Excellent news for Dublin and Cylists

John_Rambo

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/construction-of-5m-dublin-cycle-path-to-start-in-six-weeks-1.2106254

Construction of the “missing link” of the Dublin Bay cycle path is to start in six weeks time, more than a decade since planning of the route began.

Dublin City Council plans to spend in the region of €5 million to fill in the missing 2km section of its flagship cycle route from the Wooden Bridge to Causeway Road in Clontarf.

Work is due to begin on April 1st and will take 18 months to complete, with construction taking place in phases to comply with bird habitat conservation regulations.

The new path will be the first section of the planned Sutton to Sandycove cycleway to be built.

The full route crosses three local authority boundaries and is likely to take several years to construct. Once complete, it will provide a 22km continuous off-road cycle route around the bay and would be one of the longest coastal promenades in Europe.

Kick-start construction

The Department of Transport has allocated €1.5 million to kick-start construction of the section, which will close the 2km gap in the current promenade and cycle path from Clontarf to Sutton.

The path was put in place by the council in the early 1990s but a space was left between the Causeway Road and the Wooden Bridge because no solution could be found to building on the environmentally sensitive lagoon.

Traffic

As a result, cyclists heading south have to leave the off-road path at the traffic lights at the Wooden Bridge and use the on-road cycle path on Clontarf Road which is in extremely poor repair and frequently occupied by parked cars.

Cyclists can return to the path 300m short of the causeway, but must cross two lanes of traffic at a point not governed by signals.

After several years in development a plan was finalised in 2008 that involved a pile-supported promenade and cable-stay bridging out over the lagoon.

Its cost was up to €14 million, or €7 million per kilometre, and it was never implemented.

The new scheme will cost less than half that and will involve no construction over the lagoon. Instead the road will be reduced to a three-metre width in each direction.

The council said this is consistent with National Roads Authority guidelines and will not cause traffic delays.

The work will also involve footpath and road resurfacing, sea wall repairs, and 2km of trunk water main, and the old tram shelter on Clontarf Road will be rebuilt.

whiskeyman

Awaits the new cycle lane to be flooded with dog walkers / joggers etc...

Ole Rodrigo

whiskeyman wrote: »

Awaits the new cycle lane to be flooded with dog walkers / joggers etc...

...Who will in turn give out about cyclists getting in their way

odyssey06

This is just about the gap from Wooden Bridge - Causeway?

Even with it in place, if you cycle from Sutton to Sandycove you lose sight of the Bay at Alfie Byrne Road, and the cycle lane stops at East Point \ end of Alfie Byrne Road?

Sheldons Brain

Typical pandering to lobby groups. Paths should be for people and wheels should be on the road.

John_Rambo

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

Typical pandering to lobby groups. Paths should be for people and wheels should be on the road.

Well, that’s how it works! That’s how we got our extensive motorway system. There's a serious amount of cycle traffic on the route, are you familiar with it? The serious fast cyclist can of course still use the road, the commuters, leisure cyclists, families and tourists can use the cycle path. Everyone’s happy.

Aard

Will there be no provision for walking along the route?

Ole Rodrigo

Ole Rodrigo wrote: »

...Who will in turn give out about cyclists getting in their way

The solution is the same as for busy roads. Get out of bed earlier!

cgcsb

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

Typical pandering to lobby groups. Paths should be for people and wheels should be on the road.

have you ever tried to take on a double decker bus on you rothar?

John_Rambo

Aard wrote: »

Will there be no provision for walking along the route?

Ah yeah. There's a footpath already there.

Lovely Bloke

5 million quid?

Ole Rodrigo

ronoc wrote: »

The solution is the same as for busy roads. Get out of bed earlier!

What ?

Are you familiar with the Clontarf cycle path?

John_Rambo

Ole Rodrigo wrote: »

What ?

Are you familiar with the Clontarf cycle path?

I am, it’s not THAT bad. Most cyclists simply brake or cycle around the odd obstacle like pedestrians, dogs, kids etc… just like a driver would on the road. This mainly happens at the weekends and not that often. You’ll get the odd militant cyclist that will make noise. But, sure, you’re going to get lunatics in all walks and cycles of life.

Pete_Cavan

I assume this is the project here;

http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menu-services-roads-and-traffic-major-transport-projects/sutton-sandycove-cycleway-and-footway

Really nothing more than adjusting the existing road and footpath space to provide cycle space ranging from3m to 2.2m wide, footpath of up to 2m and two car lanes minimum 3m wide. The flood defence seems to be repairs to the existing wall and raising it up to 0.75m above the existing level, ramps on bridges over to Bull Island and a bund across from St Annes Park. There are a few other bits and pieces, watermain, undergrounding pumping station and refurbing tram shelter.

It is referred to as Interim Works Scheme while one of the drawings shows interim works and An Bord Pleanala approved project. The Planning Report says the project comprises elements of two projects, the Dollymount Promenade & Flood Protection Project (DPFPP) and the North City Arterial Watermain. It also says works are expected to be between 9 and 12 months, although there are some phasing restrictions. I would be surprised if the cost was much above €1m.

Will be great to see the gap closed in any event.

odyssey06

For €1 million they could have tried something groundbreaking... like a catapult and ramp so that cyclists could take a shortcut from Bull Island over to Poolbeg lighthouse. Who hasn't looked at that gap and thought if only there was a way across?

Take advantage of modern aerodynamic cycling frames to get from Sutton to Sandycove in half the time... What could possibly go wrong?

(for reasons of political correctness the catapult will be 1-way only from Northside to Southside otherwise we'll never hear the end of it)