#GreenTheQuays — Act now: Tell Dublin City Council to remove cars not trees

— Reply to the council by tomorrow (Thursday).

— Impacts wider than just sub-standard cycling infrastructure, including removal of trees and pedestrian crossings and narrowing footpaths.

Pre-planning on the Liffey Cycle Route has lasted nearly 8 years and after many delayed the council a substandard project is now proposed — consultation ends tomorrow (Thursday June 6th).

Given all that we know about liveable cities, the health effects of inactivity, climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, air pollution, and the cost of congestion, it’s time for our capital city to be bold, be brave.

Rather than chopping down trees and squeezing in people walking and cycling Dublin should #GreenTheQuays — add trees and greenery, add public space, and give sustainable transport priority by removing cars at least from the central quays.

Despite spending millions on new boardwalks and cutting down trees, the cycle route designs released by the National Transport Authority and Dublin City Council are not safe and far from the standards of Cycling For All.

Main problems with the project:

• The ‘politics of space‘ — maintaining too much space for cars in a location where public transport use far outstrips car use and, in current poor conditions, bicycles outnumber cars at rush hour.
• New boardwalks will cost €7.6 million — because of an unwillingness to remove cars from the quays boardwalks are needed to make space. The new Boardwalks will likely add €7.6 million or more to the cost of the project and add complications due to working over the river, digging or drilling into quay walls and historical impacts.
• Overly focused on transport — the quays are not just a transport corridor. It’s the centre of our capital city and includes some of the highest density housing in the country.

• Cutting down trees — the plans include cutting down rows of trees on some of the widest quays because the city council and the NTA puts a larger value on having bus and car traffic lanes. Trees will be removed on Bachelor’s Walk where there will be two bus lanes and a car lane and also Eden Quay where there will be four bus lanes and a car lane. Public transport is important at this locations, so, the obvious answer is to remove cars.

• Removal key space from pedestrians — while the project includes larger footpaths at some points, it also includes narrowing other footpaths including at crossings.
• Removal and not including pedestrian crossings — because the planners of the project are overly concerned with traffic flow they have removed pedestrian crossings and not followed best practice and guidance on including pedestrian crossings at a number of locations.
• Junction designs proven to be deadly to cyclists — the Liffey Cycle Route was supposed to be a fully segregated cycle path from the Phoenix Park to the Point Village but after years of chopping and changing people cycling will now be left exposed at junctions and many crossings will be shared with pedestrians.
• Narrow cycle paths — despite spending millions on new boardwalks and cutting down trees, the cycle paths are

Act now:

• Email your thoughts to LIFFEYCYCLEROUTE@dublincity.ie
• Or fill in the survey at https://consultation.dublincity.ie/traffic-and-transport/liffey-cycle-route/consultation/intro/

Template?

In line with best practices for such campaigns we are not including a template — if you want you can keep it short and quick by email or by replying to the council’s survey.

More information:

• Dublin City Council consultation page.
• Liffey Cycle Route is on the wrong path for Dublin’s future — the argument for removing cars.
• Article with timeline of coverage between 2011 to 2019.
• A detailed look at the Liffey Cycle Route Option 9 eastbound (part 1)
• A detailed look at the Liffey Cycle Route Option 9 eastbound (part 2)

…

We’ve now published two parts of a detailed look at the #liffeycycle Route — this thread will cover some of the issues… pic.twitter.com/8pQGRW8hhw

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 5, 2019