Significant changes to the management of traffic along the Quays and across the City Centre are due to come into effect from August 20th next. Given the impact these changes are likely to have, I wanted to make sure that North Inner City residents were familiar with what is being proposed and what it means for drivers and other road users. I have detailed below the statement issued by the City Council on foot of the changes being introduced by the Council Executive led by the Chief Executive, Owen Keegan.
Dublin City Council has confirmed that new traffic arrangements will come into effect on the north and south city centre quays from Sunday morning 20th August. These changes are being introduced now to coincide with the Luas Cross City tram testing and to ensure that these permanent changes have time to bed down before regular day time tram testing starts in September.
From next Sunday (20 August) at 10.15 am, following the road closure for the Ironman 70.3 run, there will be no right turn for traffic from Bachelors Walk to O’Connell Bridge, except for buses, taxis and bicycles.
Also on the north quays, there will be a new road layout from Ormond Quay Upper to Eden Quay with additional bus lanes and general traffic reduced to one lane. New bus priority traffic signals on Bachelors Walk, approximately 100 metres before O’Connell Bridge, will control traffic flows and give priority to public transport.
On the south quays, there will be a similar new road layout from Burgh Quay to Essex Quay, again with additional bus lanes and general traffic reduced to one lane.
The rationale for the changes is as follows:
To reduce the current delays experienced by public transport users
To ensure that Luas Cross City can be introduced with minimal delays to its services
To ensure that far more people can move easily and efficiently through this area of the city than at present
To ensure all public transport users will benefit from Luas Cross City
Brendan O’Brien, Head of Technical Services, Transport, Dublin City Council said that these changes were part of an overall commitment by Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority (NTA) to improve mobility in the city and allow freer movement of public transport as Dublin expands and the number of commuters steadily rises.
“The additional bus lanes will alleviate the difficulties faced by public transport on the quays, where the worst delays for buses in the city are experienced. At the peak morning time of 8am to 9am, over 7,000 people travel along the north quays on buses. This compares to round 500 cars and the same number of cyclists,” he said.
It is expected that these permanent traffic changes will lead to an increase in the amount of people using public transport while still allowing access to the quays for general traffic.
Donal Keating, Head of Operations, Dublin Bus said: “Dublin Bus welcomes Dublin City Council’s and the National Transport Authority’s new traffic arrangements on the north and south quays. The additional bus priority is important for public transport and highlights the importance of buses in tackling congestion in the city centre. We carry 400,000 customers per day and these new traffic arrangements will ease traffic difficulties on the quays and help our customers avoid potential delays to their journeys.”
