Traffic volumes up more than 10% since lifting of restrictions began

Traffic volumes have increased by more than 10 per cent on many routes into the State’s main towns and cities since some restrictions on movement were lifted on Tuesday.

Car volumes on the main roads were up during rush hour on Tuesday morning (7am to 10am) by between 5 and 16 per cent compared to the previous Tuesday.

Figures released by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) show that the largest increase was in cross-border traffic with the M1 north of junction 20, which is the last exit before the Border, up by 16 per cent on Tuesday and 22 per cent on Wednesday.

On the M50 around Dublin, traffic between junction 3 (Navan Road) and junction 7 (N4 Galway road) was up by 10 per cent in both directions on Tuesday.

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Traffic between Dublin Airport and Swords on the M1 was up by 9 per cent and the N7 at Citywest t was up by 8 per cent.

Traffic on the M11 between junctions 5 and 6 (Bray north and Bray central) was up by 8 per cent.

On the M4 into Dublin between Celbridge and Maynooth traffic showed an increase by 9 per cent on Tuesday in comparison with the previous Tuesday.

Traffic on the N40 into Cork between the Kinsale Road and Douglas showed the smallest increase. It was up by 5 per cent.

The M7 into Limerick city was up by 7 per cent. The N6 Bóthar na dTreabh into Galway city was up by 10 per cent as was the M9 between Mullinavat and Waterford city.

Cross-Border traffic

Similar patterns were seen on the same roads on Wednesday morning’s rush hour expect the spike on the M1 towards the Border. However, the TII cautioned that there are relatively low volumes of traffic on this stretch of the M1.

Nevertheless, gardaí have told The Irish Times that there has been a notable increase in cross-border traffic recently which might accelerate as there is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland this weekend.

On Tuesday, the Government expanded the zone for people to exercise and to visit shops from 2km to 5km, but this is unlikely to impact traffic on roads monitored by the TII which are main arteries into towns and cities.

A TII spokesman said there has been a “definite trend upwards” in traffic numbers since the Easter bank holiday weekend which is continuing this week.

However, he stressed that traffic volumes have to be seen in the context that they are down generally by between 59 per cent and 77 per cent on a year ago, across sampled traffic counters.

“The reduction in car traffic is diminishing. Car traffic volumes are showing a progressive increase as compared with the traffic volumes recorded in the immediate aftermath of the 27th March restrictions,” the TII concludes in its latest assessment.

“In overall terms, this morning’s data indicate a clear and relatively uniform increase in car traffic volumes across the sample of traffic counters. It is likely that this trend is more significant and representative than data relating to traffic volumes over the bank holiday weekend.”