Thousands of motorists will have to change their habits from April 2nd following the implementation by Dublin Corporation of a radical new traffic plan for the city centre.
The plan, which will result in greater priority for buses, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians, involves banning two long-established turns - left from Dawson Street into Nassau Street and right from South Great George's Street into Dame Street.
Mr Owen Keegan, the corporation's director of traffic, said yesterday that the aim was to reduce the volume of traffic on O'Connell Street to facilitate construction of the Monument of Light ("The Spike") and a new plaza in front of the GPO.
The plan to divert traffic from the core area is also designed to support a range of measures already implemented at a cost of £3 million to create an "environmental traffic cell" in and around the southside shopping zone, centred on Grafton Street.
Motorists will have to use alternative routes, notably Pearse Street and Patrick Street, or avoid the city centre altogether. However, Mr Keegan said about 40 per cent of the traffic in O'Connell Street has an origin and destination outside the canal ring.
One of the main advantages of the new plan was that it would allow bus lanes to be installed around St Stephen's Green as well as on Dawson Street, South Great George's Street and Dame Street.
The main adverse impact on motorists would be in the evening peak hour, particularly on Pearse Street, which is "already pretty much clogged" with traffic, as Mr Keegan conceded. But he insisted there would be "far more winners than losers" under the new plan.
Although the corporation anticipates a level of traffic chaos for the first few days after April 2nd, it believes this will "sort itself out" as motorists become used to finding alternative routes - preferably routes that avoid the city centre altogether.
The plan is being introduced long in advance of the construction of two road bridges over the Liffey, at Blackhall Place and Macken Street, both of which are intended to provide relief routes for traffic using O'Connell Street.
Interim measures to relieve congestion on Pearse Street will include a clampdown on parking as well as banning the right turn from Lombard Street and, possibly, preventing traffic from continuing through to College Street.
Asked whether the overall plan was supported by businesses, Mr Keegan said most traders in the city centre recognised it was essential to reduce through traffic using O'Connell Street and to make it "a much nicer place to walk and shop".
