Tralee to Fenit Greenway

kingdumb

Word on the street is that the official opening of the first section of the Tralee - Fenit route is happening tomorrow.

amadain

kingdumb wrote: »

Word on the street is that the official opening of the first section of the Tralee - Fenit route is happening tomorrow.

IF SO, presume it's politically motivated - before the Tralee Town Council is null and void !

Quackster

€345,000 Department of Transport funding announced today towards the development of the Edward St to Rock St section. It's part of an overall €10 national cycleways package that also includes the Cahersiveen to Valentia greenway.

Details here: http://www.dttas.ie/press-releases/2014/govt-announces-%E2%82%AC10-million-investment-greenways-%E2%80%93-minister-alan-kelly

flanders1979

I wish they could split the lane for cyclists and pedestrians. Some people are a bit stupid and need some guidance.
I often have my daughter on the child seat on my bike, it's a pain in the ass having to weave in and out through people who won't give me a feckin inch.

whisky_galore

They have them marked on one cycle/walkway I frequent. Walkers still wander all over the cycle half and almost block up the whole width of the track with buggies 2 abreast and things. On the other hand, the lycra-clad head-down, ar*e-up brigade go blasting through on their own personal Giro. Stupid is as stupid does. And then there are the dog walkers....
Not a fan of the shared pavements, sort of blurs the line around cycling not allowed on them and leads many to assume that ALL pavements can be cycled on.

kingdumb

Quackster wrote: »

€345,000 Department of Transport funding announced today towards the development of the Edward St to Rock St section.

Plus Tralee Town Council have put aside €100,000 from their surplus for the development of that section
That is a total of €445,000 or about 1k per meter !

Quaderno

There is still hope

CIE has agreed to divest to Kerry County Council land which will allow for the completion of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway as well as a walkway between north Kerry and west Limerick.
Alan Kelly Minister of State at Department of Transport Tourism and Sport
Junior transport minister Alan Kelly made the announcement during a visit to Kerry today.

He said the transfer of the land would allow the walking and cycling route along the old Tralee-Fenit railway line to come to fruition.

Source: http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/cie-agrees-to-hand-over-lands-for-completion-of-kerry-greenways/

serfboard

Quaderno wrote: »

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/cie-agrees-to-hand-over-lands-for-completion-of-kerry-greenways/

While this is good to hear do we have any greater confidence that Kerry Co Co will be more proactive in kicking squatters off the land than Iarnrod Éireann were?

I think they'll be less so, since they're more likely to be subjected to (and to give in to) lobbying by said squatters.

Expect to hear plenty of stories about poor Paud and the hard work that he has done on his garden ... (with no mention of the fact that the garden wasn't rightfully his in the first place).

kingdumb

Not too sure why this is news CIE agreed to do this in the 1980 Kerry CoCo couldn't be bothered with it.

Hopefully they will take advantage of it this time around !

Quaderno wrote: »

CIE has agreed to divest to Kerry County Council land which will allow for the completion of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway as well as a walkway between north Kerry and west Limerick.

Quackster

Work is now underway clearing the line between the Big River and Rock Street.

stevielenihan

Somebody should get photos of this clearance work?

Quaderno

There you go:

stevielenihan

Nice Photos

whisky_galore

Scenic it aint, hopefully they'll make a burst into open countryside.

sheesh

whisky_galore wrote: »

Scenic it aint, hopefully they'll make a burst into open countryside.

Yeah I'd prefer if they started on the more contentious part of the route a walking/cycle path all the way out to fenit would be a great asset for people in the town and surrounds. I imagine whole families cycling out to fenit during the summer. and it would make a good all weather route for hiking too.

Judgement Day

sheesh wrote: »

Yeah I'd prefer if they started on the more contentious part of the route a walking/cycle path all the way out to fenit would be a great asset for people in the town and surrounds. I imagine whole families cycling out to fenit during the summer. and it would make a good all weather route for hiking too.

It used to be a great asset to the people of Tralee (and Castleisland) in the 1970s when CIE used to run seaside specials on the line.

kingdumb

It might not be scenic but a very important section:
for tourism, train direct to the start of the route.
for schools will ultimately provide direct access to 2 primary schools from Brendans park, Cahersless, Connolly park areas.
and connect the exitting path with the path along the big river and onward when/if that gets developed.

Hopefully the continuation on to Fenit, Abbeyfeale will come soon, the TF line should be abandoned by now, as no objections were received, and they preparing the sale to KCC.

