On Saturday afternoon at about 2.30, while enjoying a drink on the Square, I decided to count the number of cars moving across the Square. I did this because it was obvious how busy with traffic the town was.
I was astonished at the result. Some drivers came in to park (lawfully or otherwise), while most went through. Of course, other than those stopping on the Square, I had no way of knowing whether the vehicles were simply passing through (using the town as a bypass) or whether they had previously parked elsewhere in town.
The Ruthin and District Civic Association has previously calculated that approximately 57 per cent of cars travelling across the town centre are going through (i.e. they are not stopping to park or shop. They are basically using the town centre roads as a sort of rat run). The Civic Association came to this conclusion after a number of surveys at entry and exit points, where vehicle registration numbers were noted upon entry and then on exit. A comparison of the two indicated the number of vehicles stopping and the number of those going through.
The number of cars moving on the Square during that hour was:
462
Now compare that to the average peak traffic on the A494 through Rhuthun/Ruthin per hour, which since mid-January 2022 is 898. On Saturday, therefore, there were approximately half the number of cars moving on the Square in an hour compared to the volume we might expect at the busiest time on the A494. That's a high volume.
Tags:
Traffic