Waterford North Quays

They should be planning for a bridge also at Reginalds Tower across to Ferrybank!

whats that big thing upstream with the upside down Y at one end called…?

Unfortunately I think this is just a publicity stunt for cllr Roche. Her, along with the rest of the council, know it is almost impossible to do and that was explained to them by Fergus Galvin in a meeting a couple of months ago. Only way for this to happen is for either TII or Waterford Council to buy out Celtic Roads who own the toll. Really can't see TII doing this given the backlash that the government would get if a public entity bought out this toll and not the M50 toll, and Waterford Council don't have the money to do it. No way Celtic Roads will agree to moving the toll anywhere else as the road is already loss making for them and they'd collect far less money if it was anywhere else on that road.

It would be great to see happening, but I think its impossible and Mary knows this.

She was asking either Eamon Ryan & TII to buy it out or for Waterford Council to buy it out themselves. It would be a multi-million euro buy out though for the sake of moving traffic from one part of the city to another.

An interesting proposal I saw on Twitter was for the Government to agree a 'shadow toll' with Celtic Roads where the toll booth is removed from the road and the Government agree to make a payment to Celtic Roads every year based on the average number of cars on the road, I think this is what they've agreed to do on the New Ross Bypass. It would still cost millions over the remaining life of the toll contract but would avoid the multi million euro cash spend up front.

I think Waterford people are fortunate they aren't paying more tolls. On a trip from Dublin to Galway over the weekend I had to pay three on the way there and three on the way back.

This looks like a really half assed proposal from a local Councillor. I'm sure the individual means well, but quotes like the one below reek of amateurism.

"While I don't have any proof of it, I would argue that if you knocked on the windows of every car going down the Quay, and asked them where they were going, I would say 70-80% of them are not stopping in the city."

Personally, I wouldn't use the road if the toll was removed, not in the near future anyway. It's a bypass of Waterford rather than a ring road, and is catered to those who don't want to go through Waterford on their way to somewhere else.

Instead of throwing submissions into the Minister for Transport, they'd be better off doing their job and working with the Council to conduct research to help identify the issues and potential solutions to problems.

Perhaps a park and ride facility on the approaches from Ferrybank and Sallypark would be a suitable pilot project to help take some pressure off the quays.

Why not toll through-traffic in the city? A kind of congestion charge.

Waterford City residents can get a permit, but anyone else snapped going in one side of the city and leaving the City on another side would have to pay a toll that is either the same value or slightly above what is on the Maher bridge.

This would have to be done in such a way as to not penalise people for going into the City to shop / spend money but I think would be achievable. More acheivable than buying out Celtic Roads.

I've long felt that this could be a real game changer.

Unclear as to the engineering challenges and the most cost effective option, but I'd like to see something coming across the River Barrow somewhere between Minaun and Passage. That would link up parts of South Wexford which are currently quite isolated, and it'd also give a fairly straight run between Wexford town and places like Ardkeen Hospital, the Airport and the industrial estates on the Cork Road.

Another option is to continue the road from Belview across to Faithlegg and also linking it up with the Outer Ring Road.

These are ambitious future projects that could drive further growth in a functioning south east economic area, and might be a better use of time than asking for a toll to be scrapped.

So charging people to do the thing you want them to do and leaving it free to do the thing you don’t want them to do is logical? Also, you do get that to use the bypass coming and going to work costs around €500 a year. The logic is certainly all over the place! Also, €2 is for one go only, its disingenuous calling people dense for not taking the bypass option.

I know cars kill a city, did you read what I wrote above?

“Reality is if you want to do the free thing then be prepared to sit in traffic, thats the decision people make and the council know this.”

Precisely, the Quay as it currently stands is a tool to force traffic on to the bypass. And in that lies the problem. The Quays are not designed to be a city street friendly to pedestrians and cyclist. It is part of an integrated plan to force traffic on to the bypass. And that is the way it will stay until the toll is removed, the city stops being a through road and people start to seeing the city centre a living area not as a parking lot.

Think the best option would be to trial the bypass as toll free for a few months.

There's not much advantage for people living in Ferrybank to use the toll bridge. You might save 5 minutes by travelling twice the distance.

The traffic in the morning from the toll bridge regularly stretches up from the Cork road or beyond to near the toll bridge

Ironically nobody sees that because the clowns commenting on this thread or Mary Roche obviously don't use it either.