll was the first toll in the republic. When it was introduced we were told that it would only be tolled, I thought for 20 years, maybe I got that wrong as it’s now 30 years. However we were assured then that when the costs were recovered then the East Link would revert back to the motorist toll-free. Way back then we foolishly believed these sort of promises. We know better now unfortunately. Don’t expect it to ever return to toll-free.
keep all the jobs on eastlink toll bridge and keep our shifts and wages the same,dont be minding all these people out there who do they think they are and who gives them the right to go around saying knock it down with a loss off 22 jobs the counrty are trying to get people back to work not throw them out on the side of the road and on the dole.it is a disgrace to think that tds think they can go around throwing there weight about when they clearly do not know what they are talking about.and keep there opinions to them selves and that includes the publin too?
Keep the toll.
The city needs revenue.
People are used to paying it.
Scrap the toll. Give something back to the Dubs who pay for everything and everybody.
Spa – scrapping the toll means the Dubs will lose money for Dublin.
Don’t assume that everyone who pays the toll is a Dub.
I don’t Bob, ye spanner
So DCC and the port split 2/3 of 4.2million which is 1.4 million each which leaves the lions share of 1.4 million to the private company. Maybe whoever write this article should go back to second class maths
Or if you actually read the article you will see that the council and the port split 1/3 of profits (1.4m divided by 2) and the private company took the lions share of 2/3 (2.4m)
God damn tolls, drove from Galway to Newry last week and cost €20 alone in tolls for the journey up and back.
Remove the toll if Brian Hayes gets elected as an MEP.
We need to return to parish pump politics in Ireland, it’s all got too whistleblowey and transparent. Doesn’t suit our natural penchant for deals and shortcuts. Nobody can get ahead in this sort of environment.
the bridge was suppose to close after it was paid for anyway.why go into the cost of taking it down .leave the booths or sell them .after the major profit it has made after all these years i am sure they can take it down without costig the tax payer money.i am sure the little red and white barrier screws off easily
The Toll is corruption at its best.
go back into the whole you came out off
€4 million a year would be a nice bonus for some of our charities. The uncorrupted ones. Real charities ,not pressure groups. Lifeboats spring to mind and the groups mentioned on the Journal who feed the homeless,some of the animal rescue groups.Any with an overpaid CEO could go take a hike .
Been paying it twice a day for 3 years now. Over €80 a month to use a rubbish, badly maintained single lane bridge for trying to avoid the city center.
So paying over €900 over the year as well as €670 in motor tax and heavily taxed fuel. Not to mention heading northbound in the evening 3 lanes squash into two with the middle lane going nowhere, a mess every time with no attempt to improve road marking a or a few bollards to direct traffic into two lanes better.
get a smaller car then.stop complaining
The toll should be lifted. People have paid enough to build it ten times over at this stage.
Be nice to see some of the money raised put into an expanded footpath and cycle lane each way.
Leave it open and collect the money for DCC, we know how good they are with money, it will be great, so in 23 years we will have got the money back for the poolbeg project
Jobsbridge do it in 1 week for €50? problem solved?
850k to take down a couple of toll booths is an absolute joke, just so how much consultants and contractor are screwing this government, in essence that’s a job that would truly cost a fraction of this. These tolls should, but will never be removed. The government can lose almost €1m or gain €4m per year in a time of austerity, doesn’t take a genius to work out which option they will go for. I don’t agree with it but there is more chance of hell freezing over tbf
Can somebody answer me this, how does it cost €850,000 to crash a JCB into a building the size of a house & put down some tar & stone chippings?
Well, you could have them check for passports at the toll booth and only charge people who can’t prove they are Dubs, but that would surely increase the staffing costs.
have your say