Dublin to prioritize pedestrians, public transit under 8-year plan

Dublin plans to ban motorists from its center under an ambitious, eight-year strategy to make the city more walkable. Paul Melia reports for the Irish Independent that the €150 million (US$ 171 million) makeover is spearheaded by the Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority.
Cars and taxis would be banned, with priority granted to buses, trams, pedestrians and cyclists. Some parking lots are to be relocated away from the downtown to further discourage vehicles from entering the core. Meanwhile, footpaths are slated to be widened, and as the Irish Examiner notes here, dedicated cycling lanes added.
By 2023, drivers are projected to make 234,000 trips into Dublin each day, an increase of 42,000 or 20 percent over today, Melia reports. “The city could grind to a halt unless car use is discouraged,” the article warns. Dublin joins a growing list of cities striving to make their centers more walkable, including New York, Madrid and Brussels.
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