According to this story in the Irish Times, Dublin is considering banning cars from driving into the city center, mostly because they just flat out can’t build any more roads to accommodate the increase in drivers.

Instead of doing something like bulldozing their classic downtown buildings or building multi-level superhighways, Dublin is considering something much more sensible: redesigning the roads they already have to better handle public transit, bicyclists, and cars – and of course, pedestrians.

Some of the best recommendations were to build separated bicycle lanes(!) and allocate much more space to pedestrians in certain areas.

There is further coverage and comments on the issue from a local cyclist here – seems positive so far, and additionally here, at An Irish Town Planner’s Blog. This sounds like an extremely positive development to me.

In Austin, I have always felt like the blocks of urban streets that are being redeveloped around second street and city hall needed to be a car-free public square, or alternatively the blocks around Republic Square Park. We really need something like this, a daring first step, to at least show that it’s possible, and would really make that whole section of downtown feel more like a cohesive, people-friendly place. We just have to get the guts to do it!

For an example of how revitalized pedestrian areas can feel, see how things are in Melbourne (courtesy StreetFilms):

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