Boyne Greenway

Cast Iron

I see in The Leader this week there is an article about Meath County Council pursuing this if there is enough interest.

Was going to post on the old thread about the scummers who burned the walkway at Oldbridge but best to start with a new title.

It'd be a brilliant thing to have in or about Drogheda so if anyone is minded on here you should make a submission. Here's the webpage with some detail.

https://www.meath.ie/council/news/boyne-greenway-drogheda-to-mornington-non-statutory-public-consultation

Scotty #

Looking at the proposal, it seems to basically be a 4m wide footpath running alongside the current roadway from Scotch Hall to the tower there at the mouth of the Boyne. I'd like to see it closer to the water.

whippet

if only it was the otherside of the river it would be ideal for me .. but welcomed none the less. I cycle from the baltray end of the river to oldbridge with the kids quite often and it's a lovely easy cycle for the young kids apart from a couple of miles between baltray and the north quays in Drogheda which can be a bit hairy with HGVs coming out of Tom Roes

^ I always take the lane when I'm riding that stretch, and the drivers usually understand why you do it. Friendly wave or acknowledgement of their presence behind me and I'll move in when it's safe for them to pass. You do get the odd one who'll beep or try and pass on the bends there :rolleyes:

positron

Scotty # wrote: »

I'd like to see it closer to the water.

+1. Anyone who have walked along the current path to Oldbridge would know the path along the water well away from cars is what makes it special. You can hear the leaves rustling in the wind, birds singing etc. Along the road all you hear is the roar of traffic flying past you.

Walking along with cars is of course better than nothing, but only just. Please don't degrade what could be a tourist attraction and a chance to present the beauty of the region to a mere footpath along the road, with the usual problems of cars parked half in half out, fly-tipping and what not. They should build it along the water, well away from road traffic, and perhaps provide access / link paths to the schools and key junctions.

@positron

@positron Have you been down on the Oldbridge one since it reopened a few weeks ago? Haven't had a chance myself but was curious as to what work was done there while it was closed.

positron

I jogged the length of it on Saturday (Oldbridge to town). It looks very well. They have resurfaced it, and with all the weed gone from the sides, it feels much wider all the way. They must have been trimming the hedges on Friday / Saturday, a lot of it was on the path itself. And the walkway remains very popular as ever - many families, people walking dogs, cyclists, runners, and even a Scout group etc.

Extending this to Mornington would be amazing, but surely not as a footpath along R150. Perhaps they should extend it to Navan - now that would be exceptional!

Even as far as Slane would be great.

kccamper

The Navan to Oldbridge section seems like the it should be the easiest Greenway in the country to develop. There is already an 8km footpath from Navan to Stackallen. Another couple of km either side of Slane. It was awarded almost €900,000 in funding last year for research and planning which seems like an awful lot of money, some of which could surely be spent on the actual Greenway. Very frustrating when you see the progress being made in other parts of the country.

Some joined up and more ambitious thinking here if that happened, then Mornington - Drogheda - Oldbridge - Slane - Navan - Kingscourt. What a bike ride!!!!

kccamper

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Some joined up and more ambitious thinking here if that happened, then Mornington - Drogheda - Oldbridge - Slane - Navan - Kingscourt. What a bike ride!!!!

Absolutely! It would completely open up that area of the North East to tourism with huge benefits to local communities. This entire route is in various stages of research, consultation, planning; I just cannot see why progress is seemingly glacial. With an election looming, don't let our potential reps in the Dáil forget this project(s).

Am I the only one that's actually legitimately annoyed and upset that the Council paved the road right next, literally right next, to the burned section of boardwalk?

It's a small, what, 200 meters? section of loose gravel, and it's within a foot of the the newly paved road.. General public gave over 10k to get it fixed, and the cnuts wouldn't even do it whilst they were tarmaccing the road that is, again, literally, in the most literal sense of the word literally, one fcuking foot away! :mad:


I drove by it today, annoyed again, and noticed that the walk way down along the ramparts (where the boardwalk ends) is also fenced off again. :rolleyes:

I just belted off an email telling them to stick a hedge between the road and footpath.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been looking at the Boyne Greenway plans/suggested route online and thought it would be sensible to make a small submission relating to same.
An issue I foresee with the proposed layout, is that, for Section 1 (the roadside part), although a simple tarmac footpath alongside the road, with a small verge separating the two, is better than not having anything there at all, this is, to my mind, an incomplete idea.
I realise there's no point in making a suggestion of putting the footpath over the water or other such overly expensive ideas, as they'd simply be ignored as being cost-prohibitive.

