Major change for thousands of drivers as Dublin street closes to motorists in ‘prioritise public transport' plan
A MAJOR change is set to come in for thousands of drivers as the second phase of the Dublin City Transport plan comes into effect today.
The new move will see changes to how
2
Motorists will need to opt for a different route
Credit: Dublin City Council
In August of last year the
This plan saw changes to private cars travelling on either side of O'Connell Bridge between 7am and 7pm.
Cars can no longer travel directly west or east of the Liffey following the implementation.
In the next step of the plan by
Westland Row and
Pearse Street junction from today.
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Traffic, not including buses, taxis and cyclists, will now be unable to turn left from Westland Row to Pearse Street.
Pearse Street will remain a one way street for buses, taxis and cyclists turning on to the street.
However, a new right turn will be added for private vehicles at the Westland Row to Pearse Street junction.
Pearse Street from Westland Row to Sandwith Street will now be a two way street to facilitate the measures.
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A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said the measures will allow for "better walking and cycling facilities".
The spokesperson said: "The anticipated reduction in general traffic resulting from this measure along Pearse Street from Westland Row and onto Tara Street will allow for opportunities on these streets to be reimagined with better walking and cycling facilities alongside the high priority afforded to public transport in the future.
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"The hours of operation for these new restrictions will be 24 hours Monday to Sunday."
The traffic changes to the busy routes around Dublin City are being made to reduce
Much of the traffic using these routes prior to the changes were just commuting and not stopping to work or shop in the areas.
Another phase of the plan yet to kick in will see the north side of Capel Street become a pedestrianised zone after 11am every day.
Amid the changes today taxi ranks, disabled bays and loading bays will stay the same.
'PRIORITISE PUBLIC TRANSPORT'
Senior Executive engineer with Dublin City Council's Transport Department Claire French has outlined the success of the changes so far.
Speaking to
"We've increased the number of buses. Footfall figures are up.
"So we've met our initial objectives and we hope this is a continuation of this as we move through the plan."
As the second phase kicks in Claire French told RTE: "This is to prioritise public transport in the area. Westland Row is going to become more important as BusConnects rolls out.
"We also want to reassign some of the space on Pearse Street for walking and cycling and for greening and then we have other projects like DART Plus and Metro North, which are further down the line, but are going to introduce a lot more pedestrians into the Pearse Street, Tara Street area.
"So we want to prepare for that."
2
Major changes will kick in today
Credit: Alamy
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