Footpaths in Dublin

Michelin

Hi All,

Just home for a while been working abroad, and was up in the Dublin last weekend, its great to see the place buzzing with so many people more so then anywhere ive been in Europe lately but while I see works for the luas which will be great to have running soon, and cranes in the near distance I couldnt help but feel a little frustrated at the difficulty for wheelchair users and parents pushing prams in the clogged streets. The footpaths are so narrow in Dublin and getting narrower it seems many have waist height poles along the edge which are fairly wide to stop the flow of pedestrians going in both ways and increasing amount of other obsticles such as bus shelters, signage etc. I found it particularly bad in South William street especially with so many bicycles chained to the poles. Another thing I noticed was while the shops seemed to be heaving with customers the buildings around them seem to becoming run down.
Id like to hear what others think from a pedestrian point of view

odyssey06

On South William street we'd probably be better off having a proper size footpath on one side and none on the other. As you are walking up towards Stephens Green the left side one is too narrow.
The least they could do is move all the signs etc to the wider side but DCC don't seem to consider pedestrian impact when placing signs.

Whatever they do, let's hope they don't repeat the Marino experiment and put trees on the streets whose roots eventually distort the footpath and turn every tree into a potential trip hazard.

Rakish Paddy

You know what would be bloody brilliant for pedestrians?

Make South William St. and all the streets linking it to Grafton St. / Clarendon St. and George's St. pedestrian-only. This could be extended to include St. Andrew's St., Trinity St. and Suffolk St.

Maybe even Dawson St.

Oh, and a Garda or two on permanent duty in the area to stop any junkies/drunks from hanging around, and handing out €500 (or some amount that would be a really effective deterrent) on-the-spot fines to any eejits caught cycling on the pedestrian streets.

Imagine how pleasant it would be to walk around, compared to now?

hungry hypno toad

And then you have some cyclists using the footpaths.

Rakish Paddy

hungry hypno toad wrote: »

And then you have some cyclists using the footpaths.

Begob, you're a master of understatement!

hungry hypno toad

Rakish Paddy wrote: »

Begob, you're a master of understatement!

Was intentionally careful, I've seen how the cycling fraternity descend on these threads.

Dyr

City centre has been a joke for pedestrians for some time. And not just down to the permanent roadworks. Corporation need to a grip of the streetscape

boobycharlton

Rakish Paddy wrote: »

You know what would be bloody brilliant for pedestrians?

Make South William St. and all the streets linking it to Grafton St. / Clarendon St. and George's St. pedestrian-only. This could be extended to include St. Andrew's St., Trinity St. and Suffolk St.

Maybe even Dawson St.

Oh, and a Garda or two on permanent duty in the area to stop any junkies/drunks from hanging around, and handing out €500 (or some amount that would be a really effective deterrent) on-the-spot fines to any eejits caught cycling on the pedestrian streets.

Imagine how pleasant it would be to walk around, compared to now?

DCC seem to be of the opinion that access to car parks must be maintained at all costs, for some reason. Will never happen. Those who own the car parks have deep pockets and will never allow it.

Arbie

Problems with bad footpaths are compounded by those shop/restaurant sandwich boards. They can sometimes take up the entire width of the footpath and make it impossible for people in wheelchairs or with other mobility problems to pass by safely. I have also seen them fall over or blow over onto pedestrians and into traffic.