Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2017
775. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the fact that annual average daily traffic on the M50 between the N4 and N7 junctions in 2016 was 140,000 vehicles; and his plans to alleviate traffic congestion in west Dublin and cater for increases in population and traffic over the next five years (details supplied). [10251/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI recognise that there is considerable evidence emerging of increased travel demand across the Dublin region in general, with growing traffic levels on many of the region's roads and streets. The increase in the number in employment has impacted on transport through the beginning of a recovery in public transport numbers, but also through increased car use and the re-emergence of peak period congestion.
With regard to the M50, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), along with other stakeholders are 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. TII have also established a project team to manage the design and procurement of a system of mandatory variable speed limits for the M50 and will progress this project in 2017.
Insofar as congestion issues in Dublin are concerned, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has overall responsibility for the implementation of their published Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). My Department is working closely with the NTA with a view to intensifying efforts to combat congestion across Dublin in the short to medium term through greater use of bus priority, demand management and other alleviating measures. I expect this work will help to strengthen the case for increased public transport investment, as part of the Mid-Term Review of the Government's Capital Plan in 2017.
