Sir, - I refer to the recent series of articles by Dr Garret FitzGerald on the implications for other traffic of the LUAS LRT system, both during the construction phase and when the trams are operational.
Anyone who took the trouble to visit the exhibition in the Civic offices of the LUAS proposals will have noted that it is proposed to dedicate Lower Grafton Street and Nassau Street (up to the intersection with Dawson Street) to the LRT. Traffic on Dawson Street will be confined to one lane only. This will have major implications for all North/South traffic obliged to traverse the city centre.
No doubt our traffic management engineers are planning alternative routes, but if total grid lock is to be avoided, at least two new Liffey bridges are required to disperse the redirected traffic. One should link up with Lombard Street and the other down river at Cardiff Lane.
The latter will be essential anyway to supplement the existing East Link bridge, to cope with the traffic to and from the Dublin Port Tunnel. Unless these bridges are in place, in advance of city centre work on the LUAS, there will be chaos, no matter what computerised traffic modelling studies predict.
The more I consider the matter, the more convinced I am that Dr FitzGerald and others are correct in advocating that the LUAS system be built underground, generally within the canal ring. This may be more expensive, but in the long run it will serve the city centre better. Citizens and visitors alike will also be spared the mess of pylons and cables which can only disfigure urban streetscapes and vistas. - Yours, etc.,
Knocknacree Grove,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.