asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state (a) the average number of vehicles per hour circulating on the Dublin-Bray Road, indicating the formula used in 1928 for this purpose; (b) the percentage increase in the number of vehicles licensed since that date; (c) the number of vehicles per hour now presumed to be circulating on the Bray Road using the same formula and assuming that the increase is proportional to that recorded in (b); (d) the total amount spent on major improvements works for doubling the carriage way by means of central and local expenditure, and (e) the sum proposed to be spent and for which proceedings have been suspended.
Written Answers. - Bray Road Traffic.
(a) A formula was not used in 1928 to calculate the average number of vehicles circulating on certain roads. The figures obtained in a traffic census in 1928 were recommended for use in 1944, however, as a basis for calculating for design purposes the traffic density on a road. The average number of mechanically-propelled vehicles per hour for the three-day period taken in September, 1928, from 6 a.m. to midnight, was:— Bray Road—point south of Donny-brook—121 v.p.h.; Bray Road—point north of Bray—105 v.p.h.
(b) The increase between August, 1928, and August, 1949, in the number of vehicles licensed in Dublin City and County was 147 per cent.
(c) On the basis of the 1928 census figures and assuming that the increase in mechanically-propelled traffic on the Bray Road is proportional to the increase in the number of vehicles licensed in Dublin City and County, the average number of vehicles now circulating between 6 a.m. and midnight would be:—point south of Donnybrook —299 v.p.h.; point north of Bray—260 v.p.h.
(d) The total cost to date of providing the existing dual carriageways on the Bray Road was £41,615.
(e) The proposals of the Dublin County Council for the improvement of the Bray Road, in connection with which land acquisition proceedings have been suspended, would involve an expenditure of £389,000.
The remaining questions on the Order Paper will be taken to-morrow.