A history of cycle lanes in Ireland

I was just thinking of my time living in Scandinavia in the early 1990s and the cycle lanes that were the norm in cities there and I'm wondering when was the first one built in Ireland, and where? When was there a burst of cycle lane "building" in our cities and what was the reason it happened at that time?

While bike paths were introduced in the Netherlands in the 1880s it was, according to this very interesting article, in 1914 that a society for separate bike paths got going there as a reaction to the rise of car ownership.

tomasrojo

Something similar-ish just posted:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101799006&postcount=153

When Joe Daly died, one of the obituaries claimed that he was pivotal in the creation of Ireland's (or Dublin's?) first cycle lane, so their history here is fairly recent if that's true. I did hear someone claim that the one in front of the Four Courts was the first one. It certainly used to have the old-fashioned cycle track sign on it, and maybe still does.

ted1

The bike used to be the main mode of transport in Dublin. The question should be at what stage and why did he give up the road to cars.

So, anybody know when and where Ireland's first bike track was established, and what was the background to it?

Moflojo

This is a depressingly sparse thread.

Wishbone Ash

Deleted User wrote: »

So, anybody know when and where Ireland's first bike track was established, and what was the background to it?

The Road Traffic General Bye Laws of 1964 mentions on road cycle tracks so I presume they existed then.

PART IV. CYCLE TRAFFIC.

28 Cycle tracks

28.—(1) Where a cycle track is provided on a stretch of road—

(a) every pedal cycle being driven on that stretch of road (in the direction in which traffic on the side of the road adjacent to the cycle track is required to travel) shall be driven on the cycle track only, and

(b) a vehicle other than a pedal cycle shall not be driven on the cycle track.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this bye-law, an invalid carriage not mechanically propelled may be driven on a cycle track, provided that it is driven in the direction in which pedal cycles are required to be driven.

tomasrojo

This mentions:

He said the law has changed a lot since the council put in its first cycle lane outside the Four Courts 15 years ago. Back then a cycle lane turned the “whole road into a 24 hour clearway.”

http://irishcycle.com/2012/08/22/under-review-dublins-cycling-network/

So Dublin City Council's first track was in 2012-15=1997

Pretty sure there must have been other cycle tracks before then.

AndrewJRenko

tomasrojo wrote: »

Something similar-ish just posted:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101799006&postcount=153

When Joe Daly died, one of the obituaries claimed that he was pivotal in the creation of Ireland's (or Dublin's?) first cycle lane, so their history here is fairly recent if that's true. I did hear someone claim that the one in front of the Four Courts was the first one. It certainly used to have the old-fashioned cycle track sign on it, and maybe still does.

Ironic that the cycle lane going round the corner by his shop got largely wiped out in the last round of road works. Most of it was just tarmaced over.