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ROAD CHANGES TO divert through traffic out of Dublin city centre are expected to take effect from August, according to Minister Eamon Ryan.
The Dublin City Centre Transport Plan, announced last year, detailed plans to reduce the number of cars clogging up the streets of the city centre but not bringing any custom to businesses.
Changes to traffic management and road layouts around Westland Row and Pearse Street, Bachelor’s Walk and Aston Quay were forecast to come into effect this year.
Minister for Climate and Transport Eamon Ryan has now said the changes will be seen from August.
“I think people are going to see a transformation. They will see transformation this August when we take the through traffic out of the city centre. That’s going to make a huge change in Dublin,” he said.
The plan outlined that six out of every ten cars in the city centre are only using it as a route to reach destinations outside of the centre. Instead, that traffic “could be removed without impacting on the vitality and viability of the economic and cultural life of this area”.
Minister Ryan was speaking to reporters as the National Transport Authority announced €290 million in funding for local authorities to support the rollout of walking and cycling infrastructure in 2024.
Ryan told reporters he is “convinced” that Dublin and other cities and towns around the country will switch significantly to cycling when safe environments are created.
“Councils are starting to come around to reallocating space and making it safe to walk and cycle. It’s currently not safe. We have to make it safe, and as we do that we will see a change,” he said.
On managing local resistance towards cycling lanes, Ryan said that it’s important to listen to communities and make changes to plans if necessary but also that we “need to build now… we’ve done the listening, now we need to do the building”.
Transport plan
The plan proposed last year set out that Pearse Street from Westland Row to Sandwith Street would become a two-way road.
The left-hand turn onto Pearse Street for traffic travelling north along Westland Row would be restricted to public transport and cyclists, with a new right-hand turn created for general traffic at that junction.
Several other changes to road layouts have been proposed and put to public consultation under the plan.
Efforts to cut traffic in Dublin city centre are motivated by wants to both reduce congestion and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Emissions from transport must be cut by 50% over the coming years to comply with legally binding climate targets.
Thousands of scientists around the world have repeatedly warned policymakers that without immediate and substantial action to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the world faces a climate crisis devastating and irreversible consequences.
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Ryan needs to take a hike- If the problem is through traffic starting building two tier roads, underpasses, bridges etc to take that through traffic rather than just pushing it a few streets away
@You’re Not Serious: You’re living up to your name there!
Why in the name of all that’s good and holy would you want to emulate overpassess, underpasses and spaghetti roads that are seen all over to US and are proven to generate congestion? At enormous capital cost and disruption I would add.
How about following best practice, reduce the modal share of people travelling by private cars and using the destination (city centre) as a rat run. This is what we are seeing all over Europe, led by the Netherlands, Denmark and France. And it actually works for reducing congestion, improving air quality, increasing economic activity. With minimal cost and some temporary disruption as people adjust to the new set up.
He could at least halve the through traffic by encouraging drivers to Use the M50! And the Port Tunnel! We’ve done the building. Those toll roads are meant to bypass Dublin quickly and they have more than paid for themselves long since. Drop the tolls already and have drivers using the bypass roads to get past the city centre when it isn’t their destination.
@F Fitzgerald: exactly, scrap the M50 and port tunnel tolls and watch the traffic disappear from the city centre. They are too greedy and thick to do that though.
@Steve:
I’m not a regular traveller to Dublin but I have seen what the m50 gets like, not sure where you are going to fit all this extra traffic that you suggest will use it if there was no tolls.
@Steve: wow eureka! you’ve got the requisite qualifications and have done your research, right?
@SYaxJ2Ts: no need for research, people won’t pay the tunnel toll so go through the city instead.
