Clontarf bike lane - what a shambles

Kaisr Sose

red_bairn wrote: »

True. The bray pic looks hilariously shopped. Where is that?

The hilarious thing with the pic is the placement of boulders on a cycle track and that WCC or whoever did it, thought it necessary to cement them down - to be sure to be sure! At the same time, they will quote every mm of that cycle track for EU funding for dedicated cycle tracks.

iwillhtfu

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

The hilarious thing with the pic is the placement of boulders on a cycle track and that WCC or whoever did it, thought it necessary to cement them down - to be sure to be sure! At the same time, they will quote every mm of that cycle track for EU funding for dedicated cycle tracks.

It would have been BUDC that put those there. <Snip>
The cement is suppose to stop them rocking when put in place I guess to cut down on claims - I mean injuries.

Kaisr Sose

^^^silly me! You are right, ‘claims’! They could just roll on an unlucky cyclists foot as they attempt to move them off the cycle track.

C3PO

In fairness that cycle track in Bray is never used - it is in a totally undeveloped industrial area! I cycle past it regularly and wouldn't dream of using the track! The boulders were put in after the fact when it became clear that no further development was going to happen for the foreseeable future!

Mercian Pro

Getting back on topic about the condition/design of the Fairview to Sutton cycle path, I used it today for the first time in a few months on the way home from NCD and Howth. It was a real pleasure, despite the headwind, and quite a relief to get away from cars, vans, buses etc. I am not sure if the OP is aware that the full route is made up of a number of different sections built at different times and to very different budgets and design standards. I think everyone would like to see the older sections brought up to the current standards and hopefully this will eventually happen if the City Councillors are lobbied on the matter.

A more urgent priority I would suggest is the extension of the cycle path into town along the East Wall and the construction of the southern leg of the S2S along the coast all the way to Sandycove. A flawed report on this was published by the NTA in 2016 with a deadline of January 2017 for submitting comments but nothing further has been heard about it since then. Why it should take eleven months to read some submissions and to respond to them is a total mystery.

Weepsie

Mod note: already been said, this is not AH, absolutely no need for some of language used here. Keep it on topic, and keep the tone or you'll be take a break

Sunsets On Tuesday

I'd have to agree with Mercian Pro. Superb facility to have; despite the fact it is flawed in some ways.
One example of a flaw being the lights at Bull Island. They are red for peds/cyclists for 98% of the time, I don't think anyone could actually wait for them, seeing as most of the time it's perfectly safe to cross anyway. Perhaps there should be priority for cyclists anyways, it is just a road that leads to a beach after all.

But overall it's great to have 8k or so of off-road cycle track. Can't wait till it's completed all the way to Sandycove.. although it'll be lucky if we see it brought as far as the East Link in our life times!

Mercian Pro

I've just seen on the excellent IrishCycle.com site that our idiotic Councillors have voted to spend €230,000 on reducing the height of the sea wall along the St Anne's section of the cycleway so that motorists can see the lagoon. I think this might have discussed in a different thread some time ago but given the title of this thread, here seems more a appropriate place to break the news.
No prizes for anyone suggesting better uses for €230,000.

Alanstrainor

I remember just after the new section of the cycle route opened last year that the height of the wall was being talked about. I can't quite believe that they have decided to spend that amount on lowering it. The wall is hardly high as it stands...

No doubt this will mean the closure of the cycle route for months...

CramCycle

Thargor wrote: »

Sorry but this wrecking my head, whereabouts in Bray is that? Ive been cycling all around Bray for the last 5 years and Ive never seen that.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I remember just after the new section of the cycle route opened last year that the height of the wall was being talked about. I can't quite believe that they have decided to spend that amount on lowering it. The wall is hardly high as it stands...

No doubt this will mean the closure of the cycle route for months...

Fools and their money, it will lower flood defences and all for the sake of giving motorists something to look at, as if they did not have enough to entertain themselves visually while driving a vehicle.

Weepsie

Mercian Pro wrote: »

I've just seen on the excellent IrishCycle.com site that our idiotic Councillors have voted to spend €230,000 on reducing the height of the sea wall along the St Anne's section of the cycleway so that motorists can see the lagoon. I think this might have discussed in a different thread some time ago but given the title of this thread, here seems more a appropriate place to break the news.
No prizes for anyone suggesting better uses for €230,000.

Motorists should surely have their eyes on the road

buffalo

Mercian Pro wrote: »

I've just seen on the excellent IrishCycle.com site that our idiotic Councillors have voted to spend €230,000 on reducing the height of the sea wall along the St Anne's section of the cycleway so that motorists can see the lagoon. I think this might have discussed in a different thread some time ago but given the title of this thread, here seems more a appropriate place to break the news.
No prizes for anyone suggesting better uses for €230,000.

This is the section of wall, right? https://goo.gl/maps/KZfbsyU8FNH2

They're reducing it from the current height to the blue line if I'm not mistaken. Is it going to make that much of a difference? If the objections are coming from actual locals, surely they can walk down and take a look when they want. I get the feeling it's because they can't see the lagoon while they're driving from the golf club to the Marine for Sunday lunch.

odyssey06

There's a lot of mis-information on this thread about the wall height.
https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2018/0108/931867-clontarf-sea-wall/

The majority of the cost relates to the finishing works for the wall - copping & cladding which was not done pending final decision on the height of the wall.
This finishing work was one of the conditions of planning permission for the wall.

