Bicycle lane conditions / repairs

wayguk

Hello all,

Am I correct in my understanding that the maintenance of bicycle lanes is shared amongst the various county councils?

I am a Dublin commuter and I am constantly hearing from other cyclists that it is often safer to use the car lane instead of the cycle lane.

Surely we should be trying to change this? For what is the point in spending money on cycle lanes that are ultimately either never used, or unsuitable for cyclists.

I would like to know if there is currently any portal for cyclists to submit location GPS details along with a photo detailing repairs that are required in their area?

Another step would be to have a repair team from the councils actively seek to implement a usable network of debris free, pothole free, drain free, cycle lanes!

I know alot of this may be wishful thinking, but it would be great to spend public money correctly instead of politically.

If the Government are serious about the Cycle2Work scheme then surely they need to provide safe routes to get to work alive and encourage people to cycle!


Any thoughts?

Morgan

There's always this, for areas within the remit of Dublin City Council:

https://dcciservices.dublincity.ie

I've no idea how diligent they are about following up on reported issues though.

Chips Lovell

If local authorities didn't have enough money before to maintain cycle lanes, I doubt they will now, what with so few people paying the Household Charge.

seamus

I would rather they just allow them to go to ruin and then when it comes time to spend some money, rip them up and forget about them.

wayguk

if the council have budget to maintain the roads, then it would be great if the people that used the cycle lanes on a daily basis had some input into offering feedback on what to avoid based on previous mistakes.

it does seem quite odd, some of the cycle lanes that I see along my commute to work. the are in great condition but no one uses them because they are on and off footpaths, basically they are not bicycle friendly.

these should be designed with the cyclist in mind.

either improve the cycle lanes or widen the roads?

When they say there is no money, we still hear of expensive projects being implemented.

I go back to my original point: why implement a cycle to work scheme if the road condition is not good enough, surely this will only increase annoyed drivers, annoyed cyclists, possible increase in accidents...

Doctor Bob

Morgan wrote: »

I've no idea how diligent they are about following up on reported issues though.

From the few reports I've heard about, not too bad, though I've no experience of it myself. (I just wish they wouldn't make it so hard to find the URL you posted!)

OP: The root of the problem is that capital funding comes from central government, whereas maintenance funding comes from the local authority's own resources. As long as local authorities are poorly resourced, maintenance will continue to be an issue.

seamus wrote: »

I would rather they just allow them to go to ruin and then when it comes time to spend some money, rip them up and forget about them.

And forget about attracting new or risk-averse cyclists? I know this has been done to death, and I don't really want to rehearse it here again, but vehicular cycling has not and will not deliver increased mode share for cycling. There is a global acceptance (except in Campaignland, but whatevs) that good quality infrastructure is essential on certain routes, in tandem with infrastructure-free areas (residential, town centres), if commuting cycling is to achieve a significant upswing.

(Lest it need be clarified, this isn't an apologia for the current infrastructure provision. I'm not disputing that much of it is crap; I do strongly dispute that infrastructure is inherently wrong in principle.)

galwaycyclist

wayguk wrote: »

Hello all,

Am I correct in my understanding that the maintenance of bicycle lanes is shared amongst the various county councils?

I am a Dublin commuter and I am constantly hearing from other cyclists that it is often safer to use the car lane instead of the cycle lane.

Surely we should be trying to change this? For what is the point in spending money on cycle lanes that are ultimately either never used, or unsuitable for cyclists.

I would like to know if there is currently any portal for cyclists to submit location GPS details along with a photo detailing repairs that are required in their area?

Another step would be to have a repair team from the councils actively seek to implement a usable network of debris free, pothole free, drain free, cycle lanes!

I know alot of this may be wishful thinking, but it would be great to spend public money correctly instead of politically.

If the Government are serious about the Cycle2Work scheme then surely they need to provide safe routes to get to work alive and encourage people to cycle!


Any thoughts?

If you think it is bad in an urban area like Dublin where there is a concentration of resources and road sweeping equipment then bear in mind that somebody in the NRA appears to have decided that they are now going to get in on the act by marking cycle lanes on rural N roads instead of hard shoulders. The NRA state that the minimum width for these rural cycle lanes is to be, wait for it, ................ 0.5m

Apparently somebody has told at least one local authority that there is state funding available to replace rural hard shoulders (which are self cleaning) with cycle lanes (which are not).

Come back celtic tiger all is forgiven.

monument

galwaycyclist wrote: »

If you think it is bad in an urban area like Dublin where there is a concentration of resources and road sweeping equipment then bear in mind that somebody in the NRA appears to have decided that they are now going to get in on the act by marking cycle lanes on rural N roads instead of hard shoulders. The NRA state that the minimum width for these rural cycle lanes is to be, wait for it, ................ 0.5m

Apparently somebody has told at least one local authority that there is state funding available to replace rural hard shoulders (which are self cleaning) with cycle lanes (which are not).

Come back celtic tiger all is forgiven.

Any source for that? It's quite shocking if true!