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New €10m Dublin cycle track, from rte.ie

  • 02-02-2010 11:34am
    #1
    vektarman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,923 ✭✭✭


    Council approves €10m Dublin cycle track
    Monday, 1 February 2010 20:59
    A €10m cycle route along Dublin's Grand Canal and Docklands was given the green light by city councillors this evening.

    The 4.6km cycle track will start at the Grand Canal at Rathmines Road Lower.

    It will continue along the canal to the Samuel Beckett Bridge and on to Clontarf via East Wall.

    AdvertisementIt will involve the loss of 270 car parking spaces along the canal and involve the construction of boardwalk on the approach to Leeson Street.

    It will also mean the construction of four cycle and pedestrian bridges. Two of the bridges will be over the Grand Canal in Rathmines.

    The other two bridges will be in East Wall across the Royal Canal and across the Tolka River.

    Most of the cycle track will be physically separated from both motorists and pedestrians.

    The full cost of the project is being paid by the Department of Transport and it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

    The Docklands section will form part of the planned Sutton to Sandcove (S2S) cycle route around Dublin Bay.


    Call me a cynic, but I'll believe it when I see it


Comments

  • #2
    daymobrew
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,571 ✭✭✭daymobrew


    Mentioned on Irish Times too: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0202/1224263579225.html
    Dublin Cycling Campaign are objecting - their valid reasons are in the article.


  • #3
    Chips Lovell
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,269 Mod ✭✭✭✭Chips Lovell


    They could repair the roads that are already there before building new routes. Have the seen the state of them?


  • #4
    blorg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,995 ✭✭✭✭blorg


    Off-road paths CAN work if they are not obligatory, merge properly at junctions without the cyclist having to yield priority and have very long continuous off-road sections. Would have to see the design of this one before writing it off.


  • #5
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    The last thread on this is here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055747543&highlight=Canal+cycle

    The plan as submitted for planning permission is a daft waste of money, but the council is saying this is just a draft and a more detailed design is to be worked out. The junctions have yet to be figured out.

    But more generally there's too much compromise or low standards in the design for it to justify costing so much and to be a standard-setting project.


  • #6
    Doctor Bob
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,141 ✭✭✭Doctor Bob


    blorg wrote: »
    Off-road paths CAN work if they are not obligatory, merge properly at junctions without the cyclist having to yield priority and have very long continuous off-road sections. Would have to see the design of this one before writing it off.

    The documents are still available on the DCC website. If you do a search in the Planning Application Search facility for Planning Ref. 4148/09 it'll come up, though the documents there are very low res b&w. (Deadline for comments has long since passed.)

    I'm really not sold on the idea at all- it'll be good for kids, leisure cyclists and novices, but my suspicion is that any halfway competent cyclist will avoid it. The adjacent road is simply preferable for much of its length, especially at the junctions. Of course, it's possible that the route could be prioritised at the junctions, but what are the chances? The route crosses some of the busiest arteries into the city - bus, bike and car - so I think I can guess where the compromises will be made...

    Echoing el tonto, I'd far prefer to see €10 million being spent on repairs, not new projects. (The [alleged] €700,000 spent on repairs last year shows how little bang there is for your buck in maintenance.) But there are few headlines to be had from high quality road repairs and post-roadwork reinstatement... :rolleyes:

    (To be fair to DCC, I note that the funding comes from the Dept of Transport, so maybe they didn't have a free hand in route selection, design, etc.)

    Previous thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055747543

    Edit: Ha! X-post with monument.


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  • #7
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    el tonto wrote: »
    They could repair the roads that are already there before building new routes. Have the seen the state of them?

    Indeed, just look at the state of the Swords route: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055813638

    At the same time this project is worthwhile on its own as it will make up a key parts of other commuter / tourist / leisure routes -- the Grand Canal route, the Dublin bay route, and, apparently in the longer term, the Royal Canal route too.


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