Grafton St Area Improvement Scheme

The extents of the scheme covered the entire length of Grafton St between Nassau Street and St Stephens Green, in addition to Wicklow Street, Johnson Court and sections of Duke Street and Anne Street South.

Grafton Street is considered by many to be Dublin’s premier street south of the River Liffey, experiencing an annual footfall in excess of 30 million. Nevertheless between 06:00 and 11:00 each day it also must accommodate a significant volume of commercial vehicle traffic which requires access to service the numerous businesses located along Grafton St and its neighbouring streets. As a result, the proposed scheme incorporates the principles of a ‘shared street’ along which both pedestrians and vehicular traffic (one-way) had to be accommodated during the busy AM peak period.

DBFL were subsequently commissioned by Dublin City Council to undertake a Stage 2 Road Safety Audit (RSA) with the objective of ensuring that (i) the proposed scheme could safety accommodate the significant conflicting demands generated by both pedestrians and vehicular traffic seeking to travel along the same street, and (ii) from a socially inclusive design perspective the proposed scheme delivered an appropriate level of road safety for all street users. The RSA identified a total of 18 design recommendations with the objective of addressing road safety concerns and enhancing safety levels across the scheme.