Beckett Bridge shambles

SomeCouncilGuy wrote:

These dodgy cycle lanes are just a legacy from the 1990s. From now on they will be done to the best international guidelines. yeah I know we mucked this one up. But its not like we had a blank canvas to work with....oh we did...oh right. Well the next one I promise will be great. Cross my heart and hope to die. It won't be a complete and utter c0ck up. SERIOUSLY. you believe me right?

poochiem wrote: »

I just quoted you. but yeay, that.

el tonto wrote: »

Just cycle on the road.

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Great work Andrew, your continued presence here is great to see also. But why can't these things be sorted out during the design phase? It seems to be a typically Irish thing that we build it first and worry about asking questions later.

I haven't cycled along the bridge yet, but the photos that were put up recently would make me never want to go near it.

AMontague wrote: »

I met with the engineers today and they agreed that the layout is not good enough and they have also agreed to address the issues.

Andrew

fixieboy wrote: »

They could at least treat the surface of the joints to give tyres more grip - a metal sander would improve it. At the moment it's sheer metal which is like ice when wet.

TimAllen wrote: »

This is exactly the kind of media campaign that I would expect from cycling lobbyists and exactly the reason why such lobbies fail to get what they want. The art of politics is one of managing compromise.
You have a pro-cycling minister who wishes to make political capital from the improvements he's making for cyclists and it gets thrown back at him on a mainstream Sunday newspaper.
My guess is that the Minister will soon realise that there is no pleasing the cycling lobbyists and the finite political capital he has to invest will yield greater dividends on other issues.

TimAllen wrote: »

The Minister finds them adequate so I guess you can assume they're legal

TimAllen wrote: »

The Minister finds them adequate

Dempsey said he could not comment on the situation on the bridge

A spokesman for Dublin city council said there was no case of a cycle track leading into oncoming traffic on the bridge and that the sign indicating shared pedestrian and cycle use was “being incorporated within the new Traffic Signs Manual”. The plan had always been to have cycle lanes on the bridge, he added.

“We would not accept the accuracy of all the points raised in relation to the bridge,” he said. “The cycle lanes have been designed in accordance with accepted national standards.”

TimAllen wrote: »

(before some started side tracking it with their usual and boring efforts to discredit and chastise)

TimAllen wrote: »

Now I remember you. You were going on about some crotch grabbing responses to motorists a few months back. I suggested a more apt handle for you in that context but got into some trouble for it. Right, now that I know how you keep your hands warm on these cold mornings, go on, enlighten me on your solution to the bridge.

Cyclists deem new bridge ‘dangerous’
Sarah McInerney

Dublin’s new Samuel Beckett bridge, which will form part of the government’s €10m cross-city cycle route, has been described as “dangerous, unusable and unacceptable” by a cycling lobby group.

The landmark €60m piece of infrastructure, which opened last week, is an integral part of a circuit that will link Rathmines and Fairview Park. When launching the 7km route in September, Noel Dempsey, the transport minister, said it would “open up the city” to cyclists and show that “cycling can be safe for everyone”.

However, the Dublin Cycling Campaign said after testing the course that the cycle lanes are of insufficient width and in some cases put cyclists in danger. The group also claims that many lanes stop without warning and much of the signage appears to be illegal.

“It’s just not usable,” said James Leahy, who tested the route for the cycling body. “You cannot use it safely or without breaking the law. This is meant to be a new flagship phase in cycle routes for the next generation, but in this case they have just repeated all the same mistakes of the past.”

Mike McKillen, chairman of Cyclist.ie, an umbrella group for Irish cycling campaigns, said the design of the facilities suggests they were an afterthought. “I suspect that when the bridge was designed it had no cycle lanes, and then last year Dempsey gave the city council €10m for the cycle route across the city,” he said.

“At that point it was too late. They couldn’t make the bridge wider, so they just put lanes in willy nilly wherever they could find the space. It really makes us despair. The engineers in Dublin city council just don’t get things right for cyclists.”

Leahy claimed the cycle lane on the east side of the bridge leads directly into oncoming traffic. The one on the west side has a “a very narrow cycle track on the footpath” which turns sharply on to the road, he added.

“These particular instances are actually quite dangerous,” Leahy said. “It would have been much better for the council not to draw out any cycle lanes and leave cyclists on the road.”

In a number of instances, the council has erected signs directing cyclists on to the footpath, which Leahy believes may be against the law.

“It is illegal to cycle on footpaths unless there is a designated cycle lane, and on one side of the bridge, there’s no cycle lane,” he said. “It’s meant to be a ‘shared space’ but that only works in an area where pedestrians and cyclists are taking their time. This is a commuter route where cyclists are likely to be going at high speed. This signage also is not in the Traffic Signs Regulations, so I would question its legality.”

Leahy said that even if the design does not break the rules, it is still unsuitable for cyclists to be on the pavement. “We’re constantly hearing calls from pedestrian groups to get us off the path, and we agree,” he said. “For elderly people it’s disconcerting to have cyclists zipping past in a blur, and it’s also been a big issue for the blind.”

Fionnuala Murphy, communications officer for the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, said the group is opposed to having cyclists on the pavement. “If you’re trying to navigate the city with a guide dog or a cane, it already takes a lot of concentration,” she said. “Trying to be aware of people flying past you at high speed just adds to the difficulty.”

A spokesman for Dublin city council said there was no case of a cycle track leading into oncoming traffic on the bridge and that the sign indicating shared pedestrian and cycle use was “being incorporated within the new Traffic Signs Manual”. The plan had always been to have cycle lanes on the bridge, he added.

“We would not accept the accuracy of all the points raised in relation to the bridge,” he said. “The cycle lanes have been designed in accordance with accepted national standards.”

Dempsey said he could not comment on the situation on the bridge but admitted there were substandard cycling facilities in urban areas. “One of the reasons I published Ireland’s first national cycle policy in April was because I recognised there were so many problems to be addressed before we could have a cycling culture,” he said.

Leahy and McKillen praised the principles set out in the policy, but said they were not in evidence on the bridge. “The policy has a hierarchy of what facilities should be put in place, and the introduction of cycle lanes is right down the bottom of the list,” Leahy said.