The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has told the Dáil that the Dublin Port Tunnel will provide access to and from Dublin Port to two million truck journeys each year and provide a much needed improvement to the environment of the city centre.
He told the Dáil that of the 6,300 heavy goods vehicles that will use Dublin Port each day, it is expected that 1,500 of five axle or more, will have to use the M50 when the Port Tunnel has opened.
However he said that this would be at off-peak time.
He said a co-ordinated heavy goods vehicles (HGV) strategy being developed would be introduced on 19 February.
However, the Labour Party transport spokesperson, Roisin Shortall, said the Minister had no strategy at all to deal with the huge volumes of traffic coming onto the M50 and the Westlink once the Port Tunnel opens.
She claimed the situation on the M50 and the Westlink was intolerable and pointed out that from next January there was going to be a huge number of vehicles coming from the Port Tunnel out on to the M50.
