Why are people so afraid of “a trial”??
Either it will work, or it won’t! It’s not gonna make a huge difference to car travel times in the city I’d say, they’ll still be slow!
True - its just 6 months, be interesting to see what degree of traffic evaporation occurs. One problem I see is that not sufficient connection options for people cycling on the Knocknacarra side though where it starts on the Bearna Road junction.
and also here https://goo.gl/maps/tt21iceVckW3m7Jx8
(this one will be upgraded in time under Councils Clybaun Road plans (https://www.galwaycity.ie/news/2303/59/Public-Notice-Clybaun-Road-South/d,News%20Detail) - but that will be in 2023 at the earliest)
the Kingston / KnocknaCarra Road junction is also challenging, but once one crosses the Road here onto KnocknaCarra Road can go via Brooklawn / Pollnarouma West to access the Prom.
Good piece in the Advertiser today
But it isn’t!!
The cycle way is giving people who want to cycle a safe option to cycle. It’s not stopping anyone in their cars doing the same thing they are doing in their cars now, apart from abandoning them on one side of the prom.
The amount of other posts/ replies spouted here and on SM are mad! And once again the City Councillors are being shown for the populist clowns they are.
All, except Donal Lyons, and fair play to him for sticking to his guns, voted for this trial last year, when they thought it was a populist thing to vote for. Now that it’s about to happen, and a lot of the general public are getting up in arms about it, a lot of this councillors are back tracking and trying to say they never wanted it. Crazy times!
“I’m a keen cyclist myself “
I think keen cyclists prefer "avid cyclist" these days.
Thanks for posting. Ya the opening paragraph says it all really.
"
People you see cycling along our stunning Galway Bay coast tend to be brave and are mostly male, middle-aged and able-bodied. We gave out free rechargeable bike lights one evening last week on the Prom and not one woman cycled by. You do not see the people who would like to cycle but feel frightened by high traffic volumes and parking, and the ever-present threat of being ‘doored - women, teenagers, disabled people, children.
I am one of the people who could cycle on the Prom in the past, carrying kids on the bike these days - I avoid the Prom road - its too crazy, most of the rest of Salthill itself is ok though.
No need for it as a solution to galways traffic problems, because it wont work!
No need for it for bypass traffic, because that is less than 2% of all journeys
The vast overwhelming majority of traffic causing the congestion in galway is from people going to work, to school, or to the shops. These people are not looking to bypass the city.
But it is, Galway Bypass is being held up because cycling is the solution to all problems
Yes, and sure its the cyclists that are causing all the congestion in the city too
Cyclists caused us to ditch the good 'ol irish punt too
Make sure to check for any cyclists under the bed before you go to sleep at night!
Being for one thing for one reason, and against another thing for a completely different reason is not the same though!
I fully agree that Galway needs another river crossing for vehicular traffic. It is simply wrong to say there is sufficient capability with the four bridges at present. For commuters, the only real choice to avoid most of the city centre is either Quincentennial Bridge or Wolfe Tone bridge. All of the cross city traffic is then funnelled into Bohermore or Lough Atalia to the Dublin Road. It’s a bottleneck.
But I don’t see this cycle way being the cause of the outer ring road being constructed or not, yet that same misinformation has become the wide spread mantra of everyone stuck in sh1t traffic!
Great article about some of the data collected in Galway as part of the annual traffic survey
Some of the numbers:
“There is a caveat about using the data alone,” Ms Loughnane added. “It doesn’t give you the story behind it, like 10 kids can now walk to school, or an old lady can get to the shops. It’s not all about traffic and traffic numbers. It’s about a hierarchy of road users, with pedestrians at the top.” - Susan Loughnane, executive engineer in charge of Galway City Council’s traffic management centre
The YDS platform is linked below, to the analysis done on Bodkin RAB removal
Just something to keep in mind in relation to Kirwan and Martin RAB removals.
They've also put together a dashboard for Galway traffic, with loads of data however it doesn't work very well and the data is woefully out of date which is a real shame
There's also the councils own mobility dashboard, linked below, but I've yet to see it working
More groups coming out in support of the trial in Salthill, this time, its yer ma!
To be honest the whole article is a good read, with lots of great quotes from a load of mothers talking about the positive effects this will have. One such example:
“I don’t cycle this road at the moment and I certainly wouldn’t cycle it with my children,” said Gráinne Faller, a Salthill resident. “We will use the Salthill Cycleway all the time, for school runs, for grocery shops, for going into town. It would change so much for us as a family. I think that some people think the cycleway is for the few people who bike along the coast road at the moment. It’s really not, it’s for all of the people who won’t cycle until it’s safe.”
TG4 reporting 1000+ submissions on proposed temporary Salthill road changes by Friday's deadline.
I'm a bit shocked at the backlash this cycle way is getting at the moment. It's a trial to see if it works, worst case it doesn't work and it's put to bed. Best case it does and improves the lives of the majority.
I think it will work and it could be the Domino effect for more cycle infrastructure Galway so desperately needs.
100% this and to be honest I think that's what some are afraid of.
