New traffic restrictions at Pearse Street in Dublin are likely to create additional pressure in a congested area, according to the Automobile Association.
From today, only buses, taxis, motorbikes and cyclists will be allowed to drive on to College Green. All other traffic will have to turn right on to Tara Street and then left to the South Quays and on to College Green via D'Olier Street.
The AA's spokesman, Mr Conor Faughnan, said that the move was likely to be disruptive but "there is some logic to it".
"There is an awful lot of pedestrian traffic at College Green and the move is to facilitate that traffic."
Mr Faughnan said the new arrangement "is likely to make traffic flow more problematic, but we're prepared to try it".
Sometimes after initial problems, traffic changes could improve traffic flow.
He stressed however that if after a few weeks it became clear that "it didn't work, then the old traffic arrangements should be put back in place".
"It is not an edict carved in stone," he said adding that the authorities should be prepared to resume the old arrangement if it did not improve traffic and "it will be clear within a few weeks if it is working or not".
It was "not done for vindictive reasons", he said, adding that "most motorists going into town become pedestrians once in town. The trick about transport is that it's not buses versus cars or motorists against pedestrians".
Traffic at Pearse Street "is dreadful and has been congested for months. It is constantly busy and gridlocked at rush hour."
"I don't think anything you do will make Pearse Street any better, but maybe it won't make it worse," he added.
The restrictions at Pearse Street follow similar changes at Dawson Street on to Nassau Street and at the bottom of George's Street on to Dame Street. Such changes "are a bit like pushing down a bubble on a piece of wallpaper. It removes the problem from the immediate area", but it crops up somewhere else, said the AA spokesman.
