Growing tourism has contributed to a record increase in traffic along the Ring Road. The Icelandic Road and Coastal Authority reports that traffic on the main traffic artery which circles Iceland increased by 15.1% year over year. The average annual increase since 2005, when the IRCA began systematic measurements of traffic along the entire Ring Road has been 4.3%.
Uneven increase
2017 is on track to seeing the largest increase in traffic since 2005, when the IRCA began systematically measuring traffic along the entire Ring Road. The IRCA expects traffic in 2017 to exceed 2016 by 11.1%. Traffic along the Ring Road has been growing every year since 2011.
The distribution of the increase reflects the uneven increase in tourism around Iceland. Traffic in South Iceland increased by 22.1%, while traffic in East Iceland, which saw the smallest increase, traffic grew by only 13.2%. When we look at the first ten months of the year the smallest increase was registered in West Iceland, where it grew by 8.9%, compared to 15.8% increase in South Iceland.
Traffic in Reykjavík also saw a dramatic increase in October, growing by 9.1% compared to October 2016.
No traffic jams
Despite growing traffic most parts of the Ring Road are far from congestion conditions. Growing tourism has, however, caused problems at some isolated spots along the Ring Road where travellers stop their cars on the shoulder or even in the middle of the road to take photos or enjoy the view. The IRCA has launched an ambitious project to map these spots and add more scenic stopping places to eliminate the potential danger.
Growing tourism has contributed to a record increase in traffic along the Ring Road. The Icelandic Road and Coastal Authority reports that traffic on the main traffic artery which circles Iceland increased by 15.1% year over year. The average annual increase since 2005, when the IRCA began systematic measurements of traffic along the entire Ring Road has been 4.3%.
Uneven increase
2017 is on track to seeing the largest increase in traffic since 2005, when the IRCA began systematically measuring traffic along the entire Ring Road. The IRCA expects traffic in 2017 to exceed 2016 by 11.1%. Traffic along the Ring Road has been growing every year since 2011.
The distribution of the increase reflects the uneven increase in tourism around Iceland. Traffic in South Iceland increased by 22.1%, while traffic in East Iceland, which saw the smallest increase, traffic grew by only 13.2%. When we look at the first ten months of the year the smallest increase was registered in West Iceland, where it grew by 8.9%, compared to 15.8% increase in South Iceland.
Traffic in Reykjavík also saw a dramatic increase in October, growing by 9.1% compared to October 2016.
No traffic jams
Despite growing traffic most parts of the Ring Road are far from congestion conditions. Growing tourism has, however, caused problems at some isolated spots along the Ring Road where travellers stop their cars on the shoulder or even in the middle of the road to take photos or enjoy the view. The IRCA has launched an ambitious project to map these spots and add more scenic stopping places to eliminate the potential danger.
