Northern Ireland motorists face more frequent gridlock if the lack of attention to traffic management continues.
Charlie Henderson, of PA Consulting in Belfast, has worked with the Highways Agency in England for many years and to other governments around the world developing traffic management to address congestion.
Failure to address congestion adequately is stifling economic growth. Charlie estimates the current cost of congestion to the economy to be around £250 million annually or 1.5 per cent of total economic productivity.
“The Dublin Chamber of Commerce estimated the cost of congestion to their city to be in the region of €2.5bn every year,” said Mr Henderson. “Across the UK the CBI considered the cost to be around £20bn.
“While no official figures are compiled in Northern Ireland about the cost of congestion, if we apply the same method used by Dublin Chamber and the CBI we can conservatively state that the cost of congestion in Northern Ireland every year is somewhere around £250 million. With projected traffic growth, this figure is only going to get worse.”
Mr Henderson said: “While this is a staggering amount, what is worrying is that we don’t do anything about congestion when we have a reasonable idea that something is about to happen,” he added. “For instance Ikea is going to open on 13 December. This is great news for the Northern Ireland economy, however there is a history of their store openings coinciding with major traffic disruptions.
“When other Ikeas have opened the relevant authorities have tried to do something about it, for example warning people of the potential congestion and encouraging those who are not going to the store to choose alternative routes. There is no discernible evidence of such a campaign in Northern Ireland.
“There appears to be no guidance given to drivers who normally use the Sydenham by-pass or the Holywood dual carriageway about the probable congestion when Ikea opens in Belfast.”
While the opening of Ikea represents a short term traffic management problem, Mr Henderson said effective traffic management must be a priority if only to stop things getting worse and congestion becoming an increasing cost to the economy.
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