I thank the Deputies for the opportunity to address this issue in the House today. It is not the first time it has been raised and I readily acknowledge that this is a constant problem that causes a great deal of difficulty for commuters. I fully recognise the pressures on transport infrastructure in the greater Dublin area, including the M50. Since completion of the major €1 billion upgrade of the M50 in late 2010, annual traffic growth on the route has increased at a typical rate of 6% per annum in line with increased economic growth.
More than 170,000 vehicles per day are now using the busiest sections and in excess of 420,000 vehicles use some part of the M50 daily. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, along with other stakeholders, is continuing to implement a number of measures on the M50 to manage demand and optimise operational efficiency, including: changes to merge and diverge layouts at junctions; the introduction of permanently signed emergency routes; increased incident access points; increased provision of incident response units; and enhanced interagency co-ordination to improve incident management.
Traffic incidents which obstruct running lanes are a significant contributor to commuter delays, with 1,429 incidents occurring in 2017 on the M50, over half of which occurred during rush hour traffic. TII's incident response service resolves traffic incidents on the M50 as quickly as possible. The average response time for the M50 in 2017 was approximately 12 minutes. TII has also established a project team to manage the development of a programme for enhancing motorway operation services, which involves the implementation by 2020 of traffic control measures on the M50, including variable speed limits and dynamic lane closures. The aim of this programme is to improve operational efficiency by smoothing traffic flow, improving journey time reliability and reducing the number of secondary traffic collisions.
In so far as congestion issues in Dublin are concerned, the National Transport Authority, NTA, has overall responsibility for the implementation of its published transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, GDA. Congestion is not confined to a single corridor in the Dublin region and it cannot be solved by focusing on just one or two corridors. This GDA transport strategy provides a framework for the planning and delivery of transport infrastructure and services in the greater Dublin area over the next two decades. The strategy sets out a range of measures, including public transport investment and demand management measures, particularly in relation to the operation of the M50, which would reduce the time spent travelling on the network and alleviate congestion. The measures proposed in the strategy are linked to an analysis of current and projected levels of travel demand across the region. While the management of the M50 falls within the remit of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, an interagency approach which includes Tll, the NTA and the relevant local authorities is required to achieve this.
The national development plan, which was launched earlier this year by Government as part of Project Ireland 2040, identifies a number of key public transport priorities including the BusConnects programme, MetroLink and the DART expansion programme. These will be delivered by the NTA progressively and steadily over the short, medium and long term, to deliver a comprehensive public transport network to match transport demand, alleviate congestion, provide an alternative to private car use and deliver a range of benefits over the next decade. This will ensure that an integrated approach to the management of travel demand on the M50 corridor and connecting national roads, combined with the provision of alternative transport modes, is pursued such that the M50 is allowed to function for its primary intended purpose as a national road which caters for predominantly non-local trips of high economic value.
