Comment & Analysis: The second route of public consultation for CycleConnects ended today — it will influence the planning of urban and inter-urban cycle routes everywhere in Ireland outside of the Greater Dublin area.
This is my personal submission, which was saved before the deadline, but the NTA’s consultation system seemed to log me out just before the deadline, and by the time it logged back in again, it blocked me from making the submission. So, whatever it’s worth now, here it is…
In a previous article/submission, I covered some issues with the planned CycleConnects network in and around Ballina — thankfully some of those issues have been addressed, but others have not, and there are some new issues too.
Conflicts between cycle / active travel network plans

There’s ongoing consultation or not yet finalised planning on three network plans that include Ballina: (1) National Transport Authority’s CycleConnects, (2) Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s National Cycle Network (NCN) and (3) the Draft Ballina Local Transport.
This situation is hardly unique to Ballina but is unacceptable given the likelihood of confusion and possible issues around conflicting plans or routes being left out.
There seem to be indications that a “turf war” has broken out between agencies involved in planning cycle routes. While clearly outside the remit of the consultation, it’s again a clear example of the conflict between having two national agencies overseeing cycling.
These plans should be merged now and at some point in the future, but If there is no move to merge these plans now, CycleConencts should not exclude possible urban and inter-urban routes on the basis that the NCN might include them.
Potential links currently not shown on the network map
In the last round of consultation, I outlined suggestions for potential links currently not shown on the network map. These are mapped out below as follows:
- Yellow: Existing hard surfaces (streets, roads or shared paths) which could be upgraded, including resurfaced, traffic-calming, filtering, a crossing at a busy road at one end or both, or even just signs and markings.
- Orange: Existing path with non-bonded surfaces in need of upgrading.
- Pink: Potential walking and cycling paths or shared paths. Land acquisition is partly/fully required and/or waiting for development and make a condition of planning.
I also outlined that some of these sections of routes – would be more easily built or improved compared to some of the routes marked as primary routes.
I have repeated this as none of these suggestions seem to have been accepted into the revised network. I would also add that, as well as issues around road space on some of the routes marked as primary routes, the routes shown in the bottom right corner have more preferable gradients than the main roads/streets.
To note, I’m not suggesting this outline to stand alone but to be part of the network already suggested:
Urban vs interurban vs not marked at all

Since the last consultation, the issue of the Killala Road not being a primary route has been thankfully fixed, but the route serving the Foxford Road does not reach one of the Ballina’s largest employers, Hollister.
The route to the quay and to Moyvalley Business Park should be marked as part of the urban network and not interurbans.
Foxford Road area: Due to the above-mentioned issue of a turf war, not only the proposed route along the river to Hollister’s factory is excluded, but so too is the existing urban route along the river, which serves the housing estates along the Foxford Road.
The Hollister factory has a footpath to it, and a housing estate borders its boundary. It is undeniably urban in nature as much as any suburban place is part of the urban fabric.
Beyond Hollister
The route along the river to Hollister and beyond could also serve the Grand National Hotel Ballina, Rehins National School, and a cluster of over ten workplaces from larger to a relatively large number of smaller businesses.
Servicing the hotel with a safer cycle route might be justified based on normal access reasons, such as hosting events (everything from social events and Mayo County Council consultation sessions), employee access, and tourism reasons. The importance of such links has been highlighted when such hotels have hosted refugees.
The school serves children from the town, and, while it might seem too far out of town for cycling to be suitable, it is 1-2km from nearly all of the housing on the Foxford Road.
Even if a route serving these areas is not viewed as urban, it should be marked as part of the interurban network regardless of what is happening with the National Cycle Network.
