After traffic light confusion at revamped Dublin junction, council marks out how people can cycle into new shared sections of paths

— Redesign included adding pedestrian crossings to one of the busiest junctions without any.

Following confusion about traffic lights at a redesigned junction along the Grand Canal, Dublin City Council has marked out how people can cycle into what appears to be footpaths but are now shared paths.

The issue of confusion about which traffic lights people on bicycles should follow had been raised at a local area council meeting.

Work on the junction at Herberton Road and Dolphin Road was slowed after the liquidation of building firm SIAC, which had started but was some way from finishing the junction revamp, which was part of the Grand Canal Pedestrian and Cycle Safety Improvements Project.

The style of the design used is referred to as “dual provision”. This is where people cycling can still mix with motor traffic if they want, but less confident cyclists have the option of cycling on the corners of the apparent footpaths.

The corners of the footpaths are now marked as shared paths where people can cycle legally. The crossings are also Toucan crossings, which are shared crossings which include traffic light signals for both pedestrians and people cycling. These are separate signals, but they operate in unison.

Ahead of the shared areas, signs are in place to make cycling in those areas legal. Although a number of the tactile paving slabs, designed to let people with visual impairments understand what is ahead of them, are incorrectly laid or incomplete.

For people cycling, the Toucan crossing traffic signals are only for when on the shared corners of the paths. If people are cycling in the cycle lanes or the general traffic lanes, they must obey the general traffic light or the mini-bicycle traffic lights (which were still covered in the photos sent to this website).

This image shows a man using a Toucan crossing with the interlinked red man, and red bicycle symbols are shown (note: a photo of a red light does not indicate what colour the lights were when the person started to walk):

The shared sections of the widened footpath corners are marked with shared path signs — note the blue sign with pedestrians and a bicycle pictured on the left:

At the arms of the junctions, people cycling can choose between staying in the cycle lane/carriageway or joining the shared path:

This image shows an example of where tactile paving slabs are incorrectly laid or incomplete:

Footpath parking was an issue before the project and is continuing:

IMAGES: Thanks to @tampopo2236 on Twitter.