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Roads: Northern Ireland A1

Answer

The chief executive of Roads Service (Dr Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the noble Lord in response to this question.Letter from Dr Malcolm McKibbin to Lord Laird dated 1 March 2006.You recently asked Her Majesty’s Government a Parliamentary Question about the average daily number of vehicles using the Northern Ireland A1 in both directions (a) between Sprucefield and Hillsborough; (b) between Lisburn and Hillsborough; (c) on the Hillsborough bypass between Dromore and Banbridge; (d) on the Banbridge bypass; (e) between Loughbrickland and Newry; (f) on Newry Bypass stages I, II and III; (g) on the Dublin Road in Newry; and (h) between Newry and the border, for each of the past five years for which figures are available.I have been asked to reply as the issue raised falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.By way of background, I should explain that Roads Service collects traffic volume data by means of 270 automatic census points strategically located throughout the Northern Ireland road network. The information is generally recorded for one week in each quarter during the year and an annual average daily traffic flow is calculated. There are a number of sites where traffic is counted continuously. The results are published in Roads Service’s annual Traffic and Travel Information Report, which presents the traffic volumes in a variety of formats for each site.The locations of the automatic census points on the A1 between Lisburn and the border are given in Table A attached and cross referenced to parts (a) to (h) of your Question above. At census points 419 and 434 traffic is counted continuously at the other sites traffic is counted for one week in each quarter.The Annual Average Daily Traffic flows calculated for each site for the last available 5 years are given in Tables B and C.The 2005 figures are not yet available but will be published in the 2005 Traffic and Travel Information Report in due course.I hope this information is helpful.

Table A: Traffic Counts on A1 between Sprucefield and the Border
Cross referenced to parts (a) to (h) of PQ 831/06	Road No.	Census Point No.	Location	Direction of flow of traffic	Channel 1	Channel 2
(a) (b)	Al	522	Sprucefield-Hillsborough, at Carnbane Road	To Lisburn	To Hillsborough
(c)	A1	530	Hillsborough Bypass	To Lisburn	To Dromore
(d)	A1	410	Dromore-Banbridge	To Dromore	To Banbridge
(d)	A1	411	Banbridge By-Pass	To Dromore	To Newry
(e)	A1	419	Loughbrickland-Newry	To Newry	To Belfast
(f)	A1	437	Newry Bypass (Stage 1)	To Border	To Belfast
(f)	A1	438	Newry Bypass (Stage 2)	To Border	To Belfast
(f)	A1	439	Newry Bypass (Stage 3)	To Belfast	To Border
(g)	A1	405	Dublin Road, Newry	To Newry	To Border
(h)	A1	434	Newry-Dundalk	To Newry	To Border
Traffic Counts on A1 between Sprucefield and the border.

Table B
			2004	Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow				2003	Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow				2002	Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow
Road No.	Census Point No.	Location	Chan 1#	Chan 2#	Total	Chan 1#	Chan 2#	Total	Chan 1#	Chan 2#	Total
A1	522*	Lisburn-Hillsborough, at Carnbane	13,080	14,190	27,270	16,910	17,070	33,980	17,250	17,540	34,790
A1	530*	Hillsborough Bypass	13,040	14,120	27,160	13,853	13,865	27,718	13,390	13,339	26,729
A1	410*	Dromore-Banbridge	12,300	12,240	24,540	11,890	11,830	23,720	11,810	11,700	23,510
A1	411*	Banbridge By-Pass	10,010	9,790	19,800	8,740	8,990	17,730	7,350	10,460	17,810
A1	419**	Loughbrickland and Newry	8,950	9,150	18,100	8,980	9,000	17,980	8,150	8,960	17,110
A1	437*	Newry Bypass (Stage 1)	9,770	9,680	19,450	9,020	8,650	17,670	8,340	8,350	16,650
A1	438*	Newry Bypass (Stage 2)	12,140	13,060	25,210	11,100	12,110	23,210	12,650	9,790	22,440
A1	439*	Newry Bypass (Stage 3)	8,680	8,710	17,390	7,830	7,880	15,710	7,600	7,630	15,230
A1	405*	Dublin Road, Newry	9,980	10,270	20,250	9,740	9,940	19,680	9,570	9,510	19,080
A1	434**	Newry-Dundalk	10,210	10,360	20,570	8,590	9,010	17,600	8,920	9,080	18,000
#The term ““Channel”” relates to the direction of flow of traffic—refer to Table A. **At these census points traffic is counted continuously (24hrs/7days) and the Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow is calculated. *At these census points traffic is counted for one week in each quarter and the Annual Average, Daily Traffic Flow is calculated.

Table C
Road	Census		2001 Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow				2000 Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow
No.	Point No.	Location	Channel 1#	Channel 2#	Total	Channel 1#	Channel 2#	Total
A1	522*	Lisburn-Hillsborough, at Carnbane	16,550	16,900	33,450	16,290	14,550	30,840
A1	530*	Hillsborough Bypass	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
A1	410*	Dromore-Banbridge	11,290	11,240	22,530	10,730	10,380	21,120
A1	411*	Banbridge By-Pass	8,200	8,040	16,240	8,590	8,370	16,960
A1	419**	Loughbrickland-Newry	6,900	9,970	16,870	8,470	8,470	16,940
A1	437*	Newry Bypass (Stage 1)	7,350	7,700	15,050	8,320	8,290	16,600
A1	438*	Newry Bypass (Stage 2)	10,370	10,070	20,440	10,660	10,190	20,850
A1	439*	Newry Bypass (Stage 3)	6,840	6,800	13,640	7,310	7,270	14,580
A1	405*	Dublin Road, Newry	9,300	8,990	18,290	9,640	9,670	19,310
A1	434**	Newry-Dundalk	8,740	8,990	17,730	9,450	9,580	19,030
Note: Where ““N/A”” appears this means that either the counter was not yet in place or the information was deemed unreliable following quality checks. # The term ““Channel”” relates to the direction of flow of traffic—refer to Table A. ** At these census points traffic is counted continuously (24 hours/7 days) and the Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow is calculated. * At these census points traffic is counted for one week in each quarter and the Annual Average Daily Traffic Flow is calculated.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4171; 679 c97-100WA

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Northern Ireland Road traffic A1

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk