Grafton St. repaving

hmmm

superthingy wrote: »

I have a crazy idea! How about they not pave Grafton st., and start fixing roads outside Dublin that are in a disastrous condition. The countrys border doens't end at the Dublin border

Grafton Street is one of the retail engines of Dublin, which in turn contributes tax to the Exchequer, which in turn spends a disproportionate amount of money patching up roads to nowhere located in the middle of nowhere.

The pavement on Grafton Street is awful at the moment, there is regularly bricks missing, when it rains the street is a disaster and the white paving has always been utterly lethal when wet.

They say it will take 4 years and seeing the speed Dublin council workers move at I can well understand it. Outsource it to the private sector and give them 4 weeks, and allow work between 10pm and 7am.

Cathaoirleach

The reason why it's going to take so long is because it's a revamp of not only Grafton Street, but all the streets between Grafton and Georges St.

As far as I know, DCC will be publishing a Public Realm Strategy for the entire area shortly.

dubhthach

Cathaoirleach wrote: »

The reason why it's going to take so long is because it's a revamp of not only Grafton Street, but all the streets between Grafton and Georges St.

As far as I know, DCC will be publishing a Public Realm Strategy for the entire area shortly.

Personally I'd pedestrianse the whole area between Grafton Street and George's street. However given the presence of BT carpark I don't know how they'd manage that.

Wild Bill

dubhthach wrote: »

However given the presence of BT carpark I don't know how they'd manage that.

Just get rid of the BT carpark?????

Cathaoirleach

Wild Bill wrote: »

Just get rid of the BT carpark?????

It'd be like buying out the West Link Toll Bridge - fúcking expensive.

Aard

It's not easy to just get rid of it. I'd imagine Brown Thomas would be up in arms, claiming it's an important revenue stream, and would be prepared to sue. I wonder how much they'd sell it for...

Pete_Cavan

dubhthach wrote: »

Personally I'd pedestrianse the whole area between Grafton Street and George's street. However given the presence of BT carpark I don't know how they'd manage that.

Dublin2Walk campaign, which Aard mentioned earlier in this thread, has proposals for accommodating the carparks in the area as part of the pedestrianisation.

Cathaoirleach

It would be a right pain the the ass to get rid of all those car parks, but BT's should be the first to go.

It's the only car park that prevents us from fully pedestrianising Clarendon Street and Wicklow Street. One retail store should not be allowed to hold back the development of an entire street.

bk

BTW most retailers in the area are massively in favour of pedestrianization.

A few months ago they had a reclaim the streets day where South William St was closed for the day to cars. Sales went up ten fold!!

mgmt

If there was plans to pedestrianise then the car park would probably voluntarily change business model given that there is more money in retail.

FreudianSlippers

IMO Exchequer and Clarendon street cannot and will not be without vehicular traffic. BT is not going to just give up their garage, but I'm actually OK with that if the rest of the streets were pedestrianised. It wouldn't be such a huge deal IMO to have somewhat of an access road.

Aard

bk wrote: »

BTW most retailers in the area are massively in favour of pedestrianization.

A few months ago they had a reclaim the streets day where South William St was closed for the day to cars. Sales went up ten fold!!

I'm not surprised that sales went up. Generally pedestrian traffic goes up around 30-40% once a street is pedestrianised. Obviously, the streets in question are prime targets for such a change, given the number of people on them and the difficulty of driving through them at certain times of the day.

Incidentally, if any retailers on Suffolk St begin to oppose the pedestrianisation plans, it's only because people will be drawn away from that car/bus-dominated street and into the safer, quieter streets.

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

IMO Exchequer and Clarendon street cannot and will not be without vehicular traffic. BT is not going to just give up their garage, but I'm actually OK with that if the rest of the streets were pedestrianised. It wouldn't be such a huge deal IMO to have somewhat of an access road.

If they made the access roads a little ambiguous in their function too, it might slow the cars down and even discourage them, and cause Brown Thomas to think about redeveloping the carpark. I'm thinking like Sth William St in front of Powerscourt where the road is a kind of raised cobblestone setup that allows pedestrians to cross at will in this area of significant footfall.

hmmm

Wicklow street has turned into a gorgeous shopping street, full of quirky little shops that give a little character to Dublin, because otherwise it will look just like a British high street.

At busy times of the day the pedestrian flow is too much for the pavements as it is, and things aren't helped by idiots in cars pelting full throttle down the narrow road (or just as bad, cyclists going in the wrong direction up the street). Pedestrianisation would turn it into a fabulous area.

Godge

Cathaoirleach wrote: »

It would be a right pain the the ass to get rid of all those car parks, but BT's should be the first to go.

It's the only car park that prevents us from fully pedestrianising Clarendon Street and Wicklow Street. One retail store should not be allowed to hold back the development of an entire street.

What if Wicklow Street was made into access for Brown Thomas Car Park only i.e. on Clarendon St you had to turn into the car park and no through traffic was allowed?

pigtown

They should make it a pedestrian priority area like has been done on Lower Thomas St. and Little Catherine St. in Limerick.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5771303316/in/photostream/

Aard

That's pretty much what it's like at the Powerscourt entrance. Although I'd hope they wouldn't put road markings like that on the pavement.

