Pedestrianising O'Connell Street

keane2097

Thanks for that

tommy249

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It's not just people on here who are unsatisfied with the current proposals.

https://twitter.com/moranjohna1/status/880061671124893697

I really, really like the idea on the right. Will never happen in limerick tho in my opinion

martyc5674

Last chance today everyone... take a minute and drop an email with your thoughts. If you haven't seen the plan basically it's a bus lane and regular traffic lane for the most part...wide footpaths and no cycle lane(bar a contra flow cycle lane on 2 blocks)
My opinion: they are missing an opportunity to encourage cycling in the city if they proceed as planned and doing our youth a disservice.
Drop them a line with your thoughts whatever they are.
Marty.

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Feedback on this emerging plan will now be accepted until 29th of June 2017.

From LCC website.
Submissions will be accepted by post and email to:

David Healy, Limerick City and County Council, Merchant’s Quay, Limerick, V94 EH90
Tel: 061-407100/ 061-407129
Email: LUCROC@arup.com
Website: https://smartertravel.limerick.ie/project/remodelling-oconnell-street[url][/url]

Strettie11

My thoughts on O'Connell Street
O’Connell Street Reboot
“an EU funded alliance between the City Council, the Civic Trust and the Chamber of Commerce — plans to proceed with a competition winning scheme by Cheltenham-based architect Nicholas de Jong to transform the city centre into a much more pedestrian-friendly environment” @frankmcdonald60 article from the Irish Times 20/07/2002

“It will be unrecognisable. There will be fewer cars clogging up the city, a better public transport system, park and ride facilities and it will be a more environmentally-friendly place,” Irish Times article on 15/10/2003

“There will be extensive consultation with all the stakeholders before we advance the planning process and we are hopeful that work on the pedestrianisation of O’Connell Street will start in the autumn.” Breakingnews.ie 01/01/2007

The above shows the O’Connell Street redesign has had as many reboots as the Spiderman film franchise !!
Limerick City & County Council please commit to completing this project as soon as possible after final plans are agreed

Below are my requests and questions in relation to the proposed plans as presented for O’Connell Street

Vision Statement
“The project seeks to improve the O-Connell Street area for retail and commercial attractive ness through enhancement of public space, streets and sustainable travel modes”
2 things strike me straight away
1. there seems to be a strange spelling of our main street from Limerick city and County Council
2. more importantly there is no mention of people. In fact there is no mention of people in the Project Aims and only a slight reference in terms of safeguards for vulnerable users in the Design Objectives. This is incredible for the redesign of the main street of our city.
REQUEST The vision statement or objectives must include a reference to the people who live, work and visit Limerick.
Possible Alternative
The Project seeks to provide a world class main street for the City of Limerick to enable people of all ages and abilities who live, work and visit our historic city a safe, convenient and attractive public space , streetscape and sustainable travel modes.

Shared Surface Pedestrian Priority Street
This would be a new type of street for Limerick where pedestrians have priority in theory over vehicular traffic.This type of street is not considered appropriate where there is high vehicle use per hour. In 2006 a report was prepared for Transport for London Traffic Management which concluded that the pedestrian priority shared street was treated as a normal street if

Traffic exceeds 100 vehicles an hour and 85% of traffic travels at 40KMPH or

Traffic exceeds 200 vehicles an hour and 85% of traffic travels at 32KMPH

REQUEST What are LCCC expectation of vehicles per hour and speeds and how will it be indicated to vehicle drivers that this is a pedestrian priority street.
I would recommend making this section of the street pedestrian only with access only for emergency vehicles

Enforcement
Currently we have two and a half pedestrianised streets Bedford Row, Little Catherine Street and part of Thomas Street. But there is no enforcement of this currently . Regularly buses and cars drive up Bedford row and all 3 streets have cars parked on them in the evenings.

REQUEST If even part of O’Connell street was to be fully pedestrianised what are the plans to prevent cars driving or parking on these streets

Speed Limits
There is no indication on the plans what the speed limit will be on the pedestrian priority single lane from William Street to Roches Street. As per the Design Manual for Urban Streets issued by the Department of Transport in March 2013 speed limits would have to be reduced to 30–40 kmh.

REQUEST Indicate on plans what the speed limit will be on each section of street

Maintenance
A significant section of the new O’Connell Street plans show the road surface to consist of brick. Little Catherine Street would be a similar surface and this is now damaged in places with very little surface traffic.

