Traffic-free city centres for Ireland?
Plans underway to make Irish cities more bike-friendly
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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.”