Traffic levels have fallen throughout the country in the past week amid calls for people to limit their social interactions over the Christmas due to a surge in daily Covid-19 cases.
According to Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s (TII) report for December 23rd, the largest decrease in car traffic volumes compared to December 16th was noted on the M9, between Mulinavat and Waterford, with a 41 per cent drop.
The TII noted “significant decreases” from the car volumes recorded on Wednesday last week (down 23 per cent), while a similar decrease of 22 per cent was noted between December 23rd and October 5th, when Level 3 restrictions began.
The number of cars crossing the Border was also down compared to last week, coinciding with worries regarding the new Covid variant detected in parts of the UK, prompting the Government to bring in a travel ban on passengers arriving from Britain.
A decrease of 18 per cent was seen on the N13 east of Derry, with a 6 per cent fall on the N15 south of Lifford.
On the N1 at Jonesboro, there was 23 per cent less traffic over the last week and a decrease of 22 per cent since the start of October.
Traffic around Dublin fell by almost a third on the M50, in line with falls around the country, including the M9 in Waterford (41 per cent), Bóthar na dTreabh in Galway (20 per cent), the N40 in Cork (31 per cent) and the M7 in Limerick (33 per cent).
The largest volume of traffic was recorded on the M50 between the Navan and Galway roads, where 14,493 cars passed between 7am and 10am, followed by 11,431 cars using the M1 between Dublin Airport and Swords.
