By 2017, there won't be cars in Dublin's city center

Last year, Dublin ranked as the 10th most congested city in the world. This year, the capital of Ireland decided to do something about that congestion. The city council announced last week that they were investing $168.5 million to redesign traffic management by ridding the city center of cars and reserving key streets in the city for the sole use of pedestrians and public transportation.

As Ireland's economic recovery continues to push more and more traffic into Dublin, a solution for the increasingly untenable traffic became necessary. According to CityLab, Dublin's center already sees 192,000 arrivals and departures on a daily basis, and 33 percent of those journeys take place by car. By 2023, that number of journeys is expected to increase to 42,000. Ireland's streets weren't built to sustain this level of automotive traffic, leaving the city with frequent traffic jams and air pollution.

Dublin's plan to ban cars might sound drastic, but it's certainly not the first city to consider a move away from cars. Paris, Brussels, and Madrid have also discussed pro-pedestrian plans. Perhaps it's time to put on your walking shoes.

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