A building firm has now been awarded the contract to construct the Royal Canal Greenway Phase 3 — the 2.1km section of the route between Newcomen Bridge at North Strand Road to Cross Guns Bridge at Phibsborough Road.
The section is one of the most complicated left to be built in the Dublin City Council area.
Phase 3 will link the existing route between the Docklands and North Strand Road to the existing path west of Phibsborough, which is due to be upgraded as part of Phase 4.
IrishCycle.com last reported in October that Phase 3 of the much-delayed project was “still” due to start in Q4 2022, and there have been previous false starts for the project, so, we’ll understand if readers take it with a pinch of salt until the work starts.
The council’s Monthly Management Report said: “Royal Canal Greenway Phase 3 will provide 2.1 km of cycling facilities and 2.1 km of walking facilities along the Royal Canal, from Newcomen Bridge (North Strand Road) to Cross Guns Bridge (Phibsborough Road). Construction is now scheduled to commence in Q1 2023. The scheme will take two years to complete.”
The report added: “The construction contract has been awarded to Jons Civil Engineering Limited enabling construction to start in Q1 of 2023. An information leaflet on the project will be circulated to local residents and businesses in January 2023.”
Phase 4 slips to Q4 2023
Last October we also reported that construction of the Royal Canal Greenway Phase 4 was being delayed until July 2023. According to the latest Monthly Management Report, this has now been extended to “Construction is planned to commence in Q4 2023 pending Part VIII approval”.
The council report added: “A Ground Investigation contractor was appointed in December with works expected to commence in Q1 2023. During the month, a contractor has also been appointed to carry out kerbline alterations on BroomBridge Road [the greenway crosses this project at Broombridge] to facilitate bus turning movements, works are expected to commence in Q1 2023.”
Phase 4 of the project is from Phibsborough to the border with Fingal County Council — the section is relatively straightforward but was brought back to the planning stage in 2020 to widen a section shared with motorist access to a small number of houses and properties.
Most of the Dublin City Council section of the greenway was approved by councillors in 2015, but it has continuously run into issues delaying the project, with timelines for the start of construction slipping a large number of times. IrishCycle.com understands that the issues include complications with Waterways Ireland and Irish Rail and issues with tenders.
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The canal path is now closed for 3 weeks starting 14 Feb, so something seems to be happening
@R F — see the latest article: https://irishcycle.com/2023/02/15/sod-turned-on-royal-canal-greenway-between-phibsborough-and-north-strand-road/