JupiterKid

The red tiles on Grafton St are now really deteriorating and the paving is looking dated and tired. I well remember, as a 13 year old schoolboy, the red tiles being installed on Grafton St and they looked great back in 1988.

But that was 23 years ago and it's time for Grafton St. to move on. I would hate, hovever, to see dull grey granite replacing the tiles - how about a new surface of pink or red granite with a slightly rough surface for grip? The reddish colour distingiushed the street and gives it a sense of warmth that a grey surface does not. Also, a granite surface would be much harder wearing and require less maintenance work than small tiles.

I also think that the entire area between Grafton St and South Great Georges St should be pedstrianised but it is possible to over-pedestrianise an area as well. This will need to be thought out very carefully.

Ernest

The new paving shown in the photograph of Lower Thomas St. and Little Catherine St. in Limerick is HORRIBLE! Dull and dreary. Grafton Street's red tiles look nice and cheerful - unlike the ones in Henry Street ( Dublin ) all grey and black.
If the Grafton Street surface needs repair why not just do that: REPAIR what is broken instead of wasting money and FOUR YEARS to completely resurface it. And in replacing any tiles make sure the new ones are not slippery in the rain. And add a few yellow tiles too, as somebody suggested, to increase colour and brightness to the street.

Cathaoirleach

Well, that's what they've been doing all these years - repairing the brickwork, which has left us with patches, bumps and inconsistency. It's well over due an entire overhaul.

I'd also agree that they stick with the warm and cheerful red brick.

imme

pigtown wrote: »

They should make it a pedestrian priority area like has been done on Lower Thomas St. and Little Catherine St. in Limerick.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5771303316/in/photostream/

Cathedral Street beside the Pro Cathedral in Dublin looks a bit like that I think. Nothing too special, well done though, doesn't win my vote.

Jesus Wept

O'Connell Street looks like crap.

lol@ 'shopping mecca' Grafton Street.

Rock of Gibraltar

Update on this;

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0306/1224312850751.html

Bad news it's going to be greyscale with a hint of pink, this will really change the character of the street.
Fair enough the red stuff was bad quality and needed replacing but why are they insisting on more grey?

Also says there's going to be new street furniture, i'd give narrow odds it'll be shiny steel bins and lamp posts.

AngryLips

About time

GetWithIt

I hope they throw a splash of water across the new paving before they decide on which ones to go for. Almost creased myself at the weekend walking along a newly pedestrianized section in Limerick.

Jehuty42

The comments on news sites about this story are depressing.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0305/graftonstreet.html#comments wrote:

We should be spending 4 million on hospitals. What a joke.

And the shocking state of the roads here in the West of Ireland..... This is disgraceful news [:rolleyes:]

now all the city council needs is your 100 euro house tax to pay for this. funny how bits of road and foot paths are being worked on when the country is in such a state. these jobs were not done in the boom of celtic tiger. they have to justify their jobs now and are scraping the barrell on how to spend money..

This is a joke, right? An early April Fool prank?

alot towards costs of new paediatric childrens hospital.....................enough said

No wonder nothing gets done in this country when gombeens will cry foul of doing nothing more contentious than resurfacing a bloody street in the busiest part of the country.

BrianD

Jehuty42 wrote: »

The comments on news sites about this story are depressing.



No wonder nothing gets done in this country when gombeens will cry foul of doing nothing more contentious than resurfacing a bloody street in the busiest part of the country.

And worse still these country bumpkins are costing us a fortune as we subsidise every part of their existence.

Anyway back to Grafton st.

It would be great if we can insist that Irish stone could be used in this repaving project.

The capital city should be showcasing our own stone.

It's my understanding that some or all of the stone used in recent repaving projects originated in China.

Wild Bill

BrianD wrote: »

And worse still these country bumpkins are costing us a fortune as we subsidise every part of their existence.

Anyway back to Grafton st.

Down with bumpkins!

I don't mind grey - never really liked that Eurobrick red; looked too much like the inside of an enclosed shopping mall.

Aard

I know there could be endless debates on colour, its history, character of the area, etc, but I just hope that whatever they put down doesn't become slippery. It should be the #1 consideration imo.

[Jackass]

I agree that Grafton St could do with a revamp, the "bricks" are all quite loose and thus dangerous, but I really like the red colouring and I think it gives the Grafton st. area some unique character, I hope that's not lost in the revamp. A dull, grey boring revamp will make it just the same as Henry St, O'Connell st and just about every other pedestrianised street in Europe.

I really agree with someone else's comment that it should stretch around Trinity and up to O'Connell bridge and re-direct all the bus and taxi traffic around there that you can walk around town without dealing with traffic.

Maybe they can use this oppertunity to not just make Grafton st all nice and shiney, but put a tunnell underneath for a sub-way luas line with a station under Grafton St., up by the Molloy Malone.

Typewriter

Ok so rte news told me it would be the same paving as Henry Street so I made a mock-up of what it would look like.

I took a street-view image from Grafton Street...


Then a street-view image from Henry Street...




Put them together (quite crudely) and I got this...




Looks a bit bland to me. The place will totally lose its character IMO.