New reduced speed limits are being proposed for Dublin in response to the Covid-19 crisis as part of a wider mobility plan designed to facilitate social distancing.
A report by Dublin City Council officials details the routes that would be reduced to a 30km/hr speed limit. Some routes included in this list are the Malahide Road, Clontarf Road, Dorset Street, North Circular Road, South Circular Road, Rathmines Road and Harold’s Cross Road.
Helen Smirnova, Senior Executive Engineer, said, “The measures developed in response to a new and unprecedented emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are being implemented on a temporary/emergency basis to respond to the urgent and immediate needs of the city.”
Reduced speed limited is just one of the proposals put forward in a report by DCC officials as part of this mobility plan.
Also included in the Covid-19 response plan as well as reduced speed limits are the pedestrianisation of certain areas of the city such as College Green, as well as diverted bus routes.
Dublin City Council says the proposed plans aim to “ensure safe access to and movement within Dublin City for all users, to provide sufficient movement capacity to cater for the changing travel patterns and to support the economic recovery of the city and the region.”
A previous report states, “The document as published today is focussed on the city centre, the radial routes approaching the central area and a number of urban village interventions. There is little doubt that additional measures and interventions in other areas of the city will be required and the plan will be updated on an on-going basis to reflect this.”
They also state, “In order to reduce the time that people are waiting for pedestrian crossings to turn green, the maximum amount of time allocated to a complete traffic cycle, (allowing all movements in the junction operate, if demanded) has been reduced from 120 seconds to 80 seconds throughout the city.”
The proposed plans include a phased pedestrianisation of College Green.
READ NEXT: Irish businesses showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement
