Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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185. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the latest estimate for the annual cost of traffic congestion to the economy. [16936/19]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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In July 2017 my Department published a report, The Costs of Congestion - An Analysis of the Greater Dublin Area. The full report can be found on the Departmental website. For ease of reference, I include a link here:

www.dttas.ie/sites/default/files/publications/corporate/english/cost-congestion-main-report/cost-congestion-main-report.pdf.

The report focuses specifically on the direct impact, in terms of the monetary cost of increased travel time, on road users in the GDA. The figures contained in the report relate to the base year of 2012 - which was at the time the most recent year for which sufficient data was available - and projections for the year 2033. Congestion levels were projected to increase at a moderate rate until the year 2025, beyond which it was projected to increase sharply.

This report estimated the cost of aggravated congestion in the GDA at €358 million in 2012. This was forecast to rise to over €2 billion per year in 2033.

My Department has not yet produced similar reports for other Irish cities, however we plan to do so once the development of the National Transport Authority’s transport strategies for each of the five cities are completed.