Motorway/DC network Traffic counter Thread * updates

Irish_rat

It's over 5 years since the inter-urban network has been completed and how time does fly. Many of the population thought the motorway network was overkill particularly in barn years from 09-12 when our economy stagnated.

The mindset has changed significantly since then, our urban recovery has been driven by these high quality routes. Inward investment is rising as well as the population and GDP.

With this, the traffic levels have increased and quite significantly even since 2014. The M50 is recording high levels of traffic with 165,420 cars passing it one day last month between one of it's busiest sections J6 and J7.

Some other significant numbers:

N7 (J1-J2): 115,801

• N40: 97,149

• M7 (J29-J30): 51,631

The M7 between J10 and J11 82911 for one day in May :eek:

That will be widened to 3 lanes very soon, what is the saturating point of D2M and is there any other stretches requiring this?

marno21

Other overstretched sections are:

* M1 between J4 Lissenhall and J5 Balbriggan (possibly further on too)
* M4 between J5 Leixlip and J8 Kilcock (feasability study in progress)
* M7 between J9 Naas North and J11 M9 (at tender stage)
* M50/N11 between J16 Cherrywood and M11 J6 Fassaroe
* N40 between J6 Kinsale Road and J9 Douglas (a tough one)

Along with the usual single carraigeway stretches (N17 north of Galway, N18 south of Galway, N21 through Adare, N25 through New Ross etc.)

Middle Man

I think the time has come for a new national road needs study - the last one for the primary network was undertaken in 1998 - how about a 2018 study? I have identified possible new motorway schemes using the following criteria...

Road Design Year:
Base Year (2018) + 5yrs Procurement + 30yrs Operation = 35yrs (2053)

Traffic Growth Predictions:
AADT (2018) + 2% Compound Growth per annum over 35 years

Traffic Patterns - Do Something Scenario
For most rural routes, it might be assumed that the vast bulk of mainline traffic will transfer to a replacement road with the likelihood of traffic remaining on the old alignment being offset by motorists attracted to the new route from other relatively parallel routes (regional roads or local roads acting as bypasses for example).

I won't go into much detail yet, but here are six major new motorways (based on the above criteria in conjunction with TII traffic counter data) that I'd suggest in order of priority:

1) M20 Cork to Limerick (guess not too many surprises here!)
2) M45 Leinster Outer Orbital Route (..or here!)
3) M4 Extension to Longford (strategic route towards the North West)
4) M21 Patrickswell to Abbeyfeale (traffic levels getting very close)
5) M25 Cork to New Ross (starting with Middleton to Youghal section)
6) M3 Extension to Cavan (surprising, but 11,000+ near Virginia and Cavan)

There are other smaller schemes required such as an M2 extension to Kimoon Cross, M33 upgrade to Ardee, M11 extension to Wexford Town etc... Can go into all the detail at some later stage as I have 24 separate motorway schemes in mind (M28, M40 CNRR, M6 GCOB included).

Irish_rat

Very nice post Middle Man. I think a national road needs study would be a good plan for the next 20-30 years.

Some of the projected traffic levels are so far off now that it needs to be updated. I think TII did under-estimate, it's definitely smashing growth targets on the core network - particularly the big urban areas of Dublin and Cork where you have heavily congested commuter belts.

I think it's in these two areas the government will need to focus a lot of the infrastructure. (may irk some rural types)

The highest priorities right now are in Cork City. The four big schemes that need to be fast-tracked to constuction phase:

• M40 Dunkettle Interchange
• M40 NRR (possibly D3M)
• M20 Cork - Limerick
• M28 Cork - Ringaskiddy

Dublin's infrastructure needs should be more focused on developing a world class public transport system.

• Metro North
• Dart Underground
• M1, M4, M7 and M11 widening
• M50 Junction improvements
• LOOR further assessment

Limerick and Galway should receive some funding also as they are both expanding cities with increasing AADT levels, M6 GCOB and the M21/69 are in planning which should be enough.

