Cycling to be banned on Dublin’s Suffolk Street for pedestrianisation trial

— Councillors want cycling access retained.

Dublin City Council is banning cycling on Dublin’s Suffolk Street for a pedestrianisation trial which will last at least 6 weeks.

The street is seen as an important cycling link which people the option of avoiding College Green and minimising the time mixing with buses and taxis over tram tracks.

According to a tweet in reply to this article, Cllr Ciaran Cuffe, the chairman of the council’s transport committee, said that the issue was discussed at the committee’s meeting today and there were requests to keep cycling access.

Cllr Cuffe said that a number of councillors, including himself, and the Dublin Cycling Campaign representative on the committee sought to keep cycling access on the street.

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said: “Following discussions with local business on Suffolk Street, DCC are undertaking a trial of Pedestrianisation of Suffolk Street for six weeks from the 2nd of February.”

“The area from the boundary of Number 5/6 Suffolk Street to Grafton Street will become a pedestrian zone with the same access hours as Grafton Street. This will see the current bollards and planters moved from the bottom of Suffolk Street to this new location,” she said.

The spokeswoman said: “The proposed changes move the existing traffic restrictions further up Suffolk Street. Currently there is no through traffic allowed from Nassau Street to Suffolk Street and this situation is unchanged.”

She added: “This arrangement will be reviewed after the six week trial when a decision will be made as to whether these changes should be made permanent. Any comments or observations during the six week trial period should be directed to citycentreprojects@dublincity.”

These images were taken by IrishCycle.com on January 2:

UPDATED: With information provided by Cllr Ciaran Cuffe.


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7 comments

  1. FFS

    That’s it. That’s all I have.

    Utter gobshittery. They messed up College Green for people walking and cycling and didn’t provide any alternative for people on bikes, and now this (insert word to describe utter incompetency of people in charge and my exasperation)!

    Ok, that was a couple of words more than FFS.

    Reply
  2. If so many people on bikes were not getting injured on the Luas tracks, I would say this is a poor decision that affects the permeability of the city centre for cyclists.

    But as many people are ending in hospital, this decision is more in the range of negligence, in my view.

    Reply
  3. Cycle lane down the centre seems better to me. Easier for pedestrians to see (notice) and easier for cyclists to see when someone is going to step in to your path.

    Since the Luas changes this stretch of road can’t see very many cars on an average day. It kind of seems like a waste of time to be honest but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. The real test will be when they try to pedestrianise a road that people actually want to drive on like Clarendon Street*. I guess delivery trucks are a pain on that road so forcing them to adhere to restricted times is a good thing. Still, it seems that this change will inconvenience a lot more cyclists than motorists and isn’t really going to make much difference to pedestrians. Probably the only reason the likes of Dublin Town aren’t crying blue murder about the car free apocalypse.

    * redevelop Brown Thomas’ car park as housing

    Reply
  4. It beggers belief that even at this stage such a retrograde stance could considered.

    Incidentally in Wexford, where I live, the Council is proposing extensive redevelopment all along the quays; with no segregated cycling paths and indeed almost no provision for cycling at all.

    Reply
  5. It is only pedestrianised in one direction. You can cycle from Nassau street, through the planters and up Suffolk street. There are no signs to say you can’t as they forgot to put the pedestrian zone sign at this end

    Reply

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