A long-promised contra-flow cycle route on St Stephen’s Green West may finally be constructed as part of the Luas Cross City works, according to drawings released after a Freedom of Information request.
The contra-flow lane on St Stephen’s Green West, however, may not stretch onto the north side of St Stephen’s Green and there’s little to no other cycling-friendly measures planned on St Stephen’s Green West and North.
The Luas drawings were released to IrishCycle.com at the end of last year and Transport Infrastructure Ireland confirmed last week that these are still the most up-to-date plans. But as with any such plans for Luas, these are subject to change and may be overridden by plans in the Dublin City Centre Transport Study proposals.
Meanwhile, on St Stephen’s Green North at the Dawson Street junction there is currently zero visible provisions for cycling other than mixed general traffic lanes.
Between the St Stephen’s Green Luas stop and Dawson Street, the extended Luas green line will be segregated from general traffic modes up to Dawson Street, but as the tracks turn up Dawson Street the northbound tram lane is mixed with general traffic (buses, bicycles, cars, vans, trucks etc). A short-term tram stabling / turn back track for trams will also be provided on St Stephen’s Green North, east of Dawson Street.
There is no defined space for cycling planned for Dawson Street and cyclists will likely end up between bus stops and the northbound tram tracks or in the middle of the northbound tram tracks.
The good news is that general traffic will likely be reduced on Dawson Street as it will no longer serve as through route. For private traffic, Dawson Street will mainly act as delivery access and routes to car parks — the right turn from Dawson Street to Nassau St will be blocked off to all, including bicycles.
On St Stephen’s Green North between Dawson Street and Kildare Street there will be no provision for cycling — this means people cycling westbound will be confined to a new narrower roadway mixed with buses, taxis and other general traffic. While people cycling eastbound will contuine to take a 620 metre detour via Molesworth Street, with the added challenge of crossing two Luas tracks on Dawson Street before turning into Molesworth Street.
The above image from the Dublin City Centre Transport Study has a radically different vision for the area — there’s still time to progress such plans before Luas Cross City is due to be operational in December, but there’s so-far no signs of public progress on this. We’ll update readers when we hear of anything new on this.
Luas Cross City drawings for St Stephen’s Green
MORE ON LUAS AND CYCLING:
- Blue boxes painted over Luas tracks aim to safely direct cyclists
- Luas Cross City plan for Parnell Street puts priority on lanes for cars, removes cycle lanes
- Few signs of cycling-friendly measures for Luas Cross City as many restrictions will apply
- Renewed call for bicycles to be allowed on off-peak Luas after successful Edinburgh Trams trial
- Docklands Luas and cycling: Public inquiry report vs reality
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That’s very disappointing. Cyclists clearly rank at the bottom of the list when it comes to space allocation.
Would it be possible to FOI the construction drawings for the section from D’Olier Street around College Green to Nassau Street? From the look of the relocated kerbs, little or no provision is being made for cyclists on Lr Grafton Street.
A lot of the section between D’Olier Street around College Green to Nassau Street will likely be changed by the College Green Plaza and Dublin City Centre Transport Study works, so we excluded those from our request.
But the original railway order (planning permission) drawings can be found at http://www.dublinluasbroombridge.ie
What about the pedestrians??? Was this area not meant to be a pedestrian plaza?
@BlackQueen2012 Time to get on your bike! Bicycles are the future. Invest in one now.
unfortunatly the finish was a disaster even for pedestrians its not even safe for visually impaired individuals to cross at stephens green anymore at least the cyclists got a new cycle track on nassau street