Liffey Cycle Route backstreet detour gets around pinch points by using footpaths

A backstreet detour of the Liffey Cycle Route planned by Dublin City Council gets around pinch points in the route by taking up footpath space, according to information released to IrishCycle.com under a Freedom of Information request.

It uses footpath space most significantly at Smithfield beside a now infamous apartment block (built on space the council previously planned to use for bus rerouting), and between the Luas Museum stop on Benburb Street and the east end of Parkgate Street.

A photomontage of the Luas Museum stop is shown in the main image above, while the Smithfield example is shown in the images below.

Smaller sections of footpath space, car parking outside businesses, and coach parking and a lay by outside a hotel are also used along Parkgate Street. The route also includes a small incursion into the Croppy’s Acre memorial park.

Full details can be found in our article covering all the details of the backstreet detour.

IMAGE: The newly built footpath, beside the infamous apartment block at Coke Lane, which is to be used as a two-way cycle path –note: the poles are for Luas power wires which are to be hung on the wall of the new apartment block, so the poles will be removed:

Footpath

While this drawing shows one cyclist, it is a two-way cycle path:

Cross section

This image shows the location of the apartment block pinch point at Smithfield:


All images are from Dublin City Council, released under FOI.

MORE: An in depth look at the Liffey Cycle Route backstreet detour


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5 comments

  1. This is terrible, and on top of Brexit too, my morning is ruined.

    What is happening to the cycle lane beside the new apartment block, does it really reaally narrow to the width of one lane for both directions – thats insane! Will you have to wait for cyclists coming in the opposite direction to clear that section of path before progressing? Will it be signal controlled? Its a massive massive fail if that is the best design DCC can come up with.

    And do the designers really expect pedestrians to not walk in the cycle lane beside the Croppy Acre? Again an insane choice given that its the least space-constrained part of the entire Liffey Route.

    I’ve lost faith in DCCs ability to design this properly, in this form I would avoid the route. The quays are horrible to cycle on due to speeding etc. (Victoria Quay especially), but this design shows a total lack of respect for cyclists and their needs.

    Reply
  2. FFS, this isn’t provision for cyclists! This isn’t taking cycling as a serious mode of transport. This is utterly crazy. How do you get people cycling? Not by saying nice words but by building adequate, safe, useful, joined-up cycle infrastructure.

    This is fucking ridiculous. It shows the real attitude to cycling in the city council.

    First we had a public consultation – which was then ignored. Now we have a third-rate non-segregated (when you mix with pedestrians it’s not segregated, because that’s what’s going to happen there) cycle-lane that isn’t fit for purpose.

    ………. unbeliveable…….

    Reply
  3. There are three lanes of traffic currently along most of the North quays. Just reduce these to two lanes and that solves the problem. The third lane would be segregated for cycling.

    There is a need to start getting cars out of the city centre. Motorists are continually breaking through red traffic lights, speeding and causing congestion and pollution.

    City centres are for people, not motor cars.

    Reply
  4. 1.2 metres isn’t even adequate for a one-way cycle path, never mind a two-way one. Given the planning errors that have led up to this point, a decent solution is going to be expensive. But cycling in Dublin deserves one. Sometimes infrastructure is expensive but necessary. And even expensive bike infrastructure is going to be cheaper than facilitating travel by most other modes…

    Reply

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