Office of Public Works management at the Phoenix Park said yesterday that they would look to stamp out illegal parking on the new two-way cycle path on the park’s Wellington Road.
Park rangers have placed traffic cones on the road and the use of Victorian hand rails, to segregate the cycle path and the single traffic lane beside it, is under consideration.
The move follows complaints to the Office of Public Works (OPW) and a video of motorists’ illegal parking on the cycle path going viral after it was posted on Twitter and then reposted by the Dublin Cycling Campaign and others.
The Park Superintendent office at the OPW said: “Last weekend was one of the busiest weekends of the year so far with an event involving almost 3,500 participants on Saturday and a Cargo Bike Championship taking place in the Park on Sunday. Phoenix Park management are aware of these incidents of parking and have placed cones along this area to stop it.”
The statement added: “The possibility of looking at the installation of Victorian hand rails in this area is also being considered”
IrishCycle.com reported on the cycle track last December highlighting how the OPW did not answer questions on how it would stop illegal parking at the location.
Wellington Road on a sunny Sunday afternoon #freethecyclelanes pic.twitter.com/GCQ6lF7vFq
— Brendan Stewart (@bren_stew) June 21, 2017
In December we reported how the illegal parking of cars partly or fully on the grass along the road has caused problems for years, so we asked how motorists will be stopped from parking on the cycle path, but the OPW only outlined the new arrangements.
Paul McDonnell, the park superintendent with the OPW, said: “With the introduction of the one way system and the new cycle trail there will be no parking on Wellington Road. There is a car park to the bottom of Khyber Road, less than 250 metres away from the end of Wellington Road.”
VIDEO: thanks to Brendan Stewart
Common problem really. Happens all over up here in Belfast. Whilst the offence is committed by motorists, the cause is poorly designed cycle paths which are usually a line painted a metre out from the kerb on an existing road. Upper Newtownards Road and the Titanic Quarter spring to mind for me.
Long term solution is to make the cycle lane inaccessible to cars, but short-term ticketing illegally parked cars will quickly stop repeat offenders.
No it won’t, SteveO. A campaign against drivers playing with mobile phones while at the wheel worked for a few months; when the policing was stopped, homicidal phonedriving again became the norm. Separation by physical barriers is the only solution. Victorian handrails sound good.