Traffic Free Capel Street, Dublin

Ziele/Ideen

The project targeted a reduction of vehicles in the core of the city, increased pedestrian and cycle usage and modal shift. This aligns with multiple polices with the Dublin City Development Plan 2022 – 2028, the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022 – 2042 and Ireland’s Climate Action Plan.
This project challenged the practise of driving right through the very heart of the city and showed that in fact the majority of the traffic that was using the street was not stopping or shopping there but merely passing through. It is always challenging to explain this particularly to businesses on the street but being able to show them firstly and bringing them through the process meant that the councillors voted unanimously when it came to implementing the measure.

Kurzbeschreibung

In May 2022 Capel Street in Dublin 1 became a traffic-free street. The traffic-free area stretches 400 metres making it the longest traffic-free street in the city. It had approximately 8,000 vehicles a day with one lane on congested traffic and two lane of parking, making it a very car dominated street.
Building on traffic-free trials undertaken the previous summer in 2021, this project consulted with residents, businesses and street users on the potential for removing traffic from the street. Feedback from these groups was overwhelmingly in favour of the street becoming traffic-free.
Post-implementation vehicle numbers have reduced by 92% (deliveries are permitted from 6-11am). This equates to approximately 1.5 million fewer vehicle trips in the area, leading to a huge reduction in emissions, air and noise pollution in the city centre. Pedestrian numbers have increased by 17% and cyclist numbers by 27%.

Resultate

On Capel Street:
– Vehicle reduced by 93%
– Pedestrians increased by 12%
– Cyclists increased by 19%
– In the surrounding area, vehicles have decreased by 53% with over 4,000 fewer vehicles circulating in that area a day
Less quantifiable is how the feel of the street has completely changed from a vehicle dominated to a people dominated street. A study of the spending on the street showed that post implementation there was an increase in spending.

Partner

National Transport Authority