Little needed to make a cycling link from College Green to Nassau St

COMMENT & ANALYSIS: This website reported on Tuesday how a southbound bypass of Luas tram tracks at College Green is now open for use — it would take take little extra to extend the route to Nassau Street.

A new contra-flow cycle lane on Church Lane and a crossing point of the tram tracks at Grafton Street would allow Dublin City Council to provide cycling access to Suffolk St and on to Nassau Street and beyond with reduced need for cycling along tram tracks with buses and trams.

For people cycling from College Street to Nassau Street, it would mean a bit of a longer route, but it would be only 100 metres sharing along tracks rather than the 340 odd metres it current takes:

Because buses are no longer using Suffolk St, there is now scope on Church Lane (main image and red line in the map above) for a segregated contra-flow cycle path.

The only other thing needed to make this work is a crossing at Grafton Street — but this could be linked in with the existing pedestrian crossing (middle right of image):

The contra-flow lane and crossing would make a number of different combinations of cycling links possable or easier and with reduced cycling on tram tracks:

It would not be an ideal routing if it was an ideal world, but — much like the southbound bypass of Luas at College Green — this should be attractive to people on bicycles who want to avoid the tram tracks as much as possable.