30 million for 2km of greenway!

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120254900#Comment_120254900

There's narrow sections that just aren't doable on most bikes, or for people that may be slightly nervous about cycling. As it is, you need to pull in to pass any one on sections of the route.

A cycle route for commuters is a great idea. People don't have to mix with traffic and it gets people out of cars and less burden on public transport. For those who want that of course.

Flinty997

Only the Coolmine bit is a little tricky on a bicycle. The rest of it is no problem on a bicycle.

But these works are for not that section.

GalaxyExplorer

Outrageous, but at least greenaway are becoming more prevalent.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120371164#Comment_120371164

I love that section on the bike!

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120371288#Comment_120371288

What sort of bike?

jlang

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120371288#Comment_120371288

You might like the Coolmine section as it is - but would you recommend it to a commuter on an e-bike in a suit and tie or a family out for a ride? You can't even push a buggy between Castleknock and Coolmine stations for most of the year and even in dry conditions there are many points where two anythings couldn't pass. That's even before you start bringing kids on bikes and nervous parents into the mix.

Anyway, this isn't the thread about that bit. Clearly here the cost is driven up by using the opportunity to do far more than resurfacing the existing path. I could argue that the money shouldn't be coming from a Greenway budget, but actually doing the work at this time seems reasonable. e.g. installing ducting for future HV cabling is the kind of thing we probably wish we'd done more of over the years, but it's obviously not essential to get an excellent bike path.

Flinty997

Agreed.

Though if you were on an eBike (or any bike) its a 5 mins to divert around it, on roads.

I've done it on a folding bike with a child on a hybrid. It wasn't that hard. But I would say you really need a MTB with fat tires and perhaps front suspension to make it viable as it is.

I think its more about making it an amenity for a wider group of people. Not simply commuters on a bicycle. That's a bit of misdirection, or misunderstanding by some posters.

SuperBowserWorld

Let's be honest, these green ways are really not about nature. More tourists, developments etc etc = less nature.

I've used the Mayo and Waterford ones and the are brilliant resources for everyone, except nature 😁

Maybe it will soon be viable to do a lot more safe cycling in Ireland which would be wonderful.

I remember living near London and there were a load of bridal ways to cycle/walk on. We don't seem to have those here. Was there ever horses in Ireland ? Or did we go straight to EVs 😁

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridle_path

Flinty997

Well it about giving access to more people.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120383422#Comment_120383422

They tend to be way over engineered here, existing trees and vegetation shaved down to nothing. Sterile Elf n safety compliant. Everything has to be manicured, everything a playground for humans it seems. An overgrown rail alignment would be more useful to nature, but that's seen as a 'waste' by both landowners and leisure enthusiasts.

The only thing I've seen even close to a bridleway is a short stretch of greenway near Shillelagh. Low environmental impact gravel surface, not tarmac.

Pete_Cavan

The difference between gravel and tarmac for nature is minimal, particularly if well traversed by people on foot and bike. Cutting back may have happened when making a greenway but nature grows back. Greenways are low impact in the grand scheme of things. If along a railway line or canal they are part of a massive civil engineering project which ripped through the countryside a couple of centuries earlier and nature fought off for most of the time since, far from what nature intended. Clearing a bit of scrub and laying tarmac now is small beer but has many other benefits.

The attempts of some people to pick holes with greenways never ceases to amaze me.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120383866#Comment_120383866

Just picking holes in the cost and the fact that "green" can mean different things to different people.

For me, they are a wonderful resource and I'm happy if they use existing rail lines, canal tow paths, etc. But I'm not happy if they are ripping up a river bank, removing trees etc

Also, I hate they way people have to be cajoled by marketing or personal gain to look after our natural heritage.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120383866#Comment_120383866

Had a look at the greenway work in Glenbeigh, a swathe of youngish trees was cut down at an embankment at a river bridge. The bridge can't be reinstated because there's a private house slap bang on the opposite side. The road cuts through the other end, so barely an isolated 100/150m or so that can't be used. A right of way can't be put through this stretch. The removal of trees was completely needless.

Yes 'nature grows back', but it is under pressure from all sides and this council/tidy towns fetish to make everything look like a sterile, near-useless for nature garden isn't helping. When the cover is shorn off in a matter of hours, where are wildlife supposed to go while it regrows?

veryangryman

Wrong post

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120384463#Comment_120384463

Yes, I notice there's been a good bit of work on the Royal Canal "greenway" since I was last down near Leixlip. I'm in favour of greenways generally. But when it comes to removing a beautiful natural trail like most of the towpath was, and destroying so much vegetation and mature trees, then on the whole I'm against it.

You can see the difference in the photos between what it used to look like in those sections, and what the newly laid tarmac and kerbstones looks like.

canal path post.jpg

canal path pre.jpg

I say this as a someone who enjoys cycling, and appreciates a safer cycle route for kids. But something has definitely been lost in destroying the pre-existing grass/dirt/gravel trail , the trees etc.

(it looks completed, but still fenced off in case some poor unfortunate trips over a sod of dirt and sues the council?)

From a runners/hikers perspective, a soft surface long-distance trail is now apparently gone forever.

Zebra3

It’s far from completed. Passed by on the train earlier, still needs to be properly surfaced. Absolutely right that it’s still fenced off.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457452#Comment_120457452

Councils are afraid of their lives of getting sued.

It probably costs them less to hack growth down to nothing than maintain it on a regular basis or settling with chancers tripping over a twig, nature be damned.