A NEW PLAN by Limerick City Council will see some one-way streets in the city centre allow two-way traffic again.

The move, which will be a trial run at first, follows similar ideas in American cities that also have Limerick’s grid pattern. 

Instead of multiple lanes of traffic coming from one direction, it will go both ways, with the aim of slowing cars down and creating more flexibility.

Limerick Mayor John Moran told Newstalk Breakfast that it’s one of a number of changes that the council hopes will revitalise the area.

“In the old days, when you were driving from Dublin down to Kerry, you went straight through the city centre of Limerick.

“This transport strategy is to properly revisit changes that were made probably 30 years ago or so … [that made] our wide streets into streets essentially like New York, where all the traffic goes in the same direction to try and get it through faster and not have the city snarled up with congestion.”

According to Moran, one-way streets with multiple lanes are more intimidating for pedestrians, as drivers can have a mindset that they can speed through.

‘Different blocks, different roles’

The plan to change to two-way traffic is not set in stone, and Limerick’s council hasn’t ruled out pedestrianising some streets as well.

“Everything’s on the table,” Moran said.

“We know that we need to do things differently and in many ways back when I was elected that was the exact point – most people wanted some radical change.

Moran is Limerick’s first directly-elected mayor. 

In his view, it was a mistake to approach the city’s main street – O’Connell Street – with “a heavy engineering solution”, which cost millions.

“It’s hard to turn it back.

“So I think, with a couple of cans of paint, like they did in New York, you can try out different things, and then when you’re absolutely sure that they work and people get used to them, you can bring in the engineers.”

He said a two-way system also creates more flexibility, making it easier to temporarily pedestrianise streets for a weekend or an event.

“You’re driving around a chess board so if you see a blockage ahead of you, you can go left, or go right.

“It allows different blocks to have different roles” – such as shopping, office space, seating and housing.

Cork ran a similar trial in 2023, turning MacCurtain Street to a two-way system, and it’s now a permanent fixture.