Private cars will be banned from St Patrick Street in Cork city between 3pm and 6.30pm from this Thursday.
It is the second attempt by the city council to introduce the car ban on the street.
It was first introduced in March without much advance publicity, with just some electronic street signage and road markings highlighting that the street was to be a priority bus corridor.
It was only when gardaí started blocking traffic that people became aware of it.
It caused controversy among city traders who claimed there was a huge drop in shoppers in the days and weeks that followed the ban.
Within three weeks of the car ban, there was a specially convened council meeting where councillors voted unanimously to "pause" the ban in order to examine alternatives and to discuss how it could be implemented.
Council officials said traffic congestion in the city centre is worse than it has ever been, even in the boom in 2007.
They were concerned that two-thirds of the 110,000 vehicles going through the city centre were using it as a corridor to go through the city from the south side to the north side and vice versa.
No one was stopping in the city to shop, they said. So the council wanted to correct this problem by increasing the number of buses into the city to encourage people to come in to shop.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
This time a whole raft of new measures have been introduced and explained through workshops and information sessions to raise awareness of the change.
There has also been a very active media campaign across newspapers, social media and billboard ads.
The only vehicles that can pass through St Patrick Street from Thursday between 3pm and 6.30pm will be buses, taxis, emergency vehicles and cyclists.
The council is adamant that its original plans – which are a key element of the 'City Centre Movement Strategy' - have not changed in any way and the ban is a vital part of what has to be done to manage traffic.
