Transport Infrastructure Ireland has announced toll increases on a number of roads across the country, which will take effect January 1 next year.
The increases will apply to certain rates chargeable across the eight PPP and two Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) toll roads – the M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel – on the national road network, according to TII.
A €1 increase will take effect for those travelling southbound through the Dublin Port Tunnel during the weekday peak hours of 6AM to 10AM, raising the toll from €13 to €14 from January 1.
According to TII, the tolling arrangements at the Port Tunnel are intended to manage demand during peak hours to ensure that Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) such as cargo trucks entering and leaving Dublin Port are not impeded.
TII cited heavier levels of traffic during the specified morning rush period as necessitating the increase in this instance.
The majority of categories of vehicles will see a 10 cent increase on the M50, except for unregistered motor cars without a tag or video account.
HGVs exceeding 10,000kg holding a video account will experience a 20 cent increase on the M50.
Meanwhile, on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) toll roads most car tolls will be unaffected, TII said, except for users of the M4 Kilcock to Kinnegad and M3 Clonee to Kells motorway affected by a 10 cent increase. Goods vehicles on all toll concessions roads will be impacted by a 10 cent increase.
There will also be 20 cent increase on HGVs of more than 3,500kg having 4 axels or more on the M4 Kilcock to Kinnegad motorway.
TII said that toll prices are regulated by an inflation (CPI) adjustment mechanism, which means that tolls can’t go above inflation.
“The tolling income collected by TII on M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel is combined with Exchequer funding to pay for TII’s annual protection and renewal of national roads,” TII said, adding that “operation, maintenance and lifecycle costs of the tolled sections of the motorway is funded by tolling income collected by eight PPP Co’s”.
There are ten toll roads on the national road network.
Eight are operated under the PPP model, while two are operated directly on behalf of TII – the M50-eFLow barrier free toll, and the Dublin Port Tunnel.