Portmarnock to Tallaght on the bike?

jusmeig

I know how to drive there....straight down the M50.....but what about biking it?!?
Does anyone regulary commmute from the Northside of Dublin to Tallaght?

I plotted a route on map my ride, but I have no idea if these roads have cycle lanes etc etc. I would be grateful for any up to date route information on anyone who does a similar route. It would be 25k one way, but I guess I could start doings it one or two days a week if I can make it in a respectable time.
Am I mad?

Thanks in advance...

HivemindXX

It's great weather for cycling at the moment so you should give it a shot I think.

I've a good bit of experience of cycling from the city centre to Tallaght so I can tell you about that. Your main issue is the M50. It's basically a moat around the city with a few crossing points, all of which have issues. You should first decide where you want to cross the M50.

Since you're coming from Portmarnock the crossing at the N81 (Tallaght Road) might be best. Unless they've changed this in the last year or so this is a flyover roundabout style thing which is slightly hairy for a cyclist but not nearly as bad as the Red Cow junction. If you're confident you can cycle across this as a car would. If you'd rather not there is a pedestrian underpass/overpass which is cleverly hidden. Look for a path leading off and down on the right side as you approach the junction. Last time I used this is was partially closed off which meant you had a bit of a detour once you were on it and it also drops you off on the old Tallaght road which sucks for people who want to stay on the main road but might suit you.

There's a crossing at Western Parkway which is actually fine to cycle across despite having a lot of merging lanes. Traffic has always been pretty calm when I have used this. You might find yourself using the Walkinstown Roundabout to get on this though, see below...

The Greenhills Road crossing is a simple overpass with no connection to the M50 so no merging traffic at all. Great for cyclists. However it's not possible to get on this without navigating the Walkinstown Roundabout which is pretty cyclist unfriendly. You can always walk the bike around this like a pedestrian if you are concerned.

Without knowing where in Tallaght you are going I think the Tallaght Road is the best bet. City Centre, Harolds Cross, Templeogue, Tallaght Road in to the centre of Tallaght. Most of this route is pretty good for cycling with wide roads and hard shoulders in the case of the N81.

MagicMarker

Once you get to Templeogue you could take a left onto Old Bridge Rd and then right onto the Firhouse Rd and cross over the M50 that way. There's a cycle lane all along that road.

jusmeig

HivemindXX wrote: »

You should first decide where you want to cross the M50.

Thanks for the reply mate, more info here:
I'm basically located off the Belgard road, about 5 minutes walk from The Square.

"My Planned Route" was as follows:
Down airton road onto Greenhills road and under the M50. Following this up all the way to Drimnagh Road, into Crumlin and down onto keys (im fine once I get to the keys!!)

Have I found an easy route across the moat??

jusmeig

MagicMarker wrote: »

Once you get to Templeogue you could take a left onto Old Bridge Rd and then right onto the Firhouse Rd and cross over the M50 that way. There's a cycle lane all along that road.

Probably wont be this far south, as i'm cutting across the city.
My post above probably better explains where im heading to!

tomasrojo

HivemindXX wrote: »

The Greenhills Road crossing is a simple overpass with no connection to the M50 so no merging traffic at all. Great for cyclists. However it's not possible to get on this without navigating the Walkinstown Roundabout which is pretty cyclist unfriendly. You can always walk the bike around this like a pedestrian if you are concerned.

I agree. Greenhills Road I found to be the least stressful way of getting to Tallaght hospital when I was visiting my mother there. The cars pass a little closely at times, but affecting a *very* slight wobble as they approach did the trick there, I found.

Walkinstown roundabout is not good. When going towards Tallaght, you could approach it from Walkinstown Avenue and then cross two arms of the roundabout to your right as a pedestrian. Probably best to walk around it whatever your approach, if traffic is at all busy. Very unpredictable, and I do know of someone killed on it on a bike.

HivemindXX

jusmeig wrote: »

"My Planned Route" was as follows:
Down airton road onto Greenhills road and under the M50. Following this up all the way to Drimnagh Road, into Crumlin and down onto keys (im fine once I get to the keys!!)

Seems good to me. Greenhills Road is fine to cycle along although it's a big of a climb when heading South. You need to get around Walkinstown Roundabout which is sometimes no problem and sometimes a bit rough, like I said you can always walk around it if you want. Drimnagh Road, Crumlin Road and Cork Street are all very wide and easy to cycle along. I can't remember if they have cycle lanes but if they don't they don't need them.

jusmeig

HivemindXX wrote: »

Seems good to me. Greenhills Road is fine to cycle along although it's a big of a climb when heading South. You need to get around Walkinstown Roundabout which is sometimes no problem and sometimes a bit rough, like I said you can always walk around it if you want. Drimnagh Road, Crumlin Road and Cork Street are all very wide and easy to cycle along. I can't remember if they have cycle lanes but if they don't they don't need them.

So the Walkingstown roundabout seems to be the only hickup.
Think i'll give it a go.....maybe next week
I'll report back.

HivemindXX

MagicMarker wrote: »

Once you get to Templeogue you could take a left onto Old Bridge Rd and then right onto the Firhouse Rd and cross over the M50 that way. There's a cycle lane all along that road.

Thanks for this MM. I'm always glad to hear an alternative to using one of those massive roundabout-in-the-sky style junctions.

Got one for near the Red Cow? This junction is on the most direct route for me but in my opinion it's appallingly dangerous for a cyclist.

jusmeig

HivemindXX wrote: »

Thanks for this MM. I'm always glad to hear an alternative to using one of those massive roundabout-in-the-sky style junctions.

Got one for near the Red Cow? This junction is on the most direct route for me but in my opinion it's appallingly dangerous for a cyclist.

Perhaps we could dig a cycle friendly tunnel under the M50?
We could ask for government funding [laughs himself to death]
I would not approach the Mad Cow Roundabout in my car let alone my bike

munsterleinster

Used to do it quite regularly from Raheny to Tallaght and just did it again over the weekend.

Walkingstown roundabout was fine, Greenhills road get's tight with vans going both ways as you're heading uphill. That's the only dodgy part and it's only for about 300 meters where you've no footpath or verge to escape onto, just a wall to your left.

Here.. Have a look at 53.31496, -6.33723 in google streetview.

tomasrojo

HivemindXX wrote: »

Thanks for this MM. I'm always glad to hear an alternative to using one of those massive roundabout-in-the-sky style junctions.

First time I visited my mother in hospital in Tallaght, I ended up going over the M50 flyover where the Naas Road becomes the N7 (there were signposts that suggested there was a bicycle route through the junction, but they didn't make any sense, and I just gave up). It was quite engrossing. I decided not to do it again.

tawfeeredux

HivemindXX wrote: »

Got one for near the Red Cow? This junction is on the most direct route for me but in my opinion it's appallingly dangerous for a cyclist.

Assuming you were coming up the Naas road from say Inchicore direction, you could turn off just after the Red Cow hotel itself, across Ballymount to come out on either Calmount Road, or further on, Greenhills road. You'd have bypassed the trickiest bit of the latter road at that stage. Going the opposite direction, I think you'd have to go up the pedistrian/cyclist flyover & drop down again on to Naas road heading towards city.