Waterford is well serviced with the M9 which is not so much the white elephant in the room anymore but it does fall short in comparison to the other MUI's.

Overall a lot to be done while other national routes will lose out unfortunately. A few small schemes elsewhere is the likely scenario.

Carawaystick

Irish_rat wrote: »

It's over 5 years since the inter-urban network has been completed and how time does fly. Many of the population thought the motorway network was overkill particularly in barn years from 09-12 when our economy stagnated.

It hasn't been completed, a series of Motorways linking Dublin with other cities was built.
The N20 linking Limerick and Cork is a huge omission, and the N18 isn't finished until next year, linking Limerick with Galway.
Calling the existing motorway network "the interurban motorway network" is ignoring these obvious omissions and just repeating nra spin.

Irish_rat

Carawaystick wrote: »

It hasn't been completed, a series of Motorways linking Dublin with other cities was built.
The N20 linking Limerick and Cork is a huge omission, and the N18 isn't finished until next year, linking Limerick with Galway.
Calling the existing motorway network "the interurban motorway network" is ignoring these obvious omissions and just repeating nra spin.

Major Inter Urban's so if you must insist.

NRA is the past. It's Transport Infrastructure Ireland or TII ...

Carawaystick

Irish_rat wrote: »

Major Inter Urban's so if you must insist.

NRA is the past. It's Transport Infrastructure Ireland or TII ...

TII is only another name the NRA can be called, like eflow.

see SI 297/2015

Irish_rat

99,339 cars recorded on the N40 yesterday.

The counter is between Douglas and the Kinsale road junction.

Irish_rat

100,498 cars recorded on a section of the N40 on the 27th October. Not sure but looks a new record.

Chris_5339762

I can understand in Dublin a population of 1,000,000+ will generate 150k in a day on the M50... but for Cork which is much, much smaller by population, 100k is staggering.

blindsider

So the M50 is recording 165K cars daily and the N40 is recording 100K. But the N40 doesn't need any work - going by the efforts of the Govt.

And apparently there are planning applications in for 2 new office buildings + apartments close to Mahon Point. What on earth is going on???

The N40 eastbound is close to unusable in the mornings, and definitely unusable westbound in the evenings. It won't be long 'til we have the perfect storm and 2-3 strategically placed accidents will gridlock the whole city.

pigtown

blindsider wrote: »

So the M50 is recording 165K cars daily and the N40 is recording 100K. But the N40 doesn't need any work - going by the efforts of the Govt.

And apparently there are planning applications in for 2 new office buildings + apartments close to Mahon Point. What on earth is going on???

The N40 eastbound is close to unusable in the mornings, and definitely unusable westbound in the evenings. It won't be long 'til we have the perfect storm and 2-3 strategically placed accidents will gridlock the whole city.

Didn't that happen last year?

Irish_rat

pigtown wrote: »

Didn't that happen last year?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/roads-chief-sorry-for-cork-jack-lynch-tunnel-chaos-371517.html

Tunnel got flooded but that effectively gridlocked the city. An M40 ring is really needed in Cork.

pigtown

Another lane between Mahon and Douglas would be a big help in the mornings.

Carawaystick

Irish_rat wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/roads-chief-sorry-for-cork-jack-lynch-tunnel-chaos-371517.html

Tunnel got flooded but that effectively gridlocked the city. An M40 ring is really needed in Cork.

That's not what happened.
The Nra decided that although the tunnel and approach roads were managed ok by Cork council, they knew better, and appointed a group ultimately owned by the french state* to run the tunnel.

These then did't know how to unblock a drain, or let anyone who might know how to solve the issue, know. and so the chaos happened. The Blocked Drain was above the level of the Lee, so if unblocked would have resolved itself, it's not like the tunnel flooded.


*Egis road and tunnel operations, are a member of egis group, which is 75% owned by Caisse des dépôts

Irish_rat

More articles on increasing traffic levels

here

"Gridlock fears as traffic levels jump by up to 10pc in a year"

Since 2013, numbers are up more than 26pc - adding an additional 4,500 vehicles to roads.

