The Dundalk Western Bypass Public Private Partnership Project Officially opened by Mr. Martin Cullen, TD, Minister for Transport, in the presence of Cllr. Peter Savage, Cathaoirleach, Louth County Council Monday 26th September 2005 Louth County Council
Ballymascanlan Interchange Dundalk Western Bypass M1 N53 Interchange DUNDALK Introduction Mr. Martin Cullen, TD, Minister for Transport The opening of the M1 Dundalk Western Bypass is a major milestone in the upgrading of our national road network. This new 11km road improves transport links between Dublin and Belfast, while enhancing the attractiveness of the North East BMW region as a location for investment and economic development. It is the first of a new tranche of Public Private Partnerships schemes to be completed. Its construction, at no cost to the taxpayer, and its opening five months ahead of schedule highlight the critical importance of Public Private Partnerships Southern Link in the delivery of much needed road infrastructure. This year alone, the Government Interchange is investing 1.415 billion in our National Roads infrastructure. With the delivery of each new road, bypass or motorway, we are generating more jobs, creating a more sustainable business environment and developing a better standard of living for our communities. As we are providing the opportunities to ensure that each region of the country prospers, it is also becoming more evident that what were once major traffic bottlenecks on key national routes, are now reaping dividends of better and more certain journey times and improved environmental quality in the bypassed towns and villages. Well done to all involved in the project and may all who use this road travel safely.
Cathaoirleach Address - Peter Savage On behalf of the people of County Louth and those commuting through our County, I welcome the opening of this new motorway. It is once again a major infrastructural project of which the county can be proud. It is another link in the Euroroute EO1 project and will greatly add to the quality of life for the residents of Dundalk and the county at large. My wish is that those who use this road will do so with due regard to theirs and others safety. Manager s Address Martina Moloney It is my privilege to express a grateful thanks to all concerned with the successful planning and execution of this innovative project. This important piece of infrastructure places Dundalk, a designated Gateway town, in a further position of strength on the Dublin-Belfast corridor to support employment in key sectors of the economy such as service, industry, construction, and tourism. It will greatly benefit road safety, reduce journey times and improve the quality of life for Dundalk residents and gives the town of Dundalk a wonderful comparative advantage in the area of its accessibility and attractiveness for investment and as a great place to live. A Message from Mr. Peter Malone, Chairman of the National Roads Authority I am particularly pleased, as a native of Dundalk, to welcome today s opening of the M1 Dundalk Western Bypass. This motorway scheme of 11km forms part of the North / South Strategic Corridor and is located on the Trans- European Road Network (Euroroute E01), running along the eastern seaboard and linking international seaports at Larne, Dublin, Rosslare and Dublin Airport. This scheme located in the Border, Midlands and Western Region (BMW) of the country is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, and is one of ten identified by the NRA as part of the overall strategy to deliver the national roads element of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. This scheme represents the fruition of the Government s policy in this regard of acelerating national road schemes through the (PPP) mechanism. The scale and pace of the roads programme is now delivering continuous sections of super highway and the completion of this section of the M1 allows motorists to travel on a continuous motorway from Dublin to Ballymascanlon north of Dundalk, a total distance of 91 kms of national road. Earlier this year the final section of the M50 Dublin C-ring was completed linking all of the radial routes from Dublin spreading across the country from the M1 to the N11. Ireland s economy is growing at a fast pace and the national roads programme will facilitate this growth, catering for efficient movement of business and tourism traffic, with the opening of further major projects such as the Dublin Port Tunnel and the M4 Kilcock / Kinnegad motorway over the next 12 months. I congratulate all involved in delivering this project, our friends in the EU for part financing the design of the project, our colleagues in Louth County Council and of course the contracting consortium, Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk) Ltd.
A message from Mr Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Transport On behalf of the European Commission, I welcome the opening of this new section of motorway on the M1, which forms part of the Trans European Road Network. (Euroroute E01). The Commission is delighted to have been involved in part funding the design of this scheme through the TEN-T Fund. The completion of this project together with other road projects on the M1 will facilitate the safe and efficient movement of goods and people in the Border, Midlands and Western region of Ireland. Introduction The Dundalk Western Bypass scheme forms part of the strategic north-south road corridor Euroroute E01. Euroroute E01 is part of the Trans-European Road Network proposed by the European Union. It forms part of the link (along with E30) of the three largest centres of population on the island (Dublin, Belfast, Cork) and provides access to the main commercial seaports and international airports. The Dundalk Western Bypass extends from the northern end of the Dunleer/ Dundalk Motorway and terminates at the N1 north of Dundalk in the vicinity of the existing Ballymascanlan Roundabout. The Contract The Dundalk Western Bypass PPP Scheme essentially comprises two parts construction of the 11km of new motorway, and the operation and maintenance of this new section plus the existing 43km from Dundalk southwards to Gormanston in County Meath which includes the cable stayed River Boyne Bridge. The PPP Contract period is 30 years, until 2033, at which time the motorway must be handed back with a residual life expectancy of at least 10 years. The PPP Contract was awarded to Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk) Ltd. in February 2004, and is fully funded by the collection of tolls at the plazas on the existing motorway south of the River Boyne Bridge. Route The construction of the Dundalk Western Bypass involved the design and construction of a new 11km section of motorway from Ballymascanlan to Haynestown, along with approximately 7km of new link roads, 12 over/underbridges and a major railway overbridge. The M1 links Dublin to Belfast and is a key corridor running along the eastern seaboard of Ireland linking international seaports at Larne, Dublin, Rosslare and Dublin Airport, which caters for the efficient movement of traffic to and from mainland Europe. I wish all who use the road a safe journey.