Once you have a ton of families using this, very quickly you end up with a butt ton of parents (voters) asking wheres the rest of it for their family journey.
Between this and the cycle buses, a lot of parents are waking up to how little is actually needed to allow them and their kids to get around without having to get behind the wheel of a car. Obviously not for every journey but a fairly high percentage
So all you shown is rents increased and more students and health workers drove to work than before...
Why didn't they show how much traffic it can handle per hour...
Sorry but the executive are great at having a project and then pushing together screwed numbers to show how much of success they are.... Kirwan traffic lights have been full of problems so far... I don't use it that much during peak times but friends have said that it definitely isn't handling the same volume in peak hours and cars are filling other areas to avoid it.....
But is traffic increasing? yes, population is increasing and with rents continually being pushed up there are more deciding not to live in Galway but commute in...
With an outer road, we can have the space to give more to other forms of transport...
i honestly think a sea wall is the solution for all of us and we could swing it as it would stop Salthill flooding...
Flood defences for Galway are in progress
I live in Kingston and I socialise in Salthill... This has a resounding No from Salthill residents...
Removing the parking on the Prom just pushes everyone to park in the residential areas. This happen when parking on the Prom was removed during COVID... It caused them havoc in those areas... Areas like Rockbarton had people parking everywhere... This shows how hair brained this idea is...
This is also why councillors are deserting the idea in droves..
Cllr. Clodagh Higgins has said nothing lately (this month) which doesn't look good...
Only West Ward councillor voicing support is the green party (and he can't really go against it)... I drink in Salthill and it has a general resounding no... we will see what happens, I am generally up for trailing things out but this was really badly thought out...
I think spending the money on a permeant cycle lane to link from Millars lane to Threadneedle road, then trial Dr Mannix road and possibly all the way into the crescent would link the Cappagh rd to the Jes, Bish new site, and into town... This without much compromise in comparison...
Then that leaves it open for a cycle lane with a sea wall on the prom... You will get great support from Salthill Businesses and residents for that..
Just increase it to the Prom... Push out about 2.5m, everyone is happy..
That may well end up happening when they get to building the coastal defences around 2030.
Won't have any impact on the trial kicking off shortly though.
I think spending the money on a permeant cycle lane to link from Millars lane to Threadneedle road, then trial Dr Mannix road and possibly all the way into the crescent would link the Cappagh rd to the Jes, Bish new site, and into town
Absolutely agree with your vision of a full network of protected cycling infrastructure and its something we should aspire to.
However this is not on the current list of things the council are trialing soon, wish it was though.
Depressing to see him back in the limelight.
DaCor,
This why I am so against this particular trial... It is spending trust in the wrong place... It looks nice but will really annoy a lot of people for less gain that could be achieved in other places... Even if this rammed through and they proclaimed a success (because there is no parameter for success), we get no extended Prom to get a cycle lane, Dr Mannix road won't get a cycle lane (excuse being there is one on the prom), Linking Millar lane and Threadneedle road would be in doubt too...
All that for a cycle lane that will have limited use in any bad day... Prom is extremely exposed, a cyclist traveling from town to even Kingston wouldn't use it on any day with a bit of wind... This is not a good transport route so it will be less effective for easing traffic...
There is also if Millar lane and Threadneedle road was linked it would involve moving a hole (13th) which the club might not have huge problem with but it opens the way to being able to get a cycle lane all the way down to Brooklawn junction/50 yards short of Joyces... Now you could have a serious network of access... Add this with E-Bike enhancements (and yes that makes them low powered motorbikes but who cares)... Now you have a chance of changing attitudes...
But this has to be driven by way more specific goals and targets... People don't fall for bland targets and statement like this junction has more trafffic going through it... People just say rightly that is just more demand and they know that not as many cars are going through it at peak...
The 2% of people crossing the city is no true... You just have to ask people who live that side of the city were they come from and often they go commute across the city to go home or other places in Galway... A simple chat to people in Sheridans would give a pretty clear picture... I would guess it is about 66%... Too much of the executive is about making driving harder not making cycling or Public Transport easier... Peak traffic is only 15-20 hrs a week...
The 2% of people crossing the city is no true
If I recall it's actually 3%.
The data behind the figure is in the planning application documents.
I’m not living in Galway now for a few years so I can’t really remember but do you have to pay for parking along the prom?
Not currently.
No! It's free storage for your private property on public land, sized 4.8m long x 2.4m wide (UK avg space)
I think that number was in reference to the number of people who bypass the city (West<->East) that would benefit from something like the ring road but have a look through the planning application and see. People commuting while staying within the city limits are better suited to public transport/walking/cycling/whatever. There's thousands of people driving from nearly the same place and going to nearly the same place twice a day. Doing it in single occupant cars is crazy, but most people probably don't have an easy alternative.
Worth mentioning that any cycle group I've talked to don't like either of the proposals on offer either but feel like Option 2 is the better of the two. Lots of people feeling like it's being designed to be a disaster.
I don't hate your sea wall idea. Apparently they've done something similar in Ennis with their flood defenses and it's lovely. But it's beyond the scope of this trial and I've grown to feel like it's beyond the ability of GCC to think that far ahead.
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