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Cars are scheduled to be permanently banned from various areas around Grafton Street in Dublin following successful pedestrianization and outdoor seating tests during the summer.
South William Street, Drury Street, South Anne Street and Dame Court will be converted to car-free areas, but a broader pedestrianization plan is being restricted after some parking owners, including Brown Thomas, said they could not facilitate the measures. .
Portions of these four streets, as well as Duke Street, were pedestrianized on a test basis over the weekends in July and August, with parking spaces converted to outdoor seating areas for cafes and restaurants to accommodate more people during Covid-19 restrictions.
More than 90 per cent of those who responded to an online survey by Dublin City Council on the tests were in favor of removing cars from these streets permanently.
The council says it wants to have “much improved pedestrian and traffic-free areas in place and ready for, hopefully, easing of Level 5 restrictions from early December,” following a consultation period on traffic changes this month. .
According to the council’s plans, South Anne Street would be fully pedestrianized, as it was during the trial, with seating on the north side of the street, and deliveries would be allowed between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. A disabled parking space would be moved to Molesworth Street.
Dame Court, the street that runs from Exchequer Street to Stag’s Head pub, would also be entirely pedestrianized.
‘Dominated’
This street is “normally dominated by vehicles and is not very pedestrian friendly” but during the summer tests it had become “much quieter and more pleasant,” the city council said. It will also be pedestrianized after 11 am with bollards blocking car access.
Drury Street had been pedestrianized between Fade Street and the Drury Street parking lot during the summer. For the permanent scheme, this will come down to the area between the parking lot and Castlemarket, the street that runs from George’s Street Arcade to Grogan’s Pub on the corner of South William Street.
Deliveries will be facilitated between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. and all street parking will be removed. Bollards will be installed at either end of the area.
The South William Street pedestrian zone will be substantially smaller than during testing. It had been pedestrianized between the Brown Thomas parking lot exit and Chatham Row, but this required reversing the direction of vehicles exiting the parking lot, with a stop / go system on Exchequer Street.
The council said it asked car park owners if it would be possible to reverse their entry and exit arrangements to make South William Street an entry point to the parking lot off Clarendon Street.
“This would allow the majority of the street to be pedestrianized,” the council said.
‘Difficulties’
The car park owners said doing so would pose “insurmountable structural difficulties that cannot be overcome.” Additionally, they said the tests caused considerable congestion internally in the parking lot and their business was down 30 percent from the first week of testing.
As a result, only the small area between the exit of the car park and Exchequer street, a stretch of 30 m, will be pedestrianized from 11 a.m. However, the only vehicles that will use the street will be those exiting the Brown Thomas parking lot.
The council said that “providing a traffic-free South William Street is a goal to be achieved.”
Only one company used the outdoor furniture on Duke Street during the trial. There is also a private parking lot, a delivery yard and a construction site that require access, the city council said, and it has decided not to go ahead with permanent pedestrianization of the street.
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