However, what I would like to suggest is that the verge between the road and footpath be a minimum width of 1.5meters where possible. Also, instead of a flat verge (which we all know will be used for cars to park on, people to stop at to throw illegal dumping over the verge onto the path, etc.
I feel it would be a worthwhile expense, to instead separate the two with some quick growing and dense hedging (for example, laurel hedging) which can grow as a barrier between the two (the road and greenway/path).

The benefits to this are many. For example:

1. The cost is relatively minor: small Laurel plants can be purchased by members of the public for as little as €2 each. Bulk-buying by the council would secure a price reduction.

2. Maintenance would be minimal, with, at most, annual hedge cutting once the hedge has grown big enough (which could take years).

3. Motorists will not be distracted by those on the boardwalk, and more importantly, users of the boardwalk won't be distracted by motorists.

4. A full, thick hedge will provide sound-proofing to pedestrians (albeit a hedge won't remove traffic noises completely, it will dampen them).

5. The visual - For users of the greenway, instead of a busy regional road, which is anything but attractive, they will be sandwiched between a scenic sea area, and a large green, hedge, which will significantly improve the aesthetics and joy of the greenway, along with beautifying the area for motorists (albeit motorists will potentially lose out on the 'sea view' along this stretch of road).

6. A mature hedge can act as an effective windbreaker for users of the greenway (depending upon which way the wind is blowing, obviously) as the area is otherwise completely without sheltered.

7. A large laurel hedge, for example, will provide a space for wildlife to flourish. Birds will build nests, for example, further adding to a peaceful and serene experience.

Ultimately, considering the cost involved in carrying out this work, which would be, in my estimation, rather inexpensive in the grand scheme of the project, i feel there are simply no real downsides to adding hedging between the road and proposed pathway.

Thank you for your time

Have you seen the lovely bike lane they installed on matthews lane that starts near the creche and dumps you out on the main road on the R152 round the corner not 50 meters later

Likely part of the planning for the new houses but again designed by someone because they had to rather than to serve any real purpose.

Should come with a sign saying "sorry we had to".

positron

I am struggling to get my head around how they are going to find 4 meters near R150 and R151? Those roads are really narrow; Are they suggesting removing mature trees / hedging the whole way and make it wider by four / five meters? There are private properties / buildings / walls etc too along the way, it's going to take forever to sort it all out. May be building an elevated boardwalk along the river is probably not all that much more expensive everything considered?

The other option is to narrow the road to a single lane (stop/yield type thing like they did towards Oldbridge), but with all the schools and traffic on that road, I can not imagine they could get away with that.

Scotty #

Permission being sought for over 500 houses next to the existing boardwalk...

http://oldbridgedevelopment.com/

positron

Seriously?!!

Facepalm!!

Theres a lot of development around that area planned, theres already work under way on the site on the left before you hit the Y junction at the bottom of the Rathmullen road. I think there was planning sought for more housing around there too in addition to what Scotty linked to.

I'd be happy if they extended to footpath there at the Y junction the whole way down to the river, as it's not a particularly nice experience walking up or down that way or even on the bike with the speed some cars drive it.

Scotty #

Deleted User wrote: »

theres already work under way on the site on the left before you hit the Y junction at the bottom of the Rathmullen road.

There's 156 houses going in there.

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd be happy if they extended to footpath there at the Y junction.

It's part of the plan. That Y junction will become a major crossroads with traffic lights and pedestrian crossing.

I note none of the houses have front gardens, it's all perpendicular parking spaces in front.

Yeah had a look at some of the drawings they seem to be going to widen both roads there. I'd not like to see an increase in traffic down along the river but I can see it happening.

I was out that way earlier on the bike and was covered in muck in the end. The road is filthy from the trucks in and out at the site there. Teach me to not head out without mudguards, in fairness though there were 2 road sweepers out ready to clean up.