@Steve: really? The tunnel brings you from Whitehall to the port. Where are these people going to and from that they go thru town instead? Same with those that you say would use the M50 if it was free. You know, that motorway which is actually free for large swathes and what you save on tolls would be more than offset by increased fuel
@P.J. Nolan: it will mean extra traffic for sure and that will have to be dealt with long term with new infrastructure. The issue is the city centre traffic, most of which is through fare. I know from people working in the docklands that they don’t use the tunnel as it’s too expensive, maybe once or twice a month at most. It’s ridiculous having such an expensive toll on a solution that would mean less people travelling through the city centre!
@SYaxJ2Ts: You obviously haven’t been to the docklands then recently, there’s literally thousands of office workers there! I know I have friends who commute in and out daily.
@You’re Not Serious: sorry to intrude but re Basketball: If they feel they must show up, then do so, but do the absolute minimum. No shots taken. No contact with the Zionist team of any kind. Let them win by a ridiculous score. Point made and team still in competition.
@Steve: I work there Steve. None of my colleagues (about 2.5k) drive to work. For starters you pay 35€ per day to park. Everyone either cycles or uses public transport. Granted it can be awkward to get to with an extra Luas trip down to The Point for many.
@Rua Rogan: But it doesn’t reduce congestion. London was voted the most congested city in the world in a Bloomberg survey in early 2023. Today, the advertising standards authority in London upheld complaints that adverts re ULEZ Benefits were misleading or not backed by scientific research. Lastly, This plan will force people to take longer journeys aka increased pollution!
@Fred Coloe: ULEZ has nothing to do with congestion….. that’s why it’s called ULEZ and not the congestion charge.
@Rua Rogan: cabbage head part 2
@Fred Coloe: Not true re increased pollution. Taking a motorway or dual carriageway where traffic speeds are relatively constant and the need to break and accelerate is reduced offers better fuel economy and therefore reduced pollution. The downside is the reduced air quality in the areas surrounding the motorway – though it is at least more dispersed than localising in the city centre where people are walking/cycling and breathing in the poor air
@You’re Not Serious: roads have been built, they were the. Widened, expanded, new junctions upgraded, toll barriers removed and STILL, too much traffic in the city centre.
Open up those unused cycle lanes again to traffic
When I worked in the city centre, every company there used cycle couriers whenever possible to make smaller deliveries around the city centre. Simply because it’s far faster to send anything by bike than taxi.
Open more cycle lanes and this attracts schools, and students can cycle through the city.
Besides, residents shouldn’t need to run a car in a city the size of Dublin.
@james dooley: I live on the new one going through Fairview inbound to city centre. Stand there at rush hour in the morning and it’s a constant stream of bikes, it’s really amazing. And this is winter. More people will cycle if there are less cars around too.
Most of the congestion in Dublin is caused by Traffic lights that are out of sequence.
The Traffic lights are a mess.
Probably orchestrated by DCC.
Public transport would bring plenty of people to town to shop and spend money. It would bring families in for events and festivals.
All viable alternatives to endless lanes of cars trying to travel elsewhere.
(Last month I got chatting to a group of people waiting for a train to Maynooth. They’d had to get a train to Dublin to do so. There was no direct railway line, so all of the regular commuters have to divert to Dublin then out of Dublin – needlessly.)
@F Fitzgerald: Well that depends where they are coming from….Sligo train stops in Maynooth, East Coast stops in Connolly ……Cork ,Waterford, Galway and Limerick all Heuston.
Can’t see the needs of a few dictating and it shouldn’t, Dublin has 2 train hubs it’s normal to change at a hub , and I travel by train internationally.
@Cornelius Paul O Mahony: As someone who also travels by train internationally, you’re right, changing at hubs is normal and expected in a bigger system.
The element which the Irish Rail Network is missing is alternative intersections between the two networks which only coincide in Dublin.
There should be a handful of places where the South Railways intersect with the North.
Ideally, a line between Sligo, Galway, Limerick and something connecting Athlone and Mullingar would be ideal.
That would have Massive utility for passengers.