From the resent CoCo meeting

CIE are progressing an ‘Abandonment Order’ in respect of that portion of the Tralee - Fenit Railway line, between Ballynahoulort and Fenit.
This notice relating to the ‘Abandonment Order’ was put into the ‘Kerryman’ and ‘Kerry’s Eye’ newspapers and was dated 4th July 2014.
CIE have waited the statutory minimum period and are satisfied that the proposal can now be brought before the next meeting of the CIE Board on the 4th
September.
They have received no submissions/objections in relation to the proposal, for the ‘Abandonment Order’, and currently preparing sales plans of the line and this will
include wayleaves, licences and details of sale and ownership of old cottages etc.
The situation will be reviewed again after the next board meeting of CIE on the 4th September.

whisky_galore wrote: »

Scenic it aint, hopefully they'll make a burst into. open countryside.

,

Quaderno

whisky_galore wrote: »

Scenic it aint, hopefully they'll make a burst into open countryside.

True, but I expect it will eventually end up looking a lot better than it does right now. I understand the palisade fencing on the right hand side of the picture will go and there will also be some green spaces of nearly the width of the path itself on the side along the line (behind the houses in Casement Ave.) as well. A gate in the wall on the left towards the Dunnes carpark is also being considered which would be quite useful.
The works on the other side of the river next to An Sean Mhuileann and opposite the train station are also progressing well. It's just a new bridge that is needed now to connect the two parts:

whisky_galore

Quaderno wrote: »

True, but I expect it will eventually end up looking a lot better than it does right now. I understand the palisade fencing on the right hand side of the picture will go and there will also be some green spaces of nearly the width of the path itself on the side along the line (behind the houses in Casement Ave.) as well.

They put up brand new palisade fencing on the refurbished section. Honestly, can anyone put up anything that looks better than this correctional facility standard ugly fencing? The country is ruined with it.

Quaderno

A few more pictures from the short section between Edward Street and the Big River, all taken just a few minutes ago:







P.S.: For anybody who is reading this thread but might not be familiar with the area in question, it is the space right under the white cross in the centre of the map: http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=52.271826&lon=-9.700799&z=18.9&r=0&src=msa

xxyyzz

It looks like a bad day in communist Russia

whisky_galore

xxyyzz wrote: »

It looks like a bad day in communist Russia

Dear God yes, pretty grim.

Quaderno

whisky_galore wrote: »

They put up brand new palisade fencing on the refurbished section. Honestly, can anyone put up anything that looks better than this correctional facility standard ugly fencing? The country is ruined with it.

Absolutely true, and the most disgusting example of recently erected fencing can be seen next to the complex, blocking access to the formerly open green space bordering the south campus. I won't put images in here directly since it's an unrelated topic, but the links are here:

Judgement Day

Attractive graffiti too - presumably this will be allowed to mushroom once the greenway opens.

Quaderno

In fairness, while I agree that the area does not look very inviting right now and that certain aspects like the fencing will still be contentious after the project is finished I don't really get were all the negativity is coming from.
We have long been waiting for the path to go ahead and I think it's great to finally see it happen. The line deserves to be used by the public once again and we should consider it a very lucky situation that this old piece of infrastructure has never been abandoned and been built on in the last nearly 40 years since trains stopped using it. It will be a great addition to the town and personally I am looking very much forward to using it for the first time and then many times afterwards! A graffito or even an ugly fence would not take much away from that.

On a more technical side: I wonder who owns the small piece of land between the former railway line and the student accommodation on the Edward Street side (brown gate on the third picture above), because by using it the entrance and the space behind could be about twice as wide as it is now. I have never seen anybody using that gate and it seems to lead to a dead end anyway. It would be nice to open it up as well, and since nothing will ever be build on it anyway it can't be that expensive...

Quackster

Quaderno wrote: »

On a more technical side: I wonder who owns the small piece of land between the former railway line and the student accommodation on the Edward Street side (brown gate on the third picture above), because by using it the entrance and the space behind could be about twice as wide as it is now. I have never seen anybody using that gate and it seems to lead to a dead end anyway. It would be nice to open it up as well, and since nothing will ever be build on it anyway it can't be that expensive...

It leads to the Dunnes goods yard via the old railway bridge over the river. There is another gate into the yard at the far end of the strip by the bridge.

I remember Dunnes using it for a short period of time some years ago when bridge works in the area of the main entrance to their yard meant they couldn't use that entrance. I presume Dunnes own it.

kingdumb

Yes I think you are right Dunnes likely own/rent that strip. As far as I remember they took over some extra land a few years after the initial build but could be wrong.

There was talk of a opening out to Ashe Street, but there was no mention of this is the current plans.

The perspective and location are probably a bit off but...

Judgement Day

That's just about spot-on I would have said.

Quaderno

Some impressions from the Rock Street side today:







Works on the Edward Street part are also progressing:

sheesh

xxyyzz wrote: »

It looks like a bad day in communist Russia

whisky_galore wrote: »

Dear God yes, pretty grim.

work in progress and horrible lighting it'll clean up lovely!