N1/M1 Dundalk Western By-Pass

Dundalk, Co. Louth.

Construction of an 11 km stretch of dual 2 lane motorway forming part of the N1/M1 national primary route in the vicinity of the town of Dundalk, together with approximately 8 km of associated side roads and tie-ins and a 30 year concession to operate and maintain the new motorway and 42km of existing motorway comprising the Dunleer Bypass and the Dunleer/Dundalk Motorway and the M1 Northern Motorway. The operation and maintenance of the M1 tolling facilities are also included.

Public Private Partnership DBFO.

Bespoke based on Highways Agency model.

National Roads Authority (NRA).

Babtie Group Ltd – Technical and Procurement Advisers to NRA

KPMG  - Financial Advisers

McCann Fitzgerald and Freshfields Bruckaus  - Legal Advisers

MCO’Sullivan Ltd Consulting Engineers– Project Consultants to Louth County Council

PPP Co

Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk) Ltd

Contract awarded 9th February 2004.

ITN Feb 2002, BAFO August 2003, Preferred Bidder Oct 2003, Contract Award Feb 2003, Completion Spring 2006.

Capital value €100m.

This road scheme forms part of the overall upgrading of the route between Dublin and the Border and is included in the National Roads Authority’s PPP roads programme. The programme is part of Ireland’s National Development Plan to improve the country’s major infrastructure and in particular to improve road safety and reduce journey times between Ireland’s major population centres.

This requirement to operate and maintain 42 km of existing Motorway from early in the contract and ultimately to operate and maintain 53km much of which was remote from the tolled section, necessitated the use of incentives, through e.g. the payment mechanism, to ensure reasonable standards of maintenance were achieved.

Following a Judicial Review, which resulted in a delay to the procurement process, it was decided to procure the tolling facilities on the Northern Motorway (part of the existing road) as advance contracts. Six separate contracts were put in place including contracts for the construction of the toll plaza, associated equipment and buildings and the operation and maintenance. Both the Northern Motorway and the tolling facilities opened in June 2003 requiring a temporary tolling contractor to be put in place until the PPP Co could take over the tolling operations. There were a number of issues around the transfer of responsibilities.

A policy decision by the NRA on the introduction of Electronic Toll Collection led to introduction of requirements in the PPP contract to provide ETC express lanes in each direction at the M1 mainline toll plaza south of Drogheda, ETC hardware in each of the 10 Toll Lanes and additional software and back office facilities.  This was coupled with requirements to facilitate interoperability with other toll collection systems in Ireland to enable subscribers to one operator’s system to use another operator’s system seamlessly. Tenderers were given the option of using a central clearing house to be established by the NRA or making their own arrangements. 

Possibly one of the most crucial areas in the construction phase of the project is Railway Crossing (UB 153A) at Ballynahattin which will carry the existing Dublin-Belfast railway over the proposed M1 Motorway (Dundalk Western Bypass) at approximate motorway chainage DWB/25150. It is envisaged that this railway bridge will be built alongside the railway line and that it will be slid into position under a railway possession.  There were a number of issues around CIE requirements, the timing of the slide and the potential for delays.

Following a review completed in 2001, the NRA decided to provide median safety barriers on new motorways and dual carriageways where the width of the central median is 15 metres or less and to retrofit barriers on older roads where medians fall into this category.  Retrofitting median safety barriers on the Dunleer Bypass and Dunleer-Dundalk Motorway sections of the Existing Road was originally included in the Dundalk Western Bypass PPP scheme. In July 2003 the NRA decided to expedite the provision of median barriers along the M1 by removing them from the PPP scheme and procuring them instead through a separate design and build contract.

Design, development, decision-making processes: The national Authority published its National Road Project Management Guidelines in March 2000 as part of a new suite of publications intended to assist local authorities in developing the national roads infrastructure to a consistent and high standard. These Guidelines provide a comprehensive framework for the planning, design, construction and management of major national road improvement projects and incorporate, inter alia, new NRA reporting mechanisms, formal approval systems and a more in-depth approach towards public consultation and environmental awareness in the project planning and management process. All major national road improvement projects, including PPP schemes, are developed in accordance with the Guidelines.

Design Standards and Specifications are generally in accordance with the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (“DMRB”) and the Specification for Roadworks (“the Specification”) which were published by the National Roads Authority in August 2000.

The procurement procedure followed a model established and developed in the N4/N6 Kinnegad-Kilcock Motorway, the first scheme to be procured and reach financial and commercial close under the PPP programme. Dundalk took slightly longer to procure than originally envisaged because of the delay due to the Judicial Review and due to the negotiations to contract close taking 2 months or so longer than expected. The project team performed well, meeting key deadlines, and provided added value to the project through close working.

Client: Value for Money 30 year concession with sharing of toll revenue.  Improved journey times and reductions in accidents and congestion.

Multi disciplinary team working.

Reduced journey times.

Key lessons learned:-

Next steps (if appropriate):
The project is currently under construction and is expected to open in the spring of 2006.  The operation and maintenance of the existing road including the River Boyne Bridge has commenced.

Project team:
Babtie Group Ltd.

Contact name/telephone no.:
Alan Seywright: +44 (0)131 556 9777