City Jam Drives Us Mad..But Will Only Get Worse

By MIRROR REPORTER

THEY’RE bad for our health, cause road rage and leave us flustered and late for work

And the bad news is that infuriating traffic jams are not only here to stay – they are going to get worse.

Dublin has earned a reputation as one of the most traffic-choked cities in Europe – now it has a new record as the M50 has been named the slowest motorway in the world.

Jams are so bad the capital does not have a rush hour any more – it has a three-hour tailback most mornings.

A new calculation of journey times from various parts of the capital into the city centre is a damning indictment of Government plans to wage war on congestion.

And it shows we might be better going back to the horse and cart, with the fastest speed out of seven suburbs studied was a pathetic 12.9kph and the slowest 7.3kph.

Of 24 routes examined, 21 were found to have slowed down since 2004.

The Dublin Transportation Office study cements the dreaded M50′s reputation as the biggest car park in Europe. And bad as it is, getting on to it is just as enraging.

DTO director, John Henry, said: "All the radial routes around the M50 are blocked at the junctions.

"Once you exceed the capacity of a road link, it fails. The M50 is overloaded.

"All these cars are driving to work and what’s missing is an equivalent in public transport.

"The Luas is doing well, in line with what we expected.

"Transport 21 at least makes the money available for more investment but the question is how quickly it can be delivered. The target date of 2016 won’t be met." Our booming economy means we have more cars on the road than ever – including tens of thousands of bulky 4x4s.

Around 54 per cent of commuter journeys in Dublin are made in private cars each morning, with public transport accounting for just 20 per cent.

Dublin’s North-side bears the brunt of the congestion. A journey of 8.5km from Ballymun into town takes a miserable 69 minutes at a snail-like speed of 7.3kph.

Two years ago, the same journey took 44 minutes, and just 31 minutes in 2002.

From Swords – 16.7km away – commuters can expect to take 89 minutes, 38 minutes longer than in 2003.

The hated 32km M50 takes an average of 65 minutes, starting at 8am. The average speed is 30kph, even though the speed limit is four times that.

Mr Henry added: "A lot of people could walk to work, and the exercise would be good for them. We will do some public awareness programme like that."

DRIVE OF SHAME: ROUTE TIMES INTO DUBLIN CITY CENTRE

MONKSTOWN: 56 minutes at average speed of 11.4kph

HOWTH: 59 minutes at average speed of 12.9kph

BALLYMUN: 69 minutes at average speed of 7.3kph

SANDYFORD: 91 minutes at average speed of 10kph

LOUGHLINSTOWN: 87 minutes at average speed of 11.7kph

LUCAN: 78 minutes at average speed of 12.1kph

TALLAGHT: 78 minutes at average speed of 9.5kph

Irish Mirror Comment

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