M50 Traffic at Breaking Point
Dublin Road Traffic Gridlock
Dublin’s road network needs to be upgraded and upgraded fast. Business groups have called on the Government to expedite its road network upgrade plans as quickly as possible in order to tackle the daily gridlock on the M50 and the greater Dublin area in general.
It is estimated that there are over 159,000 journeys taken on the M50 everyday, which is almost double the amount taken in 2008 when about 89,000 vehicles per day commuted on the M50.
Added to just sheer volumes of traffic, which are causing bedlam everyday now on the M50, any incidents at all occurring on the motorway cause hours of delays to road users. These delays causing huge impact right across the Capital on a daily basis.
M50 Traffic at Breaking Point
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce has called on the Government to treble its investment in transport infrastructure in order to avoid a "crisis".
In an effort to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Ireland, the Chamber of Commerce contests that huge investments are needed on the road network in order to keep Dublin on par with similar Cities across Europe.
The chamber's director of public affairs Graeme McQueen is reported as saying,
"When an FDI company is considering where to locate, one of the biggest considerations is quality of life for staff. People don't want to work and live in a city where they are forced to spend hours commuting every day. This is particularly important given the opportunities being thrown up by Brexit," he said
As a result of in-action on behalf of the Government, there is now a real danger of “sleepwalking” into an infrastructural crisis.
Dublin is rapidly growing and expanding and at the same time, lagging behind to where it should be in infrastructure.
Mr McQueen said businesses are looking at different ways of operating around the City’s traffic problems which includes changing staff starting times.
Shelved M47 Leinster Outer Orbital-M50
Adding their voice to the Chamber of Commerce, Transport Infrastructure Ireland said that the country's busiest road network was "at breaking point".
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association said that Dublin's traffic chaos was "a symptom of not having an integrated traffic and freight management plan for the greater Dublin area".
It has been suggested that Dublin should have an Eastern Bypass and/or a Western Outer Orbital route with the Irish Road Haulage Association has again called for a new Leinster Orbital route which the Government in all their wisdom has shelved until 2035.
One thing is for sure, something has to be done fast to ease Dublin’s traffic congestion.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
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