Cork is the 71st most congested city in the world

CORK motorists lost 68 hours in traffic due to delays last year, according to INRIX’s 2022 Global Traffic Scorecard.

Cork is the 71st most congested city in the world and the third most congested in Ireland.

Leeside saw a massive 95 per cent increase in traffic since 2021, but a decrease of 20 per cent since 2019. The large swings can be attributed to the rebound in traffic since the Covid lockdowns ended.

London topped the list, where drivers were delayed by 156 hours on average per driver in 2022.

Cork fared worse than Limerick (62 hours delay), and Waterford (52 hours), but was considerably better off than Galway, with a 94-hour delay, and Dublin, with a 114-hour delay, making the capital the fourth most congested city in Europe.

“In addition, the new road layout just before the Jack Lynch Tunnel, has served only to, in some cases, make things worse, as it’s caused such widespread confusion, with poor signage in place,” he said. “I am not surprised by the result of this survey. I think there still needs to be more done to alleviate the pressure on the motorists of Cork.

“Poor signage, poor layouts in a lot of cases, seem to be the culprit, and I think in some cases, the authorities need to go back to the drawing board,” added Mr Comyn.

'PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANSPORT'

Green Party Councillor Dan Boyle said, “the high ranking of Irish cities on this list shows how car dependent we have become. 

"We have been too late in realising that the only way of dealing with traffic gridlock is in discouraging more car traffic and promoting more public transport, more cycling and more walking.” 

INRIX examined mobility trends in over 1,000 cities across 50 countries worldwide. INRIX is a private company based in Washington, US, which provides location-based data on mobility trends.

The figures show that the Last Mile Speed in Cork was 13mph (21kph) in 2022, that is the speed of travel within one mile of the downtown core. It was 22.5kph in 2021 and 2020.

The peak speeds during the worst portion of the morning and afternoon commute times, was 19mph (30.5kph) in 2022, and 24mph (39kph) in 2021.

The off peak speeds, that is the low point between the morning and afternoon commute time periods, was 30mph (48kph) in 2022, and 32mph (51.5kph) in 2021.