Streets are not just corridors for traffic - they are also a place for living, recreation and leisure. Streets also need to prioritise more sustainable forms of transportation such as walking, cycling and public transport so the need for car-borne trips is minimised in order to reduce emissions and promote healthier lifestyles.
In recognition of these objectives, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (now the Department of Transport - DoT), together with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Now the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage - DHLGH) commissioned the preparation of the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets (DMURS) in 2013. A series of updates were also issued in 2019 (see www.dmurs.ie).
DMURS seeks to put well-designed streets at the heart of sustainable communities and supports boarder government policies on the environment, planning and transportation. DMURS provides the practical measures to achieve:
Highly connected streets which allow people to walk and cycle to key destinations in a direct and easy-to-find manner.
- A safe and comfortable street environment for pedestrians and cyclists of all ages.
- Streets that contribute to the creation of attractive and lively communities.
- Streets that calm traffic via a range of design measures that make drivers more aware of their environment.
DMURS is the principal national design standards to be used throughout all urban areas in Ireland when designing/upgrading roads and streets and its use is required. DMURS is also about collaboration between various stakeholders and professions and needs to be implemented accordingly.
In more recent years the importance of DMURS has been highlighted within many Government polices related to planning, climate change, place making, sustainable mobility and health. The on-set of the Covid 19 pandemic also gave us time to reflect on the quality of the public realm and how we move about in our cities, towns and villages. Therefore it is timely to undertake a series of workshops highlighting the recent Government policy context, update to DMURS and a range of exemplary projects under taken by practitioners, local authorities and government agencies.
The free-to-attend webinars were delivered in collaboration with the RIAI and IPI. the urban roads and streets design series will be relevant to engineers, architects, planners, local authority staff and all those with an interest in DMURS.