Almost all investment in active travel infrastructure is converted into benefits for Ireland’s economy, supporting domestic economic development and job creation.
That’s according to the ‘Benefits of Active Travel Investment’ Report, which was commissioned from Turley Planning Ireland by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and supported by ARUP.
The NTA and local authorities have delivered almost 1,000km of active travel infrastructure (2021-2025), with hundreds of new pedestrian crossings and junction upgrades and more than a dozen pedestrian and cycling bridges nationwide. Between 2021-2030, the NTA’s Active Travel Investment Programme, with funding from the Department of Transport, will have invested approximately €2.9 billion in the delivery of active travel infrastructure.
BENEFITS & JOBS
The report confirms how choosing walking or cycling over driving puts more money back into people’s pockets and the wider economy. Annual commuter savings are estimated at €620 for pedestrians and €3,480 for those cycling. The savings from cycling are made up of savings for the individual (vehicle running costs, health, taxation etc) and savings for wider society (road maintenance costs, journey time, noise, air quality etc).
One of the main benefits is the large number of jobs supported by active travel investment. Right across the country, active travel schemes are being designed, planned and constructed by many Irish based companies (design and construction) that help support local economies. As part of this report, interviews and surveys were conducted with companies working in the delivery of active travel infrastructure with the findings highlighting very low leakage rates (i.e. the proportion of investment spending that flows out of the domestic economy).
The wider economic benefits over a 30-year appraisal period are estimated to be €7.73 billion – this means, every €1 invested in Active Travel infrastructure between 2021-2030 generates almost €4 in benefits to society when assessed over a 30-year appraisal period. It is estimated that the cost of one year’s investment is fully recovered by the sixth year of the infrastructure being operational.
Among the report’s other key findings, are that between 2021 and 2030, capital expenditure on active travel has generated and is projected to generate a total of €1.45 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) through direct and indirect effects, amounting to €2.04 billion when adding induced effects.
The programme has supported and is expected to support 17,690 FTE jobs over the 10-year period, with an overall of 26,640 when induced effects are also considered. On average, this amounts to over 2,650 FTE jobs per year over the 10-year period of 2021-2030.
