A permanent boardwalk along the Liffey wall, a footbridge, a book market and a cycle track are among the plans of Mile Atha Cliath, the Dublin partnership group, to mark the beginning of the new millennium in the city.
Launched yesterday by Mr John Stafford, chairman of Mile Atha Cliath, at the Mansion House, seven projects at a cost of £7 million are aimed at "reclaiming the heart of the city at the start of the third millennium" for Dublin's citizens and visitors, according to Ms Dorothy Barry, chief executive of the partnership.
One of the projects is a boardwalk to run along the inside of the north quays wall from O'Connell bridge to Grattan or Capel Street Bridge, a minor version of the famous walkways along the Seine in Paris.
The four-metres-wide walkway will have room for seating and for a small market. "It is as nice a recreation space as you could achieve on as narrow a river as the Liffey," said Ms Barry. The plans complement other projects, such as Dublin Corporation's O'Connell Street proposal and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority's enterprise to create two parks along the quays at the docks.
Ms Barry said that eventually people would be able to stroll comfortably from the East Link bridge almost to Heuston station through these parks and along the walkways.
Mile Atha Cliath, a gathering of 13 public, commercial and civic organisations in Dublin, also has plans for a footbridge to link the north and south sides of the city from Eustace Street at Temple Bar to Ormond Quay.
Another proposal aims to pedestrianise two of the four lanes currently used by motorists on Grattan/Capel Street bridge and establish a Grattan bookmarket, in recognition of Dublin's fame as a literary city.
The projects also include proposals to have all of the Liffey's bridges permanently floodlit.
Organisers also want to create a five-kilometre cycle track along the Grand Canal, providing connections between the river, waterways and the major tourist attractions in the city.
Mile Atha Cliath's "monument" to the millennium, another proposal, is the Millennium Kaleidoscope, which is intended to be the "biggest public arts project ever in Dublin". It will take the form of a contemporary multimedia "expression" of Dubliners' lives.
Mile Atha Cliath will make an application for funding to the National Millennium Committee as well as to the private and public sectors.