The figures show that the sharpest rise in traffic volumes year-on-year in our cities is on the main road into Galway, where numbers are up 10.4pc.

It is followed by Limerick (up 5.6pc), Dublin (up 4.2pc), Cork (up 3.6pc) and Waterford (up 3.5pc).

The congestion levels are so bad in Dublin and Cork that the morning peak now begins an hour earlier, at 7am, as motorists leave home earlier in a bid to beat the traffic.

xabi

This is what caused the mayhem last year in Cork.

Irish_rat

The last 3 days on the N40: 96839, 98554, 100396, staggering.

From looking at the data, it seems traffic is still increasing on the N40 where the M50 hasn't changed too much since September.

It's certainly worth keeping an eye on the 4 big cities over the next few years if the trend continues.

Limerick is getting 45-50k on one section of the M7 J29-J30. Some adjustments should be done to the bypass, as discussed on the other thread, an auxilary lane running from M7 J29 to M20 J2 would suffice and improvements to N18 J2 outbound.

Galway is getting 24k north of tuam and 21k south of Clarinbridge all on single carriageway road. I would expect this to skyrocket when the M18 is completed, the approach on the M6 will be huge, D3M will probably be required from Rathmorrisey in.

Waterford traffic levels look to be just over 15k a day.

marno21

Irish_rat wrote: »

The last 3 days on the N40: 96839, 98554, 100396, staggering.

From looking at the data, it seems traffic is still increasing on the N40 where the M50 hasn't changed too much since September.

It's certainly worth keeping an eye on the 4 big cities over the next few years if the trend continues.

Limerick is getting 45-50k on one section of the M7 J29-J30. Some adjustments should be done to the bypass, as discussed on the other thread, an auxilary lane running from M7 J29 to M20 J2 would suffice and improvements to N18 J2 outbound.

Galway is getting 24k north of tuam and 21k south of Clarinbridge all on single carriageway road. I would expect this to skyrocket when the M18 is completed, the approach on the M6 will be huge, D3M will probably be required from Rathmorrisey in.

Waterford traffic levels look to be just over 15k a day.

M50 traffic is at saturation point. The commuting times on the M50 at present mean it won't really go above 160k on weekdays. People don't have time for more than a 2 hour each way commute.

The N40 is only going to get worse. The only solution here is the North Ring as I don't think anyhing can be done about the Douglas flyover.

The M7 in Limerick is ok for now because the traffic simply has nowhere to go. All the city access routes in Limerick are busy. Opening up the Rossbrien Interchange for inbound M20 traffic would help though.

Galway is going to have serious issues at the N6 roundabout until the Ring Road is built.

Waterford is too small to have any issues, the lack of traffic on the N25 Bypass backs this up. Go out the M9 60km and you are in Dublin commuting territory, same with the N30/N11.

Cookiemunster

marno21 wrote: »

M50 traffic is at saturation point. The commuting times on the M50 at present mean it won't really go above 160k on weekdays. People don't have time for more than a 2 hour each way commute.

The N40 is only going to get worse. The only solution here is the North Ring as I don't think anyhing can be done about the Douglas flyover.

The M7 in Limerick is ok for now because the traffic simply has nowhere to go. All the city access routes in Limerick are busy. Opening up the Rossbrien Interchange for inbound M20 traffic would help though.

Galway is going to have serious issues at the N6 roundabout until the Ring Road is built.

Waterford is too small to have any issues, the lack of traffic on the N25 Bypass backs this up. Go out the M9 60km and you are in Dublin commuting territory, same with the N30/N11.

As I said on the other thread, this would be a terrible idea. It would lead to a T junction in a residential area and cause huge tailbacks onto the M20.

Irish_rat

Most routes recording normal Friday traffic levels yesterday (101656 on the N40), could be a few record breakers today.

Be safe on the road folks and Happy Christmas

GreenFolder2

marno21 wrote: »

M50 traffic is at saturation point. The commuting times on the M50 at present mean it won't really go above 160k on weekdays. People don't have time for more than a 2 hour each way commute.

