Cian Ginty 
Members of the public and interest groups have until October 14 to give their views on a cycling network plan which spans four counties and with a total route length of over 2,800km.
The draft Cycle Network Plan has the goal of having a “completed network” which “will facilitate safe and comfortable cycling between all origins and destinations in the Greater Dublin Area.”
Red: Primary | Blue: Secondry | Purple: Links | Green: Greenways
The map above shows the city centre section alone and the following text describes the full routes. The text is a complete and unedited extract from the draft Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network plan:
Existing cycle lanes and tracks across Dublin were overall ranked low as part of the draft Cycle Network Plan for the Greater Dublin Area.
The report detailing the plan highlights general issues with narrowness and loss of priority, and the access problems caused on greenways by barriers.
The current network of cycle lanes and paths were rated for their quality of service based on five criteria: surface condition; width; frequency of conflicts (ie due to parking and driveways etc); junction delay; and comfort covering proximity to other traffic and the associated sense of safety.
NOTE: The above map shows the Dublin metropolitan area. The following text is a complete and unedited extract from the draft Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network plan:
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council are in the process of upgrading Braemor Road in Churchtown, including transforming the cycling experience from one of the worst in country to possibly the best (more on that in a future post).
The scheme included the removal of a number of trees and there seems to be some anger and confusion around this, so, it’s worth pointing out:
We’ve already experimented with Photoshopping what Dublin’s quays could be like (see here and here). Now streetmix.net allows simple and easy cross-sections, so scroll down below for some possibilities…
Dublin Cycling Campaign writes:
We are launching the ‘Golden Pedal Award’ for 2013 this weekend. This is your chance to participate in the work of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and help us make this the most successful award yet. If you work for or run an organisation that actively facilitates commuting to work for employees or customers then we need to know about it. By filling out the short survey linked to in this post, you or your organisation can enter for the Greater Dublin Area 2013 Golden Pedal Award.
As some of our readers will know, there’s quite a bit of political movement around cycling in the UK lately. But even if the recent spending announcement has been proven to be tiny compared to their transport budget,
It may be surprising to some Irish cyclists who deal with conditions on the ground, but Irish national cycle policy and the remit of the NTA are considered to be close to top class on a policy level or at least “years ahead of UK on cycling policy” — but campaigners here often complain about a lack of funding, timeline, or commitment.
So, the question is: Will the UK overtake Ireland on policy? And will Irish TDs ever take cycling seriously enough to move beyond passing references to cycling in the Dail?
For context, it’s worth noting that cycling is on the increase in Dublin and a limited number of locations, but it is near to static across most of the country and in decline in some locations.
In the UK, MPs are due to soon debate the motion:
“That this house supports the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group’s report ‘Get Britain Cycling’; endorses the target of 10 per cent of all journeys being by bike by 2025, and 25 per cent by 2050; and calls on the Government to show strong political leadership, including an annual Cycle Action Plan and sustained funding for cycling.”