Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

​I will discuss the public transport dimension of responding to this challenge when I reply to the following question. For now, however, I will concentrate on the measures that relate to the M50 itself.

As the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in respect of the national roads programme. The planning, design and operation of individual road projects is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, formerly known as the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 and in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. As I explained to the Deputy in my reply to his question of 24 November, TII examined a range of short and long-term measures to manage demand and optimise operational efficiency on the M50, many of which were published in its M50 demand management study in April 2014. At my request, TII has undertaken further analysis and work to identify a mix of measures that can be taken to improve operational efficiency. This analysis highlights that, since the completion of the M50 upgrade, annual traffic growth has continued and is accelerating with increased economic growth, with more than 140,000 vehicles per day now using the busiest sections.

A number of short-term measures are being progressed. These include changes to junction layouts at key locations following recent upgrades at the N3-M50 and Dublin Airport-M1. The aim of the revised layout is to optimise use of lanes to increase throughput. TII and local authorities are erecting new permanent signage to direct traffic where diversions from the M50 are required. The motorway traffic control centre, which oversees incident response, has been enhanced and the number of incident response vehicles on the M50 has been increased.

I will outline the medium-term measures in response to the following question.

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