National Development Plan failure

kanurocks

Irelands transpot system is a disgrace and i dont think the ten year development plan is dealing with it suficiently .Every time i walk by the luas works theres at least ten guys doing nothing!then when i go by connoly in the evening there still doing nothing.Im just so angry!Are the goverment throwing money down the john on a project that wont even serve the mass majority of personal transport users.Which is the whole point ,to stop mass conjestion in dublin.Theres just so much wrong and it makes me angrier every day!:mad:

Victor

Which particular "development paln" are you [strike]ranting about[/strike] talking of?

kanurocks

The 10 year n.d.p linking the luas ,Iranrod Eairann, The metro (which will eventually link connoly and heuston),and Dublin bus upgrade .The whole thing is suppose to fit together(in theory)But factor in personal transport expandidng expoentially and it becomes a failure.
ps sorry bout the ranting !

West Briton

Waiting to build everything at once before starting is a recipe for doing nothing at all. Rebuilding the Harcourt Street line is surely a no-brainer. A transport corridor has been lying idle since 1959 and had been protected by successive City and County Development plans from 1971 onwards. Where governments have failed is that the promise to develop the Harcourt Street line as a busway in 1988 should have been implemented straight away. As the busway was being used the case for converting into light rail or heavy rail (like DART) should have been under evaluation.

The Tallaght line was going to be developed in one form or another. The lands that the tramway runs on from the Mad Cow to Tallaght have been reserved since the early 1980s. There was a land reservation from Mount Argus to Tallaght for a busway, which would have been a very useful bit of infrastructure but good old Dublin Corporation authorised development across the route at various points.

It seems that the reason why piecemeal development of Dublin's transport infrastructure happens is that the Department of Finance kill schemes. Have a look at the following:

DART: Basic City Wide Scheme designed and launched 1975. Howth-Bray as phase 1 authorised by Fianna Fail a few weeks before the Local/European elections in 1979. Funding basis changed from grant to loan and monies received from the European Union diverted into the exchequer. Fine Gael/Labour Government listened to the Economists and made noises to the effect that if they had been in power in 1979 they would not have authorised the project. Fianna Fail minority Government in 1988 stated that no further expansion of DART would happen.

The Maynooth Line: Only happened in 1981 because the Fine Gael/Labour Government was in a minority position and the local FG TD in Kildare, Bernard Durkan, campaigned hard for it. The service was starved of money for years and has only reached its potential in recent years.

The Kildare Arrow: Authorised 1992, completed 1994. Shockingly fast implementation and has proved to be a success. Irish Rail's Kldare Route Project is an intelligent attempt to plan for the future but needs money.

And the Luas. This football has been kicked around since 1988, since the brakes were put on the DART by Fianna Fail. Christ knows how many cooks have spoiled the broth on this one.

kanurocks

Do you remember the plans in 1972 for a complete dublin metro simmilar to london's
it would have served the whole city.While as the luas only serves 8% of it.:rolleyes:

West Briton

Yes I do.

"DART: Basic City Wide Scheme designed and launched 1975. Howth-Bray as phase 1 authorised by Fianna Fail a few weeks before the Local/European elections in 1979. Funding basis changed from grant to loan and monies received from the European Union diverted into the exchequer. Fine Gael/Labour Government listened to the Economists and made noises to the effect that if they had been in power in 1979 they would not have authorised the project. Fianna Fail minority Government in 1988 stated that no further expansion of DART would happen"

As for Luas, better 8% than 0%, which is what the economists and the bar stool philosopers in the Business Post and the Indo would prefer.

kanurocks

What the hell are they going to do about it now?Conjestion and infrastructure polices may hold the balance of power in the next election.This is problem that they cant steal funding from everytime europe barks!

cyclopath2001

Lets add Dublin' "Strategic Cycling Network" to the list.

The DTO claims to have 'built' 320km of 'cycle network', but whether or not you believe this claim depends on how you define 'build' and what is meant by 'cycle network'.