Newlands Cross Upgrade EIS - European Investment Bank

South Dublin County Council N7 Newlands Cross Upgrade
Environmental Impact Statement
Arup Consulting Engineers
An adequate transportation system is a pre-requisite for the future development of the Greater
Dublin Area. The existing road network is inadequate to meet current needs and requires
interventions to increase capacity to facilitate future growth. This includes both public
transport and the road system.
As a consequence of the intensification of traffic problems within Dublin and its surrounding
hinterland, a number of areas of transportation infrastructure have been identified for
investment. The M7/N7 is identified in the SPGGDA as one of four priority Transportation
Corridors for investment.
2.6 DTO “Platform for Change” – Strategy 2000 – 2016 9
The Final Report of the Dublin Transportation Initiative (DTI), published in 1995,
recommended an integrated transportation strategy for the Greater Dublin Area for the period
up to 2011. The Government decided that this strategy should form the planning framework
for the future development of the transport network in the Greater Dublin Area. It was
recognised that the Strategy would form the first phase of an ongoing transportation planning
process and consequently the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) was set up in 1995 as the
vehicle to take this process forward.
In September 2000 the DTO published its document ‘A Platform for Change’ outlining its
transport strategy for the period 2000 - 2016. This was subsequently updated in November
2001. This strategy supports and complements the strategic land use planning framework
described in the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (SPGGDA) jointly
published by the local authorities and the Department of the Environment and Local
Government in February 1999. These guidelines were enhanced and focused further in the
Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area 2004 – 2016 (RPGGDA) published
in July 2004. The overall strategy from both documents was furthermore incorporated into the
Development Plans of the individual local authorities.
The DTO Strategy seeks to “transform the transportation system in the Greater Dublin Area”.
Some of the benefits of the Strategy will be to reduce average journey times, polluting
emissions and accidents. The DTO transportation strategy comprises two interdependent
elements, firstly infrastructure and service improvements and secondly demand management.
Infrastructure and service improvements are proposed ‘to increase the supply of transport,
including substantial expansion of the public transport network (including LUAS, METRO,
DART and bus services), some strategic road construction and traffic management’.
The DTO Strategy promotes the development of non-national orbital roads within the Dublin
Metropolitan Area, which would include the upgrade of the N7 Junction with the Belgard /
Fonthill Road (R113) at Newlands Cross.
The DTO Strategy also promotes demand management ‘to reduce the growth in travel
through the application of complementary land use and other policies while maintaining
economic progress.’ Demand management is ‘designed to encourage the transfer of trips,
especially at peak periods, from the private car to more sustainable modes of transport (such
as public transport, cycling and walking)’. Possible mechanisms for demand management
include land use policies, economic/fiscal instruments, parking control, mobility management,
information technology measures and reorganisation of work.
The Strategy is an integrated one and ‘will only be effective when both elements
(infrastructure/service improvements and demand management) are implemented together in
a coherent way’. The Scheme is not therefore based on a policy of predict and provide but
comprises an integral part of the overall transportation strategy to promote a balanced
transport system in the Greater Dublin Area.
December 2007 Page 10