Meeting on South Dublin Quietway tomorrow makes connection with MetroLink

A public meeting is to discuss both the planned MetroLink railway and proposed South Dublin Quietway walking and cycling route at 8.15pm tomorrow, Thursday May 3.

A flyer distributed locally this week said that the “Public meeting organised by local resident’s associations” is due to take place at the Beechwood Parish Pastoral Centre.

A previously planned meeting covering the quietway in March was cancelled according to its organiser because it was feared that cyclists were going to “hijack” the event. As far as IrishCycle.com is aware, people interested in cycling were just going to attend the event.

MetroLink meanwhile is a planned north-south high-capacity railway line between Swords and Sandyford, using the existing Luas Green Line south of the Grand Canal and mostly tunnelling north of it.

Cycling campaigners fear that the upgrading of the Luas line will mean closing at grade crossings east-west across the tracks. The MetroLink upgrade will require that at grade crossings are closed and so-far the plans do not include cycling-friendly underpasses, which are common in countries like the Netherlands.

Cllr Paddy Smyth (FG), who first suggested the quietway, said on Twitter yesterday: “Bizarre conflation as current MetroLink proposal completely torpedos Quietway. Cowper Stop wont be permeable to cyclists.”

A similar situation of conflation of projects happened with a planned but abandoned Sutton to Sandycove (S2S) link via the East Wall area of the northern inner city.

The S2S link was approved by cllrs and had funding from the Department of Transport. But a small bridge over the River Tolka wasn’t approved and when the planned Dart Underground rail project showed the cycle route on its planning drawings — because of integrated planning — residents opposed to both projects used the link to fight against the cycle route and councillors gave into pressure from the opponents of the route.

Today, because of the decision by councillors in 2011, the S2S north between East Wall and Sutton Cross is left unconnected to the city centre and the segregated Grand Canal Route. If it had been built, there would now be a continuous nearly fully segregated cycle route between the Rathmines Road at the Grand Canal to Sutton Cross at the start of Howth Head.

MAIN IMAGE ABOVE: MetroLink infographic. BELOW: Flyer for the meeting:


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5 comments

  1. Well there’s still PLENTY of room to include a segregated cycle-path all the way along E Wall Road to connect up with the Liffey cycle route. But don’t hold your breath waiting.

    Reply

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