New measures to tackle traffic congestion

Dublin Corporation today unveiled a number of new measures to reduce

traffic congestion in the city centre. The measures, which come into force on April 2nd, are aimed at making the city centre more amenable to public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.

They follow the launch earlier this month of five new Quality Bus Corridors and are designed to coincide with the completion of a south inner city environmental traffic cell.

The Corporation says the new arrangements will also facilitate the regeneration of O’Connell Street where work on the Monument of Light and a new plaza in front of the GPO will start later this year.

The new traffic management arrangements are as follows:

• No right turn from South Great Georges Street to Dame Street (except buses/taxis/cycles/motor cycles)

• No left turn from Dawson Street to Nassau Street (except buses/taxis/cycles/motor cycles). This will not affect goods vehicles making deliveries between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.

• Revised traffic flows in south inner city environmental traffic cell will result in new access arrangements to Drury Street, St. Stephens Green Centre and College of Surgeons car parks.

• The northbound carriageway in O'Connell Street, between Henry Street and the site of the old Carlton Cinema, is being reduced to two lanes

The Corporation’s Director of Traffic, Mr Owen Keegan said: "The new arrangements are being put in place for a number of reasons. They will directly benefit transport on four Quality Bus Corridors and will give us the opportunity to extend and enhance pedestrian facilities between the Henry Street and St. Stephens Green areas, including the provision of a new pedestrian walkway via the Millennium Bridge."

Mr Keegan said: "They are also designed to reduce traffic in O’Connell Street as part of its rejuvenation programme. At present 40 per cent of vehicles using the street are travelling to destinations outside the canal ring and we are encouraging that traffic to use alternative routes."

An extensive signage system is being erected in the south of the city to advise motorists of the changes and to divert drivers to alternative routes.