Today, Dublin City Council (DCC) will publish its plans to double the size of the proposed pedestrianised plaza at College Green. Buses, cars and taxis will all be banned from the area just outside Trinity College all the way to the junction of Dame Street and South Great George's Street.
A pedestrian area was already planned for the area but those plans saw the plaza end near Anglesea Street, the first turn down into Temple Bar. These new plans are very much more ambitious.
Original plans for a pedestrian and cyclist only area were rejected by An Bord Pleanála due to its concerns about the "significantly negative impacts" the plan would have on bus routes and traffic in the city centre. However, the National Transport Authority (NTA) recently published the Dublin bus networks redesigned plans. Bus routes will be reconfigured. A main arterial route, known as Spine A, can be redirected away from College Green and Dame Street and sent down Nassau Street and to St. Stephen's Green instead.
Due to the far-reaching bus route plans for Dublin, DCC can now potentially extend the plaza. The whole area is set to encourage people to live in the city, breathing life back into the city centre with family-friendly zones and a park-like atmosphere. A public consultation will take place. The College Green plaza will be going ahead. The consultation will seek to find out which of the two options - a larger or smaller plaza - the residents of Dublin would prefer.
