— Consultation ends today on phase 1 of housing development 3km from O’Connell Bridge.
— Main access junction has mix of unprotected cycle lanes and shared space with pedestrians.
— Two-way cycling area level with footpath on new main street.
— Scheme includes sections of shared space on development’s main street.
Plans for the former Irish Glass Bottle and Fabrizia Sites, in Poolbeg West, Dublin 4, includes stop-start segregation on the existing main road serving the housing development and a two-way cycling area which is level with the footpath on a new main street.
The plans lodged with Dublin City Council for phase one of the development scheme are on display until today. The plans are available to view in full on the council’s online planning system at DublinCity.ie with the reference number PWSDZ3270/19.
The planning documents shows a redesign of Sean Moore Road but it includes stop-start segregation which is interrupted by segregation and does not deal with the large roundabout at the northern end or complex junction at the southern end.
The main access Sean Moore Road into phase one of the housing scheme includes unprotected junctions and no priority for people cycling entering or existing the development:
The cycle path on the main road is only shown as lightly segregated with no green buffer and merged with buses at bus stops:
Inside the development, the plans show cycle paths level with footpaths — effective shared surfaces — on what is described as the Central Boulevard:
The carriageway for motorists will be paved with a smooth surface, while the cycle path is shown as a block or stone surface:
The connection from the two way cycle area on the development’s Central Boulevard to Sean Moore Road indicates shared space at the junction between the roads (the new development is at the bottom half of this image):
A separate drawing confirms the two-way cycling area will meet the main road with a shared area which mixes cycling and walking:
Drawings indicate that people cycling and walking on the main street loose at least visual priority over side streets:
In the centre of the street the cycle path is dumped into a shared footpath:
The images are not clear enough to know if there is direct access from the two-way cycling area to the side streets on the other side of the street:
Some drawings — of the costal end of the Central Boulevard, part of a turning circle — show shared space on some of the streets with the one image showing a cyclist in the “pedestrian zone” while a bus is outlined beside pedestrians walking with a level surface between them.
Shared space is disliked by many disability active travel advocates. The concept has had limited success without be overrun by cars in most countries, but is continued to be liked by many planners and architects:
The roadway narrows in but as shown above but includes at some point at nearly 10 metre width which motorists will have access to drive on:
On the other side of the same street, when there’s no parked cars motorists will have access to sections which are as wide as 7-8 metres — here a cyclist is shown cycling in the pedestrian zone behind a parked car:
There is also no cycling access to or across the Sean Moore Road to / from side streets which run parallel to Central Boulevard:
It’s a shame, a green-field development like this could stand as a beacon of how to do things properly if it was designed right