Three lanes of traffic on Dublin’s Dame Street were funnelled into one at College Green yesterday morning as new traffic restrictions came into force. The measures, which will be in place for at least three months, have been introduced to allow for Luas Cross City road works.
Only one lane is available to cars and buses going north to Westmoreland Street in front of the Bank of Ireland on College Green to facilitate the diversion of underground pipes ahead of the laying of tracks.
The restrictions will be in place throughout the summer and could continue until the end of September, a spokeswoman for the Luas link-up project said.
Motorists are already restricted in their use of College Green by the “bus gate”, a ban introduced five years ago on cars travelling north through College Green between 7am and 10am and 4pm and 7pm Monday to Friday.
One lane
However, the new restriction will be in place 24 hours a day and will see buses competing with cars for one lane of road space outside the hours of operation of the bus gate.
The bus gate is marked by signs but the restriction for the Luas works will be physical as the road will be blocked off and dug up by workers.
Gardaí stepped up enforcement during the hours of operation of the bus gate yesterday to ensure traffic kept moving.
Luas Cross City spokeswoman Gráinne Mackin said there was little disruption to traffic yesterday.
However she said the Tuesday after a bank holiday was generally quiet in the city centre, and motorists should continue to use alternative routes where possible. “There will be rigorous Garda enforcement of the bus corridor regulations over the coming weeks to ensure that we can keep traffic flowing through the area.”
Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch said motorists experienced few problems yesterday.
“It was always expected to be a quiet day for traffic and so it proved,” he said. “If we are going to hit any traffic problems caused by Luas works it will more likely be in October, November and December.”
The southbound lanes through College Green will remain open throughout the work and there will be no changes to car park access in the area. Dublin Bus services will continue to operate as normal.
