— Minister questions if the incoming Government will fund public transport, walking and cycling enough to allow progress to continue.
Outgoing transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said that planning and building Dublin’s first continuously segregated suburbs to city centre cycle route should not have taken 30 years.
As reported yesterday, the opening of the Clontarf to City Centre Cycle and Bus Project means that it is now possible to cycle 12km from Sutton Cross to the city centre and Docklands. The project was originally a cycle route but became a street renewal project that included full resurfacing, water main renewal, and other elements.
During the launch of the project, Minister Eamon Ryan, who is not standing for reelection, said that as a member of the Dublin Cycling Campaign 30 years ago, he campaigned for the wider route. After the formal speeches, IrishCycle.com asked the Minister if he could expand on his time as a campaigner and the progress that has been made.
Minister Ryan said: “We couldn’t even get the section along Bull Island, there was uproar. It was local, it was political — there was a small number of people who were opposed, and a lot of local representatives were representing them rather than the wider public.”
“It should not have taken 30 years, but we have delivered it, and we now need to make sure it connects, that it doesn’t just stop at Connolly Station. We need to get it across the city centre, but also we need to connect the Sutton to Sandycove section (to the southside), through the port or down by the port and over the Sean Moore Road and so on, and Strand Road,” he said.
While the Minister did not mention the case, a judgment in the Strand Road case is expected before Christmas. Although there have been false dawns before when the judgment was expected, the length of time is seen as outside of the norm for delivering court judgments.
The case involves Dublin City Council appealing a High Court judgment against a planned cycle route that would make the road one-way.
On the north side, there is a draft plan for what is effectively an extension of the Clontarf route from Connolly Station to the quays, but it is currently not funded.
Dublin City Council has linked the project with the City Centre Transport Plan because the design of the section between Busáras and the quays would depend on choices made for a plaza at Custom House. The choices for a plaza are having a plaza at the front of the building along the quays or to the west of it.
The location chosen for the plaza impacts the traffic arrangements around it and how the cycle route might fit in.
When asked about funding for the short route between Connolly Station and the quays, Minister Ryan said: “It’s tricky…. there’s lots of projects around the country.”
On this point, he added, “My direction is that funding should go to those councils that are most ambitious.”
Minister Ryan said: “We cannot force it [active travel projects] on councils. So, fine, if somebody doesn’t want to build projects or if there’s too much heat and the council doesn’t want to do it, then fine, we take the money from that council [which had been allocated only for active travel] and give it to those councils who are willing to make the right but hard decisions.”
He said Dublin City Council last year or this year was allocated around €70 million, which he said was “not a small amount of money”, but that the Clontarf route was “particularly expensive” because it involved an extensive street redesign, waterworks and issues such as ESB ducting which caused issues and needed more extensive replacement than was originally expected.
“We cannot have every project expensive — we have to make sure we can build out [a network of routes] at relatively low cost,” he said.
“It is about to change. I’ve been saying it for 30 years that Dublin is about to change, but I’m fairly confident that Dublin is about to change. With the BusConnects corridors and the cycle network, we will start to make it safe.”
He questioned if the incoming government would allocate the same kind of funding to walking and cycling. He said: “I think that’s an important question for everybody when they are looking at the ballot paper — what direction do people want to go and if they want to go for better public transport, better walking and cycling.”
On the issue of learning lessons from projects, he said: “My original thinking on this is that… There’s a guy called André Pettinga who came over to Ireland from Holland [a Dutch transport consultant focusing on cycling] who says if you’re looking at a street, you first have to ask what’s the function of the street, what’s the use, what’s actually happening, what are the speeds and so on, and then you think of the shape.”
He said that you then have to ask: “how much is it going to cost?” and “how long is it going to take?”.
“I think we’re starting to learn lessons, I think the new Cycle Design Manual is much better than previous versions.”
He said for implementation, there has been a move away from “cheaper interm solutions like plastic bollards and wands”, but that there’s a middle ground between those and full street redesigns. Cycle tracks, he said, do have to be segregated, but that concrete kerbs can be laid without fully reworking the road.
Althought, he added: “But every road is different; it depends on the width” available on the street and factors such as the function of the road or street.
Why today are we digging up Fairview. 2⁹/11/2024
What’s been dug up now? Snag works were expected to continue until the end of the year but these should be mostly very minor.
He was a minister in government 15 plus years ago so he is part responsible.
It has left people in North Strand with a considerably reduced access to bus services. The Green party refused to support locals and got their reward in the election.