January 27, 2014:
Red Cow M50 crossing special edition:
The map above shows routes from the Northwest edge of the Red Cow M50 interchange to the city side: Motoring in red and cycling in orange. For our international readers: The M50 is the ring road between Dublin City and its outer suburbs. The nearest M50 motorway crossings are more than a 1km in both directions, so the designers of this scheme made sure that anybody cycling to work or the shops got a good workout.
While drivers have freeflow, people cycling across are provided with an extra long route where they have to cross the N7 twice on steep overbridges with 90 degree turns. Overall there’s 7 turns which are at or close to 90 degrees on the route, compared to zero on the motoring route.
Above shows a 100 meters ramp down to ground level — bringing shared use paths into the realm of extreme sports.
The designers wanted to make sure anybody cycling got a workout; (please excuse the blur) the above shows the hairpin turn before the ramp up to the overpass.
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On the other end of the city-side bridge, when you’re heading towards the city, the fun does not end after you’re off this excellent cycling facility… Just as you get off the ramp, you’re left to yield twice to traffic entering and exiting a private road.
Underpasses would have required far less climbs for people cycling and walking, but overpasses are seen as safer. The local artwork, pictured above on the plastic wind barriers reassures users that the closed-in bridge structure is much safer than an underpass ever could be.
Image: Irish Cycle
Location: Red Cow, Dublin
Local authority: South Dublin County Council; National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency
Street View: City side overpass; west side N7 overpass
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Editor, IrishCycle.com
So that’s where the cycle track is! I’ve never been able to figure it out. My favourite bit on the south-bound cycle track leading toward the junction is here: http://goo.gl/maps/3OvY4
It’s telling that your comment isn’t the first time I’ve heard somebody say they could not figure out where an M50 cycling crossing route is.
The last time was with the Liffey Valley crossing — from the city side there at least use to be no directions to the cycle route. The first first time I crossed it I ended up on the free-flow junctions which can be fun on a bicycle.