Dublin city’s first School Street opens in Donaghmede

Dublin City Council is pleased to announce the opening today of Dublin city’s first School Street on Newbrook Road in Donaghmede. This scheme will benefit students at St. Kevin’s JNS, Scoil Cholmcille, Scoil Bhríde and Holy Trinity. 

A School Street is a traffic-calming solution used to reduce the traffic outside a school by restricting access to the street during school drop-off and pick-up times. Parents and guardians are asked to either walk, cycle, scoot or use public transport to get to school instead of driving or, if driving, to park away from the school and walk the final leg of the journey. Limited access is allowed to the street during School Street operation times for students with additional needs and emergency services.

This initiative is being implemented as part of the Safe Routes to School Programme funded by the National Transport Authority. The programme aims to improve safety at the school gate, alleviate congestion and increase the number of students who walk, cycle or scoot to school. Dublin City Council works in partnership with the National Transport Authority, An Taisce Green Schools and the school community in developing ‘front-of-school’ treatments for schools on the programme.

Newbrook Road is a particularly busy residential street at school drop-off and pick-up times with 1,000 students accessing the four schools in the vicinity. The cul de sac section of this street made it an ideal location to trial a School Street. In collaboration with St. Kevin’s JNS, Scoil Cholmcille, Scoil Bhríde and Holy Trinity, a School Street trial took place from June – December 2024. 

The School Street trial was a huge success, with over 80% of survey respondents reporting that it made the street safer, along with 15% reporting a change in their travel behaviour from driving to using sustainable transport for their journey to school. 

Ailish Lally, Walking & Cycling Officer with the Council's Traffic Section says, “We were delighted to see the implementation of this School Street following the successful trial. The removal of traffic from this section of the street instantly made it safer for students on their journey to school. Using active travel modes such as walking, cycling or scooting to school has huge benefits for students. It’s encouraging to see that there was an increase in active travel modes during the trial and we hope to see this trend continue.”

***Attached please find a photo from today’s launch by Gareth Chaney***

ENDS