Knocklyon-Ballyboden active travel scheme - submissions

fat bloke · 05-03-2026 02:26PM #1

https://consult.sdublincoco.ie/en/consultation/knocklyon-ballyboden-active-and-sustainable-travel-scheme

Submissions open for this again if anyone would like to have their spake. There are plenty of organised voices against it with the same tired ol' Bingo card of specious car-brained arguments, which are all just a smokescreen for car access and parking over all else.

No harm therefore to redress the imbalance and show that there are voices for.

Bluejohn1 · 05-03-2026 02:48PM

Will say I love the the bike paths in Firhouse, allowing myself and my son to cycle all the way to the park in safety and has helped with giving him confidence to learn to cycle/road safety. But the roads have fallen apart from the works. What ever they used to rip off the paint and the recent weather has really left in bad shape.

I remember some of the comments about it being so unsafe now cause of how narrow it is or how will i over take the bus in the estate when it rolls through twice an hour. Also helped greatly with all the church goers no longer parking along the road.

smacl · 11-03-2026 06:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058435186/knocklyon-ballyboden-active-travel-scheme-submissions

Getting a 403 error on that link FB. Never much liked the Knocklyon to Ballyboden options, preferring the Firhouse / Ballyroan / Ballyboden route which has also had a lot of changes which are still ongoing. The new lights with separate pedestrian and cycle lights are much slower around the Blue Haven than when the old paint on bike lanes were in use. Same with the intersection that would take you to Spawell. The mixed on-road and separated cycle lanes that were there previously were pretty good. New ones not so much IMO, particularly at junctions where they're over designed and inefficient.

smacl · 12-03-2026 02:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124304709#Comment_124304709

Just got a WhatsApp message from the Ballyboden residents association looking for signatures on a petition to object to this on the grounds it hasn't been out for public feedback for long enough yet.

fat bloke · 12-03-2026 03:16PM

Link works for me. But if you Google it you should find it easy enough.

That's mental, it's been a couple of years in the pipeline

khamilton · 12-03-2026 11:39PM

All the positive submissions will help, and don't forget that there's also a survey https://consult.sdublincoco.ie/en/content/knocklyon-ballyboden-active-and-sustainable-travel-scheme

If making a positive submission (which I hope you would be!), I'd ask you to briefly check out the highlighted detailed drawings for these sections and offer constructive feedback:

Detailed drawings are here: https://consult.sdublincoco.ie/en/system/files/materials/11847/Knocklyon%20to%20Ballyboden%20ATS%20Part%208%20Planning%20Drawings.pdf

The plan is to effectively do very little-to-nothing on Scholarstown Road in the circled section around 30-29, and for Ballyboden Way, they are retaining the 1.1-1.2m wide cycle lanes and just promising to cut back the bushes.

Neither is acceptable on what's a key commuting route east-west (or even into town, as the Ballyboden Road is far more likely to be upgraded with cycle infrastructure than the Knocklyon Road).

The treatment of Scholarstown Roundabout and Taylor's Lane Roundabout are great, the best I've seen from SDCC, but it's somewhat pointless if they're not actually creating usable cycle lanes between them!

The section on Templeroan Road is a two way cycle lane that leads you into a housing estate, which is having a few bicycles painted on the street, ending in a pedestrian footpath where you're expected to dismount, walk to the nearest pedestrian crossing, and get back on the bike halfway across the road (Sheet 12).

Getting this through is important, so is constructive feedback to get a more usable design!

smacl · 13-03-2026 09:09AM

Any submissions to by in by 5pm today apparently. Glad to see the change to Ballyboden roundabout as the cycle lane there can be a bit of a hazard for novice cyclists, in that if you take the last exit, it puts you in the way of left turning traffic twice. When teaching my kids to cycle many moons ago, I got them to use Glendoher drive and the estates there as the better route towards Rathfarnham. Youngest nearly got taken out when she was quite young by using the cycling lane, crap design. Good cycle infrastructure in my opinion is all about the junctions / interfaces, where best results combine safety with efficiency. If the junctions are very inefficient for cyclists, in introduces the temptation to avoid the cycle infrastructure altogether. The separate lights for cars, pedestrians and cyclists on the new cycle paths on the Firhouse road fall into this category to some extent.

khamilton · 13-03-2026 02:24PM

Ballyboden Roundabout is a hazard for everyone tbh, even trying to cross it on the ballyboden way side when walking/running is a nightmare, and the road signs on the islands at the roundabout block my line of sight when driving and trying to get on it.

Knocklyon-Ballyboden active travel scheme - submissions

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