Julianstown Blog

Proof that Julianstown traffic is not caused by toll

June 10th, 2007

We compared the traffic profiles in the similar villages of Julianstown and Clonard. Julianstown was on the old N1 and was supposedly bypassed with the opening of the M1. Clonard was on the old N4 and was bypassed when the M4 was opened. Both new roads are tolled. The contrast between the two villages is stark. Before the toll both villages had similar levels of chronic traffic, however after the motorways opened the Julianstown traffic hardly dropped whereas in clonrd it is down by more than 60%. This is proof that traffic in Julianstown is not influenced by the toll. See this graph.

The toll is often used as an excuse for the traffic in Julianstown in the context that Julianstown has got its bypass and won’t be getting a new one. It is hard to see why a toll would have such an effect on Julianstown and not on Clonard, where the toll is in fact higher. Granted a toll is a deterent to use, but it is obvious that most of the traffic in Julianstown is not toll avoiding.

Interestingly the data for Clonard show that almost a quarter of the traffic is HGV traffic which pays a higher toll. It looks like HGV traffic is more sensitive to tolling and in fact would be the main body of traffic to avoid a toll. That means the toll should lead to a relative increase in HGV traffic. In Julianstown the opposite has occurred. In fact the proportion of HGV traffic in Julianstown is decreasing again indicating that the toll is not diverting traffic into Julianstown.

So what does this mean? It means that most of the traffic in Julianstown is local, travelling from or to Drogheda and East Meath, an area where the population is doubling every 5 years. The M1 did not effectively bypass Julianstown and the County Council’s claim that the tolls are the cause of the problem are not supported by the facts.

What needs to be done? The council needs to acknowledge this as the situation and immediately start planning an adequate road network to effectively transport the East Meath population to the M1, a route that should not pass through Julianstown. The situation is very poor in Julianstown and the Council’s reponses are inadequate and unprofessional.

Entry Filed under: Traffic, julianstown