Motorists crossing Dublin city are to face severe restrictions beginning next Monday in a move designed to foster "a pedestrian and cycle-friendly city centre".
Under the City Council's major review of traffic management, through-traffic is to be permanently excluded from the city centre. Instead, traffic will be diverted through "orbital routes" between St Stephen's Green and Parnell Square or along a route close to the Royal and Grand canals.
Routes are to be marked by new colour-coded signposts with directions to the city centre indicated by the words "An Lar".
There will be no English language translation of the Irish words because "the available space meant to use the English translation as well would have rendered the writing too small".
Other place-names are to be excluded from the new signs which will instead carry new junction numbers .
The restrictions are designed to divert traffic from going through city centre areas such as St Stephen's Green, O'Connell Street and Parnell Square.
The council said yesterday the changes would make the inner-city more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
Taxis, public transport and motorbikes are to be exempt from the restrictions, which are similar to those in place at the junctions of Dame Street and South Great Georges Street, and Nassau Street/Dawson Street.
The changes are to be phased in by the end of next month.
The council said yesterday the new traffic management plan would become less severe once a number of additional relief routes were in place.
These relief routes include the Dublin port tunnel; the completion of the M50; the opening of the second Westlink bridge; and the opening of proposed bridges at Blackhall Place and Macken Street.
However, the council accepted most of these routes would not open for another two years.
The plan won qualified support from the AA yesterday, which said there would be some "short-term inconvenience".
It was warmly welcomed, however, by the business community, which said it would divert cross-town and regional traffic which had no business in the city centre.