Plan to ban cars from Dublin’s College Green area by autumn
Cars are to be banned from the College Green area of Dublin city by next autumn as a first step towards making the city centre a public transport-only area. Dublin City Council is to release its plans to ban general traffic from travelling to and from Dame Street through College Green for three weeks of public consultation next month. The plan, which will cost €800,000 to introduce, will be shown to councillors tomorrow. It involves introducing a public transport-only “gate” at the junction of College Green and Grafton Street in front of Trinity College. This would prevent cars from entering Dame Street or Nassau Street from the north or east of the city and would stop cars from Dame Street driving into Westmoreland Street. The plan, which the council is calling the College Green Bus Gate Scheme, must be in place before the third-quarter of this year to allow preliminary work on the Metro North rail line to Dublin airport and Swords to begin.
