Traffic-free city centres for Ireland?
Will car-free streets become more commonplace? (Images courtesy of Dublin Tourism)
The Irish Government wants 150,000 commuters to abandon their cars and get on their bicycles by 2020 to ease the county’s congestion woes and help alleviate global warming.
Department
of Transport officials are finalising a scheme that could see motorists banned
from entering several major city centers, including
The
Sustainable Travel and Transport Action Plan (STTAP) proposes the exclusion of
cars and trucks from parts of the city centers in daylight hours and the
conversion of many central thoroughfares into cycle and pedestrian zones. It
will need cabinet approval, but a government source said: “Over the next few
years, key streets in
David Maher of the Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) extended the plan a guarded welcome: “I would say 10% is completely achievable, but we’ve found in the past that there is no follow-through from policy to reality on the ground. You can make all the cycle tracks you want, but if the gardai [police] are going to allow people to park all over them, they’re more of a hazard than a help.”
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User Comments
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chuckcork
Posted Mon 20 Oct, 8:50 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Living in East Cork for 18 months, and having seen how badly they have designed road networks immediately outside Cork, deliberately excluding cycle and pedestrian traffic from accessing the industrial and residential area of Little Island, which previous to the current road network actually had good access, I'd add to what the DCC are saying by asking how much good a well thought out network within a city centre is, if no one can actually get to it from the outside, or move out from the centre?
The road design office of the county just not interested in anything but vehicles as a means of transport and not designing roads that can accommodate cycles and pedestrians. If they are I'm yet to see it or see any plans supporting greater access or rectifying the current problems.
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Jackdub6
Posted Wed 22 Oct, 12:18 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Interesting there was Talk of this some time ago, of Putting in a Traffic Free Corridor from Cavandish Row to Dame Street. Of course there is going to be massive Disruption of Traffic if they start digging up Grafton Street or Dawson Street and O Connell Street to put in the New Metro. I agree with David Maher of DCC an awful lot of Motorists Ignore the Cycle Lanes and just Park on them and the Police just seem to turn a Blind Eye and never Ticket anybody, and there is the other Twats that just Drive on them as well. The Irish Government is only taking an Interest now because of our Carbon Footprint and Kyoto Protocol , and getting Lashed by the EU in Bruxelles by our Carbon count being over the Quota. I give you a case in Point the Village of Raheny everybody Parks on the Cycleway and does not give a Fig about the Cyclists. They could Block off one side of O Connell Street as a start the GPO side I think would Work. Our Cycle Lanes are to narrow, I would Prefer them to be like Amsterdam or Copenhagen with 7 - 8 ft Lanes and not the 2 .6'' or 3ft Lanes that they have in place . Sometimes you come across 5ft Lanes but these are only to annoy the Motorists when they dont want them to go in Two's. I would like to see an Electric Eye on Traffic Light Poles about 5ft up to Warn Lorry Drivers(Truck) of Approaching Cyclists ,so that if the Truck is turning Left he will know that a Cyclists Approaches and will avoid catching Him or Her on the inside, the Major causes of Traffic Accidents involving Cyclists and Trucks.
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