Roads

Reimagining our villages and roadways

General News
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Creating safe and inviting public places - dlr have been working in partnership with local stakeholders in a number of areas around the county to create temporary designs for re-imagined public spaces in our villages and dedicated cycling links on our roads.

We want to ensure we can provide a safe and welcoming place for residents, businesses and visitors and help re-open our areas as our society gets on the path to recovery following the impact from COVID-19.

Safety is at the heart of this public realm project, in terms of safe physical distancing and road safety. This initiative will allow pedestrians and cyclists to move around safely, to shop, rest and enjoy this new public space. These projects will roll out over the summer months through June and July.

Commencing in Blackrock Village, in order to create an attractive public space in this village setting, we will be integrating planters and street furnishings to help make visiting, shopping or simply spending time in Blackrock Village a safe and enjoyable experience. The design concept envisions a ‘soft’ separation between pedestrians and cyclists, as this is intended to be a public space through which people can move through at a leisurely pace, taking time to rest and enjoy. We want to ensure that the village is safe and can be enjoyed by all - the young and old, those who are new to cycling or who may have taken it up again after a long time; those who are mobility-challenged, including, amongst others, the blind and visually impaired.

This design will provide a new temporary one-way flow for vehicular traffic and cyclists from Rock Hill down through Main Street with the space resulting from the removal of a traffic lane and sections of on-street parking being reallocated for the safety of pedestrians, through wider footpaths, and cyclists, by means of a new contra-flow facility. We will be using screw-down kerb separators between traffic and pedestrians and cyclists, as well as placing a contrasting layer buff-coloured anti-skid surfacing to mark the areas clearly.

The expanded pedestrian zones may also offer opportunities for cafes and restaurants to use the public realm whilst ensuring safe physical distancing is adhered to.

 

In Dundrum Village we are also liaising closely with community, business groups, Gardaí and the National Transportation Authority (NTA) as we plan to create an inviting public space that will help to make visiting, shopping or spending time in Dundrum Village a safe and enjoyable experience. Plans include a temporary one-way traffic system on sections of Main St./Sandyford Road in the village and the reallocation of road space for the safety and benefit of pedestrians, cyclists and local businesses. These necessary changes to the public realm in the Village will facilitate safe physical distancing, mobility and support businesses reopening. Street landscaping and furniture will also be introduced in the area to make it a place to have the space to rest and enjoy safely.

We are aiming to promote the switch to active modes of walking and cycling to help meet the transport needs for Dundrum Village. It is expected that there will be minor alterations to certain bus routes, but we are working with the NTA to ensure minimal impact on public transport serving the village.

Two way cycle lane from Blackrock to Sandycove

As part of the plan to improve the public realm in the County there will also be works commencing in July to create a segregated two-way cycle lane between Blackrock and Sandycove along our coast via Seapoint Avenue. To accommodate this vehicle traffic along parts of the coast road will be rerouted on a one-way system towards the city. The idea is to allow people more transport options and create space and usability of the route for all ages and abilities. It is envisaged that these temporary measures will remain in place as long as we are dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions, which may be a matter of months or even longer. For more information on these and other initiatives please see our website www.dlrcoco.ie or any of our social media channels in the coming weeks.

We are actively looking at other villages and locations within dlr and engaging with communities and businesses whereby we can improve our public realm in order to allow our citizens to move around safely, to shop, rest and enjoy our public spaces.

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