REQUEST What process will be in place to repair the surface if damaged

Cycling
The Limerick Smarter Travel proposal of 2010 set a goal of increasing cycling by a factor of 5. Do the new plans for O’Connell Street enable the achieving of this goal ?

1. No cycle lanes on Denmark to William Street section. This is the main approach for cycling from 1 of the hubs , Corbally, specifically identified on the Limerick Smarter Travel proposal which had a goal of linking hubs to city centre

2. There appears to be inconsistency with the contra flow lane northwards. It appears on the drawings to start and finish on each street block on the pedestrian only area !! Will this not cause conflict between cycling and pedestrian movements.

3. What surface type will be used for cycle lanes

4. How wide are the cycle lanes

5. There are 8 Limerick bike stations north of O’Connell Street we should be creating a safe environment for non regular cyclists to traverse the city and fully utilise this great resource

6. Southbound cycle lane incorporated in bus lanes. As perception of a lack of safety is a big deterrent to cycling in Limerick the incorporation of the cycle lane in a bus lane does not eliminate this. Especially as indicated these bus lanes will also incorporate bus stops requiring cyclists to overtake buses by entering the traffic lane.

7. there is no cycle lane identified on area from William Street to Roches Street

REQUEST
1. North and south bound cycle lanes to be brought together on west side of entire O’Connell Street

2. Continuous cycle lane the length of O’Connell Street is it is not stopping and starting each block in pedestrian identified areas

3. Traffic lights for cyclists at junctions so avoid conflict with vehicle traffic lights

Wheelchair Parking Spaces
There are a number of wheelchair parking spaces on O’Connell Street I could not see any reference on the proposal as to where these spaces will be moved to.

REQUEST Please indicate where wheelchair parking spaces will be moved to

Glass Barriers
It is indicated on the proposal there will be a number of glass barriers along the road side between road and pedestrian areas
1. are those suitable for Irish conditions

2. will they be maintained

3. if vandalised are they a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and Cars

4. why are these required

5. Will they cause confusion for limited sight pedestrians and guide dogs

REQUEST Remove glass barriers from plans

Movement Flows
Have Limerick City and Council gathered any data on vehicle, cycle and pedestrian flows along all or some sections of O’Connell Street

REQUEST If available could these be published

Taxi Ranks & Bus Stops
Stated in plans taxi ranks and bus stops to be moved to side streets but no indication on which streets and where on those streets

REQUEST Please indicate where taxi ranks and bus stops will be moved to

CCTV Cameras
Has the placement of trees taken into account the current position of CCTV cameras

REQUEST Indicate if extra cameras are required to maintain the same coverage as currently

Crossing Rugby Experience Museum
The proposal indicates a shared surface pedestrian crossing at the Rugby Experience Museum
1. Why is this being provided here?
2. Are pedestrian flows expected to be significantly higher here ?
3. On the west side of this crossing most of it is blocked by planned bench seating requiring pedestrians to walk along the contra flow cycle lane

Traffic Flows
The Sarsfield Street lane markings appear to indicate both lanes can still turn right into what will now be a single lane on O’Connell Street will this not create the possibility of vehicle collisions

REQUEST Only traffic in right lane can turn into O’Connell Street

Derelict Buildings
As this is a significant investment in Limerick’s main street can LCCC commit to greater action on derelict buildings on O’Connell Street. This is an issue that has also caused problems on Shop Street in Galway with some buildings remaining derelict from when street was first pedestrianised.
The Limerick city and council vacant sites register has no buildings listed on it which is strange considering there are a number of vacant buildings on O’Connell street alone

martyc5674

I hope you emailed that to them strettie.
Marty.

Strettie11

Yes I have emailed it. Might never be read.

mdmix

Been meaning to respond all week, they didn't give much time for a submission, and they didn't make it easy either. i haven't been able to connect to the website all week. Rushed my feedback in by email, thanks to all for posting the address. great points made earlier and agree with most. Personally, i feel the plan doesn't look at how oconnel st fits in with the city. i loved cycling the canal - UL and back but felt you were risking your life cycling through town to get there. i suggested that oconnel street be redesigned (within the scope of the plan) to link in with assets like this so that future projects could be extend on its design and complete the links. fingers crossed, but their feedback collection is as useless as their design and leads me to believe they do not want feedback

bonnieprince

Received a personalised email today from Arup concerning my submission. That's a start!

martyc5674

bonnieprince wrote: »

Received a personalised email today from Arup concerning my submission. That's a start!