@Gerard Carey: Traffic lights in this city are an embarrassment and my 10 year old daughter could do a better job programming them. And don’t even start me on the proliferation of pedestrian lights in this rown, honestly on some roads they must be every 50 metres, not to mention entering and exiting roundabouts, it’s an absolute farce. Why also did they stop using zebra crossings, much quicker for pedestrians and transport alike. Do these clowns not also realise that public transport has to also stop at all of these pedestrian lights?
@Gerard Carey: most of the congestion is caused by… millions of cars. Even in places like Manhattan with perfect grids and sequenced lights the traffic still snarls up.
@Rua Rogan: Unfortunately, the lines are mostly single. I’m not defending Irish Rail, but we essentially are using the infrastructure left by the English.
I, too, get frustrated with the system as I need to go from Maynooth to Galway regularly, bus into Heuston, train to Galway, get off at Oranmore, getting home by train nah, bus that ” alights ” in Maynooth.
I simply can’t see where land could be found to double tracks let alone new connections. The cost would be in the billions.
@The Firestarter: to use the argument often cited by the ‘more cars brigade’: what will the elderly and disabled do if pedestrian lights are less frequent? Should they have to walk the length of a football pitch to reach a spot they can safely cross? Or perhaps dart between speeding vehicles?
If anything, crossing times should be increased, and more pelican crossings installed
@Gerard Carey: traffic congestion is caused by too many vehicles. Changing traffic light sequences will just delay different rows of traffic. The only way to reduce traffic jams is to Reduce traffic!
@Cornelius Paul O Mahony: but if you compare the rail network of 1922 with the rail network now, you’ll see it has significantly decreased. Also, the lines should all be electrified and not use diesel trains that are so loud you can’t have a conversation on the platform and also do their part in increasing air pollution. The public transport infrastructure in Ireland needs a serious overhaul, and while you’re at it, maybe put some roofs over the platforms so that people don’t have to wait in the all too frequent rain
@Gerard Carey: I agree – the traffic lights are a mess. Either they have no idea how to set the lights to achieve maximum efficiency OR .. or, they are deliberately setting them to achieve maximum traffic disruption to frustrate motorists in the hope they will abandon their cars. Some lights have been set at 5 seconds for motorists and usually 3 cars get through. This disruption has E Ryan written all over it
Someone should ask Eamon why these legally binding emission targets don’t apply to the DAA and Dublin Airport.
Or all of us should ask our TDs why we still don’t have a Metro to the main airport. It’s surrounded by car parks and after dark relies exclusively on private transport.
@F Fitzgerald: we don’t have a metro to the airport because the DAA carparks generate a large slush fund for our hard working politicians!
@Jimmy Wallace: You don’t think politicians would leave evidence lying around, do you?
@Jimmy Wallace: Take your tablets and lie down for a while, you’ll be all right!
@John Dennehy: Shhh .. don’t wake Eamon. He’s dreaming up more tax on motorists
The nerves of Eamon Ryan to say that “Six out of every ten cars in the city centre are only using it as a route to reach destinations outside of the centre” Where did he get his stats from, who in their right mind would go through the city centre to go outside the city centre? Here’s an idea, widen the quay lanes to at least 3, build a METRO that connects the suburbs train stations like Adamstown, Swords, Tallaght and make the Dublin port tunnel free for everyone, let’s see… pay €20 per day to us the tunnel or suck it up and go through the city centre…
@J Ven: Adamstown has trains Tallaght has the luas Swords needs something the infrastructure is there, albeit with issues, the problem is vision, charging for parking at commuter stations is daft , but people also need to change habits, personally I think single passenger journeys need to be reduced, so 2/3 people in a car using the tunnel should be able to do so for €2 per trip……….it still needs maintenance.
Everyone should try and change but they won’t.
@Cornelius Paul O Mahony: The big picture is that you need metro stations at the suburbs train stations if you want someone from Kildare or Wicklow to get to the destination. What do you do if you live in Kildare Town and have to go to Santry? That’s what metro lines connected to train stations are for, there are all over Europe designed for that purpose.
