Speed limits are to be reduced to 30km/h throughout Dublin city and suburbs under proposed new bylaws from Dublin City Council’s traffic department.
Ten years ago the council lowered speed limits in the shopping and central business area of the city from 50km/h to 30km/h.
From 2011 the zone was extended as far as Bolton Street on the north side to St Stephen’s Green on the south side, and from Church Street in the west to Gardiner Street and Dawson Street to the east.
Parts of the Ballsbridge and Ringsend areas and Marino were also covered by the 30km/h restriction.
Following an 18-month review of traffic conditions throughout the city and suburbs, and following submissions from city councillors and the public, the council plans a radical expansion of the speed limit to almost all roads and streets as far as its boundary with the four other Dublin local authorities.
The lower limit will be imposed in phases from the end of this year.
Under the first phases the limit will be extended west of the current city centre 30km/h zone to cover most of the streets between the Royal and Grand canals.
Next phase
The next phase, scheduled for introduction in 2017, will cover suburbs such as Sandymount, Crumlin and Drimnagh, Raheny, and parts of Cabra, Phibsborough, Coolock, Glasnevin and Drumcondra.
Under the final phase, the implementation date of which has yet to be determined, the limit will be extended to the remaining suburbs to the city council boarder.
The limit will not be imposed on certain radial and orbital routes. An 80km/h speed will be permitted on just three roads – the Chapelizod bypass as far as the junction with Con Colbert Road; parts of the Santry bypass; and the Dublin Port Tunnel.
A 60km/h limit will be set on a number of other main roads, including the Stillorgan dual-carriageway, the Finglas bypass, the Malahide Road, Howth Road, Naas Road and Long Mile Road.
Periodic 30km/h limits will apply on some of these larger roads during school-run times.
The council’s traffic department said it determined the speed limits following consultation with the Garda and analysis of accident data and speed surveys.
Safety concerns
The chair of the council’s transport committee, the Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe, said the limits were “not ideological” but were prompted by safety concerns.
“The speed limit bylaws are being introduced to protect vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists, older people and children – and given the growing obesity problem we need to make it safer for children to walk to school.”
The bylaws will be available for public consultation from next month.