Me too...hopefully they take some of the comments on board.

For me it was the lack of cycling lanes to promote cycling from a young age.
Cycling promotes happiness and good health.
Happy healthy kids become happy healthy grown ups.
Marty.

zulutango

There were over 200 submissions according to the Limerick Leader.

panda100

Did everyone else get a reply to their submissions? I still haven't heard anything back to my questions.

Poxyshamrock

panda100 wrote: »

Did everyone else get a reply to their submissions? I still haven't heard anything back to my questions.

I got one. It was quite a generic response so I wouldn't be too worried if you don't get one.

LeoD

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I got one. It was quite a generic response so I wouldn't be too worried if you don't get one.

I got a phone call from ARUP's Cork office a few weeks ago. Was surprised as I can't remember if I included a phone number in my submission. Anyway, it was a weird conversation - wasn't sure if they were interested in my feedback or it was just some box ticking exercise. Anyone know if and when an updated design will be made public and will the updated design be final?

Straight Talker

Silentcorner wrote: »

What Limerick city centre suffers from is the classic dough nut effect, it has effected Limerick more than any other city centre in this country...which has had an impact on the appearance of the city centre...I don't think you'll find anyone in this city who isn't aware of the issues facing the city centre...a greater garda presence would only be for optics...there isn't a city centre crime issue...its not like we are all getting mugged all the time or having our phones robbed...

It is not because it is an unattractive place to do business or because or "the dregs of society anti social youths and drug users"...which is what you suggested...you posted in this thread to question the point of making any improvements to O'Connell St...that is your opinion.

An improvement in the streetscape is of huge importance, look at the impact the same improvement had in Cork!

No but people are having their bikes robbed.Take the lovely riverside walk.The guards didn't even have enough resources to send someone down to the quayside to apprehend the thief's.Despite people ringing them as it happened and despite the main Garda HQ for the midwest being located just around the corner.As i said all these developments are great.But it's all just mere window dressing if the environment isn't there for people to enjoy them.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/264390/trip-from-tipp-to-limerick-ends-in-tears-as-bikes-are-stolen.html

Poxyshamrock

"I feel that it is a shame that we will not revisit this boardwalk, my children will not want to spend time in the city"

Bike theft happens in every city around the world...this statement is a bit much.

Insect Overlord

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

"I feel that it is a shame that we will not revisit this boardwalk, my children will not want to spend time in the city"

Bike theft happens in every city around the world...this statement is a bit much.

Yeah, but I doubt they've had their bikes stolen in every other city around the world. Just this one.

Poxyshamrock

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

"I feel that it is a shame that we will not revisit this boardwalk, my children will not want to spend time in the city"

Bike theft happens in every city around the world...this statement is a bit much.

Tell that to a nine year old. :rolleyes:

kilburn

Had my bike robbed outside Ivans years ago and still went back.......

panda100

Bike theft in a city is a bit of a non story imo. I've had a bike with two, apparently unbreakable, locks stoles outside my house in Cork and numerous saddles/peddles stolen off various bikes when living in Dublin. It didn't make it into either local Dublin or Cork papers.

In fairness to the Garda in Henry Street they have an excellent bicycle registration scheme. I have both my bikes registered with them and it does give you some piece of mind that if your bike is stolen at least the Garda will be able to track it back to you.

bonnieprince

I think they key (pardon the pun) to keeping your bike safe in the city is not to leave it in one spot for too long, failing this use the bike lockers in City Centre (Thomas Street) car park or Denmark St car park or Howley's Quay car park.

zulutango

A friend of mine forgot that he left his expensive fixie locked outside Debenhams. It was 5 days later when he remembered and when he went to check, fully expecting it to be gone, it was still there, untouched. The Limerick Leader should do a front page story, for balance.

panda100

Or the time I totally forgot I left my expensive bell helmet in the basket of one of the Coca-Cola bikes over night and it was still there 12 hours later! Was the best feeling ever

zulutango

I left a bag with two pairs of running shoes in one of the Coke bike baskets once and they were still there when I realised it six hours later. Another story for the Leader.