Dalkey is set to begin enhancement works which will create more space for pedestrians in the South Dublin village.
Scheduled to begin on Monday morning, the works will see a 'narrowing of roadway and reallocation of some parking spaces on Castle Street'. The redevelopment of Dalkey is part of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's overall project to 'create safer, more accessible spaces in our town and village areas for people' in the county.
https://twitter.com/dlrcc/status/1292035174520311808
The works are expected to take four weeks to complete and will include the removal of most of the on-street parking on Castle Street. The arrangement of the two-way traffic system will be maintained, however the 'width of the carriageway will be significantly reduced'.
Speaking about the scheme, Bob Hannan, Senior Architect with the DLRCC said: "The interventions at Dalkey are based on a 'shared streets' concept. Shared space is an urban design approach that minimizes the segregation between modes of road user. This is done by reducing standard road features such as road surface markings and traffic signs. In this arrangement, cars, pedestrians and cyclists will all interact within the same space but are encouraged to move slowly."
Cafés, pubs and restaurants are invited to apply for a special free Covid-10 licence for tables and chairs in this new reallocated space. Key features of the works can be viewed below:
- The ‘squareabout’ at the west end of the town will be narrowed to a single lane for inbound traffic at the Post Office, with the bus stop built out to create additional space along the kerbside for a new loading bay.
- The traffic island at the squareabout will be removed to facilitate the new layout.
- The taxi rank will be moved toward the northside of the squareabout closer to the petrol station to enable a new loading bay and disabled parking space to be installed at the east side of the squareabout.
- The area highlighted in yellow near the squareabout will be reclaimed as a public space and used for placemaking, such as the installation of planters, benches, tables and chairs, etc., as well as for the provision of additional bike parking.
- Castle St. (from approx. the church car park to the Convent Road junction) will be narrowed to 4.8 metres in width as allowed for in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMURS), becoming a shared and calmed space with no centre line and surfaced with a buff-coloured material, similar to what we are using on the Coastal Cycle Route and in Blackrock Village.
- On Castle St. we will be providing 2 No. disabled car parking spaces and 2 No. loading bays. The loading bays will be dual-use and will revert to standard parking after a specified time, typically 11 am.
- Additional bike parking will be provided within the enhanced public realm space in the town.
- Along Castle St. there are a number of the existing indented areas which will be ‘infilled’. Some of the reclaimed space on the street will be quite narrow and just using bollards would not provide useful additional space. We will trial more significant interventions in these areas to extend the path out to the new edge at the same level. We may have to alter drainage in the area to accommodate this.
- The area of road space at the Corner Note cafe is being modified, with the turning radius tightened to help calm traffic and also to provide additional public realm space.
Dublin City Council has recently been trialling a
pedestiranisation scheme in the city centre, while Malahide is another area which has
availed of a similar project in recent months. More information on the Dalkey works can be found
here.
(header pic: DLRCC)
READ NEXT: Dublin City Council approve major changes to Sandymount Strand