@J Ven: if driving you’d take exit 2 off the M50 and voila, you’re in Santry, otherwise take the 16, 41, etc. to Santry when you get to Dublin by bus or train.
@J Ven: Take the train to Dublin from Kildare and hop on a bus Santry, Santry isn’t inaccessible, nor is Kildare Town.
Dart is a metro line and goes through Connolly and Pearse….Heuston is an issue, but the tunnel under Phoenix Park could be utilised more, granted.
Outside of rush hour commuter trains would only be 60/70% full, buses the same…..again its vision on all our parts.
@J Ven: that would take intelligence, something poor fundamentalist Eamon is sadly lacking
@J Ven: maybe people going through the city centre so they can avoid tolls? They need to get rid of the tolls
@J Ven: Nothing to do with Ryan. It’s based on traffic surveys done by DCC.
Are 24 hour bus lanes justified? They result in less space for cars and more congestion. No wonder people are frustrated and puzzled when things like this are introduced but make no sense.
Makes complete sense to me. Why add to the lanes of cars trying to find parking in Dublin? All people need is to get to where they’re going, and reliable public transport does that much more effectively. That’s the whole point of Bus Connect – that anyone can regularly travel into Dublin and leave even if they’re working late, or socialising, without having to hire a car each.
@F Fitzgerald: when you can get me to the Matwr on a Sunday for 8.00am I will listen, first 16 leaves terminus at 730
@You’re Not Serious: can you not drive?
@Brendan shanahan: yes, the buses would be fairly useless without their own constant lane. They’re late enough as is
@Brendan shanahan: less space for cars is a good thing. Keep up.
@eoin fitzpatrick:well that is a change from telling us all to cycle it
@You’re Not Serious: the idea is to stop through traffic, you’ll still be able to drive to the Mater at 8am on a Sunday morning for whatever reason
@Brendan shanahan: yes.
For the increasing amount of 24hr bus routes under bus connects,
for the 24hr economy and
not least for people on bikes who use of them, and having motorists scooting up the bus lane to then close-pass the bike is a danger we can avoid. Merrion Rd on a Sunday morning being a perfect case in point.
@F Fitzgerald: let me tell you this I tried to use the bus on 16th December to get to Camden street. Three buses didn’t show up at all as I waited at my bus stop and on the way home the bus only went to Westmorland street. The bus service is a complete joke.
@Brendan shanahan: if they are 24 hour you can add lane protection and priority sequencing. Much more difficult on part time lanes
@F Fitzgerald: where is this reliable public transport?
Ryan claims, today, that “the people are with us”! And yet his party is consistently polling 4%!! What is his logic??
@Fred Coloe: it might come as a shock to you, but people living in the city centre suffocating in fumes, noise and a complete lack of and a relative lack of parks just might not be all Green voters.
I’d want to see all that for my home town, the things I see in other European cities when I travel rather than the filthy, dirty congested city it currently is.
Not a Green voter.
@Fred Coloe: and very unscientifically -the comments here to this to me are 3 to 1 against the change, so all this talk about the vast majority-the Lycra has gone to their brains
@Mark Langton: It is strange though how Green voters deny being in Ryan’s window box party
Beautiful. Living in city center, Dublin is an absolutely tiny town and there’s no need for our obese population to be driving all over it. The congestion of cars is bad for everybody involved, people sitting in them and people forced to inhale their fumes.
@Sean Murphy: Maybe consider moving out to the countryside? And buying blinkers so you don’t have to see other human beings?
@F Fitzgerald: Why would I not want to see other human beings? Do you need to inhale fumes in order to socialise?
@Sean Murphy: I don’t even drive, but I’m not shallow enough to complain about fellow human beings simply because some aren’t slim and may need to use a car to get to their destination.
@F Fitzgerald: that’s a round about way of saying I’m over weight because I’m too lazy to roll myself down the chippers of a Tuesday evening
SOOO… redirecting traffic in around in a circle is going to reduce emissions? People who don’t cycle probably won’t cycle.
