Car Free Day seemed to come to Dublin a week early yesterday morning, as grim predictions of traffic jams frightened many motorists into leaving their vehicles at home and finding alternative transport.
Viewed from a helicopter, the capital looked like a town planner's dream in the morning as unusually low numbers of cars and vans nipped along open roads at a civilised pace. Threatened blockades by hauliers were nowhere to be seen at that time. As expected, truck-drivers were out in force but, without normal levels of morning rush-hour traffic, disruption was limited. Trucks rolled around the outskirts of the city in packs, appearing strangely dignified as they progressed at a stately pace of around 10 or 15 m.p.h.
The predicted chaos at Dublin Airport failed to materialise, although there was a strong haulier presence along the M50 near it.
Truckers generally stayed in single file and allowed motorists to pass on the outside lane of the motorway, although some appeared to have pulled out of lane to block the progress of cars.
At the M50/M1 intersection near the airport at 10 a.m., a double-lane convoy of about 30 lorries could be seen crawling towards a shorter single line of trucks coming in the other direction. Looking down from 1,000 feet, some stretches of road resembled a messy toddler's playroom, with untidy vehicle pile-ups at roundabouts and other junctions where lines of trucks had converged.
A troop of yellow and black striped cement-mixing lorries had ground to a halt nose to tail at the Red Cow roundabout, while three bright-green mobile cranes came to a standstill in a row.
A van approached the roundabout, bearing the emblem of a former State company, whose driver decided to escape the queue by crossing the grassy verge and proceeding up the empty road in the opposite direction.
On the roads approaching the roundabout there were tailbacks of up to two miles, and some truckers got out of their vehicles to chat and stretch their legs. Yellow-coated gardai could be seen directing traffic on the roundabout itself. Around the Finglas flyover, traffic was in a similarly sorry state.
As the helicopter flew lower, slogans boasting of speed and efficiency could be seen on the sides of vehicles: "Ahead of the competition", "We get there first".
The Blanchardstown roundabout and Tallaght areas were clear in the morning while roads around the Liffey Valley shopping centre were almost deserted. In the city centre yesterday morning, O'Connell Bridge seemed strangely empty although a small convoy was progressing down, and there was a solid line of trucks in Abbey Street. Heading towards the city docks, there was a substantial convoy on the East Link bridge, and solid lines of stationary trucks blocked the roads near the Liffey.
While it was a case of "Gridlock? What gridlock?" in the morning it was a different story later in the afternoon when the truckers stepped up their efforts in advance of evening rush hour.
They converged on the city centre, causing tailbacks in Westmoreland Street and O'Connell Street and serious disruption on the M50 and in the docklands.
Traffic on O'Connell Bridge was brought to a standstill, and gardai were forced to block off the junction temporarily and direct traffic manually to allow a convoy to proceed down Eden Quay.