— “Not a trial of the full scheme” says head city council traffic official.
— New plan includes moving cycle lane to quay side for 1km.
— Interim plan includes stop-start segregation using plastic dividers.
— Few continuous measures planned east of Wood Quay / Capel St.
— Sections where cycle track possable scaled back from report last month.
Planned “interim” measures to be installed along Dublin’s quays this Summer do not amount to a trial of the Liffey Cycle Route, Dublin City Council’s head of transport services said yesterday.
After the last monthly city council meeting, a number of councillors, media reports and others said that the route would be “trialled”, but a senior council official distanced the plans from the idea that it’s a trial. Brendan O’Brien, head of technical services for traffic in Dublin City Council, said: “There’s probably some confusion… so, we should start off by saying the interim scheme is not a trial of the full permanent Liffey Cycle Route scheme.”
The new official outline of the interim quays measures presented at the meeting yesterday confirms that the route will be scaled back compared to what was reported in an official council report and repeated by the media. Much of the sections claimed in official and media diagrams as “protected lane achievable” cannot include protected lanes due to issues such as bus lanes along large parts of these quays:
He said that full scheme — which has been promised since 2010 and delayed a number of times — will likely not be in place before 2024. The new plan of interim measures is due to be in place by August of this year.
The new interim plan includes putting a protected cycle track on the quay-side from just before Blackhall Place to Capel Street — the drawings show a planned traffic light cross-over just west of Blackhall Place, but it apparently ending without any traffic light-supported cross back:
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O’Brien said that they do not plan to put cyclists on the quay side before the Rory O’More Bridge at Watling Street (west of Blackhall Place) because there a large flow of motorists use Watling Street to access locations such as the James Street / Thomas Street area and beyond.
There will also be stop-start building-side cycle tracks on the section of the quays where there will be a quay-side cycle track.
Few continuous cycling measures are planned east of Wood Quay / Capel St. Extending bus lanes and making them 24 hour make up a central part of the measures on the central quays around Temple Bar / Henry Street area.
On the building side of the north quays, between the Phoenix Park and Capel St, the cycle track will be interrupted by bus stops.
On the south quays an extended bus lane is planned on Essex Quay between Parliament St and Wood Quay, other sections of bus lanes are to be provided on Ushers Island and the start of St Johns Road West. A cycle track is planned along Victoria Quay — which will end at the existing shared and staggered crossing.
No firm outline was made of what will happen on Merchant’s Quay and Wood Quay. Merchant’s Quay is not mentioned in a list of sections of the quays where parking will be partly removed.
VIDEO OF MEETING: Special Traffic and Transport committee meeting
SLIDES PUBLISHED BY DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL:
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