Liffey Cycle Route: New plan includes cycle paths on both quays

— Route to switch from building side to quay side around the Four Courts.

— Drawings included at end of article, more to follow…

A new plan for the Liffey Cycle Route will include segregated cycle paths on both sides of Dublin’s quays, according to the Ireland edition of The Times.

The project is to be discussed at the Dublin City Council transport committee at 3pm today — the meeting can be watched from 3pm here.

Cllr Ciarán Cuffe, chairman of the committee, said: “”I’m delighted that we now have a new plan for the Liffey Cycle Route linking the Phoenix Park and Dublin Bay.  The scheme isn’t perfect, and has had to make compromises, but I’m hoping that it will get the green light from councillors so that we can move towards construction.”

The project aims toe provide “safe, continuous cycle facilities in both directions between the Phoenix Park and Heuston Station and the Tom Clarke East Link Bridge”. The route will be at least 8 years in planning before it is built.

An outline of the new plan includes:

  • Docklands: Point Village to Customs House:
    Two-way cycle paths on both sides of the river on the quayside.
  • Core city centre: Customs House to the Four Courts:
    Unidirectional cycle paths on the quaysides.
  • Western: Four Courts to Phoenix Park
    Unidirectional cycle paths on the building side.

There there are boardwalks planned for around the south side of the central section, but these are for pedestrians. Unlikely one previous plan, cycling will remain inside the walls of the quays.

The unidirectional cycle paths are expected to be 2 metres wide with narrower sections at pinch points — this is below standards set out in the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan which states that primary cycle paths should aim for 2.5 metres.

While 2.5 metres may not be achievable everywhere, it is possible along most of the route.

The Dublin Cycling Campaign is expected to welcome the route. Following holding Liffey Cycle protests, the campaign is planning a family-friendly cycle to celebrate the progress on the route on Sunday April 14, meeting on Grand Canal Square at 11am.

Project drawings:


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11 comments

  1. I think I like it….they seem to have sorted out most of the bus conflicts – keeping the cycle lane on the river side closer in to the city means that bus stops aren’t a problem, and they seem to be using bus-stop islands further out when the cycle lane switches to the other side.

    Remains to be seen how it will work though – I wonder how long it will actually take for a cyclist to switch from one side of the road to the other if all the lights are obeyed.

    I think I’ll need to look at higher res maps to fully appreciate what they’ve done for most of the side-roads – I think there’s a few short “murder strips” in there (e.g. left hand turn from Arran Quay to church Street).

    And God knows how much wailing there’s going to be about interfering with the Ha’penny Bridge…..

    Reply
  2. Anything is better than what we have now, so finally something might happen.

    However 2m wide isn’t enough. It just isn’t. There will be loads of people using this. Having lived in NL for a few years and seeing what sort of width you need for routes with lots of people = 2m isn’t enough. :/

    Reply
  3. I like it, the bus bypasses look good. It would be a huge improvement if it was built as is.

    The main part I didn’t like is the few left slip murder strips. What’s the recommended way to avoid these?

    Reply
  4. There’s a lack of attention to detail and safety throughout this plan. Look at the first map at the Conyngham bus depot-
    the segregated bike track is gone, to allow busses cut across and turn in
    The section AA on the map shows the north side is to be salmon coloured segregated track, but the elevation shows the two sides to be red on road track

    the legend doesn’t have any key for the brown for pedestrian crossings, and has different treatments for the infirmary road junction. The north side has cycle lane directly either side of the east pedestrian crossing, the south side has gaps with no cycling infrastructure either side of the crossing.

    This is just on the first map…

    Reply
  5. I hope that they add a traffic light priority at any junctions where both cyclists and drivers are managed. A slight delay in releasing the car traffic will enable the cyclist to cross the road to a side road, or switch from building side to riverside.

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  6. I like this design. I was worried about the route running on both sides of the river, but I understand the need for some compromise. At this stage I’m glad to have a decent solution on the table.

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  7. And nothing will be done on the ground for eight years!! The Brown Thomas car park might be a cycle parking area in that time.

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  8. switching sides wont work…so if green for traffic are 1000 cyclists to cross diagonally in front of rush hour traffic…?? So that means that when green for traffic on quay, either the motorised traffic has to abruptly stop when green, or the cyclists do, backing up a 1.75 m lane??

    Crossing on red when cross traffic is a non runner…

    so only option is a separate light for cyclists which means a complete tailback in lane.

    crazy

    Reply

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