The N40 is only going to get worse. The only solution here is the North Ring as I don't think anyhing can be done about the Douglas flyover.

The M7 in Limerick is ok for now because the traffic simply has nowhere to go. All the city access routes in Limerick are busy. Opening up the Rossbrien Interchange for inbound M20 traffic would help though.

Galway is going to have serious issues at the N6 roundabout until the Ring Road is built.

Waterford is too small to have any issues, the lack of traffic on the N25 Bypass backs this up. Go out the M9 60km and you are in Dublin commuting territory, same with the N30/N11.

The N40 is exacerbated by very very inadequate public transport in Cork. It desperately needs a rethink far more urgently than most places.

Some kind of rapid transit systems to Ballincollig and Carrigaline and through built up areas on the south of the city would potentially take a lot of cars off the N40.

You'd have to experience the bus service in Cork vs Dublin Bus. It's ridiculously inadequate for a city this size. I think having it run through Bus Éireann is a major part of the problem as it's got that "country town" mentality for any urban services outside Dublin.

Mc Love

Cookiemunster wrote: »

As I said on the other thread, this would be a terrible idea. It would lead to a T junction in a residential area and cause huge tailbacks onto the M20.

As was pointed out in the other thread it isnt in a residential area. The rosbrien road is a residential area however.

The rosbrien interchange would open on to a road with no houses. and the T junction - there is no houses directly on that road.

Cookiemunster

Mc Love wrote: »

As was pointed out in the other thread it isnt in a residential area. The rosbrien road is a residential area however.

The rosbrien interchange would open on to a road with no houses. and the T junction - there is no houses directly on that road.

Read my response to this (which was posted after I posted in this thread) in the other thread.

Which I noticed you actually replied to 4 days ago.....

Mc Love

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Read my response to this (which was posted after I posted in this thread) in the other thread.

Which I noticed you actually replied to 4 days ago.....

Just pointing it out again

marno21

And the lack of houses being built in Cork, instead tons of houses being built in Carrigaline, Midleton, Carrigtwohill, Glanmire, Blarney, Ballincollig etc promising easy commutes into Cork. Of course this is a car commute.

Bus Eireann's operations in the city should be handled by a Cork Bus type organisation, and light rail needs to be examined for the city for the future.

Was in Montpellier recently, not that much bigger than Cork but the difference in transport there is simply astounding.

road_high

marno21 wrote: »

And the lack of houses being built in Cork, instead tons of houses being built in Carrigaline, Midleton, Carrigtwohill, Glanmire, Blarney, Ballincollig etc promising easy commutes into Cork. Of course this is a car commute.

Bus Eireann's operations in the city should be handled by a Cork Bus type organisation, and light rail needs to be examined for the city for the future.

Was in Montpellier recently, not that much bigger than Cork but the difference in transport there is simply astounding.

There's this tendency to lump cork in with limerick and Galway but to me it's status is more than those and fully deserves to be treated as the second city it is.

marno21

road_high wrote: »

There's this tendency to lump cork in with limerick and Galway but to me it's status is more than those and fully deserves to be treated as the second city it is.

Also, whilst there's constant "The West gets nothing", from next year Galway will have all 3 national primary routes entering the city as motorway for at least 30km+, and currently procuring a city ring road for €600m. That's 1.2bn being spent on motorways in Galway.

Meanwhile, Cork, with SIX national primaries entering the city will have 1 entering as motorway, one as motorway from ~2023, and 4 mainly single carraigeways (yes there's a total of about 20km between the N20, N22 and N25 but there are bottlenecks along each not far from the city).

Badly needs correcting, as does the N71.

marno21

Irish_rat wrote: »

Most routes recording normal Friday traffic levels yesterday (101656 on the N40), could be a few record breakers today.

