Purpose
Traffic congestion in central Dublin became severe at the turn of the century, with thousands of heavy goods vehicles travelling to and from Dublin port via the city centre. The tunnel relieves surface road congestion in Dublin city centre by diverting heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) from Dublin Port directly onto the motorway network. This has positive knock-on effects for bus users, pedestrians and cyclists travelling along the city quays, including better air quality and safer travel.
To discourage commuters from using the tunnel, vehicles other than HGVs are heavily tolled. HGVs travelling north and west benefit from the expected six minute journey time through the tunnel. A tunnel was chosen as it was decided that a surface relief road was not feasible.
The Dublin Bus Routes 142, and 41x use the tunnel to get to the port area of the city from the northern suburbs.
Longer distance buses from Belfast, Derry and Letterkenny occasionally use the route as an alternative to the heavily congested surface roads.
Read more about this topic: Dublin Port Tunnel
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“And the purpose of the many stops and starts will be made clear:
Backing into the old affair of not wanting to grow
Into the night, which becomes a house, a parting of the ways
Taking us far into sleep. A dumb love.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock as not going wrong. The first objective for a clock, is, however, that it does run; not going wrong is an additional regulative function. If not a watch’s greatest accomplishment were not going wrong, unwound watches might be the best.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)