Can you retrofit for walking and cycling on ribbon development in an Irish town? Part 1: The problem -- IrishCycle.com

COMMENT & ANALYSIS: Towns don’t get enough coverage on IrishCycle.com, it’s overdue time to fix that.

Over the lockdown when I had a bit more time I went on a walk and tweeted out a Twitter thread covering the example of the Killala Road in Ballina (where I live). This article is basically that thread reproduced here as part one of a two part article asking: Can you retrofit for walking and cycling on ribbon development in an Irish town?

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Part two will cover possable solutions. For now, here’s the Twitter thread:

Here’s the entrance to the first housing estate on the road — it’s massive pic.twitter.com/jR1LSDMume

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

And the next junction— not exactly design with waking and cycling in mind — poor transitions from one path to the other, no crossings, no traffic calming at the speed limit transition: pic.twitter.com/4oVSN15DZU

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

The on-road cycle lane starts here — the lines are nearly gone here but it’s a narrow non-segregated lane in a 60km/h zone on a regional road: pic.twitter.com/FxrqtUsp4j

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

The cycle lanes should be segregated cycle paths here — on this section, there’s mostly ample publicly owned space to have cycle paths with green buffers between people cycling and the heavy traffic. pic.twitter.com/ebbvmb5Znk

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

This is the entrance side of the Coca-Cola plant — done long before the Manual for Urban Roads and streets not compliment with it or other guidelines: pic.twitter.com/ZBQqKVp4CA

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Just a short walk down and there’s a junction into a business park which includes child care — again no crossing and not a safe junction for anybody: pic.twitter.com/7oJr7yTUOe

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Here there’s a pub popular for its food but there’s again no crossing and a 60km/h speed limit — this is a perfect location for a transition from more suburban to more urban with more houses along the road and more housing estates and entering a pinch point section of the road: pic.twitter.com/EossEJpSe2

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Besides the transition for cycling on the inbound side, there’s also an overly wide junction for a small housing estate and no drop kerbs: pic.twitter.com/TBKPsLK4dV

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Also some fairly narrow footpaths here: pic.twitter.com/PoORs8F8ba

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Quickly afterwards is another overly wide estate entrance on the inbound side — drop kerbs added here but a refusal by the council to narrow the entrances in line with safety guidance: pic.twitter.com/5xjrAsJ7Nk

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

The road gets wider again — there’s a shop and filling station here but again no crossing… ample space here also to have segregated cycle paths: pic.twitter.com/pHNWji8Tgd

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

A bend in the road a supermarket on one side of the road and housing on the other but no safe crossing (this is a regional road usually very busy) pic.twitter.com/12PLi2TjQv

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Before it was turned off there was a high level of speeding: pic.twitter.com/0QU1U7aH2Q

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

And now we have our first pedestrian crossing in 2km of urban / suburban regional road which is busy with cars and trucks and lined with housing on both sides: pic.twitter.com/8Jkpzgu4zW

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

The footpaths were renewed here recently for the first time in 30 or 40 years. The footpath slants up and down at driveways, which is against guidance in the Design Manual for Urban roads and Streets — but for some reason @MayoCoCo won’t reply to my complaint email on it.

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

(The council has since given a holding reply)

Notice anything? Since the last junction the cycle lane has only been on one side of the road and now the footpath is also on just one side:6 pic.twitter.com/foCbjHLR8Y

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

The Killala Road ends here with the roundabout linking to the N59 (the National Road which goes through the town) and a short distance from the shops in the town centre. It’s a mini roundabout but only a crossing point (no markings) on just one of three legs of the roundabout: pic.twitter.com/us82cwsC8g

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

So besides the signalised crossing beside the @WesternPeople offices, there’s just one formal pedestrian crossing and one informal crossing point in 2.9km of urban road with housing, a filling station shop, a supermarket, schools all on a mix of both sides of the road… and…

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

Due to no cycle lane on the first section of road closer to town we generally cycle another way home, shown here — but this has its own issues including rat running, being hillier than the main road, and less direct from some parts of town: pic.twitter.com/QY6icm4GZC

— IrishCycle.com (@IrishCycle) June 27, 2020

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