Town is a mess with the traffic. Only a few years ago they put in the 1-way system hailed as a marvel for traffic flow.
Now here we are in 2024, putting back in 2-way streets cos it’s not working – just throw some ham at the wall and see what sticks.
The infrastructure is a joke in this country. I used to cycle around town – until a gaggle of wannabe rent-a-bikes upon you at the traffic lights, 9-abreast, jostling past you – out in front of traffic lights. An absolute nightmare as someone goes flying by on the outside and takes a sharp left into an on-coming LUAS. It was horrendous cycling around town.
Getting the bus – it was 2 hours to get from top of Pearse Street to Dame Street – I watched a movie, thought I was nearly home – then figured out where I was – nowhere near. I got off the bus and walked home, took 45 minutes, but bet I beat the bus.
This government hasn’t a breeze how to do this. Just trying different things, oh Japan did this in 2006 and it worked for them! Japan also filled in a sink hole in 72 hours at a major junction and had traffic flowing again – meanwhile, the council can’t even fill in a pot hole.
Cabbage-head Ryan strikes again!
@Brian Hunt: If there are no parked cars the smak heads won’t have anywhere to Sh#t… the humanity of it
Each to their own and all that, but the day the Greens get wiped out will be a satisfying day for me!!
@G: unfortunately for you, my beloved greens will have many anti-motorist measures over the line already by the time they’re voted out, that’s their strategy, get in, get some things done, get out, sit back and laugh at you all stuck in traffic while we whizz by on our bikes
@eoin fitzpatrick: I’m a cyclist. I cycle every day from West dublin to Dublin 8. This will not affect my commute one iota. It will cause traffic chaos for many, many people who can not cycle into town or avail of decent public transport. Not everybody is as lucky as you, too, whizz around on bikes, but i suppose thats never something the Greens and their supporters think about, is it?
@eoin fitzpatrick: that is your problem Eoin. Bikes bikes bikes- all we ask is for a proper 1st world city option on the public transport option- bikes is NOT a public option
They can do what they like with the city centre . It’s an absolute eyesore . Was in talbot street / O’Connell street area last Monday night . Very scary place . Drugs being sold openly on the streets . People urinating openly . Gangs of youngsters flying around on electric scooters, is this what Ryan wants for the city ??
Out in D24 there are lots of new houses being built, but the few roads leading to them are being narrowed to make space for wide cycle lanes. Gridlock coming!
I live on the Northside and travel to Wexford through town it will add miles to my journey and a toll to not traverse town. Ryan will be gone next election
A sure who would want to go to downtown Dublin anyway unless you want to get mugged.
@Ned: it’s a complete kip!
@Ned: the place is packed every day with people not getting mugged, not everyone is a snowflake like you
@eoin fitzpatrick: the chances of getting mugged in Dublin city centre is historically higher than many other places in Ireland, as for your snowflake comment you’re name calling has revealed that you have a lot class all of it low.
@Mary M: you nailed it.
no vote from me for the green party “2 wheels good 4 wheels bad” fundamentalist
@Robert Boyd: buses have 4 wheels :p
Green message to drivers “Pay, pay, pay. Put up with it & shut up. Any complaints will be dealt with by yet more of our traffic obstacles”. Don’t like it? Then f off.
If you want to reduce the volume of traffic through the city then you need to abolish the tolls on the M50 and Port Tunnel, etc. If people are going through the city to go elsewhere then it’s obvious they’re doing so to avoid the tolls…
Encourage and incentivise businesses i.e. head offices etc, to move out of the city to the suburbs. Where they’ll have more office space, more parking etc.
Many people have legitimate reasons to drive thought the city so no need to punish them while both sides could be appeased
@Noel Linnane: the suburbs have worse public transport. You’d make traffic way worse, just not in the core. There are a lot of people who work in the city centre who bus/train. Move their jobs out and you may well force them to drive
With regard to the latest arson attack on an empty property, how hard can it be for the Gardaí to set a trap for these knuckledraggers? It really doesn’t reflect well on Drew Harris that after 5 years of this happening, there still hasn’t been 1 person charged with arson. The cynic in me wonders why.
