Dublin City Council have reminded the public that a number of streets in the city-centre will be pedestrianised from this Monday May 24 to facilitate outdoor dining.
This initiative is part of a wider programme being led by the Office of City Recovery.
From Monday the following four streets will be either traffic-free, or have sections of them traffic-free daily after 11am.
- Anne Street South from the junction of Dawson Street
- South William Street from Exchequer Street to the Brown Thomas carpark exit
- Drury Street from just after its junction with Fade Street to the Drury Street underground carpark
- Dame Court From Exchequer Street
The decision to carry out these works was made following successful Weekend Pedestrianisation Trials that took place over 6 weekends during the months of July and August 2020.
An online survey conducted by Dublin City Council into the trials received 1,588 responses, with 95% of respondents in favour of permanently pedestrianising the streets.
The plans for pedestrianising the streets were also issued for consultation in November 2020 and 97% of respondents were in favour.
Pre-Covid, in March 2020 there were 34 on-street car parking spaces on these streets. Once this pedestrianisation occurs, there will be no car parking spaces on these streets.
Access to the existing carparks will remain, providing 2,328 spaces in the area.
There were 5 disabled bays on these streets:
- The three spaces on Drury St will remain but have been relocated beside the Drury Street carpark
- The disabled bay on South Anne St has been relocated to Molesworth St
- The disabled bay on Dame Court has been relocated to Exchequer St
There will be traffic management on site for the first week as people get used to the changes. There will also be temporary material used initially (such as bollards) with planters due to arrive soon.
Dublin City Council is working on plans to increase pedestrian and dining space in other parts of the City and will issue further information in due course.