Plan to reroute buses away from College Green pushed back to 2027
Plans to reroute buses away from College Green in Dublin city centre have been pushed back to 2027.
Amid ongoing bus network redesign as part of BusConnects, the change at College Green was originally due to be completed by this summer.
However the slow rollout of the BusConnects network has pushed this timeline back.
Dublin City Council (DCC) and the National Transport Authority (NTA) are involved in the plan.
A spokesperson for DCC said it now appeared “unlikely” that the network redesign would be completed this year, as had been anticipated.
"Buses will remain until such time as this program is complete, which we believe to be some time in 2027,” they said.
The move, which will affect several high-frequency bus routes such as the 16, 13 and 27, paves the way for the redesigned pedestrian plaza, which is hoped will go to construction in October or November 2027.
Green Party councillor Feljin Jose raised concerns of a possible delay to this aspect of BusConnects at the monthly council meeting.
"I’m just conscious that the last plan that went to An Bord Pleanála in 2018 and was rejected, was very much to do with the rerouting of the bus network,” he said.
Mr Jose said the BusConnects project was “creating the conditions” necessary for the plaza to be implemented.
"Every single phase of BusConnects so far has been delayed, and while they say they will complete most of this this year, are we reliant on that happening for the planning application to go in in a couple of months?” he said.
DCC’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, said that the two projects do move “side-by-side”, but that he remained confident the new network would be in place by the time the project receives planning permission.
"The hope was that network redesign would be out of the way prior to lodging for planning, however the timelines still align because by the time we get planning and start construction, the network redesign will have been finished,” he said.
Designs for the latest iteration of the plaza are expected to be finalised next month, itself several months behind schedule, with the mooted budget of €80m set to become clearer at that point.
The planning application for the new space is also set to be lodged this year, however construction is unlikely to be finished until at least 2030.