DUBLIN'S controversial Eastern By-pass Motorway, officially off the transportation agenda, has taken another step towards realisation with the commissioning by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council of a major study of one of its crucial links.
The council is about to appoint consultant engineers to compile a "private and confidential" report on the design of a new road probably to motorway standard which would link the proposed South Eastern Motorway with the N11 Stillorgan Bray road at St Helen's.
With the proposed Dublin Port Tunnel coming in from Whitehall and the M50, or "C-ring", running around the perimeter, this means the only missing link in completing a full "motorway box" would be the relatively short stretch between the port and Booterstown.
The new road scheme being considered by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council would be a northern extension of the South Eastern Motorway, which is being planned to connect the Southern Cross Route the final two portions of the C-ring with the Bray Shankill by pass.
The brief drawn up for the study says it has been "a long term objective of the county council to link the South Eastern Motorway section of the C-ring with the N11 at St Helen's and possibly with the port access route", in other words, completing the Eastern By-pass.
Officially, this scheme, which would link Whitehall with Booterstown, via Dublin Port and Sandymount Strand, is not part of DTI (Dublin Transportation Initiative) strategy. It was dropped by the government in 1993 while the DTI was still in session.
Because of this, the overall strategy recommended by the DTI in its final report (1994) did not include any provision for a northern leg of the South Eastern Motorway. Only the southern leg, linking Sandyford with the Bray Shankill by pass was included.
However, the Dublin Port Tunnel is widely seen as a "Trojan horse" for the Eastern By pass, as it would follow the same route from Whitehall as far as the port. A northern extension to the South Eastern Motorway would perform the same role on the south side of the city.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown councillors have not been informed of the consultancy study. "It was not something we had to bring to the council," said Mr Des Taylor, deputy county manager. "If we had enough engineers, we would have done, it ourselves as part of normal day to day work."
He explained the council was "under pressure from developers" to spell out precisely where the proposed road would run. "We have a rough reservation for it, but it has never been properly surveyed. We are doing this study to come up with a firm line.
More than five years ago, the then Dun Laoghaire Borough Council paid £3 million for a strip of land in the grounds of St Helen's to preserve the reservation for a future motorway. This, too, would facilitate the Eastern Bypass.
Tomorrow Dun Laoghaire Rathdown council is holding a meeting to discuss plans for the South Eastern Motorway. It is expected to agree on a final route for this £114 million scheme, probably the route through Leopardstown recommended by consultants M.C. O'Sullivan.
