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Cafes and restaurants will be able to put more tables and chairs outside under the new proposals of the Dublin City Council for the pedestrianization of the streets throughout the city center.
The council plans to close College Green to traffic and pedestrianize a significant number of streets after 11 a.m. each day, under plans to reopen downtown as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.
The “temporary mobility plan” will be introduced in the next three to six months, and the measures are likely to remain in place for at least 12-18 months, and some will be maintained permanently.
The Dublin Town business organization said the council’s report was “released without consultation with the Dublin business community” and that the car ban after 11 a.m. “It shows no consideration for the economic impact on the city.”
However, the council said the changes it is proposing “will help businesses reopen by allowing more space on the street for tables and chairs and also for waiting areas.” Previously, the use of outdoor furniture was strictly regulated and monitored by the council.
More than 100 submissions requesting additional safety measures for pedestrians and cyclists in central Dublin have been submitted to the council due to coronavirus concerns.
Cycle paths
The council is evaluating the areas of greatest footfall in the city with a view to widening the trails and adding protective barriers to the bike lanes, to prevent cars from driving or parking on them.
Development of a segregated cycle path on the northern Liffey docks and a counterflow cycle path on Nassau Street has already begun. It is in the process of installing bollards on multiple bike lanes, including on Camden Street and Westland Row, where activists regularly form a human barrier to try to avoid parking.
The council began preparing plans for a pedestrian and bicycle plaza on College Green five years ago. However, the project was rejected by A Bord Pleanála in 2018, largely due to concerns about the “significantly negative impacts” it would have on transportation and bus traffic in the city.
The council does not plan to ask the board for permission for its new proposals for pedestrians and cyclists, but will implement them, using its own traffic management powers, in consultation with the National Transportation Authority (NTA).
While bus movements through College Green are already being significantly reduced as part of the network redesign, the council will seek the NTA sanction to redirect the remaining buses to the Dawson Street / Kildare Street corridor, and both addresses on Winetavern Street, which is currently one-way.
The council’s powers as a highway authority allow it to introduce “traffic calming measures” that may include preventing or restricting access to a highway. The council could have used this power to pedestrianize College Green instead of running for An Bord Pleanála, but chose to run for the board because of the measure’s broader possible environmental impacts, and because it was building a “plaza” rather than just ban it. traffic. The council may still reapply to the board for the square element of the plan at a later date.
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