Dublin Port Tunnel air quality

There are fans on the ceiling of the tunnel and they can change directions depending if there is a fire and which direction they want the smoke to move. Maybe contact Dublin tunnel directly with your concerns. There was reports in the past that some systems such as safety cctv cameras were not working and at a certain point it can force a tunnel closure.

At this time of year cold engines can produce a lot more visible pollution.

it seems that those fans are the only ventilation system in the tunnel, so indeed, you would need the fans to be turning to pump out all the fumes.

The inadequate ventilation system is also seemingly the reason that they dont want heavy traffic in the tunnel and why tolls are so punitive

its entirely believable that a bajillion euros was spent on tunnels with no ventilation.

This country sometimes!

The tolls are punitive because it's a HGV route to Dublin port and not a commuter route to the city. They don't want heavy traffic as that means that the HGVs are affected and they have thight deadlines to meet.

peak time toll should be higher, it hasn't remotely kept pace with inflation and I'm sure plenty of people just write it off as a business expense.

Couple of things OP

1: If a slight bit of smoke affects your ability to see where you're going you probably shouldn't be driving.

2: If you're using a private Car, can you please stop using the tunnel? It's getting ridiculous now at this stage the the tunnel traffic has to be stopped during rush hour because there's a stack of private cars entering it.

Tunnel needs an outright ban on cars during rush hour, with a €1,000 fine for breaking the rule. If you appeal and lose the fine should be €5,000.

It's bananas

That tunnel was specifically built for trucks and coaches, to get them off the roads going into the Port and DCC.

It's quite clear at this point that one of two things is happening.

Either they work from home most of the week and a prepared to "take the hit" once or twice per week and drive into town or beyond.

OR

They're very wealthy people with the their own companies or are using company cars and are expensing it.

I genuinely had no idea the problem was so bad up until a few month ago.

I often stay in my GF's house in swords and have stopped using the swords express to get into work at this stage and prefer to just drive home to Raheny and get the Train in.

If they ramp up the cost of the toll exorbitantly, you may see more and more HGV returning to city center roads

How come?

hgvs are free so how will pricing cars out of using the tunnel lead to HGVs driving through the city ? That makes no sense.

A HGV / Bus only lane on the right hand side coming into the tunnel heading towards the port, with traffic lights giving full priority to the HGVs and metering the cars only would help. Let them wait, doing away with one of the benefits and then collect the €12.00 on the way out.

Full priority must be given to buses and HGVs for the tunnel. Mary in her SUV coming in from Malahide or Skerries on her own can wait.

I used to think this too, that how could it not be some money hack.

Turns outs paying less tax by spending more money and writing it off as expenses or a loss is "a thing", don't ask me why it's a thing cause I don't know. And I cannot back it up with hard data. I just know it's a thing that people do for some reason. Its obviously to do with the tax man IE Paying more Tax is bad even if you end up with a bit more money in some scenarios.

Legislation would effect haulage companies so I don't think that will run.

Just ban them from the tunnel and be done with it. We've already done it on Dame St.

this design, coupled with slow speeds when contested and these days cold air at each end of the tunnel will make ventilation tough.

here is the spec

VENTILATION

Forced ventilation is provided within the tunnel by sixteen large jet fans mounted from the tunnel ceiling at various locations in each tube. The system performs two main functions: dilution of pollutants from vehicle exhausts in normal operation and control of smoke in the event of a fire. The ventilation system employed is a longitudinal system where, in simple terms, air is blown through the tunnel in the direction of traffic flow and vitiated (polluted) air is expelled from the exit portals. Under normal operating conditions, it is likely that forced ventilation (using jet fans) will only be required on an occasional basis. For the majority of the time, the airflow induced by vehicles passing through the tunnel (the so called ‘piston effect’), is sufficient to ensure that acceptable limits of pollutants are not exceeded. Sensors continuously monitor the quality of air in the tunnel and if pre-set limits are reached, jet fans are automatically switched on to supplement the piston effect and increase air flow through the tunnel to dilute these pollutants.

I never understand the argument that people do things because a company can write a cost off against tax.

Corporation tax is 12.5% (15% for very large companies)

12.5% is not an incentive for an avoidable cost.

It's more likely that €12 will save xx minutes. Those xx minutes are worth more than €12

As a sole trader, using the toll during your commute to your normal place of work is not an allowable deduction for tax purposes.

Your company/employer reimbursing you for toll costs during your commute to your normal place of work is a taxable payment and should be put through the payroll.

If and when operated properly, I'm not seeing the tax benefit. Legitimate business expense from the tolls would be very small compared to commuter expenses from the tolls.

I can find no direct evidence of cars causing congestion in the tunnel.

Reports suggest its either congestion at the barrier, especially for trucks due to the barriers or a ship coming in. Or just general congestion across the city backing up to the tunnel. Meaning traffic has no where to go.

When this happens they control access to the tunnel so it doesn't get blocked.

It's even more of an issue for a fully loaded HGV, they take a lot longer to get up to speed. Not to mention the extra emissions generated when it has to start moving again especially when going into the tunnel.

How many posting on this thread have actually been through the port tunnel ?

Apologies if this drags the thread off topic but I didn’t think it’d warrant starting a whole new one!

Does anyone know why the tunnel is closed so regularly? I go through it so infrequently I only recently realised it seems to close every single week 9:30pm-4:30am; some weeks twice, others 4 nights pw: https://dublintunnel.ie/tunnel-closures/

I had thought it was maintenance but surely not every single week and multiple times at that? Is staffing a problem perhaps?

It’s a real pain in the ass for the irregular occasions my wife or I are coming home from the city via the Swords Express bus as it uses the tunnel (thus the more expensive fee, plus it’s a coach); even though the drivers know it’s closed they’re still obligated to go all the way down the quays to the 3 arena to pick up before then meandering to Swords via Clontarf etc. We’re both in town tomorrow night and will likely get the rattley 41c back instead as a result ☹️

That's not really an answer.

That's a lot of closures with no reason given.

I say this as I sit waiting for a train that's not appeared and no way of finding out why it's late, missing, nothing. They made a single announcement in 30 mins and didn't repeat it.

Just an abysmal level of customer communication in Ireland.