New Traffic Filter system in Grangegorman

Since the summer Dublin City Council has been trialling a new traffic filter system around the new TU Dublin Grangegorman campus between North Circular Road and Brunswick Street. 

Drivers are no longer able to use this route as a shortcut from North Circular Road to the quays. Instead nine bollards with five plant boxes are there as a traffic calming measure known as filtered permeability. 

Filtered permeability is an urban planning concept that filters out car traffic on streets to create a more attractive environment for walking, cycling and good accessibility for local inhabitants, deliveries or emergencies. It is also safe to say that with traffic not being able to go there, it could encourage more people to use more environmentally friendly ways to travel. 

This measure ensures that cars can drive from both directions as far as the TU Dublin campus entrance to drop off people or parcels and then circle back at the turning points to return the way they came. 

This trial run will continue to take place until the end of January 2021. This is similar to the closure of Pigeon House Road to motor traffic which completed its trial in August 2020 and is due to continue for a year following the success of the measure. 

This trial around the Grangegorman campus has not been without controversy, according to an August article in the Dublin Inquirer, which said local Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan had received over a hundred emails from residents favouring and opposing these measures. 

Another complaint that locals has was that there wasn’t enough notice given to residence about the measure coming in. Although there had been ideas for filtered permeability at a Rathdown Road and District Residents’ Association meeting in December 2019, many local residents said they didn’t receive any contact from the council about the trial.  

Boylan said: “Apparently a leaflet was sent around but it was maybe the day before and it wasn’t enough notice.” 

It is said that roughly 10,000 TU Dublin students and staff will also be based on the new Grangegorman campus, with the majority arriving on foot, bike or by public transport. But time will tell if these measures will stay and whether or not it will be enough to reduce traffic flow and keep safe the primary school children walking and cycling to school in Grangegorman Lower.