Cars to be permanently banned from College Green

Private cars will be permanently banned from Dublin’s College Green from the end of this month, Dublin City Council has said, in an effort to improve the area for pedestrians and cyclists in advance of the stalled civic plaza.

The council had hoped to progress plans this year for the long-awaited “traffic-free” plaza at College Green and Dame Street. However, the delays in implementing the BusConnects project, resulting from a shortage of drivers, has meant the council cannot ban buses from the area.

Instead, it plans to eliminate private cars, by extending the “bus gate”, which currently bans private traffic from driving through College Green from 7am to 7pm on weekdays, to a 24-hour, seven-day a week ban.

The move will “help alleviate public transport congestion in the city core” the council said.

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“Each week over half a million pedestrians and 2 million passengers on public transport go through the College Green bus gate. This compares with just 27,000 private vehicles. However, this small number of private vehicles causes significant delays to public transport journey times in the area, particularly in the evenings and at weekends when there are no restrictions.”

The ban would allow the council to “reallocate the road space exclusively to sustainable modes of transport which account for 97 per cent of current journeys through College Green,” it said.

[ College Green plaza development costs set to soar as council advertises €10m design contract ]

The council also plans to reduce taxi spaces in Foster Place, which runs down the side of the Bank of Ireland building, although access into Foster Place and disabled parking spaces will be retained. This will allow it to create an interim “public space” in this area, it said. “Nestled between some of the city’s most historic buildings, including the Bank of Ireland and the Irish Stock Exchange, the area will become a more inviting public space with planters and public seating.”

Work on the scheme will begin next week, with the car ban in place from May 29th.

Bord Pleanála in 2018 rejected the council’s College Green plaza plans, largely due to traffic concerns, particularly the effect on the bus network. However, more than two years ago the council announced that the National Transport Authority’s BusConnects scheme, which would reroute buses from College Green, would allow it to progress the scheme and significantly increase the traffic free area, extending it along Dame Street to South Great George’s Street.