New restrictions and rerouting of private traffic on Dublin’s streets will come into force by mid 2025 under the next phase of the Dublin City Centre Traffic Plan.
The first phase came into force last August, with a ban on private cars and commercial vehicles travelling directly east or west along the Liffey at either side of O’Connell Bridge from 7am to 7pm daily.
The measures have been a boon for bus passengers. New figures from Dublin City Council to be published in the new year will show the number of buses travelling through Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay has increased by 335 daily.
“This means that there is an additional capacity of approximately 30,000 passengers travelling through this key transport route each day compared to 12 months ago,” the council’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, said.
Bus journey times have been reduced by approximately 30 per cent on the north and south quays, and are also considerably more predictable and steady over the course of the day – helped by the significant reduction in congestion.
“Journey times are not rising in the morning, dipping in the afternoon, rising again in the evening. The measures on the quays have knocked the peaks out of it. By any metric it’s been very successful,” Mr O’Brien said.
The council is now preparing the next phase of the plan: a ban on private traffic turning left from Westland Row into Pearse Street. This measure, due to be in place between April and June, may sound like a smaller intervention than the changes on the quays but it requires more engineering work, Mr O’Brien said.
“The measures on the quays were mainly signing and lining – putting up signs and lines on the road – so they were relatively quick to implement. Westland Row requires more civil works, new traffic islands and rejigging the junction.”
Currently Pearse Street is one-way from Sandwith Street towards College Green. When the ban on general traffic turning left from Westland Row into Pease Street is implemented, a right-hand turn will be introduced allowing cars to head east on a new two-way stretch of Pearse Street. Heading west from Westland Row, Pearse Street will remain one-way.
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“What we assume is very soon very few drivers will be using Westland Row. We are trying to reduce the attractiveness of Pearse Street and Tara Street as a route and reduce the amount of traffic in that whole area,” Mr O’Brien said.
This will allow more space to be devoted to cyclists and pedestrians, as well as buses, on Pearse Street and Tara Street.
The council will then turn its attention to Parliament Street. By the summer the southside street which faces Capel Street – already pedestrianised on the north side of the river – will be traffic-free after 11am. The only remaining obstacle is the number 69 bus, an infrequent route which is due to be eliminated in the coming months as part of the National Transport Authority’s network redesign.
“There’s a lot of support on Parliament Street itself for making it traffic-free and it could be really spectacular. Once that space is clear, one of the things we could do there is have a contraflow cycling link all the way from Dame Street to Bolton street, using Parliament Street and Capel Street‚” Mr O’Brien said.
The council will also prepare designs for a plaza either in front of the Custom House or at Beresford Place, with a decision to be made in 2025. It also plans to submit a planning application for the long-awaited College Green civic plaza by the end of the coming year.
The council has received “very few” complaints from businesses operating in the city since the first measures were introduced in August, Mr O’Brien said. However, the Dublin City Centre Traders Alliance, led by solicitor/developer Noel Smyth, is taking judicial review proceedings relating to the measures.
Guinness brewer Diageo, which had made a submission seeking a derogation from the restriction on the quays for its lorries, said it is now using alternative routes to access the port.
