The new traffic arrangements for Dublin which were announced during the week (and which are detailed in this morning's newspaper) are to be welcomed. Yet they represent something of a leap of faith by the Dublin City Council and the Director of Traffic, Mr Owen Keegan.
Under the new arrangements, private motor traffic crossing Dublin will find it all but impossible to access the city centre. Two "orbital" routes will bring traffic from one side of the city to the other but will keep them away from the central business district. The object is to give the city centre back to public transport, to pedestrians and cyclists and to put cross-city traffic onto the M50 or the "orbital routes."
What this means is that things will probably get worse before they start to get better. The term "orbital routes" has a businesslike ring about it that belies the reality of a string of streets and roads of varying contours and capacity, many of which are already heavily congested. When traffic which at present goes through the city is added to these, some stretches - for example, the Grand Canal from Baggot Street to Davitt Road - may be effectively immobilised for long periods of the day.
The City Council will rely on the transport companies, especially Dublin Bus, to maximise the opportunities now being created to put in new and efficient public transport within the central business district and across the city. They are being given a free field of operations. Whether they are up to it remains to be seen but the record is not especially reassuring.
The Council and the Director of Traffic must also rely on the Garda to enforce the new regulations and to keep traffic flowing smoothly on the "orbital routes." Here again, the record is not reassuring. The first phase of this operation saw the prohibition of right turns from Dawson Street into Nassau Street and from South Great George's Street into Dame Street. Violations have diminished but they continue.
Nonetheless, the City Council's plan must be seen as correct in principle and as a courageous step. The completion of the big infrastructural initiatives - Luas, the Metro, the Port Tunnel, additional Liffey bridges and the final leg of the M50 - is some way off. In the meantime, the centre of Dublin has to be rescued from the tyranny of unregulated motor traffic. This plan marks a real departure from the traditional all-things-to-everyone attitude which brought the capital to its present state of near-paralysis.