Transport Bulletin February 2022

Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

In line with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions this year, traffic count data gradually increased throughout January 2022. Data for the end of January (week beginning 24 January 2022) show that car traffic volumes in Dublin increased by 19.6% compared with week 1 of this year. However, end of January car traffic volumes remained below pre COVID-19. Dublin’s car traffic volumes in week 4 (week beginning 24 January 2022) were 8.8% lower when compared with the same week in 2019 and 9.6% lower compared with the same week in 2020.

Data for selected regional sites follow the same trend. Data for week 4 show that the volumes of private cars in selected regional sites were 9.8% lower compared with the same week in 2019 and 13.5% lower compared with the same week in 2020. See table 1.1, figure 1.1 and figure 1.2.

During 2020 and 2021, the impact on heavy goods vehicles (HGV) traffic of COVID-19 restrictions has not been as pronounced as for cars. In January 2022 HGV traffic in Dublin and for selected regional sites surpassed pre COVID-19 counts. Data for the week beginning 24 January 2022 (week 4) show that HGV traffic volumes were 13.2% higher in regional sites compared with the same week in 2019 and 8.1% higher compared with the same week in 2020. See table 1.2, figure 1.3 and figure 1.4.