Limerick City and County Council said that for the first time, all cycle lanes in Co Limerick have been mapped and this totals around 104km in the city and 41km in the county.
The council said that the map will be continuously updated with other elements of the Active Travel team’s work in the future.
The online map also maps out improvements such as the locations of air quality monitors, separate footpath improvements, safety measures around schools, and bus stop upgrades.
Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, said: “I am committed to delivering more information about the projects we have in the pipeline and how we are doing at delivering on them. Today is an important step forward towards that greater transparency led by our Active Travel team. It is available on Limerick.ie which continues to be a cornerstone of how we communicate with our local community.”
“The Mayoral programme has big ambition for more sustainable and accessible transport options, but also many more projects. Information about what we want to deliver and what we have delivered goes hand-in-hand with better accountability,” he said.
Mayor Moran, Ireland’s first directly elected mayor, added: “It also helps to get people more and more involved in decisions about how their community develops. Finally, explaining where we are going and how we are doing is key to attracting the necessary investment we need to build a great city-region which matches our ambition. My congrats to the team who have delivered this new portal of information.”
Príomh Comhairleoir of Limerick City and County Council — the role which replaces a council chairperson under the directly elected mayor system — Cllr Dan McSweeney, added: “Ensuring timely, accurate and accessible information is available to the people of Limerick to inform their transport choices is incredibly important.”
He added: “Those living, working and visiting any part of the city or county can now see, through this exciting resource on Limerick.ie, how these improved facilities can positively impact their journeys and allow them to make more sustainable transport choices where possible.”
Sean McGlynn, head of the Active Travel department in Limerick City and County Council, said: “The Active Travel team has been continuing to develop and improve our communications output since the department was set up in 2021. This digital map is the latest stage in that, with the project set to be a moving feast. Further projects will be added as the implementation of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (LSMATS) progresses.
He added: “Allowing people to see all the existing cycle routes for the first time will open opportunities for more sustainable transport options, enabling people who want to make that choice to cycle for work, social or leisure reasons a real possibility. We look forward to continuing our work in 2025 and beyond, with consistent updates being provided through our digital map and elsewhere on Limerick.ie.”
The council said that it intends to share the map’s data with OpenStreetMap and Google Maps so that members of the public will be able to use existing tools for accurate cycle and pedestrian journey planning.
The page at limerick.ie/council/services/roads-and-travel/travel/active-travel-limerick also includes individual project pages for the schemes being worked on by the team.
MAIN IMAGE: Members of the Active Travel department at Limerick City and County Council at the site of the completed Hyde Road Active Travel Scheme (Photo: Kieran Ryan Benson).
Fair play to limerick, keep up the good progress, plenty work left to do. All cities in Ireland should be in a hurry to build protected cycle lanes in a continuous network. We build it right people will use it
Something that I would recommend noting is that the map only shows segregated cycle paths
You may see a few gaps here and there but a lot are just ending the cycle path because you’ve entered a smaller quieter road, such as many streets in the city centre and the gap between the childers Rd and baggot Estate Greenway
“We build it right people will use it” – this is very true however the design and implementation standards are still way below what is needed to encourage and enable people to switch some of their car journeys to cycling. Cycling advocates find themselves in a predicament where they probably feel the need to praise whatever councils provide because it’s considered better than nothing and it might encourage said councils to continue investing in cycling infrastructure but the reality is that we are spending a significant amount of financial and political capital into cycling infrastructure that will not enable any significant modal shift. The cycling provision delivered in the last 12 months in Mungret Woods and the Mill Rd in Corbally could best be described as junk. The construction standards of the new cycle paths on Fr Russell Rd and between Quinns Cross and Raheen fall well below the standards we should expect and I would consider even unsafe to use for some but we must nod approvingly and be thankful for the crumbs we get.