Construction Ballynahattin Bridge Slide a first for Ireland The slide is the euphemistic name given to the operation of moving the new Ballynahattin railway bridge (B13) from its pre-constructed position into its final working position where the motorway passes below the Dublin Belfast railway line. This was a complex procedure which required the co-ordination of many organisations, manufactures, suppliers, sub-contractors and specialists. Following the construction of the bridge adjacent to the line over a four month period, the structure was moved into its final position during a 72 hour track possession granted by Iarnrod Eireann at the Easter weekend in March 2005. The system employed to move the bridge in to its final position was a proprietary French technique called Autoripage, which has not been used in Ireland before. The Autoripage method requires that the bridge and its base be constructed on a guide raft which initially supports the structure, and then provides directional guidance and an anchorage against which hydraulic jacks can pull. Six hydraulic jacks were deployed for this bridge push, one pair at the base of each of the three bridge piers. The four span skewed bridge is over 80m from end to end and was pushed a total distance of 44m to its final position. The structure weighs 7,500 tonnes, and is the biggest structure in the world to be pushed into place by the Autoripage method. The whole operation required careful planning and co-ordination over the 72 hour period, but the removal of the existing embankment was comfortably achieved within Day 1, the bridge pushed into position during Day 2 and all finishing and reinstatement on Day 3, thus allowing hand back to Iarnrod Eireann and re-opening of the line after the holiday weekend as intended. Finance The consortium will recoup the up-front construction costs and on-going operation and maintenance costs through the collection of tolls. The contract provides that the NRA will make no payments to the consortium, and that the consortium will pay 95% of the toll revenue collected during the construction period to the NRA, which is estimated at 18 million, and furthermore will pay a share of the future toll revenues during the remainder of the concession period. This revenue share occurs when traffic volumes are above specified levels as a mechanism to prevent windfall profits in the event of exceptional traffic growth. It is estimated that if the public sector were to undertake all the works in the contract that it would cost approximately 340m with the construction element amounting to 160m. CRG Chairman Statement Michael King I am very proud of what Celtic Roads Group (CRG) have achieved in completing, well ahead of schedule and within budget, this motorway. This bears witness to the great skills, effort and commitment of everyone in CRG, our advisors and our banking partners, and in particular our partners in the National Roads Authority (NRA). The completion of the construction of the motorway has been a tremendous success and we look forward with great enthusiasm to operating and maintaining the motorway for the next 28 years of this concession. The Dundalk Western Bypass completes this phase of the M1 and comprises some 11 kilometers of motorway plus over 7 Km of side roads and 14 principal structures which have been completed in under 20 months, 5 months ahead of the ambitious target we set ourselves when we made our partnership agreement with the National Roads authority. I believe that the achievement of completing the Dundalk Western Bypass ahead of schedule is not only a success for our CRG partnership of NTR, Ascon and ACS/Dragados but also for the Public sector team of NRA and the local authorities. The Dundalk Western Bypass is the first of the new generation of Public Private Partnership road schemes to open ahead of their schedules. Clearly the partnership model between public and private sectors is capable of delivering the needed national infrastructure efficiently and effectively.
Environmental Matters Prior to construction, a team of ecologists undertook extensive field surveys of a range of fauna and flora including trees, hedgerows, nesting birds, badgers, bats, otters, fish and amphibian. The information gained from these surveys critically informed the site clearance programme and provided the basis for the training of on-site staff so as to ensure that on-site clearance was tightly controlled and that ecological mitigation measures were fully implemented. The badger and otter surveys determined the location and extent of the extensive network of mammal underpasses and otter and badger exclusion fencing that has been incorporated into the scheme design thereby minimising of the road kill of these species. The design and management of construction around river crossings has been focused on approaches that minimised both the short and long term implications for fish and other aquatic species. Extensive landscape surveys, coupled with the maximising the preservation of existing trees and hedgerows, has ensured that the landscaping of the DWB will be fully knitted into the form and character of the existing landscape and, through reference to the pre-clearance site surveys, will ensure high levels of connectivity between the habitats on either side of the road. As the landscape planting matures, the ecological value of the habitats created along the road alignment will increasingly supplement those that adjoin the new road.
Archaeology The motorway route was the subject of intense archeological scrutiny prior to commencement of any construction work. All known archeological sites were excavated, the route was fully trial trenched, and the amount of potentially unrecorded archaeology was further minimised by several pre-construction assessments including aerial photography, topographic, stratigraphic, geophysical survey and testing. These investigations revealed a broad spectrum of archeological sites typical of the area, but most particularly for the prehistoric period. Monitoring by a specialist archaeology team, under supervision of the NRA s Project Archaeologist, was also maintained throughout the works. One significant discovery, of an early medieval souterrain with chambers, was made during the works near Castletown River. Following directions from the Minister (possibly the first given under the recently introduced legislation) the site was meticulously exposed, recorded, surveyed, protected and reinstated as required.
The Government funded element of the scheme includes site supervision, consultant s fees and land acquisition. The planning and design element was part-funded by the TEN-T Fund of the European Union. The construction of this project forms part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. The contract was awarded to Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk) Ltd in February 2004. The consortium comprises Dragados Concesiones de Infraestructuras SA (a major Spanish firm), Edmund Nuttall Ltd (UK), Ascon Contractors Ltd (Irl) and NTR plc (Irl). Louth County Council