Scotty #

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd not like to see an increase in traffic down along the river but I can see it happening.

With somewhere between 1500 and 2500 people added to the immediate vicinity, I'd say there will be a significant increase in traffic, both road and pedestrian.

positron

So much for the peacefulness of the Boyne Riverwalk.

I of course understand that development is inevitable, and they have planned in some hedges between the estate and the river - but - it feels a really sad that they had to plan it there of all places. Right next to what is a peaceful facility today - increasing traffic and bringing noise and traffic congestion towards Oldbridge, which is probably THE single most attractive thing about Drogheda right now. Not to mention how difficult it is to join from Rathmullen road to R132.

I scanned thru the school capacity report in their planning submission, and they have put couple of schools with spare capacity at the top of the list. All other schools listed are already at capacity, and couple of them are well overcapacity (especially St Marys).

There's plenty of land that can be developed between town and M1 on the southside as well as Northside.

Fingers Mcginty

I was heading down to oldbridge on Saturday morning for the weekly parkrun and saw them breaking into that field on the left just before the Y junction.

positron

Isn't soap water (from washing machines etc) classified as grey water and supposed to do into the treatment system for processing? One or more estates along the Rathmullen road is clearly letting soapy water flow into the river - the smell of detergent at both ends of the canal walk is overpowering.

Anyone know how to go about complaining about this - perhaps they can handle is along with whatever drainage plans they have for the new development?

It would be the EPA I'd imagine. Plenty of info on their website.

Scotty #

Scotty # wrote: »

There's 156 houses going in there.

It's part of the plan. That Y junction will become a major crossroads with traffic lights and pedestrian crossing.

I note none of the houses have front gardens, it's all perpendicular parking spaces in front.

Have you a link to where you got that? Wouldn't mind having a better look at a higher res version. Never seen it before, looks interesting.
- Never mind, I found it on the site.



I'd generally agree that building houses along there is a bad idea, especially that volume of them. One of the appealing things about the boardwalk is that it's peaceful, quiet and is relatively a decent distance from homes, so you don't get much/any anti social behaviour on it.


I can see all of the above changing, unfortunately.


Also, I wouldn't like to live in any of the houses to the west of that plan - Would your back garden not be overlooking the M1? Your house would effectively be the noise barrier for everyone else? I imagine it'd be quite noisy? (perhaps wrongly?).

Cast Iron

Folks today, 22nd October, is the last day for submissions on the sludge plant along the River Boyne. Voice your concerns and objections.
sludgehubseastmidlands@water.ie

Also this Friday 25th October is the last day for observations on the new Greenway.
transport@meathcoco.ie

If you don't ask you don't get....or if you keep your mouth shut you might get something you didn't want, like a thick stink of sh1t for decades!

Just reading in the DI that housing development of the some 600+ houses will take 10 years to complete in 5 phases :eek:

Piece on the greenway in it this week too, residents on Tower Road have some concerns about the greenway from what I understand it's planned route passes the estate and other houses on the road and a wall will have to be moved with the loss of some green space and maybe some gardens, and the fact some will have to cross the greenway when exiting their driveway. The later is ridiculous, it's no different to having a footpath out side your house, which many people do, look left look right , all clear and away you go. My concern there would be people parking on it at that point especially during the summer.

I was passing through the Drogheda Town Centre this morning and there was a lady set up collecting signatures to support the greenway. Didn't have time to stop but will try and call in later on the way home if she's still there.

I read an article in the Leader this week about the Greenway and resident's objecting. A woman (apparently representing the residents in Crook Road?) said they wouldn't like the security risk of stranger's parking their cars in the estate.

I wasn't there, but I presume she couldn't keep a straight face saying that.

If the greenway is knocked on the head because of nonsense like that then it'll be nothing short of a disaster. Though I'm fairly confident they'll have to put up with it and it'll be getting built regardless. Too much time and money has been invested at this stage to pull the plug. They might delay it, but it's-a-comin', I'm confident.

"This raises safety concerns with strangers parking in our estate" was the line.

I've news for her, I left the car there last week when I had the kids out there

Now imagine if there was a greenway there, I'd not have to park there or anywhere as I'd have arrived there on foot or by bike.