Mapping the roads and railways to the future

Plans aim to integrate and extend key services

PROJECT Ireland 2040, launched by Government yesterday, aims to significantly improve the State’s infrastructure, in particular, the transport network across the country.

The ambitious strategy is designed to accommodate the projected one million additional people living in the State 25 years from now – mapping out where they will live, work and learn.

Over the coming year, the plan will see an extended Metro which will now reach to the south side of Dublin city, along with significant extensions to the Dart.

The National Planning Framework (NPF) aims to determine how best to achieve balanced regional development and to prioritise growth in the major cities – though Dublin is forecast to grow at a slower pace under this plan.

The second strand, the National Development Plan (NDP), is a ten-year, €116billion programme to upgrade State infrastructure.

Public transport will be one of the most ambitious strands of the plan. There will be a Dublin Metro linking Swords to Sandyford, with a stop at Dublin Airport.

Part of this will operate underground in the city centre and will share some of the same stops as the Luas Green Line in Dublin’s south city centre.

The Dart Expansion Programme will see high-frequency electrified services extended to Drogheda, Celbridge, Maynooth and the M3 Parkway on the Maynooth/Sligo line. New stations will be opened to provide interchange with bus, Luas and Metro networks. There will be four new Luas lines, with extensions to Lucan, Finglas, Poolbeg and Bray. However, work on these is not due to begin until after 2027. Dublin, Cork and Galway will have a BusConnects project which aims to revamp and streamline the service, while Dublin Airport will get a second runway at a cost of €320million.

Dublin Port, the Port of Cork and Shannon Foynes Port Company will get €350million investment. Meanwhile, the M20 motorway between Cork and Limerick will be built at a €900million cost, and the Galway Ring Road will be built at a cost of €550million.

Population growth of one million