Parts of Dublin’s Royal Canal Greenway to be opened on a phased basis

Royal Canal Greenway in Dublin City is set to be opened on a phased basis, starting in the New Year if not earlier, the Dublin City Council transport committee meeting was told last month.

Phase 3 of the project, which is the section currently under construction from Phibsborough to North Strand Road, is scheduled for completion in Q2 in 2025.

The meeting was also told that public consultation on the Royal Canal Phase 4 — from Phibsborough to Ashtown — just closed at the end of November and officials will be going through the process of analysing the responses.

Concern re closures of canal path

Marten Hoey, a PPN rep, said he was concerned about how long the paths on the Royal Canal on Phase 3 might be closed.

Hoey said: “It’s another year and a half away before completion and it’s a huge long area that basically stretches from Summer Hill to Phibsborough. For people who are walking or cycling at the moment the diversions to do that route are huge and not very safe either.”

Christopher Manzira, deputy director of the Active Travel office in Dublin City Council, said: “On Royal Canal phase 3 scheme, we anticipate that probably later this month and, failing that, in January we will start reopening some sections of the greenway.”

He added: “The plan is that there will be a phased reopening of the scheme so it won’t all remain closed until 2025.”

Possible extra delay and cost

A collapsed wall along the Royal Canal Greenway project could have an impact on cost and time delays for the project, the same committee meeting was told.

Colm Ryder from the Dublin Cycling Campaign questioned why the pre-construction site investigation did not find the issue of a wall along the Royal Canal. But Manzira said that the problem was only apparent when the water levels were lowered as part of the greenway works and the issue was not picked up at previous inspections.

Manzira said: “The collapse of the wall could not have been picked early on because uh that the nature of inspections that were done in the end would have required the Water to be significantly lowered in the canal and only Waterways Ireland can do that.”

“They did it [lowered the water] in this instance to facilitate the construction works and that’s when the problem then could be picked up. Previous inspections had not actually picked it up,” he said.

Manzira added: “There is going to impact both on the additional cost and potentially on the schedule but at this stage, we are still working through scenarios it’s too it’s too early to tell what the actual impacts would be and how much we can reorganize to recover or to make savings.”