Dublin Port Tunnel - Emergency Exits

jc2008

A bit of a random question, but I'm curious!

Do you know those pedestrian emergency exits in the port tunnel, every 250m? Are these just to the other parallel tunnel, or are they to the surface also?

Just to the other bore. Couldn't have someone popping up into Ms. O'Reilly's kitchen in Marino, could we?

jc2008

Dónal wrote: »

Just to the other bore. Couldn't have someone popping up into Ms. O'Reilly's kitchen in Marino, could we?

Haha no, I suppose not! I was thinking maybe they'd exit onto the street or something!

What happens if there's fire/smoke in both bores? I suppose it's a bit unlikely considering they're separate bores!

Seth Brundle

I wouldn't say its unlikely. People panicking through into the second bore will probably cause another incident.

Nissan doctor

Normally modern tunnels have a separate bore for emergency use.

DublinDilbert

Has to be a seperate bore for escape, what if the one in a million chance that there was an accident / fire in both directions. Then again apparently it's one of the only tunnels in Europe that allows fuel tankers use it. What's even better is they queue up a few of them at a time going through, if your going to have a fire you might as well go big!

dhog4n

At least some of the doors open into passages leading to the surface. Some are long and winding as I recall from being there during the construction. There are some service doors leading from one bore to the other if I recall correctly.

Pdfile

i wonder if i open one will i find narnia.. or charlie haughtys burried treasure... or jsut myself arrested ?

im invisible

Only one way to find out...

dr.fuzzenstein

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Has to be a seperate bore for escape, what if the one in a million chance that there was an accident / fire in both directions. Then again apparently it's one of the only tunnels in Europe that allows fuel tankers use it. What's even better is they queue up a few of them at a time going through, if your going to have a fire you might as well go big!

Nice to know, especially when the government at the time said that they did not make the tunnel too low for supertrucks by mistake, but on purpose, because they did not want any of those unsafe, death-trap monsters in the tunnel for safety reason, thereby forcing them through the city center.
In light of that, I would not be surprised at all if those tunnels will lead to some random locations and dead ends and some might indeed exit into Mrs Categon's closet.
Don't forget that most planning was done by complete monkeys that would rubberstamp just about anything for a bag of peanuts.
I would not trust any of the people in government (back then and now) and especially the civil service to open a can of dogfood with a pulltab that was already open.

Nissan doctor

I must be bored but I did a bit of googling and got this:

http://www.dublinporttunnel.ie/safety/

It seems there is no separate exit tunnel, the exits just go to the other bore.

I guess, while possible, the chances of an emergency in both bores has to be pretty slim and I'm sure all the traffic would be stopped by the radio announcements and over head signs in the other bore once there was an evacuation.

dr.fuzzenstein

While we're at idle Googling:
http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/paperstoday/index.php?action=view&id=8022
In this article Bertie says supertrucks should be turned around at the port and sent home.
They did not make a mistake, the rest of the world got it wrong, sure why don't they all listen to us instead, we know it all so much better.
Sure it doesn't matter what the rest of the world does, but some thick gobsh*te tea-shock can decide transport policy for the rest of Europe and what truck manufacturers should be designing.

Fattes

The mont Blanc tunnel does not take super trucks, and sure isnt it only the busiest tunnel in Europe what is the point?

dr.fuzzenstein

Fattes wrote: »

The mont Blanc tunnel does not take super trucks, and sure isnt it only the busiest tunnel in Europe what is the point?

The Mont Blanc Tunnel was finished in 1965, very little or no overheight trucks around then. There where plans to enlarge it, but due to local opposition it didn't happen.
When planning for the Dublin port tunnel started it was known that it would be too low, but that was never taken into account due to incompetence and towering arrogance coupled with monumental stupidity.
Especially when one considers that it was constructed specifically to take trucks out of the city center. For that reason toll for commercial vehicles over 3.5 tons is free and cars cost E10 most of the time. To encourage one and discourage the other. Along with banning trucks from the city center.
What galls me is the "we're right end of story" attitude that was displayed around the whole issue.

Fattes

dr.fuzzenstein; The point was that if the busiest road freight route in Europe does not require the need to take super trucks why should our tunnel?

Most of the Swiss & Austrian Road tunnels don' take them either. The biggest users of Super Trucks are UK Companies, specifically Boots and Tescos should our government plan our infrastructure needs around the requests of a small number of companies?


