Grafton Street Resurfacing - Progress to date

kylith

What's the point of bollards on a pedestrian street?

And I agree with EyeSight; something should be done about the buskers. I love having street music, but the crowds that gather make walking down Grafton St. very difficult.

January

kylith wrote: »

What's the point of bollards on a pedestrian street?

And I agree with EyeSight; something should be done about the buskers. I love having street music, but the crowds that gather make walking down Grafton St. very difficult.

Early in the morning vehicles use the street for deliveries etc so it's not always fully pedestrianized.

markpb

Passenger wrote: »

Seriously though, is there any public consultation on developments such as these? All they have to do is read a thread like this or archiseek to confirm that the general public is not particularly satisfied with any aspect of the street relaying.

There was about six months of consultation, plans and photomontages were published and IIRC it was discussed here.

kylith wrote: »

What's the point of bollards on a pedestrian street?.

I think I read somewhere that the bollards are to protect the basements of the shops that jut out under the street. The bollards stop the vans and, probably more importantly, the trucks that are on the street doing deliveries each morning from driving over them.

miamee

And from driving over pedestrians! It sets out a pedestrian area for when the delivery vans are on the street, as January pointed out

thisonetaken

EyeSight wrote: »

I don't mind it. At some point we need to progress. We cannot keep maintaining the look of an old street. At some point it becomes too expensive or impossible.

I enjoy complaining about the DCC but i don't see what they're doing that's so unforgivable here. I would like to see new rules in place for buskers. The street is so hard to walk down

the problem is they are turning what was a bright and charming looking street into a grey dreary depressing looking street

Inbox

thisonetaken wrote: »

the problem is they are turning what was a bright and charming looking street into a grey dreary depressing looking street

Yes the red brick used to give a quite a cosy feel around winter time and Christmas Time but will feel cold and dank now. Grey paths to match the grey skies

tampopo

Yes, the red brick of the street worked well with the red brick of the buildings.

I didn't realise about the basements under the street...

markpb

miamee wrote: »

And from driving over pedestrians! It sets out a pedestrian area for when the delivery vans are on the street, as January pointed out

I've never seen any attempt by DCC at making life easier or more comfortable for pedestrians before so I'm putting that down to a happy co-incidence more than a plan.

Alubiaroja

Have to say that the red tiles were unique and a distinguishing feature of Grafton st..the new surface is cold, boring and dirty..full of stains from the very beginning..think it should be reverted!

markpb

Alubiaroja wrote: »

full of stains from the very beginning

DCC have already said that when the whole street is surfaced, they'll clean it down and put a protective layer on it to stop it getting dirty like that again.

Ernest

markpb wrote: »

DCC have already said that when the whole street is surfaced, they'll clean it down and put a protective layer on it to stop it getting dirty like that again.

So they'll leave it looking dirty like that until sometime in 2014 when this whole crazy project is scheduled to be completed and Grafton Street looks as dull as Henry St.

Gumbo

Ernest wrote: »

So they'll leave it looking dirty like that until sometime in 2014 when this whole crazy project is scheduled to be completed and Grafton Street looks as dull as Henry St.

Seriously, what's the point in cleaning parts of it now and then having to redo them every week. It's like getting the rear bumper of your car painted, you don't wash the car until the work is done and you wash the whole car, you don't go out and wash just the front bumper and bonnet.

strandroad

Alubiaroja wrote: »

Have to say that the red tiles were unique and a distinguishing feature of Grafton st..

Seriously? To me they looked like any British town High St, it's a popular look over there. From this perspective new granite is definitely an improvement!

John_Rambo

mhge wrote: »

Seriously? To me they looked like any British town High St, it's a popular look over there. From this perspective new granite is definitely an improvement!

At last, common sense. Can't believe people like the generic red brick UK vodaphone and boots shopping area pavement. Personally, I like the Wicklow granite.

Aard

I'm starting to warm to the plain pavement. I am skeptical though of the pink granite they plan on using at street intersections. Especially if they do that 'gold' trim (not sure what it's called) like they have on Henry St... very tacky imo.

Cathmandooo

They have the intersection to Chatham Street done, I don't recall seeing any gold trim. I'll take a photo when I'm there next

Tweej

I just hope the tarmac is taken away.

whatnext

Now I'm sure there are some on here that will correct me, but I suspect that after a couple of weeks of cash in transit and rubbish trucks shaking the sh!t out of those paving slabs/flags (when parked up with the engines still running) they'll start to wobble. You know the effect where you step on a pavement slab and you get splashed by the water in the void underneath it.

I spent a summer working for a contractor replacing a similar looking set up in a bus depot in the UK (20 years ago) :-(

Are these ones laid on a bed of sand?

Aard

Couldn't be any worse than the current red bricks.

MadsL

Any pictures??

John_Rambo

No photos, but I was in today in the rain and its very reflective and a ice colour in the wet. It's much more grippy and solid underfoot.

Minier81

Passenger wrote: »

Is anybody actually pleased with the new surface?

I like it, obviously a mess at the moment but I do like it and think it will look well when finished.

Aykina

I like it too. Didn't get the whole crumbly pink/red brick thing at all!

EyeSight

i like it too. I find it's actually quite bright for grey slabs
As i said, i wish they would control the busking problem. On Sunday a band were playing right next to where works were on going(where there is only 2 narrow spaces to walk past) and it was impossible to walk through. There was a really long queue to walk down the street!

Hope they keep it is well maintained too. Nothing worse than stepping on a slab on a rainy day and to have a load of water shoot up on you

Cathmandooo

I took a couple of photos this morning of the junction with Chatham Street

At least the pink junctions add a bit of colour to the street.

mickyellow

the stone is being supplied by Ryanstone in Blessington. Here's a link to their Facebook page with some pics of the work.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryanstone/178598265553691

Aard

EyeSight wrote: »

As i said, i wish they would control the busking problem. On Sunday a band were playing right next to where works were on going(where there is only 2 narrow spaces to walk past) and it was impossible to walk through. There was a really long queue to walk down the street!

There is a busking by-law going through the council atm. Should help sort out the problem. The busking with amplifiers is a speficic problem for retailers on the street.

Jumboman

Somehow the new tiling makes the street seem bigger.

hfallada

It's nice to see dcc are spending money in the soutside of the city (I'm from north side). The foot paths in Dublin 2 are horrible to walk on compared to the Main Street in Dublin 1. Most of the foot paths in Dublin 2 are so slippy when wet.

John_Rambo

Jumboman wrote: »

Somehow the new tiling makes the street seem bigger.

Yep, you're right, not sure if it's the colour or the bigger spacing between the slabs, but it makes the street seem wider.

Regarding the buskers crowds? Take another route, there's lots and lots... OR... have the balls to stroll in front of the performers and the people looking on. You won't die. (not aimed at you Jumbo!)