Another condition was not to affect the view between St Anne's Park & the Bay.

And if predictions are to be believed, we'll probably have driverless cars before we need a higher wall so everyone in the car, not just passengers, can enjoy the lovely view until it's absolutely necessary to block it

buffalo

odyssey06 wrote: »

There's a lot of mis-information on this thread about the wall height.

What's the mis-information?

Chips Lovell

Actually, it's not €230,000. It's more like €500,000:

The cost of the work is estimated at €230,000 to reduce the height of the seawall and €300,000 for stone cladding.

There will also be further outlay when the wall has to be reheightened later on:

The reduction in height would provide protection against a 100-year tidal event rather than the national standard of a 200-year tidal event, and for only half the allowance for sea-level rise expected by the end of the century, council chief executive Owen Keegan warned. “In addition, there will also be a cost for raising the wall at some future date, in line with the recommendations of the independent expert.”

Topgear on Dave

DCC has piles of cash and the best thing they could do is to crack on with spending it. :pac:

Sleeper12

Mercian Pro wrote:

I've just seen on the excellent IrishCycle.com site that our idiotic Councillors have voted to spend €230,000 on reducing the height of the sea wall along the St Anne's section of the cycleway so that motorists can see the lagoon. I think this might have discussed in a different thread some time ago but given the title of this thread, here seems more a appropriate place to break the news. No prizes for anyone suggesting better uses for €230,000.

I agree the wall height protest was a terrible idea but what the article does not explain is that the wall is unfinished. It is at different heights at different points. It should have been reported that the money was to finish the wall. Saying it's to lower it isn't quite true. They also have to make it higher in places too

ted1

Does it affect the view from the park? The park raises above the wall height and there’s trees and bushes etc within the park that block the view

ThisRegard

Cllr Damian O'Farrell, who voted for it, gave a car crash interview on Pat Kenny about this just now, great slip of the tongue when he mentioned "orgasms" in the biosphere.

Topgear on Dave

ThisRegard wrote: »

Cllr Damian O'Farrell, who voted for it, gave a car crash interview on Pat Kenny about this just now, great slip of the tongue when he mentioned "orgasms" in the biosphere.

Just listening, I think Pat sniggered :pac:

This is an ideal money making job for the builders if they're continuously changing the plans as the wall is built. Great number.

buffalo

ThisRegard wrote: »

Cllr Damian O'Farrell, who voted for it, gave a car crash interview on Pat Kenny about this just now, great slip of the tongue when he mentioned "orgasms" in the biosphere.

Is this the same Damian O'Farrell who's horrified at the thought of losing a car lane in Fairview? Sounds like genuine orgasmic concern to me...

ThisRegard

buffalo wrote: »

Is this the same Damian O'Farrell who's horrified at the thought of losing a car lane in Fairview? Sounds like genuine orgasmic concern to me...

If that guy also seems to just wing it when he gives interviews and comes across as not really knowing the topic he's speaking about, then yes.

check_six

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Actually, it's not €230,000. It's more like €500,000:

I feel that while we are in this frame of mind we should take the money and feed it into a change machine in an arcade. We could then pile up the coins all along the wall to any desired height. Might need to use a bit of superglue or what have you but if we need to change it later we can just go back and add a few more bags of 5c pieces or whatever. Everybody wins!

terrydel

Local politics in this country is a total and utter embrassment, full of complete yokels and time-serving jobs worths. Farcical.

Michelin

What a way to blow away money...theses guys obviously won it themselves in a casino they care that little for its use.

terrydel

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Actually, it's not €230,000. It's more like €500,000:



There will also be further outlay when the wall has to be reheightened later on:

I'd love to see who gets the contract for this idiotic change. Probably someone with 'connections' to the morons responsible for it no doubt *allegedly*

LennoxR

Just for clarity, is there anyone, like the CIty or County manager who can overrule these people's stupidity?

I used to be an advocate for increased local democracy, but when I see some of the things they come up with... This one really beggars belief. The aborted cycle lane project on the north quays would be another example.

From a cyclist's point of view, does this maean the lane will again be closed to allow for construction, or I suppose, destruction of the new wall?

terrydel

LennoxR wrote: »

Just for clarity, is there anyone, like the CIty or County manager who can overrule these people's stupidity?

I used to be an advocate for increased local democracy, but when I see some of the things they come up with... This one really beggars belief. The aborted cycle lane project on the north quays would be another example.

From a cyclist's point of view, does this maean the lane will again be closed to allow for construction, or I suppose, destruction of the new wall?

Yeah, I agree. I think we do need more local democracy but with more accountability (ha, in Ireland, you must be joking!) and a better quality of candidate, not sure how the latter is achieved mind you. Get rid of the jobsworths and time servers. Have proper elections, nobody coopted into a role, and short terms so they cant sit on their arses feathering their nests.
The quality of people in local government here is in a lot of cases shockingly low,

Effects

CramCycle wrote: »

Fools and their money, it will lower flood defences and all for the sake of giving motorists something to look at.

Nah, the flooding always comes from the other side. The wall won't change that.

Chips Lovell

You can't make better candidates stand for election and you can't make people vote for them. You've just got to accept that the people elected are the people the majority of your fellow voters want.