66% of Dublin politicians support changing quays for cycle route

The quays in 2008
Dublin’s quays in 2008

A planned cycle route from the Phoenix Park to Point Village seems to have strong political backing.

A survey conducted by Cycling in Dublin shows that the Dublin TDs and councillors who responded support the route, including “reconfiguring the quays”. Just under 36% said they supported the route, while 30% strongly supported it. Only 5% were unsupportive, while 30% remained neutral.

Separately, there was strong support for Dutch or Danish-style cycle paths, even if it sometimes means removing traffic lanes or parking. Of the respondents, 59% were supportive or very supportive, 27% were neutral and 14% expressed unsupportive or very unsupportive attitudes.

The aim of the Phoenix Park to Point Village route is to improve the experience along the river for pedestrians and cyclists.

However the project has been slightly delayed, with public consultation which was due to be held now, set back towards the end of the year.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: “A workshop for the Liffey Cycle Route was held with various stakeholders and interest groups on 14th December 2012. Following the workshop, fourteen options were considered. These options have been narrowed down to four options which are currently being investigated in detail.”

“On completion of the investigation, a second stakeholder workshop will be held at which stage a preferred option will be identified. It is intended to hold this workshop in the last quarter of 2013.”

Michael Aherne of the National Transport Authority says the agency and the city council want to get the project right and it will take some time to do that.

“We’re not slowing down, but we’re going to make sure we’ve done what we’ve done in way of pre-assessments to make sure we’ve picked the right option,” said Aherne. He said: “The Liffey cycle route is going to take some time. We’re down to four options to make sure this corridor works for bicycles. But it’s such a sensitive area – you can’t just go in and say ‘let’s see if it works’.”

“It’s got to work for the bicycle, but we also have to understand the ramifications for the Luas, the bus, and the whole lot,” said Aherne.

He said both a two-way cycle path on one side of the river and standard flow cycling on each side of the river are being looked at. The city, with the NTA’s help, is doing computing modelling of how the junctions might work.

“Each has their advantages and disadvantages. It’s generally about how the junctions will work and how cyclists get to and from the route,” he added.

Other sources say that Luas BXD is a concern and there is caution about moving too quickly on major projects at the one time.

Originally published in the Summer 2013 edition of the Cycling in Dublin newspaper, which can be viewed or downloaded here. This story is based on a survey for the newspaper, the full results of which were published here.

Previously we covered this issue in the following posts:


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