Dublin faces years of traffic disruption as Eirgrid announces plans for major works

Michael Bolton

Dublin's electricity network is set for a major upgrade which could cause traffic disruption for a number of years.

The operator will carry out a major upgrade of the capital’s electricity grid, replacing underground cabling – some of which is up to 50 years old.

Routes linking substations at Carrickmines and Poolbeg, North Wall and Poolbeg, Finglas and North Wall, with two routes required to link Inchicore and Poolbeg.

Eirgrid says the works are badly needed as the city's electricity infrastructure is reaching the end of its life.

Some 50km of new underground cables are going to be installed on five routes which are open to public consultation, which will open for eight weeks on Thursday.

Michael Mahon from EirGrid said they had already been working with locals to try minimise disruption.

"One of our biggest challenges on projects is our partnership with communities and businesses is to actually get consent to develop our project."

"We started consoling on our project a year ago. We ran a n umber of community engagement evenings where we brought the communities together, and we answered any questions they had."

As reported by the Irish Times, EirGrid has identified 12 route options for the cables from which it will choose the five final routes where roads will need to be opened up for the installation of the power lines. The work is due to start next year and be completed by 2029.

In Carrickmines,  two of the three options travel from Poolbeg along Strand Road in Sandymount, which has been at the centre of a long-running dispute over Dublin City Council’s plans to install a cycle path.

In Inchcore, one of these three routes also uses Strand Road, before heading west on Ailesbury Road and Eglinton Road towards Milltown and Terenure, then north through Kimmage and Walkinstown to reach Inchicore.

The Finglas to North Wall options include a route which heads south to Broombridge in Cabra before going off-road along the Royal Canal, which is designated for a cycling greenway.