Also the EU has actually started discussions on banning super trucks so it may have actually been one of the few clever decisions from the clowns in the planning department

dhog4n

As I recall, it was a simple accounting decision. The increase in cost of construction to allow for over height lorries would have been disproportionate to the percentage of such vehicles which were judged likely to need to use the tunnel.

I think it was about 2.5% of lorries were over height and the increase in cost was something like 20% to 30%. That's a lot of hundreds of millions of Euros when the tunnel is already achieving the objective of taking the vast majority of port traffic and HGV's out of the city centre.

Markcheese

If I remember rightly the massive cost increase to handle the bigger trucks was half way through the build process, from the start the difference would or could have been marginal ....how much too low/small is it ... Inches feet,??

Pottler

Boreing. I wanted alternate universes, or at least bank vaults. I thought the first answer was calling Mrs O'reilly bore 1 - I wondered if Joe Duffy was bore 2. On a more Motoring note, anybody gone down the Tunnel by mistake during the day and got caught for the Massive toll?? I did it once, never again. If I ever find myself approaching that toll booth, I will stop and carry the car over the side fences piece by piece, it would be cheaper.

dr.fuzzenstein

Fattes wrote: »

dr.fuzzenstein; The point was that if the busiest road freight route in Europe does not require the need to take super trucks why should our tunnel?

Most of the Swiss & Austrian Road tunnels don' take them either. The biggest users of Super Trucks are UK Companies, specifically Boots and Tescos should our government plan our infrastructure needs around the requests of a small number of companies?


Also the EU has actually started discussions on banning super trucks so it may have actually been one of the few clever decisions from the clowns in the planning department

And my point was that it was built decades before the advent of super trucks and it was to be enlarged to accommodate them but this did not happen due to local opposition to increased traffic.
The cost issue I believe was down to bad planning, had it been designed with larger trucks from the outset, cost would not have been significantly higher, but later on in the planning process it would have cost a lot more to re-jig everything.
As for the EU to ban super trucks? I don't even know what to say to that, that is just begosh and begorrah nonsense of the highest order and can only come from one of Bertie's spin doctors it is so deluded.
Not only is the EU not banning super trucks, the EU has forced Ireland to accept super trucks on it's roads.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-in-reverse-over-supertrucks-after-eu-ruling-231951.html

Anan1

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Not only is the EU not banning super trucks, the EU has forced Ireland to accept super trucks on it's roads.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taoiseach-in-reverse-over-supertrucks-after-eu-ruling-231951.html

That's not what the article says. In fact, it says the opposite: "There is no European legislation that would oblige Member States to accept vehicles higher than 4m for international traffic," - said a press officer for the Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot.

Fattes

dr.fuzzensteinTry this one to From a Bertie Loving Fina Gael MEP Obviously
http://www.jimhiggins.ie/ep/news/2011/374-eu-plans-to-limit-irish-truck-heights-must-be-derailed-says-mep-jim-higgins-


So there is a proposal to cut the Max Height of trucks in the EU.

You have failed to grasp the point in your conquest to bash anything bertie related, in the EU the majority of super truck, and Obviously if I disagree with you I am some kid of Berite spin doctor. Just to be clear I hate all Irish politicians with equal vigor.

The gotthard tunnel in Switzerland can not take supertrucks either. The point is that the cost v the benefit is so slim it is pointless.

The Majority of supertrucks in Europe are operated by a small number of UK based companies.

Lex Luthor

no escape tunnel in the Port tunnel

In the event of a fire the doors between the 2 tunnels will open and you will be routed this way

irelandspurs

Planning a robbery are we OP.

Pottler

irelandspurs wrote: »

Planning a robbery are we OP.

Ha, we must both be cynics, that was my first thought as well.:D I had a vision of Robert DeNiro in that Heist movie tapping away posting on Boards.

Rocheydub

There are cross-over passages every 250 mts and there will be a cessation of traffic in the event of a fire/emergency. The system in that tunnel is incredibly safe. I mean, you would have to prepare for doomsday to keep everyone happy!!!

What if a plane crashes into the tunnel in the docks? What if a major bomb goes off at the tunnel entrance at the M50? I mean seriously...

For any major traffic incident with fire, including tankers, the tunnel is extremely safe. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about... And by the way, before I'm accused of it: I have no vested interest in it at all, I am a member of the emergency services, so have studied it's construction and development with great interest, especially as I live near it!