New tunnel to cut journey times

THE Limerick Tunnel opened on Tuesday, following four years of work and an expenditure of €660m.
The development connects the M7 Dublin to Limerick Route with the N18/M18 Galway to Limerick road, while it completes the Southern Bypass of Limerick.

Part of the development consists of a tunnel under the bed of the River Shannon, for a distance of 675m. There are 9.75km of two-lane dual carriageway and 2.3km of single-lane carriageway. There are interchanges at Rossbrien and Coonagh and the tunnel has the capacity to take 40,000 vehicles a day. There are two toll plazas with charges of €1.80 for cars, €0.90 for motorbikes and €5.70 for large trucks.
The official opening was performed by An Taoiseach Brian Cowen and he said it is a very important development.
“This was a complex project that was completed within budget and it’s a critical investment not just for Limerick but for the Mid-West Region. As has been said, it will take about 27,000 vehicles a day and it will reduce traffic across the bridges in the city. At peak traffic times, it will have time-savings of over 20 minutes and, of course, it completes the Southern Ring Road.
“It’s an important occasion for a number of reasons. The infrastructure in itself is very impressive but the return on the investment will be seen in the wider social and economic benefits it will provide.”
He said that there have been major improvements to infrastructure in recent years.
“This tunnel is just one example of the legacy of the investments of recent years. There have been dramatic improvements in infrastructure right across the country, benefiting people in their daily lives, as well as making Ireland a more competitive place to do business.”
He said that the region will see further improvements in the very near future.
“The Atlantic Road Corridor, stretching as it does from the top of Donegal all the way to Waterford, via Sligo, Galway, Limerick and Cork, will be the primary focus of the roads element of the Government’s Transport 21 initiative, once the major inter-urban routes are completed at the end of the year. I believe that the next link to be put in place will be the Gort to Crusheen section of the N18, which, I understand, may well open ahead of schedule later this year.”
He said that a lot of very complex work had gone into the project. “This has to be among the most technically complex pieces of civil engineering ever to have been delivered in Ireland. It is a credit to all who have been involved in its construction at all levels and from all professions. Every one of you can take pride in what you have achieved here today. The Limerick Tunnel will remain as a lasting testament to your skills and hard work into the future.”

Patrick remembers Ardnacrusha opening
IN 1929, one of the fledgling Free State’s greatest achievements came to pass with the opening of the Shannon scheme in Ardnacrusha.
It was a huge addition to the Mid-West’s rather basic infrastructure of the time and 15-year-old Patrick Skehan was there to see President Cosgrave open it.
Eighty years have passed and the Bridgetown native was in Limerick on Tuesday to see Brian Cowen officially open another very significant piece of infrastructure.
There were politicians of all hues in Limerick on Tuesday hoping to get their names associated with a rare piece of good news but in 1929, party loyalties prevented many from attending the opening, Patrick says.
“I remember the day it opened in Ardnacrusha. It was very low key. There was no crowd or no politicians only the president of the time, President Cosgrave, his wife and two sons. That was all that was there. It wasn’t like today. That was very poorly attended, why I don’t know. Maybe it was disapproval. Also, it was the first time we had an Irish Government and it was a great feather in the cap for Cumann na nGaedheal and the other crowd didn’t attend it at all.”
He has long known that a construction boom has its limitations.
“The pay at Ardnacrusha was eight pence ha’penny for labourers, 10 pence an hour for a fireman in an engine and a shilling for a driver. It was considered well paid at the time. But when the Shannon scheme was over, there were houses where there had been six or seven working on it and then they had nothing. It was all gone and there were a lot of wages coming out of it.”
Patrick never worked in Ardnacrusha but his family opened a shop because of the money flowing from it.
“We had a shop in O’Briensbridge on account of it. It was the greatest misfortune we ever had. There were a lot of fellas coming in and buying things on the slate. When the Shannon scheme was over, we never got the money,” he says, with a rueful shake of the head.
In his address, Brian Cowen said he found it “very poignant” to meet Patrick at the opening of another significant piece of infrastructure and the Bridgetown man, who still follows politics and current affairs, feels that the Irish public may be a little severe on the Taoiseach.
“We’re all cutting the bowels out of him but it’s all over Europe this recession, isn’t it? The only thing I’d say is previous to him coming in, there were houses built that’ll never be lived in and where no businesses will be set up. It was a terrible waste.”
He was very pleased to see the tunnel opening. “It’s splendid. And it’s very much needed as well.”