Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are refocusing their resources on the River Dodder Greenway to build quicker-build ‘interim’ sections of the project, a council report has said.
It’s unclear what exactly is planned at this stage, but the majority of the sections mentioned in an update to city councillors could utilise on-road solutions. For example, building walking and cycling crossings at main roads to link existing passable sections to new sections built by relocating space from motorists to two-way cycle paths.
A city council report said that the interim scheme has “a prospective timeline of two years”.
“The updated scheme drawings were presented to the Dodder Steering Committee on 28th June 2022,” said a report to Dublin councillors, but it added: “The delivery of the permanent scheme has been paused as it is felt that resources are better reallocated to the design of an interim scheme.”
The River Dodder Greenway is a 17km route spanning the areas of Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and South Dublin County Council. The latter has advanced works or planning on most of its 9.5km of the route along the river but — besides small sections linked with flood defences — progress has stalled closer to the city.
A report to councillors last week said: “The Dodder Greenway interim scheme traverses Dublin City Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and South Dublin City Council linking Ringsend with Dodder Road Lower.”
It said that design work is at an “advanced stage” along five sections where “interim measures are achievable” — these locations are Fitzwilliam Quay to Londonbridge Road, Beatty’s Avenue to Herbert Park, Donnybrook Road to Clonskeagh Road, Clonskeagh Bridge to Patrick Doyle Road and Orwell Road to Dodder Road Lower.
The report to councillors outlined how the Dodder Steering Group, comprising officials and councillors of Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was held on March 7.
The first of the interim sections to go to public consultation are the two sections from Fitzwilliam Quay to Londonbridge Road and from Beatty’s Avenue to Herbert Park in Q2 2023.
The report said: “DLRCC plan to proceed with lodging a Part VIII for the Clonskeagh Bridge to Patrick Doyle Road section. AA and EIA screening reports are being progressed for the remaining two sections.”