Traffic counters show rise in numbers of cars returning to roads

As health authorities warn against people in the east of the country heading to holiday homes for the Easter weekend, traffic on the Republic’s main roads is already showing a significant increases in volumes.

Traffic on the State's main roads fell by up to 80 per cent following the coronavirus restrictions which require people to stay at home unless they have to travel for essential work – but it has grown back to about 25 per cent of normal in past few days. Traffic counters on Dublin's M50 are showing a rise of about 14 per cent this week alone.

Health Minister Simon Harris has raised concerns about a possible surge in patients later this month if people from the east of the country where there are most confirmed cases of coronavirus decide to travel to the holiday homes elsewhere on the island for the Easter Weekend. Infectious disease expert Dr Paddy Mallon has compared the coming weekend to the Cheltenham Festival of racing in the UK which it thought to have significantly contributed to the spread of the virus.

In bid to combat the exodus of people from the east, roads manager Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has worked with the Garda to set up temporary lay-bys on all of the major roads out of Dublin. The Garda said more than 1,000 check points have already been set up and on Wednesday night traffic tailbacks from a checkpoint on the N11 at Kilmacanogue in Co Wicklow stretched back several kilometres to the M50.

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M50

Detailed information shows that last week car traffic on the M50 numbered about 7,000 between 7.00am and 10.00 am but on Wednesday 8th, car traffic jumped to about 8,000 cars in the same period, a rise of about 14 percent.

On the N11 route between Dublin and Wexford, near where the Garda stages a check point on Wednesday night at Kilmacanogue, vehicle numbers were up by almost 1,000, or nearly 5 percent on Wednesday, compared to one week earlier.

Similar patterns emerged on the N81 between the M50 and Tallaght with volumes up by just over 5 percent on Wednesday compared to a week earlier.

On the N7between the M50 and Newlands Cross the daily volume of traffic was up 15 percent over the same period.

On the N4 near Liffey Valley traffic was up 4.2 per cent from 36,774 vehicles to 38,345; on the N3 at Blanchardstown the volumes were up 5.9 per cent; on the M50 near Finglas, the busiest section of the motorway traffic volumes were up 4.46 percent to 5,12 vehicles; and on the M1 just south of the airport volumes have rise by a smaller amount, just 2 per cent.