@Anthony Curran: because you either need physical evidence or something to be stupid enough to broadcast it online. These places are usually in areas with very little cctv etc
@Anthony Curran: making assumptions without proof is as stupid as the people you wanna set a trap for…..but please continue
@Martin Mongan: If only there was some way to set up hidden cctv cameras around some of these properties. It’s not hard to catch them in the act if the desire is there.
People think we saved Dublin but we lost so much by the early 90s. We should of finshed off a revised version of the planed rd network, for example, between Artane roundabout and Donnycarney that small section of dual carriage way would make all the difference if built and there are many of these little sections throughout Dublin. With the revised plan we should of build the majority of housing along the coast between an up graded Dart line and the M1 motorway. Put higher rise in the dock lands got business from areas around Fitzwilliam Sq to relocate and return these to nice family homes. And the port tunnel free at peak times.
When is this Moran gona FO?! Waste of skin and hair!
@Mary M: First opportunity is the local elections in a few months!
@Jimmy Wallace: no need to be a wally now
@Mary M: Just wondering what the Greed Party got out of increasing the Clamping Extortion charge from Eighty Euro to 125 Euro
I take it the Samuel Beckett bridge will never be closed again for maintenance as you will no longer
be able to go NB over Butt Bridge
@You’re Not Serious: What about the Rosie Hackett bridge though, is that not an option?
@F Fitzgerald: you clearly don’t know Dublin but then you don’t care- that is a public transport bridge
@You’re Not Serious: they usually arrange for a detour in situations like that though
@eoin fitzpatrick: where would that be Eoin? The East link at €2.10 a pop?
@You’re Not Serious: sure, whatever works for you, or it might encourage people not to drive into town at all, some will be inconvenienced but hopefully the majority will win out here.
The plans are good and mostly needed, the problem with Ryan and most politicians is that it’s 20 years overdue and only covers a 2km area where they have all the ingredients to make it work, 10 minutes in any direction from this area is a complete mess and due to get a lot worse. The governance of Infrastructure should be positive, something that helps the electorate with their lives and the lives of future citizens alas the majority of contemporary politics is negative with the idea being that a harder existence is somehow ‘better’ for society.
I live in the council flats behind Mark’s Church on Pearse Street, the roads/Streets he’s mentioned are not big enough for this plan, as a voter in this contiuceny, we weren’t involved or asked for our ideas, and this man is one of our TDs, so the green party leader is making a decision for me without asking me what I think
@Henry O’Brien: Dictators don’t ask for your opinion
Happy with the plans for less traffic and open spaces. However, my concern is garda enforcement and visibility. The lovely open spaces could encourage criminal chancers to take advantage of tourists.
Is there a logical and sustainable garda and security plan in place for these places?
It’s funny that no one mentioned the Metro.
Yes, pump more money €290 millions for walking and cycling infrastructure.
Anything has to be better than what we have right now, and, having worked in retail in the city center for 20 years, I can attest to the positive effect even partial pedestrianisation has had on business! I want to give this a go and see what happens.
Sorry to intrude but comments were closed re the basketball: If they feel they must show up, then do so, but do the absolute minimum. No shots taken. No contact with the Zionist team of any kind. Let them win by a ridiculous score. Point made and team still in competition.
@Sean Sean: interesting
@Sean Sean: will the girls be allowed to bring a machine gun with them to their practice?
Build the Metro and then comeback with these plans
The amount if unqualified traffic management experts on here whinging and moaning is hilarious. Four legs good….two legs bad…..baaaa baaaaa.
@Sun Rise: the unqualified ones are in wood quay
Reducing traffic in the city is just moving the problem to the likes of the M50 which is already overburdened with traffic. This will result in cars spending more time stuck in traffic causing more pollution.
Public transport and alternative roads are not ready yet to accommodate this proposal.
have your say