*Photograph: Brian Arthur
MOTORISTS IN CLARE are adjusting to increased toll fees at the Limerick Tunnel.
Since January 1st, higher toll charges for Clare drivers using the Limerick Tunnel or heading to Dublin have been in force, rising from €1.90 to €2.00, a 50c weekly increase for motorists that travel via the tunnel five days a week. The Limerick tunnel route was first opened to traffic in July 2010
In comparison, the East Link Toll Bridge in Dublin has gone up 50c per use, the 36 percent price rise is the highest increase on part-privately owned motorways.
As well as the Limerick tunnel, the 10c increase has also been applied to the M4, M1, N6, M7/M8, N8, N25 Waterford. Tolls on the M50 won’t increase for users of toll tags, but will increase by 10c for video account-registered vehicles, going from €2.60 to €2.70, and vehicles without toll tags or video accounts, from €3.10 to €3.20. There is no increase on the M3 in Meath, the Dublin Port Tunnel will remain at €10 in peak hours and €3 at other times.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland who are responsible for setting state toll prices said the spike was driven by inflation. “The increase in inflation over the nine-year period from August 2012 to August 2021 was 4.3pc, of which 2.9pc related to inflation between August 2020 and August 2021”.
Accounts filed in August for DirectRoute Ltd, the private consortium operating the toll at the Limerick tunnel showed that Traffic Guarantee payments from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to the consortium soared by 148% to €9.63m in 2020 up from €3.88m in 2019. Toll income declined by 29% from €16.76 million to €11.96 million due to the Covid-19 lockdown impact on traffic volumes.
The jump in Traffic Guarantee payments resulted in overall revenues for DirectRoute Ltd increasing marginally from €22.25 million to €22.55 million last year in spite of the pandemic impact on motorway traffic volumes. Pre-tax losses of €10m were recorded, however, this is largely due to the large non-cash depreciation cost of €13.4 million incurred last year and finance payments of €18 million.
DirectRoute Limerick signed the 35 year toll contract from August 2006. At the end of the concession period in 2041, the firm will hand back the road to the TII.
