Transport Bulletin May 2022

Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

In line with the lifting of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions, traffic count data has increased since the beginning of the year. Car traffic volumes are now at their highest level since the beginning of the year. In Dublin and selected regional sites car traffic volumes increased by 34% between the first week of January and the last week of April. For the week beginning 28 March 2022 (week 17), car traffic volumes in Dublin were only 1% lower than the same week in 2019. The weekly comparison of data should be treated with caution as it should be noted that the last full week of April 2019 included Easter Monday. Traffic count data tend to be lower on bank holidays. See table 1.1, figure 1.1 and figure 1.2.

The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on heavy goods vehicles (HGV) traffic during 2020 and 2021 was not as strong as it was for cars. HGV traffic in Dublin and selected regional sites dropped around the Easter 2022 period but still surpassed 2019 levels in April 2022. The same trend was seen in selected regional sites. See table 1.2, figure 1.3 and figure 1.4.