Network of new M-way rest areas unveiled

THE location of the 26 continental-style rest and service facilities promised for our motorways and dual-carriageways have been unveiled.

The move is in response to growing safety concerns over truckers dozing off at the wheel and car drivers not being able to rest on long journeys.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey will tomorrow introduce legislation to provide service areas - which will include shops and petrol pumps - at intervals of between 50km and 60km along the motorway/dual-carriageway network.

More basic rest areas, with parking, toilet facilities and small picnic areas, are being built at intervals of between 25km and 30km.

These facilities will be located both on the roads and at or close to existing interchanges.

Constructed

Up to 12 service areas and 11 rest areas will be constructed on the major inter-urban routes (M1 Dublin to the border, M4/N4 Dublin/Sligo, N6 Dublin/Galway, M7/N7 Dublin/Limerick, N8 Dublin/Cork, N9 Dublin/Waterford, N11 Dublin/Wexford and N6/N18 Galway and Limerick, part of the new Atlantic Corridor.

The Bill goes to committee stage in the Dail tomorrow and is due to be approved before the summer recess.

The rest/service stops will be rolled out from 2009.

As revealed in the Irish Independent, all high-grade dual-carriageways are to be re-classified as motorways.

The National Roads Authority had been forced to do a u-turn on its opposition to service areas along motorways because of concerns about traffic pulling on and off them.

The authority also voiced concerns that such facilities would be a 'Trojan horse' catalyst for large-scale commercial, retail and housing developments in their vicinity.

However the NRA was forced to abandon its opposition in the face of public uproar that truckers were unable to take the mandatory rest breaks under law because no facilities were provided for them.

Motoring organisations also raised concerns over the absence of modern facilities for car drivers who wanted to take a break from driving and use cafe or toilet facilities for themselves or their children.

Mr Dempsey will tomorrow make a number of amendments to the Roads Act 1993 to facilitate the provision of service and rest areas on the national road network.

He said that Ireland's national road network has been transformed almost beyond all recognition over the last decade.

"One of the consequences of the substantial development of long lengths of motorways and high quality dual carriageways in Ireland is that there is now an increasing need for facilities to cater for road users who wish to rest during their journeys and/or avail of fuel, sanitary andrefreshment facilities," he said.

"Mindful of this, my colleague Minister Martin Cullen asked the NRA to review their policy in this area last year."

"It is worth remembering that the timely development of these areas will make a valued contribution to improving the safety of the road network," he said.

"This will be true for all road users but particularly so for road hauliers who tend to drive for longer sustained periods than most other road users," Mr Dempsey added.

Network

The minister said the rest areas that will be constructed on the network will also make it easier for truckers to comply with EU rules on driving times and rest periods.

He said the NRA had recently concluded an extensive investigation to identify the optimum locations for on-line service and rest areas.

The exercise identified the fact that the Roads Act 1993 did not give the NRA explicit powers to provide these rest and service areas on the existing motorway and dual carriageway networks.

Mr Dempsey said the new provisions greatly facilitate the NRA in arranging for the provision of service areas on motorways and dual carriageways.

Treacy Hogan
Irish Independent