Former traffic school site will make way for €2.7m sports complex
Monday June 08 2009
A FORMER traffic school for children on Dublin's northside is to be replaced by three new all-weather sports pitches.
The €2.7m development is expected to be completed before the end of the year and will include a full-size GAA pitch, a full-size soccer and rugby pitch, along with a pitch for seven-a-side games.
STATION
It is being built on a site next to Clontarf Dart station, which includes the site of the now closed traffic school.
In the past, the huge site also boasted an athletics track and a football pitch dating back but the new development will be the most up-to-date of its kind in the city.
The project is being funded by Dublin City Council, along with the Department of Sport.
There has been a contribution from the GAA.
While the pitches are aimed at training, each will meet the full requirements of the playing code for each of the games.
The pitches will be floodlit and surrounded by a see-through perimeter fence.
The seven-a-side pitch is being built on the exact site of the old traffic school, which was used to teach more than 20,000 children the rules of the road for more than three decades.
Four years ago, Dublin City Council announced plans for a major revamp of the traffic school, to include lecture halls and an indoor arena for use in bad weather.
It was also planned to double the size of the road track, complete with traffic signals, road markings, pedestrian crossings, corners and road signs.
Pending the revamp, the school closed and road safety aught by a team from the Council's Road Safety unit visiting schools with portable equipment.
SAFETY
A council spokeswoman said it had since been decided to replace the traffic school with the football pitches, while the road safety team would continue to visit schools.
The site of the traffic school had been handed back to council's parks section for the sporting development.
- Clodagh Sheehy