Be safe on the road folks and Happy Christmas

86,380 on Friday, well down on Thursdays 101k.

road_high

marno21 wrote: »

Also, whilst there's constant "The West gets nothing", from next year Galway will have all 3 national primary routes entering the city as motorway for at least 30km+, and currently procuring a city ring road for €600m. That's 1.2bn being spent on motorways in Galway.

Meanwhile, Cork, with SIX national primaries entering the city will have 1 entering as motorway, one as motorway from ~2023, and 4 mainly single carraigeways (yes there's a total of about 20km between the N20, N22 and N25 but there are bottlenecks along each not far from the city).

Badly needs correcting, as does the N71.

I think Waterford also has a very road network, though smaller it's N25 bypass is excellent, as is the M9, it's outer ring road better than anything cork has.
Cork city has a genuine and real need and I can completely understand the problems and shortcomings it faces.

GreenFolder2

I think it's actually worse than that it's "Dublin" and "non Dublin" mentality. The result is that in certain minds of official Ireland all non Dublin urban areas are equal.

So Cork, with metropolitan population approaching 300,000 is the mentally the same as say Sligo with a population of maybe 25,000.

I'm not saying this to undermine Sligo but, I think there is a major problem in Ireland with this attitude as it completely undermines logical resource planning and results in serious infrastructure issues.

Irish_rat

Daily average

In 2014, an M50 demand study predicted the stretch of motorway between the N4 and N7 junctions would see an increase in annual average daily traffic to 143,000 by 2023. However, real-time data from NRAtraffic.ie shows the average had already hit 140,000 by 2016.

“Although there are significant committed road infrastructure investments in the study area that will have occurred in the time period 2013 to 2023, the performance of the road network will diminish by 2023,” the report stated.

“The National Road network will experience substantial increases in travel time and delay by 2023 with the M50 being worst affected while the N4 and N7 are also affected, albeit to a lesser (although still significant) extent.”

Link

marno21

Over the past 12 months, the usage of the M50 doesn't go above ~164k per day. It shows that once usage goes above 160k per day, service levels diminish to the point that people start seeking alternatives due to the congestion.

Rather than improving the M50, it's time for a 2+2 route similar to the Outer Ring Road/R136 connecting N4-N3 e.g. another Liffey crossing. A major benefit to the M50. There shouldn't be a toll for EVERY vehicle crossing the River Liffey.

Irish_rat

Due to BE strike the traffic numbers are up on all routes around the country. The most busiest day was the 16th.

The N40 traffic levels this week are astounding without today's figures:

93485
96645
96680
99709

The N7 Naas road:

114926

For local interest the M7 between J29 and J30 one day this month:
52180

Some of the road network is at saturation point and many more routes will too if the current pace of traffic growth continues.

Cookiemunster

Deedsie wrote: »

Surely the answer to this is new efficient rail lines and a reliable bus network rather than more roads filled with cars.

This is the country that brought you the western rail corridor. New rail lines on new alignments are not going to be build anytime soon.

marno21

Considering the size of the city of Cork the fact that 100k cars a day are using it's ringroad is downright ****ing pathetic planning.

That can't continue, even when Dunkettle is upgraded it'll be under fierce pressure with that volume.

The numbers for the Limerick ringroad aren't looking good either.

marno21

N40 J6 - J7 had 100127 vehicles on Friday.

Not the highest yet but still reckless.

Irish_rat

From TII

Irish_rat

Nothing like a bank holiday weekend for traffic numbers:

• 102,048 on the N40
  
  
• A whopping 165,742 on the M50 for the last 2 days.
  
  
• Limerick SRR between J29 and J30 of the M7 hit 52,199 yesterday
  
  
• Athlone bypass hit 41,889 also which for me is a big number outside the two big cities.

Irish_rat

marno21 wrote: »

Over the past 12 months, the usage of the M50 doesn't go above ~164k per day.

Very good point, it's going to become a massive problem if growth continues.

The Naas Road has still some extra capacity before service will diminish to point we see the M50 at every morning.

marno21

29298 yesterday on the glorified botharin that is the N28 at Carrs Hill.

