Traffic numbers on the State’s main roads rise almost 8%

Traffic numbers on the State’s main roads and motorways have risen by up to 7.65 per cent over the last two weeks, confirming a steady rise which began before Easter.

Volumes on the key motorways in the State fell by as much as 80 per cent on the introduction of restrictions on travel on March 26th.

However, by April 9th traffic volumes on the State’s national and motorway class roads had risen by about 5 per cent, even as the Government asked people not to travel to holiday homes for the Easter holiday.

Latest data from traffic counters, which are set into roads and monitored daily, show traffic volumes continuing to climb on routes into the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, with the largest volumes in the east of the country.

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Data for the N25 approach to Waterford City was not available.

The figures also show a rise in the numbers of vehicles on suburban roads in south Dublin, at Brewery Road in Stillorgan and Mount Merrion Avenue, between the Stillorgan Road and Blackrock.

Footfall

The data supports a trend noted in a network of on-street cameras in Dublin, which shows pedestrian footfall across the city rose in the week ending April 12th. Footfall was up in 12 of the 13 locations monitored, essentially all across the city.

Traffic volumes into Dublin from Wicklow, measured north of Bray on the M11, increased from 23,985 vehicles on April 7th, to 24,756 on April 21st. Both days were a Tuesday. While the number is significantly below the annual average daily traffic figure of 78,340 vehicles, it does represent a rise of about 3.2 per cent.

On the N81 route between Tallaght and the M50, volumes rose from 5,608 to 6,039, a rise of 7.6 per cent.

On the N7, the State’s second busiest road after the M50, between Newlands Cross and Kingswood traffic volumes rose from 39,450 on April 7th to 41,554 an increase of some 5.3 per cent.

At Liffey Valley traffic rose from 38,773 vehicles to 40,587 a rise of 4.7 per cent. At Blanchardstown on the N3 the rise was from 29,855 to 31,233, an increase of 4.6 per cent.

M50

On the M50 between Blanchardstown and Finglas junctions, the busiest section of the State’s busiest road annual average daily traffic in 2019 was 149,537 vehicles. On April 7th the number of vehicles on the route was 53,393. On April 21 it had risen to 55, 427, and increase of 3.8 per cent.

On the M1 near Dublin Airport, the numbers rose from 42,568 to 43,586 or 2.3 per cent.

In Cork between Glanmire and Dunkettle numbers rose from 8,744 to 9,073 or 3,7 per cent. In Blarney volumes rose from 4,577 to 4,703, or 2.75 per cent.

In Limerick traffic volumes at Castletroy rose from 8.613 to 8,618 a rise of just 0.5 per cent. In Galway on the N6 approach the volumes rose from 10,360 to 10,706, a rise of about 2.3 per cent.