Traffic volumes show Donegal locking down to greater extent than Dublin

There has been a marked difference in responses to Level Three, Covid-19 restrictions in Dublin and Donegal, according to figures for traffic movements

Transport Infrastructure Ireland which measures traffic using counters set into the roads, said traffic volumes on the M50, fell by as little as 2 percent after the restrictions on travel came into effect.

The comparison looked at Friday’s volumes and the previous volumes recorded on the M50 between Blanchardstown and Finglas junctions.

Level Three restrictions came into effect in Dublin at midnight on Friday September 18th and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) analysis compared that Friday to last Friday, September 25th.

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Between Dublin Airport and Swords the fall in traffic was just 3 percent, the authority said.

At Citywest on the N7 the fall was 5 percent and four percent on the M11 near Bray, Co Wicklow.

However, in Co Donegal where restrictions came into play at midnight on Friday 25th there was a more dramatic drop in the number of vehicles leaving the county, according to an Irish Times analysis of figures from TII counters there.

On the N3 between Ballyshannon, Co Donegal and Belleek, Co Fermanagh volumes heading to Northern Ireland fell to just 1,498 on Saturday, compared to 3,293 the previous Saturday, a drop of more than 50 percent.

On the M14 approaching Lifford-Strabane the number of vehicles travelling southeast to Northern Ireland fell to 3,799 on Saturday from 5,459 the previous Saturday.

On the N13 at Bridge End travelling east to Northern Ireland numbers fell to 2,585, from the previous Saturday when traffic amounted to 4,286 vehicles.

TII said overall car traffic on Friday was typically down by between 8 percent and 25 percent of the volumes seen one year ago, across the sampled traffic counters.

It found car traffic just south of the Northern Ireland Border on the N1 at Jonesboro showed a decrease today of 5 percent on Friday as compared with Friday 18th September.

In the case of the regional cities the change in car traffic volumes on Friday morning as compared with Friday 18th September were as follows:

M7 Limerick +3 percent

N40 Cork -1 percent,

N6 Bóthar na dTreabh Galway -3 percent

M9 Waterford -5 percent