23112 on the N71 east of Halfway yesterday. No upgrade plans at present. Drops to 17089 west of the roundabout.

25540 at the chokepoint at the western end of the Ballincollig bypass. Again, no upgrade plans.

19512 yesterday south of Mallow. Apparently, not worth an upgrade from basic single carriageway.

17776 heading into Castlemartyr. Guess what? No upgrade planned.

22794 down Airport Hill. Fine out.

Lets see what upgrades are coming down the line.

N69 Listowel Bypass - 4846 north of Listowel on the N69 (granted - small scheme)

N5 Frenchpark - 7116 (200m reportedly being spent on this scheme)

N24 SE of Cahir - 7657 (reports yesterday that an upgrade of the N24 is preferred to the M20)

Irish_rat

Irish_rat wrote: »

The Naas Road has still some extra capacity before service will diminish to point we see the M50 at every morning.

Last Friday was horrendous, 1hr to get to J11:

KILDARE: N7 Dublin/Limerick Rd already very slow s'bound from J5 Athgoe past J10 Naas Sth. No incidents reported.

Irish_rat

N7 Naas Road last Friday: 121,267

Looks like a severe increase on this route.

sea12

Irish_rat wrote: »

N7 Naas Road last Friday: 121,267

Looks like a severe increase on this route.

And this is July. What's it going to be like come September October when schools colleges are back

marno21

sea12 wrote: »

And this is July. What's it going to be like come September October when schools colleges are back

80,000 on the M7 Naas Bypass. That's around 20-25,000 vehicles over what it should be.

By the time this is widened it'll be at capacity for a 3 lane motorway. Good grief.

Irish_rat

Some new figures, AADT still on the rise.

Limerick SRR busiest section 52753

80,000 on the M7 before the M9 split is ridiculous.

N40 hits 100,000 now every Friday around Douglas

*Gets the popcorn out for the N6 to Galway since the M17/M18 has opened.

AugustusMinimus

Over 100,000 on the Douglas flover is insane. What is the design limit for a 2 lane dual carriageway?

I don’t think the traffic on it can get much worse, purely down to junction limits being reached. That or rush hour will stretch out further.

marno21

Irish_rat wrote: »

Some new figures, AADT still on the rise.

Limerick SRR busiest section 52753

80,000 on the M7 before the M9 split is ridiculous.

N40 hits 100,000 now every Friday around Douglas

*Gets the popcorn out for the N6 to Galway since the M17/M18 has opened.

M6/N6 into Galway has increased by 11,000 roughly since the M17/M18 opened. Pre-M17/M18 the N17/N18 were carrying around 45k combined (that includes north/south traffic that would be avoiding Galway altoghther). So around 30% of traffic has switched to the motorway roughly.

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Over 100,000 on the Douglas flover is insane. What is the design limit for a 2 lane dual carriageway?

I don’t think the traffic on it can get much worse, purely down to junction limits being reached. That or rush hour will stretch out further.

The section here we are talking about is J6-J8 which is 3 lane dual carraigeway, but the upper limit for full freeflow on a 3 lane dual carriageway at 100km/h would be around 84,000. Operating >120% of maximum capacity.

For a city of Cork's size having 100k vehicles a day on a section of its ring road is simply obscene. Five of the roads feeding into this have plans for HQDC/motorway. Shows the importance of a proper full North Ring.

AugustusMinimus

That’s still 90,000 cars going over the Douglas Flyover I would think.

marno21

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

That’s still 90,000 cars going over the Douglas Flyover I would think.

Regardless the upper limit for decent level of service on a 2 lane 100km/h DC would be around 60,000. Well above it.

N40 Westbound will become a massive jam westbound when Dunkettle and M28 open. You'll then have a dual carriageway, 3 lane dual carriageway and 2 motorways becoming 2 lanes.

serfboard

Friday traffic on the M6 at the Oranmore junction has jumped 40% since the new M17/M18: 25K -> 35K.

Weekday traffic is now @ 30K (up from about 22K), or an increase of about 35%.